The Shaving of Shagpat; an Arabian entertainment — Volume 3

"The Shaving of Shagpat; an Arabian entertainment — Volume 3" by George Meredith is a fantastical novel written during the late 19th century. The book transports readers into a whimsical, Arabian-inspired world through the adventures of its main character, Shibli Bagarag. He embarks on a quest filled with enchanting elements, including magical beings, beautiful princesses, and perilous challenges, leading to a central theme revolving around love and bravery. The opening of the novel introduces Shibli Bagarag's romantic pursuit of Noorna bin Noorka amid a backdrop of mysterious trials and supernatural encounters. In a dramatic scene, Shibli saves Princess Goorelka from drowning, only to find himself entangled in a magical rivalry involving the Genie Karaz. As he grapples with powerful enchantments and bizarre transformations, his loyalty to Noorna is tested. The reader is quickly immersed in this rich narrative as Shibli navigates through layers of magic and deception, all while trying to reclaim his beloved and confront the looming menace of Shagpat, a figure of peculiar power in this exotic realm. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

George Meredith was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. At first, his focus was poetry, influenced by John Keats among others, but Meredith gradually established a reputation as a novelist. The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) briefly scandalised Victorian literary circles. Of his later novels, the most enduring is The Egoist (1879), though in his lifetime his greatest success was Diana of the Crossways (1885). His novels were innovative in their attention to characters' psychology, and also portrayed social change. His style, in both poetry and prose, was noted for its syntactic complexity; Oscar Wilde likened it to "chaos illumined by brilliant flashes of lightning". Meredith was an encourager of other novelists, as well as an influence on them; among those to benefit were Robert Louis Stevenson and George Gissing. Meredith was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times.