George Gissing; his life and work

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Authors Fiock, Margaret Louise

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Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/553950 George Giaaing, Hie Life end Work

bj

Margaret Ionise Flock

Submitted in partial fulfillmont of the

requirement* for the degree of

Master of Arts

in the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences of the

University of Arizona <1cXV: O F / f a ? 2 9

G20RGE GI3SI5G, HIS LIFE AMD WORK.

OUTLIHE

Introdao tlon.

A# Farpoae? to show Gl88lag's place as a m m of let­

ters and to trace the factors which gave him this

place. 1. Through a study of Gleslag's life.

2. Through a study of Gissing'a works.

3. Through a study of Giesing's place as & man of letters.

B. Statement: to give a summary of the work already

done in the field, its value and emphasis.

I. The life of George Giseing as reflected throu^i his

Letters and Ryeoroft Papers.

A. Early life from 1857-1877.

1. Parentage.

2. Boyhood. 3. Schooling.

4. American experience.

B. Life from return from America to first Italian vis­

it, 1877-1888.

1. German experience. 71716 3

S» Marriage (first)* 3, W?rtorg..in DagSLto JDemos *

4* Demos to first Italian rleit*

0# M f e from return from Italy to Ionian Sea vimlt,

1888-1898, 1» Marriage (second)♦

2. Settlement at Exeter*

8, Second Italian visit*

B* Life from Crown of Life to end* 1898-1905,

1* Last years of industry, 8* Death, 1903.

II. The work of George Oieeing#

A* The novels, 1* Influeneee•

8, Plots.

3. Cheraoterisations and dialogues,

4. Settings and atmosphere.

B. The other work.

1* The Private Papers of Henry Bveeroft.

2. By the Ionian Sea and Letters*

3* Diokea&. 4, end The House of Cobwebs, 4 > ;■

III* the place of George Glsslng as a man of letters*

A* Some stylistic qualities.

1* J. D* Bar•■ford18 oxitioism*

8# W* f * Young1® or it lei sci*

5* A personal estimate *

B* A general critical estimate*

1. Hay Yates* 8* Thomas Seeooabe•

5* Anonymous. V-:". 4* Smmiary* 8

G30BGB GISSIIIG, HIS LIFE AID WORK.

WORKIIIG BIBLIOGRAPHY

(Reetr let Iona follow library llmitattewi)

X* WORKS.

Letters» Boston* Houston Mifflin, 1927 •

Born In Erlle. London and Bdinborgh, A. and 0. Bleak,

By the Ionian Sea. London, Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1905*

Char lea Dickens. Hew York, Dodd Meed end Company, 1904.

The Crown of Life. London, Methuen and Company, 1899.

Demos* London, Smith, Elder, and Company, 1897* Pencil Qaarrier * London, Lawrence end Ballon, 1892.

The Emancipated. London, A. H. Ballon, 1901.

Eve's Hansom. London, A. H. Ballon, 1901*

The House of Cobwebs end other stories. Hew York. E. P* Saiton and Company, 1907.

Homan Odds and Ends. London, Sidgorick and Jaokaon, Ltd*, 1911.

InJthe.J7ear.of Juhilee. Hew York, A. L. Bart Company, (c) 1897.

Isabel Clarendon. London, Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1886.

The Bother World. London, Smith, Elder, and Company, 190? e

The lew Crab Street. How York, R. P. Fern© and Company, 1906. 6

ghe Odd Woman» LonSoa, A* E. Bullen* 1905e

Oar Friend tfaa Charlatim> London, Chapman ond Hall, Ltd., 1901*

The Private Paoera of Henry Ryeoroft* Hew York, S. P* Button and Company, 190#*

Thyrsa. London, Smith, Ha«r, m a Company, 1907* The gown Traveler. Hew York, F. A* Stokes, 1898.

Tho Pnolassed. London, Lav/renoo and Bullen, 1895*

Yeranllda* Hew York, $1* P. Dutton end Company, 1905*

'The Whirlpool. Hew York, F* A* Stokos and Company, 1897*

Will T/arburton. Hew,.York, 2* P. Dutton and OoBqpaay, 1905.

II* CEITICIS1B.

The Encyclopedia Britarmica. Cambridge, at the Dniver- .. : r , . - : Gity Prow, 1910*. ■ ■ ■ Bnoyclopodia Universal Illustrada* Ho* 28, Barcelona, : SI3os de 8. Baposa, 1985. FOLLSTT, Helen Thomaa, and Wilson* Some Modern Hovel- . lata. Hew,York, H. Holt end dompany, 1918. HARRIS OH, Frederic. Yeranllda. Preface. E. P. Dutton : m& Company, 190#. MORE, Paul Elmar. Shelhnrno Eaaava. Fifth Scries. G* P* L Putnam Bone, How iork and London, 1908*

jSECCOHBS, Phomae. The Houoe of Cobwebs* Introduction* ^ E, P. IJutton ond dompany. Hew YSrk, 1907. ^ SWIMBRTOH, Frank. George Gissing. How York. George H* DorenTEd Company, (o.) 1923*

(, x m s , May. George Giasing* Mmcheeter University Sresi, London Hew York, Longnana Green . and Company, 1928* EH. PSRIODICAIS #

(1) Jan® 12, 1890. Hevlew of toy (Roferenoo from Seooombe, x

(2) Petooary 21. If03. 1: 234. Review of Private ------^ arv By® or of t. ' ------(3) laoasry 2, If04, 1$ 18. 3totohev

k- ■ (4) January 16, 1904. Sketch by 0. P# Keary* (Reference from Seoeembe, Iv.)

^..At^nti^onthly. ■ • . ’ v - ■ (l) February, 1904 , 93: 380*2. Idealiat reallet.

%he Bookman

(1) 14: 96.

(2) February* 16: 600-3. Works of S» Bjerl

(3) February, 1914, 38; 590-1. » a l l of Gigsing.

(4) Haroh, 1914. 39; 6-9. George Stearns. Giss- ing in America.

&uL&teOTar., (1) December a, 1912, 45: 1180-1. Body matching in Fiction.

(1) October 2, 1899. H. G. Wells. 8

(2) April 28, 1906, 249; 2 S M 2 e BeooileetlonB.

(3) , Deceraber-17, 1904, 243: 733-.il, J. D* Find- later ♦ 2ho Spokesman of despairs

(4) March 16, 1912, 272; 675-80. Hew lights. (5) fibreaber 11, 1928. E. 3. Osborn. Dismal Dickons. (Beterenoe from Seooombo, lv.) gho Hat Ion.

(1) January 17, 1907 , 84 : 53-5. P. E. More. Estimate. . ' , ' '

t’2) August 17, 1916, 103: 154. 2. G. Goodspeod^ ■ Letter. . ' ' ' "

(1) Septe^aer, 60; 453-63. A. Harrison.

(2) September, 1927, 102; 417-24. E. Gieslng. CharEtqtor Sketch. 9

xmoxoesioi

At Purpose of this Pa^er.

More than a docad© has elapsed since the death of (Merge R* Oieeing, end almost a half century since he published M s first novel* In the period eueoeedlng M s death his nano has become even more obscure than in the years of his life* It is neither my desire nor my purpose to per* petoato his name or to spread the small fame which he justly earned; indeed, that would be the last thing he would have desired * I wish merely to show him as a man worthy of study, and to point to the factors which seem to have made him what he was, I plan to accomplish this throw# three topless

First, I shall give a study of his life in the form of a biography', basing my study upon his publish­ ed Letters and The Ryeoroft Papers, with additional biograph­ ical facts not found therein* I shall here be giving Oiss* ing's entire life, trying to show the influence which affect­ ed M s work, his life, and his personality* This will be in many respects the moat original section of this paper inas­ much as no thorough analysis of George Giosing’o life has be­ fore been worked out, and none that T. have been able to find, from a careful study of his letters*

Second. I shall make a study of his works. basing my study, not only upon the works themselves, somo twenty-eight in number, but also upon a study of the dev­ elopment of the English novel through the decode preceding

(Hosing, in which Dickens and Thackeray are prominent fig*

■ ■">' - ■ urea* Under hie works I shall show a development in thou-

#it and style, the reflection of hie life therein, and his plots, characterisations, and settings♦ Much of this will be throng the words of various eminent orltios*

Third, X shall give George Gisaing*s •>:>V ■' ' place as a man of letters and a general eetiaats of the place hie books will take in the history of the English nov- - / el* This will be accomplished through a personal evaluation as in conclusion from the research of this paper#

Perhaps a statement of the work already done in this field will enable the reader to obtain a bet­

ter understanding of its problems* Besides various bits published in magasines, of some value, but mostly incorpor­

ated in later publications upon the matter, as previously

stated, very little has been done upon his life, thou# more

attention has been paid to his works# Criticism here is

either directly contradictory or much the same# There seems

to have been very little new thought since the first critic­

al estimate • Biographies here available are just appended

surveys to his critical works. These are £6nh4 in The Canhridge History, volume 13, in an article hy W * T • Young; in the introduction to The House of

Cobwebs, by Thomas Seooombe: in George Gissinn. an apprecia­

tion, by May Yates; in Shelburne Essays, the fifth series; by laal Elmer More; in Some Modern novelists, by Helen Thomas

Eollett and Wilson Foliott; and in George Gissina. a critical

study, by Frank Swinnorton. Only Yates and Swinnertoa are very extensive* The Life and Work of George Gissing.

I. Tho, Life P.f OoorRe. GiaslnK as reflected thromdi .his

"Foolishly arrogant as I was," writes

Gissing in The Private Pmexs _Qf Henry Hyeoroft. "I used to judge the worth of a person by his intellectual power aid attainment• I could see no good where there was no logic, no charm where there was no learning* How I think that one has to distinguish between two forms of intelligence, that of brain, and that of the heart, and I have oorae to regard the second as by far the most important♦" With this same quotation Alfred A* Gissing prefaces the letters of his fa­ ther in their published form. I find it strangely charac­ teristic of the man and his life, for it shows his earlier intolerance, connotes a certain satiric attitude, and glows with the mellow autumnal light of his Rvecroft Papers.

A* Early life to 187?.

