Esther Waters

…He went to Paris in 1873 and spent his youth among the avant-garde artists of the time, including the Symbolist poets such as Mallarmé and the Impressionist painters. He initially indulged in writing Symbolist-style poems such as “Flowers of Passion” (1878). After returning to the UK in 1879, he turned to novels, and became a representative writer of British Naturalism with novels such as “The Actor’s Wife” (1885) and “Esther Waters” (1894), which are in the style of Zola and depict the miserable life of a woman who has fallen from grace. Although he maintained an anti-Catholic stance throughout his life, he also wrote works such as “Evelyn Innes” (1898) and its sequel “The Nun Teresa” (1901), about a beautiful opera singer who finally enters a convent due to her mental anguish, and in 1916, he wrote “The River Kerris” (1916), which is based on Christ on the cross, showing his religious interest typical of an Irishman. …

*Some of the terminology that mentions "Esther Waters" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…1873年パリに赴き，当時の前衛芸術家たち，マラルメをはじめとする象徴派詩人や印象派の画家たちの間で青春を過ごし，初めは《情熱の花》(1878)などの象徴派風の詩作にふけった。79年に帰国後は小説に転じ，転落した女の悲惨な生活を描いたゾラ風の小説《役者の妻》(1885)，《エスター･ウォーターズ》(1894)などでイギリス自然主義の代表的作家となった。生涯反カトリックの姿勢を貫きながら，同時に，美貌のオペラ歌手が精神上の煩悶からついに修道院に入る《イーブリン･イネス》(1898)やその続編《尼僧テレサ》(1901)などの作品もあり，さらに1916年には，十字架上のキリストに材をとった《ケリス川》(1916)を著すなど，アイルランド出身者らしい宗教的関心も示している。…

※「《エスター・ウォーターズ》」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報