I live in Exeter, Devon, where the legend, George Gissing, lived for about two years. I've known about Gissing for the past 20 years, but have always intended to take a much bigger interest. By coincidence, me and a workmate - in Exeter - were talking about Gissing and where he lived in Exeter, then, only a few weeks ago, a blue plaque dedicated to Gissing was unveiled in Heavitree Road, near the city centre. But, he lived in several other places, including Prospect Park, not far away. I actually bought a copy of New Grub Street about 20 years ago - in the Oxford Classic print - but, to my shame, only ever read about 20 pages. I like to think that, in my walks around Exeter and the wider area, I am following in the footsteps of Gissing.
My only Gissing novel so far is New Grub Street, which I read last autumn and was just absolutely blown away by. I still think about it all the time. The fact that you've rated it as more or less middling in his oeuvre is exciting and encouraging. It makes me think that going through even his lesser works will at least still be enjoyable (and unfailingly interesting!) reading, while also hoping to end up being even more impressed in the future.
You talk about George Gissing in ways that suggest I have got to read him. I suspect I’d like him a lot. I just purchased New Grub Street and The Odd Women. It seems taking forever to read Trollope’s Can You Forgive Her? I’m halfway through and loving it!
"An urban Hardy..." Hmm...well I will have to wait til October to read my first Gissing--excited and hopeful I like him in a different way than Hardy (and more!) 😉
I will nevr understand Kate Howe's criticism of The Nether World and The Odd Women. Too long? How! They are so action packed right ftom the get go! Love Gissing so much! Can't wait to read more by him!
I am currently reading his "Thyrza" and I have "New Grub Street". I hope to get started with New Grub sometime this year. 🙂 I want to also read "Whirlpool".
His House of Cobwebs short story volume published around the time of death is brilliant. Has anyone read it? I recently purchased a 1914 edition from The World of Books website.
Read the Odd Women per your recommendation and loved it, thank you. Interesting how his titles convey that happily ever after might not be on offer in his stories..whirlpools, grubby streets and netherworlds. Good times. 😊
Great video about George Gissing. He is one of my favorite writers. I have read Odd Women and New Grub Street and I loved them both. Next up for me will be Netherworld. I have not read Thomas Hardy but if he is somewhat similar to Gissing I am definitely going to give him a try.
I was introduced to Gissing through Enid Starkie’s “Gide to Elliott” which brilliantly studies how France influenced English writers. Just started The Odd Women and I’m psyched. Cheers!
I read "workers in the dawn" a few victobers ago. It is currently my favorite book and am long overdue for a reread. It is super depressing but that is right up my alley
Great video. You might like his Born in Exile. It's about the struggle between Darwinism and religion. I wish I knew more writers who talked about class as intelligently as Gissing did.
Yes I've just started to read that. Great so far. Godwin is a funny character! 😊👍 By funny I mean he's a individual - but he does come out with some hilarious observations on life and the people around him.
I am interested in reading Gissing as I love Hardy. Funny though, in my own reading of the Victorians, I do not get a sense that the authors were obsessed with gender (or race). I don't think they sat around all day contemplating these things. I think that is a 21st century obsession. But yes, Gissing is on my radar and I love your comments about him.
Gissing is probably chiefly obsessed with class - it's the main theme of a lot of his novels - but The Odd Women is very much a book about gender/gender roles. I think a lot of Victorians novelists are very interested in gender - and certainly I find examining the presentation of gender in 19th century literature very interesting.
I like Gissing's travel book By the Ionian Sea. I would like to hear your thoughts on that work. The enigmatic abstract artist Cy Twombly loved this work.
They keep remaking the same period dramas over and over, Hardy, Dickens and Austen etc, why do they never do one of Gissing's novels? I've read them all and some even have happy endings lol. The Emancipated and The Crown of Life are some of my favourites. I'm pretty sure Hardy and Gissing were friends. Did you know that George Orwell choose George as his pen name after Gissing, and that Gissing himself was named after George Meredith, who was his father's favourite novelist.
"The Paying Guest" is a fun pot-boiler that Gissing churned out for the money. He didn't rate it, but it was well received. The Daily News reviewed it and described Gissing as "the English Balzac of middle class suburban life. The tragedy of its respectability, its genteel inanities, its dullness and vulgarities is depicted with convincing and unexaggerated truthfulness".
I don't have a full list, but here's a list of 50 of them, in the description to this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6C7TvoHfNKI.html
I have read New Grub Street, The Odd Women, The Netherworld, The Whirlpool and Demos. I agree I did not like The Whirlpool as much. It was not as socially interesting. The Netherworld is very bleak. The Odd Women is superb in places, although it sometimes drags. I think I liked New Grub Street the most. Demos is interesting. It is like an exploration of the different strands of left wing politics in late Victorian England.