George Robert Gissing was born in Wake­ field on Horember gg, 1867, the eldest child of Thomas Wal- 1& 2 ler Gissing. His father was. a pharmaceutical chemist, an

1* Encyclopedia Britannica, Article on Gissing. 2. Swinnerton, Frank. George Gissing, yp. 21, 88, en time last to "botanist, azti. a man who. Wells says, "was in a

double sense the cardinal formative Influence in his (George

Gisaing’s) life# She tones of his father's vote#* M s fa*

ther's gestures, never departed from him; when he read aloud* particularly if it was poetry he read, his father returned

in him#.## And his father's well stocked library, and his

father's encouragement had quickened his imagination and giv- 3 en it its enduring bias for literary activity*" from hie

father, too, he seems to have inherited a love for nature and

the out-of-doors, which, thou#i it was smothered for a time,

reappears in the mellowing process* As a lad of ten and one-

half we find him writing his father, as what boy would not?

"On Thursday we put the line to catch the fish into the sea and on Friday morning when the tide was down wo went and got the line in and there wore five flat fish and the biggest mother said would wey above two pounds we had them for tea and they would have boon beautiful only they were rather un­ derdone* ”4

In 1869, a year later, we find his interests divided between

lichen* a large sea mouse, a star fish, and a picture he was

drawing of Sosforth church, for his father* Thus In his ear­

ly boyhood we see very little of the preooelty which his sis­

ter alien remembers as an outstanding trait#

After his thirteenth birthday* his love

of painting and books is more apparent# Here, too, wo see

3* .Wells, H* G*. Monthly Review, August, 1904* 4* blotters, p. 1# George Gissing, Honkshore, June 27,1868# trothere, I mention t M a heoaaee of the attitude tmrarda the women in his novels* which I shall take up in another chapter. In one of hie letters to his brothers, written be­

fore hie first trip to Italy, he mentions a novel (not one of hie own) which he would not rooommond women reading. He

later regards hie sisters se not very competent crltiee of hie works, an estimation which places them with the "public”•

To return to Otesing1s boyhood, ho re­

ceived his first blow from life in the death of his father, ■ ' ■ ■ . in December, 1870, George Gissing was then a little over

twelve, and the next year ho and his brothers were sent to

the Mndlow Grove boarding-sehool at Alderly Edge, where he 10 was "the eldest and most zealous of three brothers," He

seems to have had no recreations except walking and draw­ ing:

nI am afraid that you will be wonm dering what has become of mo it is such a time since you heard last. % e Science examinations came off last week. I am glad to have boon up for them, for they belong to the same lot as my drawing examinations end father often used to cay he should like me to go for then, Bttt now I have to work in earnest for toy great exam, the Oxford, If I pass that I don't ears* I shall work as hard as over I can for I know you would like'too to pass well,''!! Swizmerton tells us that only in vio­

lent bouts of tilting did Gissing show himself as other

boysi that he rose to eminence in connection with the per­

formance on half-yearly speech-nights of Greek, French, or

.10, Bwinnerton quotes in his work with no references p,22. 11* Letters, p. 8, Hay 5, 1872, Lindlow Grove School, 15.

at M s -wish. This over-aensitivenosa to what others were feeling or thinking, was,all throngt lifo, a very strong characteristic, end one that groatiy added to tiio strain of his lifo."7

JSllon Gissing Is quite right Wien she said her brother was constantly urging them to read, and an inveterate reader hiaeelf* for in scarcely a letter does he fail to toll of what he is reading or to urge his bro­ thers, Algernon and William, or his sisters, Ellen end Marg­ aret, to read, read, read. Typical of this, is a letter to

Ellen in 1871$

"Tell little Madge (sister of sev­ en end one-half years), that I wish her to get on to be able to read well, and- she may look at my books as often as she likes. Indeed I should be glad if you would take the simplest you can find and toll Madge to get to read some tale out of it well by mid-summer,"8

And again in 1880:

. "I am glad you like The Antiquary. It is a capital book, all the better that itde- pends for its interest on fine character drawing, rather than upon mere exciting incident. Don't read too many novels, but try to know all tiie best; you should got held of Jane Austen's nov­ els, they ore very healthy. "9

One notices hero a certain oondesoea-

aion in his attitude towards his sisters which was contin­

ued until the mellowing process started in# His letters

to them are usually upon a lighter theme, filled with more

trifling matter, and far less vigorous than those to his

7. Letters. Appendix d.. n. 403, 8. % p. 7, Alderly Edge, Cheshire, ap. 3, 9. " p« 76, London, June 85# the eattefsetton which he felt in hie work until hie latest perlea erepping ap« He writes in his diary:

"Finished my picture of •Orpheus * to my satisfaction. Orpheus is sitting playing on a lyre. In front of him runs a little stream* falling over stones. A fish jumps out of the wa­ ter. Beyond him is a stag in a listening atti* tude« Behind him is a tree on which a squirrel is seated. In the distance is a stag running np. Beyond the stream is a wild hoar and a fox. About him ore large trees. A lion is behind him and a rabbit down by his side also a tiger."6

One is musingly reminded of hie criticism of Veronese *s 2ur- opa, years later: "In ouch a subject one wants more simpli­ city* in feet one wants the antique."6 ■

Hie eleter Ellon, of whom ho was very fond, writes a reminiscence which is included in an appendix to the Lott era, describing the boy Giesing.

**y brother George was ten years older than I, and I first remember him as a big schoolboy, when I mysolf was a little girl. From my earliest recollection, however, he is connect­ ed in my mind with books and learning; and I re­ member of being conscious of a burning desire in him that the reot of us should be learning too...*

"I see him best, when he w&e, I suppose, about sixteen - a tall boy with dark au­ burn hair* high white brow and eyes slightly short sighted so that the lids had to bo drawn together when looking at any distant object. I remember that his hand was peculiarly soft to touch, with rather square finger ends; and that he shewed a marked gentleness of manner in expressing what he would like to do, lest any offense should be taken

6. Letters, p. 7, Saturday 17th, September, 1870. 6. " p. 253, Booeeber 9th, 1888. 17.

12 2ngll@h plays. If ono can tato M s later letters as an In* dex to his scholarship of this period, his was M r ® likely that of a sturdy plodder than of a "brilliant student. In

1872, when Gissing was just a hit over fourteen, ho won the junior exhibition granted by Owens College to the candidate most distinguished in the Oxford and Cambridge local examin­ ation. This meant free tuition for three sessions at Owens

College. Gissing went straight for his eoholastle goal just as he previously had done. In modern vernacular he was most likely a ”greasy grind“ ♦ From this time until his break with

school life, his record is filled with honours. First ho re­ ceived, in his first session. Professor Ward’s English Poem

Prise, then a special prise and exhibition far classics,\4xich were to moan so much to him all during the following years.

In 1874, when seventeen, he

rtmatriculated in the University of London, and in the following year he achieved the almost if not quite unique distinction of gaining, in the examination for honours following the Intermed­ iate B. A*, the first place in the first class with the University exhibition in both Latin and English. He also won the Shakespeare Scholar­ ship. "13

\ There followed a break which seems to

have changed the whole tone of his life. Ho had formed a

12. G. Gissing, pp. 22-23. 13. Quoted in Swinnerton, p. 24, without reference. IB. connection at Hanchester with a young women of the streets*

Tho idealism and impetuosity of the boy's character were ner*

or better shown than In the events which followed, in order to keep the young woman off the streets ho stole from his

fellow students end, upon being caught, was expelled from

Owens before taking his degree* I can. find very little up­

on this period, end there seems to be some disagreement up­

on just what followed* It seems that things went from bad

to worse. He later married the young woman and now tried to

assist her to a means of livelihood less discreditable; fail­

ing, he himself became involved with the law end was impris­

oned in Manchester* Upon his release his friends end family

sent him to America to got a new start, but the harm was done,

and his whole life colored by these two years of foolhardi­ l y ' • ness*

Prom his first letters from America we

get a sense of exuberance never again not teed until his first

Italian tour, and then seemingly lost forever, and it is here

that those particularly "Glselngesquo" letters are first not­

ed* He seems at first carried away with the democratic 1-

deala of the country, but is soon disillusioned* He writes

his brother William from Boston, just after his arrivals

"There is only one class, and that

*14« Thero is some difference of opinion here. very matih better thm ear lot class in Bnglena. Oar democratic notions do not allow of division into classes*They carry democratic notions here to a great extent. It is quite a common thing for a workman to go up and slap his master on the hack and ask him how he is. Worse than that, no servant girl will think of cleaning boots* so we have to have them blackened in the streets, and the result is that the Americana almost always have dirty boots on..*# ISy principal friend here is Mr# Garrison. Ho knows tho editor of tho Atlan­ tic Monthly— one of our best periodicals— very well and thinks he earn perhaps get me a place on its staff in some capacity. I have just written ea es­ say on Burns and Heine as song writers, and it is going to be shown to the editors*”15

And then we got another glimpse In tho sane letter of the

relentlese scholarship of the man, thought he insists he is no scholar!

”1 am doing a good deal at Germsi just now. I have translated a great part of Heine * o poems into verse, and think it would be worth while to go on and translate the whole and then publish it. If I do I think I shall publish it in England, and t h m I shall ask you and Alg. to see to the business, proofs, etc# for me."

Time end time again we shall find him writing just each let­

ters of work and reading.

Hie hopes for a position with the Atlan­

tic Monthly did not materialise, however, and he secured a

position as teacher in a Boston High School, where he seems

to have made some headway. For some reason, as yet undiscov­

ered, he shortly ended his career as a teacher and went to

*15. letters, pp. 12,13,14- October 5, 1876. 20. 16 Chicago, where he arrived with five dollars in his pockets.

In Chicago he enjoyed a brief sueoese as a short story writer on the Tribune, end then drifted back through Buffalo and

Troy. The story is told that he saw one of his stories cop­ ied piraticully in Cleveland and went there believing he could find a market for hie stuff, but was informed by the ed­ itor that he could soouro all the material of that sort he wanted, for nothing! There is probably some truth here, but the story has too many variations to determine the exact foots.

It has that in common with all Giseing's American experiences; there is no definite record, and his family, if it knows, does not care to divulge its knowledge on the subject.

