Moore, George Augustus (1852-1933), was an Irish author. His novels show the influence of Honoré de Balzac’s Realism and Émile Zola’s Naturalism. Confessions of a Young Man (1888) is a clever portrayal of experimental painters in Paris. Esther Waters (1894) is a grim story of a servant girl’s misfortunes. Heloise and Abelard (1921), an account of a famous medieval love story, is his fictional masterpiece. It is considered one of the few great imaginative reconstructions of life in the Middle Ages, the period of history from about A.D. 400 through the 1400’s.
Moore was born on Feb. 24, 1852, in County Mayo. He worked to establish a native Irish drama and helped bring about the Irish Literary Revival. He described his efforts in Hail and Farewell (1911-1914), a memoir. Avowals (1919) and Conversations in Ebury Street (1924) are autobiographical works in the form of dialogues. Moore died on Jan. 21, 1933.
