User:Moswento/George Gissing

Reception and legacy

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Gissing had a desire to be famous, once confessing in a letter to his friend Eduard Bertz: "I cannot stand obscurity!" 

H. G. Wells, in his preface to Veranilda said that Gissing's works would enjoy "a permanent, though dusty place, in the storehouse of English literary achievement." 392 Initially, only The Private Papers had a reputation. 1912 - Morley Roberts composed a 'biography' of Gissing under the title The Private Life of Henry Maitland. This exposed certain "scandalous" events in the author's early life. These facts were ignored by other biographers such as Frank Swinnerton and May Yates. Reputation grew, a few novels brought back into print, other pieces collected and published, volume of letters to his family appeared in 1927. 392 Novels never really enjoyed widespread popularity. 19th-century audience - too pessimistic; modern - too melodramatic.392-393 More attention paid to him in 1960s, when Jacob Korg published his work, George Gissing: A Critical Biography. 393

Short stories
Wrote over 100, in three short periods - 1877 in America, 1878-1884 (11 written, but only one published in this time), 1890-1903.


 * "The Artist's Child" (Tinsleys Magazine, January 1878)
 * "Phoebe" (Temple Bar, March 1884)
 * "A Freak of Nature" (The London Magazine (note - not clear which London Magazine, ), 1895)
 * "Joseph" (Lloyd's Magazine, 1896)

Political views
After returning to England, became a member of the Positivist Society, and wrote a number of political essays for journals, including a series on "Notes on Social Democracy" for the Pall Mall Gazette and essays for the Russian publication Vyestnik Evropy. (Rawlinson, p. 3)

Style
After returning to England, short stories focus more on character than plot. (Rawlinson, pp. 3-4) Autobiographical elements in his work 394 Developments in style over his writing career: less authorial comment, fewer long introductions to characters. 3 volumes affected structure of plots in early works. [Autobiographical elements in his work 395. Found "a great unreality" in Zola's work. In later life, he "abhor[ed] Zola's grossness".396 Views on contemporary writers - had positive opinions of Russian authors such as Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. Dismissive of contemporaries such as Trollope and George Moore. Positive George Meredith. Respected Hardy, which was reciprocal 396