B. Life from return from Amorloa to jfjrst Italian

visit. 1877-1888.

George Glsslng's earlier critics seem to feel that his American experience gave him much bitterness, but I do not believe this to be the case. Later, when in darkest despair, he thinks of returning again to America.

True, there is a certain reticeroo about his letters concern­

ing America, but it is no greater, I believe, than that con­

cerning any of his earlier life. At any rate, ho does not

novels the horrors of America as he does those of

16. Bookman, 63; 683-6; Article by Geo. A. Stearns; article otherwise Inaccurate and it may be here. H. L. P* London; hia American experiences may not have beta parties* laxly happy, hat neither were they particularly sad, when compared to those of London end i&achester* Qissing returned to Europe end settled

in Jena, Germany, for a few month# in 1877, He read Schill­

er, Goethe, Haokel, Schopenhauer, end "innumerable tomee on

ancient philosophy". This brief period seems to be refleot- 18 ed in hie first novel, vdien he says:

"Schopenhauer, Comto and Shelley* these throe in turn have directed the growth of my moral Ilfs* Schopenhauer taught me to forget myself and live in others. Comte then came to me with his lucid unfolding of the mystery of the world, and taught me the use to v&ich my sympathy should be directed. Last of all Shelley breathed with the breath of life on the dry bones of scien­ tific theory, turned conviction Into passion, lit the heavens of the future with such glorious rays that the eye struggles in easing upwards, strength­ ened the heart with enthusiasm as with a coat of mail."19

Gissing’s life was doomed to unhappiness

He married the young woman with whom he had become involved

at Manchester, and planned to find employment there end live

When employment was not forthcoming, he moved on to London,

where he was to stay for the greater part of his life. Prom

an early letter we oan obtain an idea of tho sort of occupa­

tion that was to fill many of the days to come:

17. *Hsrrison quoted in Swlzmerton, p. 27. 18. Workers in the Lawn. 19 i

22,

*1 am glad to have togon my lessons again with my pupil, and still more rejoiced that the Translation project is not wholly abandoned. If they can secure a publisher I think I m pret­ ty sore of the work...# Am getting on well with my novel, which progresses at the rate of about 12 pp (foolscap) a day."21

i This novel was never pabliehed and its

title has been forgotten. $his began the period of which he ope aka in B veer oft Papers: a book whioh ha# been regard­

ed as autobiographioal, but of whieh he is reported to hare said when near death, "I did not put my innermost thought 22 into Henry Ryecroft." He says in this books

"Svery morning when I wake, I thank heaven for silence. This is my orison. I remember the London days when sleep was broken by clash and clang, by roar and shriek, and when my first sense In returning to omseiousness was hatred of the life about me. Hoisss of wood and metal, clattering of wheels, banging of implements, jangling of bells— all such things are bad enough, but worse still is the olamorous human voice, noth­ ing on earth os mere irritating to me than a bellow or scream of idiot mirth, nothing more hateful than a shout or yell of brutal anger."23

This may seem mere sensitiveness, but we must remember that

George Glesing was a sensitive man. These things hurt him

as much as cold and hanger did at a later period. In 1878

we find a bit of enthusiasm still permeating his letters.

"To-day is a rod letter day in my ■ calendar# for I have seen no lees person than Al- 1

Hi. Letters, p. 26. January 30, 1878. 22. “ appendix A, letter by Rev.Theodore Cooper. 23. *Ryeoroft Papers, p. 63. 23.

fred Tennyson. One of his sons has to-day been married to a daughter of irederiok Looker, the poet, at Weetmineter Abbey, and in expectation of seeing Alfred, I was present at the ceremony. There were a number of grand people there (in­ cluding the Princess Beatrice)* Amongst them I recognised Herbert Spencer and Henry Irving, the Actor. Alfred was unmistakable• I knew him in a moment. He wore precisely the same cape- coat that you see in his portraits. His son was remarkably like him."24

Gissing seems to have felt a great re­

gard for Tennyson. Perhaps it was the eternal Johnnie Ball,

but I don't believe so. He at one time thought of doing a work similar to hie Pickens on Tennyson, but was probably

unable to on account of his failing health • He remarked on

Gladstone's laudatory remarks on Tennyson's fame living long­

er than his, "I doubt not it is true, for, after all, art is

the highest product of human life.” One wonders what a crit­

icism of Tennyson by Gissing would have been and if it could

have held the excellences that that on Pickens does• The two men held so little in common.

Life from the beginning of his London

period was most depressing— as I have previously stated. He found a meager living through tutoring and writing short at or

tea and articles. His wife made him extremely unhappy, end

if Morley Roberts' account of her is to be trusted, she was 25 • . . . a pretty poor sort. She was addicted to drink, and though

24. Letters, p« 28, 1879, February 28. 26. * Private life of Henry Maitland. (Biography of Gissing) 24.

Gisaing did his beat to reclaim her, she was utterly imposs­ ible. They lived together in squelid London lodging® while

Gisaing earned by hi® pen just enough to keep body and soul together. His first novel was "respectfully declined" by the publishers, but he seemed not at all despondent, for hie 26 only comment was "the next must be better." In Angst, 1878, five hundred pounds, George Gisaing^ share of a trust fund which had been thrown into chancery on his father's death to be payable to him on attaining his majority, coma to him. One notices a renewed buoyancy in his letters of this period, and this may in part explain his optimism at his novel's failure to find a publisher. His letters, however, show a more crit­ ical attitude toward lifo than formerly!

"What a scandalous condition England is in with regard to public libraries. You know that the last Public library Act was permissive merely, and as each, of little practical use,Were is not a town of the least pretensions in the Sta­ tes. which has not its excellent Free Library.... It is a disgrace that London possesses nothing to compare with all this."27

One of his rare touches of humour concerns his method of livelihood!

, "Would you believe it, I have three pupils in Latin, all above twenty-ono, and each of thorn finds the most insuperable difficulty in un­ derstanding that mysterious trinity of concords:

26. letters, p. 32, July 24, 1878. 27, ."r .. p. 33, November 9, 1878, as.

(l)that a vert mast agree with its noon* (2)that a transitive verb governs see. ease. (3)that adj. must agree with its noon# After several weeks of steady perseverance, one of them is at length aoqairing a dim perception of the meaning of Mo. 1 I Surely these, like Sir Toby Belch, have a most weak nia mater*w28

It will be noticed that this humour is tinctured with irony, a quality which grew steadily upon the man until it may fair­

ly bo said that he had no humour, only a sense of ironic wit.

Perhaps the following is a better example; notice the com­

ments

"A story is told in last night’s paper. A man travelling in the Hebrides found from the visitors book at an hotel that Tennyson was in the house* He said to the landlord, *1 should think you congratulate yourself on having a great poet lodging with you.* 'Poet!1 cried the landlord. 'He who has my best bedroom a poet! Why, I thought ho was a gentleman!1 Is it not characteristic of the ago?”29

To give an idea of the amount of reading

which Glssing was doing during these first years in London,

I shall give an extract from one of his letters:

"I have planned out for myself a course of reading which I shall pursue, I trust, with increasing firmness. I shall go through all , the great standard works on general History; e.e* Thirwall's Greece. Arnold's end Heibnhr's Rome. Hallam, Guizot, Buckle, Gibbon, etc*, etc., and read, by the Side of this, works on Phihosophy. When these general studies have sufficiently pre­ pared my mind, I can proceed to the special in-

28, letters, p* 33, August, 1878. 29, " p* 36, November, 1878. reettgatton of those points which are particular­ ly attractive to me, e.e* church history, sehewe of education, etc#"30

The amazing part of all Ihls is that he really read them, not just planned it, as so many of us do*

Besides reading. It must be remembered he tutored, wrote,and was now giving public lectures* One wonders if he didn't

get incentive for the last from his aoqualntaae# and know­

ledge of Dickens' works. We wonder, as did his brother Wil­ liams

"How do you got through so mueh work? I waste an hour over about two chapters of Cioero'a De Amloltla. and feel, of coarse, great contempt for myself in the end* How, I re­ peat, de you get through so much work? And on lentils, too! Ho, I say, that won't do. I know all about lentils; they are, of course, nutri­ tious (rather less so than oatmeal) but you must supplement them with other food* The waste of nerve force new going on in your body from hard work is in excess of the food supplied to renew it, but not sufficiently to cause you present in­ convenience . ♦••• I pray you discard lentils... I know your reply to all this, and indeed it grieve# me to the heart, 'Give me the means and I will eat.' Oh, George, don't despair, spend as much as you can upon food."31

Small wonder that after Gissing had gained some renown hia question concerning a young author was; "Has he starved?"

About this time his first novel. Workers of tho Pawn, was hunting a publisher; we find Gissing*s atti-

30. letters, p; # l y January 26, 1879. 31. 4 pp. 43-44, March 14, 167$. ta&e toward the publlo and publishera in general here reflect­ ed, v/hen three publishers turned it down:

"Of course this oritioism Is fool­ ish • It is not I who propagate a dootrine, bat the characters wHose lives I toll. Beoause I ohoose to take my subject from a sphere hitherto unused of novelists, shall I therefore be accused of making fiction the vehicle of doctrinal opin­ ions?*..* For the reader of fiction I do not write, nor do I expect to please that worthy ab­ straction* 12y novel is only deficient in dram­ atic Interest in the sense in which all the best novels are deficient. It is not sensational in­ plot, since its object is to depict real life."32

This attitude he held# throughout life and becomes So biased that he asks hie publishers to withhold press-netices after the middle of his career. The Workers was published at the author's own expense, end thus used up his patrimony. He writes to hie brother William:

"Bo not entertain great hopes from the financial results; for I know very well that the bosk cannot be popular, like Sickens, or M s s Braddon, or Mrs. Henry Wood. There is much of desperate seriousness in it, and it must be accept­ ed by intellectual people, if at all."33

The novel did not exceed Oteeing's ex­ pectations; in fact, it failed to pay for itself. Undaunted he started his second. An idea of the humdrum of hie life may be gained by the following excerpt from a letter of the

52. .iottsrs, p. E|, S ~ y.B1880.o> 33. 28.

same year:

"I rejoice to say I seldom have anything the matter with me. My work is very reg­ ular, and no doubt that accounts for much. As a rale now, I rise at 6:45, walk from seven to ei#it, pondering the chapter of tho day, which X write from 9 to 2, five hours, you see; about as much writing as one can do well in a day. I find that I can always invent best in walking; aolvitur am-

Thus his strained financial condition was not eased, yet M s incessant work diminished not a whit. One sees.that in spite of his statement that his books would never be popular, to the contrary he was really hoping differently:

"Well, I suppose my body and brain will hold out a few more years, till what Thackeray called *1he great big stupid public* can be a little impressed and made to relax their purse-strings for the support of one who would fain enlighten as well as amuse them."05

Throu# the publication of Workers in the

Dawn. Giseing came into one of his great and lasting friend­

ships, that of Mr. Frederic Harrison, who began the friendship

by writing the author a criticism on his book. It was through

Mr. Harrison he met John Morloy, who made Matthew Arnold read

it. There were economic benefits X shall discuss directly.

Morley Roberts, who has written The Priv­

ate life of Henry Maitland (which I have previously mentioned

M . Litters. p, 64, March 11, 1880. 36.* June 15, 1880. as a more or loss authentio work, leaning a bit towards sensa­ tionalism) , tells the only chapter available upon the darker aide of Glaalng's life at this period. Both Boberte and

Oiaaing were in great extremity, "sitting with their overcoats on and doing their bit to be oheerful." She two went on a trip to Eastbourne.

"It was the next night that the great news earns, (writes Heberts). In spite of the drear­ iest weather we had spent most of the day in the open air. After oar dinner, which this time was more a success, or at any rate less a tragic failure, wo wore sitting hugging the fire to keep warm, when a telegram was brought In for him. He read it in silence, ard handed it over to me with the strangest leek on his face that *I ****%%had WWW*ever seen.qwu**# It* was unsigned, and came from London. The message was : •Tear wife is dead.1

. ^ .. "There was nothing on earth more de­ sirable for him than that she should die, the poor wreteh being truly like a destructive wind, for die had torn his heart, scorched his very soul, end des­ troyed him in the beginning of his life. All irrep­ arable disaster came from her end through her. Had it not been for her he might have hold, or begun to have hoped for, a great position in one of the Uni­ versities, end now a voles out of the unknown cried that she was dead. He said to me with a shaking voice and hands, *1 cannot believe it, I cannot be­ lieve it.* He was as white es paper; for it meant so much— not only freedom from the disaster and shame and misery that drained his life-blood, but it would mean a cessation of money payments at a time when every shilling was very hard to win.... He went to the slum in the Hew Cut where she passed away, and said to Roberts, ’My dear chap, she had kept a phot­ ograph and a very little engraving of the Madonna 36 di-San Sisto all these years of horrible degradation.'

While all this may be told in a rather

36. Private Life of Henry Maitland. dramatic fashion, the facts remain* The exact date of her death I cannot find, owing to the rather absurd obacarity of

Glmmlng's early life; all that I oan be sure of is that it was after 1888* the date when he started teaching the eons of his new friend* Frederic Harrison*

Austin Harrison* the older of the two

Harrison boys; leaves ns a description of his tutor at this time: . - . ...

"Before the lesson began we had both oeaaed to fear him, long before it was finished h# had become a dear friend. He talked to ns of the Greeks and Romans with boisterous enthusiasm; gave us quaint Latin terminations to our names* and we, struck by his gentleness and the singular pathos of hie scantenanoe retorted with, 'Gisslnns-y Creature1 and as such he was known to us to the very end. "fallj spare* and lissd§. of movement, George Gissing had a marked personality even then. Here Is a conscious autobiographical portrait of himself taken from his first novel* Workers in the Dawn. 'His eyes were of light bins* his nose was of a Grecian type, hie lips and chin wore moulded in form expressive of extreme sensibility and gentleness of disposition, showing traces, more­ over of instability in moral character• 'Thick, brown hair clustered round a brow of no bio shape; his head well shaped. Though hie checks lacked colour ho looked healthy, strong and vigorous. His facial expression was ©xtra-ordlnarily mobile, sen­ sitive and intellectual. I have never seen ao sad and pathetic a face. In repose his features con­ tracted ihto a look of effable dreariness, sorrow end affliction,— of mute submissiveness and despair. Yet it was a noble face, dignified, delicate, sen­ suous, thea$rfcful* "37

37. The nineteenth Century, September, 1906, pp. 468 ft. The same author verifies for as what we have already thoagit- that Gissing was net adept in practical things#

Gissing could have gained employment on several papers as a journalist or critic, hut he had a cur­ io ns antipathy for editors end their journals* This fast makes his poverty seem less real and almost lends a note of

Insincerity to the Rveoroft Papers. It is a similar feeling we have for many of Glssing's heroes who do not wish to de­ grade their art. Through the Harrisons Gissing obtained more pupils and a resulting increased income, which oame as quite a relief when only 8# espies of hie novel had been sold in about as many weeks. He also was engaged to write a series of artleiee for a Russian piper, an occupation which soon palled, however, as he was compelled to keep up with current events. He never ceased his German and French studies and readings and was ever watchful for a first edition or a rare book which might happen to catch his fancy.

Meanwhile George Gissing was filling all his spare hours with work on his next novel. The Unolassed. end enjoying new quarters with his oat and bird*

"Old Grimm waxes fat and sleeps much. We get on wonder fully well together. His old face seems to grow more intelligent as he gets older, and he has very curious habits, some of them not at all cattish in nature • For instance he has taken te eating out of one paw, sitting up and lifting bits of bread to his mouth like a monkey. He is rather ill-natured with ray poor little bird, and I have once or twice caught him on the very cage,... At the present ho is fast a-anoozlo on the hearth rug, with hie head resting on one paw."38

This hit of domesticity seems strangely similar to that of the Gissing we learn to know and admire in Ryeoroft. We find during is. period a growing restlessness and desire for travel. He had a novel accepted for publication, but owing to stabbemaess on his part and some fault on the publisher^ part, it never came to pablio&tlsm#

In July 1883 we find him writing;

"I am by degrees getting my right place in the world. Philosophy has done all it oen for me, and now scarcely interests me any more. My attitude henceforth is that of the art­ ist pure and simple. The world Is, for me a col­ lection of phenomena, which are to be studied and reproduced artistically. In the midst of the great complications of life, I find myself sud­ denly possessed with a great calm, withdrawn as it were from the Immediate interests of the mo- 39 meat, end able to regard everything as a picture *"

life, however, was not so simple as this.

One cannot withdraw at will from a society he is dependent upon. The Wnolassed came out in the spring of Iho following year end Gissing very nearly came to blows with his friends and family in his f ran tie defense of the book *

is a and he alone la responsible Bo you net perceive this ijj the very fact of the

38# ^letters* p . 106. November 83. 1881* 39* *— * p* 1S8, » " " oontrodiotioa of the took of which yon speak? If my ovm laeaa are to he found, anywhere, it is in the practical course of events in the story; my characters must speak what they would actually, and I cannot he responsible for what they say. You may toll me I need not have chosen such peo­ ple; ahl but that is a question of en artist's selection. You see I have not for a any theory in the hook. "40

this may seem a bit of Conceited over-estimation, but we must

recognize the man's essential sincerity. It is true to his

theory ©f art* (Hssing quarreled violently with Ear risen

over the matter.

tossing had spent some time in tho lake Country previous to

finishing it# It was after his return that life again be-

oame intolerable to him, end ho spoko of returning to Ameri­

ca; as he said, "Acre must be an end of the present condi- . 41 : ■' tiono. He never again montionod his plans for an American

trip, and I suppose his idea was the result of a mood. In a

lighter mood he writes:

"let ns think; Berner, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, among the Greeks; Virgil, Catullus. Horace, among the Latins; in Italian, Dante and Boeoaeoio; in Spanish, Don Quixote; in German. Goethe, Jean Paul, Heine; in French, Mol- lere, George Sand, Balzac, De Musset; in English, Chaocer, Spencer, Shakespeare, Milton, Keats, Browning, and Scott* These are the indispens­ able* • I rejoice to say that I can read them all in the original, except Cervantes, and I hope to

40. • Letters, p. 128 , 41. « June, 1885. M,

• 42 take ap Spanish, next year, Jmat for that purpose •w

He acoompliehed this wish, hat somewhat later.

In October 1885 he writes;

"I work on desperately*Sorely I shall get a footing now before very leag. Oen# feond it, I only want a eeaple hundred a year. X am certain of it if I een live another two years or so; just now is ihe olimax of struggle, I be­ lieve. Thank goodness my powers obviously grow; but I fear I have been led from ray right track

These two books were sent to publishers at the same time#

'■ ■ ' ' ' ■ - ' - ■ ■■ The latter went uhdor a pseudonym. Demos however was writ­

ten and found a publisher long before poor Emily. Hissing

believed Demos his best work thus far*

I have perhaps dwelt too much in detail

upon Hissing’s early, life (until 1886) but I have done so

with a purpose. These were the formative years of his life,

and eoase$aently molded the man Into what he was* He was

on the upward climb, and with the publication of Demos ar­

rived at some prosperity— never great— which allowed for

travel, though never grandly. He visited Paris, and lived

again the scenes in history end story located there. In

July 1886, he writes;

"The writers who help mo most are french and Bussiaa# I have not much sympathy with

42* Letters. pp# 160, 161, August, 1885* 43 " , P. 183. Oct. 1889. English points of view, and indeed that Is why I scarcely think that ay own writing can over he popular* The moh will go to the other people who better salt their tastes. Bay by day that saro mob grows in extent end influence. I fear we are earning to a time when good literature will fesre a hard otrugKLe to hold its footing at all."

Meanwhile he was hard at work on Thyrza. He no longer seemed to care whether his works would enjey a degree, of popularity or not, and he had grown to detest re* views. So great was this dislike that he asked his publish* era not to send him any of those on any ef his works there­ after. Hot only was hie withdrawal from public opinion evi­ denced, bat he also withdrew from any kind of pablte life*

He wrote*

"It is my rule henceforth to dine with no one. My solitude makes me more and more unfit to meet with people who are lighthearted, and it is better not to make pretense. So hence­ forth I shut myself from all acquaintances and simply work on. I cannot get to know the people who would suit me, so I mast be content to be a- lone ."44

0. life from Italian tour to Ionian Sea visit.

1688-1898.

Oleelng nan ndi longer sore of himself*

H. turned from one novel to another, tore np the second and

44. letters, p. 192, Kay 6, 1887. 36. returned to the first. Life's Morning end The nether v/orld were thus ground out. Life bad become suddenly unbearable and he took the L150 he had received for the latter and went to Italy, thus accomplishing a dream he had conceived long, long before. His letters from his first Italian visit (1888-

1889) show a return to his former jubilant spirits. They are lovely in their descriptive powers# He enjoyed not only the country itself, but also its history. He received impressions which formed a background for his last novel, Veronilda: he visited art galleries of whose treasures he had read; he thor­ oughly enjoyed himself for five months and returned to England and Exeter filled with new hopes andtthe plan for a new novel. . Of The Emancipated, his next work, he writes;

"When the book will be published I don't exactly know, but I think before the end of the year...# I fancy it will give a good deal of offense, for the satire is rather savage in places, especially that directed against religious formalism. At Agorig (Wakefield) the book will not bo liked, but I cannot help that; it is quite impossible to restrict one's literary activity 46 with a view to the sensibilities of one's friends."

Hew Grub Street was published in 1891. In

March of the same year Biasing again married. Roberts gives

us a very disagreeable portrait of this second wife, but I

believe that she must have been more a martyr than a nonde%^jLptt

4gtLetters, p. 287. Oct. 1889. 37. as Roberts would have us thinks

"It was oharaoteristie of the nan that he should complicate matters by a second marriage, which was even more disastrous than the first. He had been feeling lonely end made the acquaintance of a girl in the Haryleboye Road."

Giasing has said to Morley Robertas

"I could stand It no longer, so I rushed out and spoke to the first woman I came a- oroes." Roberta adds:

"The girl was quite respe©table, and Giasing resolved to marry her she would agree..•• So in spite of all warning he carried through his purpose and married his second wife, who was to bear his children, to torture hi® for years, to drive him almost mad, and once more to make a financial slave of him."

"From the very beginning it seem­ ed impossible that she should ever become in any remote degree what he might justifiably have ask­ ed for in a wife. Yet she was not wholly disa­ greeable in appearanoe. She was of medium height and somewhat dark. She had not, however, the least pretense to such beauty as one might hope to find in a slave Of the kitchen. She possessed neither face nor-figure, or a sweet voice, nor any charm. She was just a female. And this was she that the most fastidious man in many ways that I knew was about to marry. "46

They were married March 80, 1891, accord­

ing to Roberts, and in February, according to the family.

There is no need for me to defend Gissing’s wife. She left

46. Roberts, Morley, The Private life of Henry Maitland. her children and dwelt In poverty abroad for the sake of her husband*a health. (Probably more than Roberts himself ever sacrificed.) The Olssings settled in Exeter to live.

Lleanwhile, Gissing was working relentless­ ly. From 1861 to 1896 he published eight books: Born in

Exile, Benzll Qaarrler. fhe Oda H o m m . In fee Year of Jabilie.

The Paving Guest.Sleeping Fires and Eve’s Ransom. In 1892, his first child, a son# Walter was b o m . The next year pass-

' . . • - ed quickly, marked by m m novels and an almost complete cessa­ tion of Gissing’s reading. Alfred, Gisslng’s youngest son was born. With the renewal of domesticity also, cemo a renew- r’ . _ * ‘ al of social obligations* One June 20, 1896, we find this note in Gisslng’s diaryi

"Went to Harlow for the Omar Khayyam dinner. Hew acquaintances. J. II* Barrio, Hearten Masrtons, Dr. Walter leaf and Harold Frederick * Barrio and I next each other at dinner.

"Out Joke late at nigit. We bought pots and pans from a cheap jack in the market-place, and presented them to Shorter, who is to be married in a few weeks.

"George Whale took mo to eeo the cottage where Shelley lived, an inscription is over it."

Baring February, 1897, Gisaing was advised

to go to South Devon by his doctor on account of lung trouble.

In his three month’s stay there he did much reading in prepar­

ation for his historical novel, Veranildm, in which he was en­

gaged up until the time of his death. Meanwhile The Whirlpool

was finished and sold better than any of hie books hitherto. He received en enthusiastic letter from Barrie about it# In

September of the same year ho decided to go abroad for his health; his books and furniture were stored, and he and his wife aet out for Siena, leaving Walter with his grandmother. While in Siena, he wrote over a third of his Dickens. and

spoke of doing a similar work on Tennyson. Human Odds end Ends

was published while he was abroad, a book of short stories.

From Siena he rounded the toe of Italy, anl he received im­

pressions whioh are left us in By the Ionian Sea.a book of

delightful travel essays. Crisslng’s health however was not

improved, and he returned to England, in the spring of 1898,

in rather low spirits. Here he settled at Barking in July#

' . ■ : ; :

D. Life from Crown of Life to end. 1898-1903.

Immediately after his arrival in England,

>. • . ' * : ' Gissing started work on The Grown of Life, which he finished

in 1899. In this same year ho had a severe attack of influen­

za followed by pleurisy, and was again forced to leave his

native England. During the summer he and his wife traveled

about in different parts of Franco and Switzerland. In Febru­ ary, 1900, Gissing finished his Dickens Prefaces, on whioh he

had been working for several years. In April tin Glssings ' - - ' - again_retumedJbp England for a short visit and returned to France; the following Hay, Our Friend The Charlatan was start­

ed and this and By the Ionian Sea soon were published. Thus

we see Gissing*s last years, in spite of ill-health, years of 40.

tirlensied sotivtty. In January, 1901. we find him writing

his mother, who was In England:

"iVe hear that the Queen died, at half past six last evening. It is Impossible not to be affected by this news, for Queen Vic­ toria has boon a part of all our lives, and now that she is gone the world is greatly changed. Strange to think that when I was born Victoria had already reigned for twenty years, and that I am already beginning to feel old at the time of her death."47

That Gieeing was a true Englishman was proved by The Private

Pacers s this only intensifies the idea.

He returned again to England to sit for

a portrait for Literature. Wells and he went over to Bye

and spent a night with Henry James, where Gissing met Tour-

gaenteff. He stayed at Wayland Suffolk, in a sanitaria* for

. a month, but was forced to go back to Autan, France, in Aug­

ust, and never again sot foot in England. His one recreation,

that is walking, was denied him, for ho was no longer strong

enough. He worked as much as ho was able and got out an a-

brldged edition of Forester's Diokens for Chapman and Hall.

A last line to one ef Glaslng's letters makes us feel the

sadness of these last years of George Gtsslng# He adored his

children and wrote s

"Heartiest good wishes to you all. Don't let the children forget me."48

47. belters, p. 374. 48. .w , p. 380, Desesbsr 28, 1901. 41.

In April, 1908, we hear first of Ryooroft:

"I”1 believebolieve the first part ofo An Antbhor at Grass (i.e#' Ryooroft) will appear Tn the May Forlniphtlv. This little book is morere to me than anything else I have written. It has grown in my mind'for nearly ten years, and more than two years have gone into actual writing*#*e

"If I live a few more years, I may hope to have earned, in a quarter of a century the reputation which twenty authors of to-day have achieved by the publication of a couple of volumes."49

In July, 1908, Sissing and his wife left for St. Joan de lus. Here Bill Warbnrton was written. Clos­ ing spent his leisure reading Don Quixote in the original. He marveled over the activity of the mind of Cervantes at sixty- eight, when the second part was written. Rveoroft meanwhile was making Gissing a name and fame; it had gone through a third edition. Gissing had mellowed; he was beginning to look back over his life instead of continuing the old striv­ ing ahead which had occupied his life for so long. Vcranllda was two-thirds finished when the end oame abruptly. George

Gissing foil seriously ill early in December, 1908, and died of pneumonia on the 28th, at the age of forty-six. He was burled in the English cemetery of St. Jean de Lus.

"I oonld wish for many another year; yet if I knew that not one more awaited me, I should not grumble • When I was ill at ease in

49. Letters, p# 384, April 16, 1902. the world, it would hare been hard to die; I had lived to no purpose that I could discover; the end would have seemed abrupt and meaningless, low my life is rounded; it began with the natural irre** fL active happiness of childhood, it will close in the reasoned tranquillity of the mature mind. How many times, after long labour on some piece of writing, brought at lenght to its conclusion, have I laid down the pen with a sigh of thankfulness; the work was full of faults, but I had wrought sincerely, had done what time and circumstances and now my own nature permitted. Even so may it be with me in my last hour. Hay I look back oh life as a long task duly completed— a piece of biography, faulty enough, but good as I could make it and, with no thought but one of content­ ment, welcome the repose to follow when I have breathed the word •Finis*."50

Bveoroft. p. 26?. A* The Hovels.

1. Outside Influenoos.

"Before going into an analysis of the works of George Giseing* it will bo well to speak of in- fineness other than those mentioned in connection with hie life, whloh made themselves felt in his works. His mind was a sensitive plate upon which all that attracted his atten­

tion was registered; this it is difficult to say that he is

of any particular school, for he seems to have been of none

save hia own, yet wo find refloated In hie novels similari­

ties to many. That he was a scholar, and may have picked up bits from here and there, we know, yet a profound scholar he was not* He himself vehemently denies claim to scholarship

in Ryeoroft Papers * That he read much, assimilated a little,

and evolved a style peculiar to himself, is my thesis* He

was a fervent admirer of Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Baadet,

and many others, hut that his style resembles theirs in part

I believe to be purely by accident rather then by scholarly

intent. He assimilated, but who dees not? His was the ad­

vantage of having a mind of particular sensitivity*

According to 5. T. Young, in The Cam­

bridge History of English Literature. Volume XIII, Glesing's

novels bear all the marks of a period of transition; those of the Victorian typo, "Sentimental, capacious, benevolently admonitory, plot-riddon", and at the seme time adumbrate ac­ cepted modern forms, which picture the familiar "slice of life" with material detail and a precise and complete analysts of the inner world of thoa$it and feelingi

"The Transition was expected at an earlier time, and more consciously, in Frame, where its principles were formulated by apolo­ gists such as lalne, and Theorists who were also practitioners, such as the disciples of Flaubert# Gissing was widely read in the section of the continent and uses his reading to finely criti­ cal purpose in the monograph of Diokens; it is natural, therefore, to look in him for traces of these continental writers#"1

Young does suggest that the titles of some of Gissing*s books give the idea of "a grandiose ambi­

tion of emulating Balzac*s survey of the thole province of 2 society." This idea is also advanced by H# G. Wells•

"There are points of resemblance rather than of contact, with the circle of Siorees do Medan: Gissing surveyed his world closely, but ho is not * document ed* like his brothers d# Ooncourt; he does not attain the controlled objectivity of hia contemporary do Maupassant, though it is evident that, by Glaa- ing’o time, the question of the intervention of the artist in his work has become what it was not to Dickens and Thackeray, an artistic problem. Gissing is like Zola in his portray­ al of the submerged part of the population of towns and the squalidness of poverty; the

1. Cambridge History of Eng. U t. Vol . XIII, pp,606-507 # 2. ESHMKE® SSa August, B 0 4 , Geo. Gissing, by H * wei is • 45.

crowd® which gather in districts such as Hoxton, lamheth, and Clerkonwoll arc more like those of Zola than those of Bamaby Badge. In Olssing's reading of mon and women, amoroeumeea, sometimes furtive, sometimes brutal, plays a large part. Ho is ono of the earliest in English fiction to probe deeply igto the psychology of. sex; though a certain reserve with-holds him from the de­ scription of such fervid eroticism as leads to the study of remorse ir does not deliberately t imontal ty is nnot altogether unlike the Zolaeeque stu­ dies of some aspect of commerce or creed or conformed social habit...# Both Zola end Gies- ing are apt to evade by some romantic device, the full implication of the realistic method. A traoeablo link with all these writers is found in too thought of Schopenhauer, toloh leavened the whole mass of realistic fiction.... Giseing admired and imitated Hogarth— a mor­ alist. Dickens and Meredith left a deep im- 3 preaeion on to® two main sections of hi a work."

I believe this an excellent summary of the influences upon Giesing and his work. We must remember in this connection, the point at which toe English Hovel has arrived. She novel had sot yet the rich background of many novelists1 experience from which to draw*

"the earlier novelists seem to have shaped their stories almost invariably upon an illustrative moral intention, and to have made a typical individual, whose name was commonly toe title of the novel, the structural skeleton, toe sustaining Interest, of toe book. He or she was presented in no personal spirit; Som Jones earns forward in the interests of domestic tolerance, and too admirable Pamela let the light of res­ traint shine before her sex. Beauty of form does not seem to have been sought by the earlier novelists— suffice it if the fabric cohered.

3. Cambridge History of Sng. Lit. Vol.XIII, pp.507-508. 46.

About the oentral oharaeter a system of reacting personages and foils was arranged, and the whole was woven together by an ingenious and frequently complicated plot ... Plot grew at last to be the ourse of English flotion, one sees it in its most instructive aspect in the novels of Dickens, where­ in personages, delightfully drawn, struggle like herrings in a net in the midst of the infinite reticulations of vapid intrigue.... There follow­ ed writers who made deliberate attempts to pres­ ent in typical groupings distinct phases of our social order, and of these the most important is certainly Mr. George Giesing.rt4

Gissing, though well read in the works of the Victorians, overthrew their moral tone and sentimental at­ titude in his novels. He had little regard for plot as such, and worked out a theory of his own for the construction of novels, based largely upon probability, consistency, and truth to life situations. It was this that made Arnold Bennett say

of him:

"The result is that he seems never to centralize the interest. His pictures have no cynosure for the eye."

2, The Plots.

This brings me to a discussion of Gissing^

plots. He had a sense of life as a turmoil and his plots are

reflections of this idea. The Whirlpool, for instance, usee

for its title and structural theme, the daily excitement and

R

4. H. G, Wells, Living Age. 215: 22. whirl of social life in London. $he plot, with three groapa of oharaotera, la held together by an oeoaeional dropping over of a character from one group to another; the social whirlpool grips them all, giving unity in a double sense to the plot.

The book open® with the flight of the insolent Wager, leaving his children without provisions, and flows in vivid contrast to the suicide of Frothingham in his office while his home is crowded with a gathering of the semi•fashionable, many of Who* have placed their fortunes in his hands.

"Sooner or later the eddy of stren­ uous vanity drags them all down (saving only Rolfe) to shame and futility, to dishonor and misery, or to absolute destruction. The design has none of the spare severity that makes the novels of Turgendr sup­ reme, but the breath and power of Its conception are indisputablee"5

This plot is fairly representative of all those of Glsslng's novels. He uses the well-known "hidden wills, renounced legacies, forced coincidences", and other like

expedlenots rather too often, but his plots which are most char acteristic take the form of The Whirlpool. Generally, he wrote two types of novels; these I have classified as novels of the

analysis of a theme, and novels of the analysis of a state of

mind. The former is that.of a person b o m in low estate who wishes to gain cultural advantages but is hindered by lack of

money or aptitude. Usually all difficulties are traced back 5

5. H. G. Wells, Living Age. 215:22/ 48* to poverty, and thus resolve themselves Into social and econ­ omic problems. Hew Grub Street, Born in Exile, and The Odd

Woman, are novels of this type. Demos, Thyrza, The Hether

World, In the Year of Jubilee, and Eve1 s Ransom should also be included. Among the novels of the second type should be included Isabel Clarendon, A Llfefs Horning, The Emancipated.

Eve*8 Ransom, The Whirlpool, The Crown of Life, and Our Friend the Charlatan. In Gisstag's other novels, there is an over­ lapping Which defies even as loose olasslfioation as this. W. ®. Young states;

■Sis more character!stie work takes the form of studies, rather than tales; of the fates of two or three groups, related by marriage, cousin- ship or oooupation. Each section is dealt with in turn methodically and exhaustively; but, partly through the ooeaaioonal analytic stagnation, there is some lose of organic continuity; the form is impressed from within, the narrative; the characters are hedged about by this absolute exclusion of vagrancy; poles apart from this method stands such a book as Dosto­ evsky's Brothers Karamazov, where the tale affects us like a dohtlhuoue bWibllng stream...• 67 8

•Gissing's analysis probes deeply, especially in his tracing of the disintegration of ill-starred marriage unions which have no sanction in community of standards, tastes or-class-clanship; and in the direction of moflern temperamental types such as Dyoe Lashmar,? who excelledtiin intellectual plausibility; and Alma Frothingham* whose artistic enthusiasms spring out of too shallow a soil. In these instances, he exhibits the plenitude of inter­ acting motive with practical skill; but too often he lacks the magical spell which combines the scat­ tered traits into a breathing personality. One of

6. W.T. Young, Cambridge History of 8ng* Lit. V01,XIII,pp.511-513 7. (Hero of Our Friena the uharlatan^T " 8. (Leading woman character in V&lrlpool*) 4 9 .

his analytic studies begins ’look atthis gfel and try to know her’; the phrase is indicative of his most Serious limitation as a novelist♦"

Thus I may conclude that hissing’s plots have contributory value as realistic analyses of life situa­ tions , though they are faulty in unity and emphasis, gener­ ally, one may say, with Swinnerton:

"Hie pictures have no cynosure for the eye. This was partly due, no doubt, to his sense of life as turmoil, and insofar as it is due to his large conceptions it is a etrenght• But lacking the heroic sense, and without that glow of the imagination which oan carry us beyond the consciousness of an author’s technical method, Gissing managed somehow to pitch his work in too low a key. He studiously avoided exaggeration and drama (except when his invention of normal in­ cidents failed and led him to the use of conven­ tional expedients), and a climax is instantly 9 smothered in obeyanoe to his sense of veracity,"

3, The Characterizations and Dialogue,

Gissing*s books are very sad; he seems to have conceived the most gloomy, natural conclusion for every complexity. His characters lived one great theme through which their Individuality does.not greatly alter from one novel to another. His main character is a man of intelligence but of not very great moral courage, who through his own fool-9

9, Frank Swinnerton, S.S. a Critical Study, pp, 1690170, 6 0 ,

ishnees or fate is pemilees, and is therefore the sport of

all that is most sordid and hrutal in modern life. He throws up his position, if earning a pound a week may he so distin­ guished , at the aoeeptanoe of his first piece of creative work,

marries, and then the trouble begins. Hie wife is probably a

woman of some refinement, but rather lacking in the sympathies which her husband seems to feel she should have• Save by pot­ boiling he 0an get no money from M s creative efforts; soon < even this means of livelihood fails him. He earn still lose ' .Yv- ■ ' ' ' : ‘ ‘ ' ' ■ • ■ " himself in dreams of the anoionts, Euripides preferred, but un­

fortunately his wife cannot and leaves him, after the furni­

ture, the books, and food are gone. He dies knowing his life

to have been a failure. We recognize here much of the life of

Gissing himself. His oharao|ers are largely auto-biographical, ...... 10 • ■ - the most notably so is Godwin Peak, a man of considerable ta-

lent, but who is hampered in his life by his exclusion from

society, in the narrow sense. An idea of Gissing1s character

drawing may be gained here:

"His native arrogance signified a low estimate of mankind at large, rattier than an over­ whelming appreciation of his own qualities, and in his most pro summons moments he had never claimed the sexual prefulgenoe vdiioh many a common-place fellow so gloriously exhibits. At most, he had hop­ ed that some woman m&ght find him Interesting, and so be led on to like him well enough for the ven­ ture of matrimony. Passion at length constrained him to believe that his ardour might be genttlndly

10. Of Born in Exile. 61.

reciprocated, but even now it was only in paroxyma that be held this assurance; the hours of ordinary life still exposed him to the familiar self-criti­ cism, sometimes more scathing than ever. He dread­ ed the looking-glass, consciously avoided it; and a like disparagement of his inner being tortured him through the endless labyrinths of erotic re- very."11.

Glsslng might will have been speaking of himself. He does not always give us a mental picture of hie

character, but he is more apt to with hie men characters than

his women. In many of his novels we never get a physical pic­

ture of the character save very incidentally. Gissing is more

interested in his character's thoughts than in his appearance.

He can never stay on appearance for long. Thus of Dyoe Lash-

mar:

"In the moments when Dyoe Laohmar was neither aware of being observed nor consciously'occu­ pied with the pressing problems of his own existence, his face expressed a natural amiability, inolMrig to pensiveness. The features were in no way remarkable; they missed the vigour of his father's Darwinian type without attaining the regularity which had given his mother claim to good looks, ^uoh a visage falls to the lot of numberless men born to keep themselves alive and to propagate their insignificance. But Dyoe was hot insignificant. As soon as his count­ enance lighted with animation, it revealed as char­ acter rich in various possibility, a vital force, which my its brightest indefiniteness, made a pecu­ liar appeal to the imagination. Sometimes he hadthe air of a lyric enthusiast; often that of a profound thinker; not seldom there came into his eyes a glint of stern energy whldh seemed to challenge the world upon some mighty issue. Therewithal, nothing per­ ceptibly histrionic; look or speak as he might, the

11. Born in Exile. BSe '

young man oxhaled an atmoephere of einoerity, and persuaded others because he seemed so thoroughly to have convinced himself?12

The length of the description is peculiarly

Victorian. Ho m o d e m author could hold his reader’s attention through such an abstraction* and Gissing would have gained in­ finitely had he Incorporated his descriptions in his action* His characterizations have a peculiarity in their lack of bias.

Where Dickers lets you know at once that his character is either hero or villlan* Glseing lets you find it out from the character*s action. Even his stronger characters are not al­ ways physically perfect, as was the fad, and he recognized their defects without comment* They grow with circumstances ' ...... ' . ’ - • • - • and fate or fall beneath them. They are not without valour but seldom have high moral courage until life has forced them towards strength or weakness; they are a part of life ae hiss­ ing sees it. The earlier novels form a gallery of fair women, comparable to Hardy’s, Meredith’s or Dickon’s, but the later ones lose much of this* His women are more of type char­ acters than are the men. They have more character than those of his predecessors, though they often remind us of Becky Sharp,

12. Our Friend the Charlatan* p. 14. 53, just as his men remind, us at times of Sidney Carton, Gissing's charaoters have an intellectual bias; they think. All suffer from the pangs of poverty, and almost all pl&ce a high value upon education and refinement. His heroes are idealists where women are concerned. In Gisslng's later novels his heroes are searching for women who will he their intellectual equals, with whom they may converse as with another man, intelligently,upon almost any subject. Here, I believe, Gissing is reflecting a new era which makes his transition characters. In addition to mentality, his heroines have beauty. Thus we have Marion Yule, of Hew Grub Street, a girl equally responsive intellectually and affectionately; Constance Bride, of Our Friend the Charla- tan, a woman of financial ability, Beatrice Redwing, of A lifes

Morning, a person of temperament and artistic ambition;, Alma

Frothingham, of The Whirlpool,a woman who aspires feebly to fame

as a violinist. Gissing may idealize his women a bit too much

for the modern taste, but they are by no means perfect. They,

like his heroes have their struggles and triumphs. Perhaps the

loveliest of his women is Thyrza, title character of his book

of that name. She is depicted a lovely woman b o m in the lower

classes, who has a voice, beauty, some intellect, and a fervent

desire to better herself. She ruins the life of one man,almost

destroys another, and is herself brought to misery through love

for a third. It is fate, not a particularly inherent weakness,

which makes her life what it is. There are women in Gissing 54. who are vioious and cruel, too, and he makes us feol it is un ­ fortunate, but not their fault. There are women who are strong and triumphant, but it is circumstance which makes them so. Thus we see it is fate, life, circumstance, or call it what you will, that Glsa&ng sees as the dominant character force which shspea men and women. For a modern American ideal his characters think too much and struggle against fate too little for perfection.

Glsslng's children are his characters grown small, which, is as it should be. Where Dickens1 are small pixie-like waifs with much determination, Glsslng^ are small thinking waifs of a oertalzi amount of will power but more stub- bomess. He is not greatly concerned with children as they af­ fect the destiny of his adult characters. The Whirlpool has as many references to children as the remainder- of his novels put

together. Rolfe, the main character early in the book says:

"People talk such sentimental rubbish about children. I would have the parents know noth­ ing of them until they’re ten or twelve years old. They are a burden, a hindrance, a perpetual source of worry and misery. Most wives are sacrificed to the next generation— an outrageous absurdity. People snivel over the death of babies; I see nothing to grieve about. If a child dies, why, the probabili­ ties are it ought to die, if it lives , it lives, and you get the survival of the fittest. We don't want to ohoke the world with people, most of then rickety and wheezing; let us be healthy, and have a breathing space."13

Rolf® remains more or less true to this

13. Whirlpool, pp. 12* 5 5 . principle when he and his wife lose a child. Of RolfeTs son

Gissing gives u b this .description:

"Morton looked around and saw Hugh Bolfe. Seven years old now; slight, and with a little or no eolour in his cheeks; a wistful timid smile on the too intelligent face. He was gazing towards his father', and. evidently wished to draw near, yet feared that his presence might not be welcome. Horton beckoned him and at once he ran and threw himself upon the grass by his father^ side."14

Gissing, while a keen observer in many ways, was zxotrkeen where children were concerned; his children are seldom childlike. Gissing was forced to bd away from his own children because of his health, and it was not until he wrote his later novels that he had any intimate glimpses of children at all. These are partially reflected therein.

Critics have generally agreed that the dia­ logue of Gissing,*s characters is the weakest part of his work.

W. T. Young states: .

"Gissing1a dialogue is apt to be book­ ish, and, though admirably representative of charac­ ter, it often fails to create illusion; there is an exception in his natural enforced pathos."15

This perhaps results from the characteris­

tic quality of his men and women— that of too much thought. It

is amazing to look through one of Gissing1s novels and to no-

14. Whirlpool, p. 488. 15. Cambridge History of Eng. Lit. Yol XIII, p 613. 56,

time how large a portIona dialogue has In It. If the dialogue ■ . ■' Is not strictly so it as least takes the form of the character's

thoughts, and It seems almost as if the author were speaking to himself:

"He seated himself in the familiar cor­ ner, and turned over illustrated pages, whilst his chop hissed on the grid. Ah, if her were hut unmar­ ried, what a life he might make for himself, now that the day's labour brought its ample rewardl He would have rooms in London, and a still, clean lodging some­ where among the lanes and fields. His ideals express­ ed the homeliness of the man,"

Glssing writes thus for pages in what may

be termed a dialogue of thought. This is probably necessary

for the manner of his novels and certainly gives fine oharac-

i. ter portrayal. It is a dialogue soliloquy.

In direct dialogue Gieslng's conversations

are seldom good. His characters seem to talk interminably with­

out saying or accomplishing anything. Henry James, in one of

the short London notes of 1897, shot a keen critical arrow to

the very central defect of Glsslng’s method:

"The prodigious excess of dialogue which by itself completely falls to convey the sen* of time elapsed. Everything 'appears.,.to occur simply at the occasion of a few conversations about it.' It is impossible to make people talk so much and talk 'with the the needful differences. The thing...is simply too hard, and conversation is singularly suicidal from the moment it is not directly illustrative of some­ thing given us by another method, something constitu­ ted and presented." 67.

"It Is also true that many of the conversations themselves go with a wearisome arch­ aic dullness approaching pedantry. Partly because of this drawback, Glsslng never acquired any of Henry JamesT s skill In handling the small social group and creating its atmosphere. He does no jus­ tice to a garden party, a musical, a tea, a cluster of Sunday idlers in the park; he does little Justice to the solitary individual. He is at his best with scenes of two or three people only, or, at the other extreme, with great shouting, surging, inarticulate masses of the populace, the sinister and impersonal mob. "16

Glsslng has several novels where a mob plays

a large part; chief among these are Demos, the The Year of Jub­

ilee. Here, as may be supposed from the titles, he deals with

mobs of entirely different characters, and one feels that he

does it with almost as much aruooess as Hauptman in The Weavers.

In Demos the mob is an unchained, half-organized and fist-brand-

-Ishing crowd, and woe be to the oppressor. It is about the same

sort of thing Galsworthy shows in his play on the subject. She

mob in The Year of Jubilee, is a playful, joyous crowd, all cel­

ebrating the fiftieth year of their Queen’s reign. In it are

the rich and the poor, master and servant, rejoicing, exulting over this great streak of luck. We feel almost as if wer were

a part of the happy crowd; Glsslng here is most successful.

4. Settings and atmosphere.

George Glsslng was a keen observer, and

16. Helen Thomas ^ollett, Some M o d e m Novelists, p. 59. 58. like Dickens, above all a novelist of London, of the twenty- two novels which he wrote, twenty-one, at ary rate In part, have a London baek-ground. This Is due to several reasons, the main being, that he knew London best, and a second, that he was English. London was at once the place that he knew best and liked least i

"Lambeth, Horton, Islington, and Camberwell are the regions he prefers to describe; he Is chiefly concerned with the unfamiliar life which underlies the brilliant surface of the city. His favorite milieu Is a world of endless streets of 1decently depressing1 houses; shabby, dirty, neglected, obscure; a world where the shrubs and trees are rarely seen, where flowers are quite un­ known. Churches even would have afforded the eye some architectural relief, but churches hardly ever enter into Gissing’s scheme of life.... The one sharply contrasting feature of the scene ,the flagrant cheerfulness of the public houses,serves but to intensify the impression of Gissing’s Lon­ don as a city of dull, drab, wearisome streets, seen through an intermittent drizzle of rain."

One can clearly distinguish Gissing’s work from that of other authors by the relentless atmosphere which he gives it. Thyrza is set on Caledonian road and sel­

dom wanders from there for long; The Unoleased and The Hether

TForld are of the slums and tenements; Hew Grub Street sets

itself; The Year of Jubilee wanders a bit, and after that

Gissing had found new settings to intersperse with grim Lon­

don scenes. Veranilda his last, and unfinished novel, leaves

the trodden path altogether, and is laid in the sixth cent­

ury of the age of Justinian and Belisarius, in Rome and Cen­

tral and Southern Italy. This is a country carefully studied 5 9 . by George Gissing in his Italian travils and by an elaborate study of the extant documents. It may be said here, as well as elsewhere, that Gissing is never accused of spicing & scene to make it cohere to his plot; he is painfully accurate though he sees but one side.

As previously stated, the later novels find new scenes, a result of new travels on the part of the author.

They are happier scenes, taken as a whole, than those of the early novels, due, perhaps, to a more joyful outlook and a mellowing process which may have been accounted for by the for­ mer. Gissing always loved nature, but it was not accessible to him in his first creative period.

"As a lover of nature, Gissing stands in a very happy light. He attributes his love to the reading at an early age of The Old Curiosity Shop, as pretty a compliment as one might desire to see paid to Dickens, And he was a great rambler through London, through Southern Italy, throughDevon, and in the west, and through the home country of Eng­ land. In Thyrza there are fine descriptions of the lakes, and" In ""the last chapter, of the Sussex downs at a picturesque part. The beautiful countries in the middle of England are described in Isobel Clar­ endon and Demos; Yorkshire is the scene of parts of The Crown bf Life; Devon and Somerset appear in Born in Exile, In the Year of Jubilee, and The Odd Woman. In the latter, too, there are again pictures of the lakes. In The Wether World. Kirkwood goes with the Snowdowns into Essex; and other little sketches of Surrey and Kent appear in The Crown of Life and Will War burton. Hot all these scenic descriptions are""” good; many of them are too formal, and some are too detailed. But there is a sense of the country in the best which sets one smiling with pleasure at the loving care with which they have been written. Just as the walker sees the best of the country, so Giss­ ing, oftentime roaming, hap-hazardly, caw the face 60,

of England in his happiest moods • "17

Glssing in his scenes and atmosphere is

English to the core. We shall see this even more in a study of The Ryeoroft Papers. We must not forget that his father was something of a botanist, and though Gigging paid little attention to nature from this standpoint, he often reflects an interest in the subject.

"Closing has no sense of that fun­ damental unity between man and nature upon which Wordsworth counts and In which Jeffries rejoices. ’Joy in widest commonality spread* finds no echo in his work."18

He finds in the country no stimulus for his characters; to him the appeal of nature seems one of repose and rest. Its silence, its calm, its peace, are his joy, and is considered • ; . ... as everything which is a pleasure to him, from the hand-or­ gans of Naples to the Cathedral at Reggio, in a contempla­ tive mood.

5. Idealization and Summary.

Contemplation accounts for Gissing’s sense of obligation. A man who constantly depicts the dark­ est side of life is not often counted an idealist, but Glss­

ing was undoubtedly one• We must not forget first, that he

17. Frank ^wlnheirtbn. George G is s in e .' p . 1oJC7 18. May Yates, George Closing, p. 43. t 6 1 . was a realist in the French realistic school sense, for though he saw life on its gloomiest side ne never pictures the most

sordid of the gloomy. As J.D. Beresford has said: "He had

a world of his own as real, as hard, as convincing, as though

it were made of earth and stone— Seay, far more so, but it was

a small world."19. Another critic states;

"Gisslng was a realist controlled by an ideal. He might seem to insist upon the sordid side of life, but he had a passionate love of beau­ ty. Consequently, in his analysis of the ugly there was always an implied contrast with the beautiful. This idealizing tendency grew upon him as he wrote. The Crown of Life, one of his last books, is far richer in spiritual nourishment then The Unclaosed, one of his first,..*

"It is not doubt a fault in his art that he emphasized thin# evil unduly; but he did not fail to see the soul of goodness in them. He did not spare the dark touches necessary to com­ plete the picture, but he did not put them there simply beouase they were dark.... His was not the detached attitude of the scientist; it was the keen sympathy of the artist. He did not let his sensi­ bilities run away with him; he was never morbid or mawkish; he disdained the devices of a melodramatic sentimentalism; he was incapable of working up pa­ thos. He mould put the situation before us as viv­ idly as any realist of them all. But the deep and poignant emotion was there, even if the superficial reader did not discover it* No cold observation could have accomplished this. No novelist by a little intellectual slumming can really tell us how the other halt lives."20

In the second period of Gisslng^ career,

coinciding roughly with his first Italian tour, Giasing turned

19. Living Age, 320: 374. 20. Aflahtlit Monthly, 93: 280-291, anon. 62, to grim satire. Here &e healt v/ith the lower middle class.

In his last works this satire had gone through the refining process and was dulled by a mellowing— due in part to some prosperity. He is accused of having a sort of Philistine 1- dealism, accounted for in his desire for comfort and ease,the pleasures of reading, companionship, the glow of a warm fire,

George Gissing would have been the first to have protested against any forms of Philistinism. He has an ideal which he presents repeatedly in all hia works:

"It was no part of his purpose to beautify the side of life that he knew. He treated . it dully beouase to. him it was dull. One of his principle points was that poverty is degrading; and he proved that point to his own satisfaction by show­ ing poor people as degraded. He looked at the man with shabby clothes on his back, and he put shabby thoughts into his head and shabby words into his mouth. Gissing contemplated the London mob making holiday, and he said that is was like 'some huge beast purring to itself in stupid contentment1, con­ tentment being the stupidity of the poor*..# Hope­ lessness is the logical goal; hope and happiness are only illusions that increase the bitterness of despair when it supervenes. This is the core of Closing's pessimism about the lower classes, and it is the reason why his characters are ogten so ex­ pressionless. It is also one reason why he is so expressionless about them. . It seemed to him that the pressure of poverty made all men sickeningly alike."81

Whatever we may think of this idea, we

cannot deny that there was something in it. Immediately,how­

ever, after making a generalization of this sort, there ariser.

81. Follett, Some Modern novelists, p. 64.

y characters in Gissing to refute it. Glesing's heroes are ns* ualljr the exception to this rule, especially in his later works he has been called the earliest of the English realists in fic­ tion, yet, as More says:

"It was from his close reading of the classics, I think, though he himself does not say so, came his notion of the one only salvation through the aristocratic idea, the essential idea of Greek liter­ ature. "22

Here More quotes Gissing as saying:

"The task before us is no light one. Can we whilst losing the class, retain the idea it embodied? Can we English, ever so subject to the material, liberate ourselves from that old assooia® tion, yet guard its meaning in the sphere of spir­ itual life? Can we, with eyes which have ceased to look reverently on worn-out symbols, learn to select from among the grey-coated multitude, and \ place in reverence even higher him who 'holds his patent nobility straight from almighty God?' Upon that depends the future of England."

And continues;

"The business of the novelist Is with the realities of life, and not with the hy- . pthesle; yet one cannot leave Gissing without z wishing that he had found strength and occasion to express in fiction these fundamental ideas of his maturity."

A brief summary of Gissing's best work in

the field of the novel is perhaps necessary before concluding

this section. Critics are not agreed as to his best type of work, as I later show, but here I shall give note to those

22. More, P. E. Shelboume Essays, Fifth Series, pp.64-65. 6 4 . novels which seem to be In his best maimer* In his first nov­ els, George Gissing was still fettered by the customs of mid-

Victorian fiction. In 1887 he really began to write, and Is- obel Clarendon shows a great advance toward finished workman­ ship. ffhyrza was his first really notalbe and artistic book.

Seooombe has called it, "a most exquisite picture half-tones . ... - ' ■ 23 of grey and purple of a little Madonna of the slums.In the following four years, 1889-1892, three novels were produced which are considered by; some to be his best works. These are

The Mother TTorld, perhaps his strongest novel, The Emancipated,

less successful, and New Grub Street, the best constructed and

most popular of his novels. Born in Exile is considered the

key-work in the development of the author's characters; it is

surely very characteristic. In 1897 Gissing began a new per­

iod which is characterized by a new power of satirical writing.

Some of his best prose is contained in these later works:Charles

Dickens, By the Ionian Sea, and The Private Papers of Henry

Ryeoroft. Of the same period, and not far below these in value

stand five others: In the Year of Jubilee, The Odd^Woman,Eve1a

Ransom, The Whirlpool and Will War bur ton. . I now turn to his

works other than his novels, and upon which, strangely enough,

his fame seems to be resting.

23. House of Cobwebs, Introduction by T. Seocombe, p. xvlll. 6 6 .

B. The other works of George Glaslng.

1. The Ryeoroft Papers.

As previously stated, Gissing's best known, and most popular work, is The Private Papers of Henry Ryeoroft, a retrospective autobiography. It was here that his fellow

countrymen learned that Glesing was a true Englishman, a fact they had somehow failed to hind, or had overlooked, in his nov- els. Ryeoroft was edited somewhat in the manner of Carlyle’s

Sartor Resartorus, as the work of someone else, and it was ac­

cepted much in the same spirit. Ginsing writes in its Preface:

"Even those few who knew the man, and in a measure understood him, must have felt that his name called for no further celebration; like other mortals he had lived and laboured; like other mor­ tals, he had entered into his rest,...

"When first I knew him, Ryeoroft had reached his fortieth year; for twenty years he had lived by the pen. He was a struggling man, beset by poverty and other circumstances very unpropitious to mental work.... Little by little Ryeoroft had sub­ dued himself to a modestly industrious routine. He did a great deal of mere hack-work; he reviewed, he translated, he wrote articles; at long intervals a volume appeared under his name. There were times, I have no doubt, when bitterness took hold of him; not seldom he suffered in health, and probably as much from moral as physical over-strain."24 It would be impossible not to recognize here Gissing himself,

but it is a new and mellowed Gissing whom we should like to

know. He divides the book into four parts, whichare, in them-

24. Preface, pp.vii-viii. 66. selves, suggestive: Spring, Summer, Autumn, anfl. Winter.

On his death bed Glsslng is reputed to have 26 said, "I did not put my innermost thought into Henry Ryeoroft•"

Be this as it may, there are enough thoughts here, to give us a new Glsslng, him of the larger and softer view of life. Rye­ oroft Papers made for Glsslng a reputation that he had been unable to gain in the twenty-three years of work previous. We are sorry that he lived so short a time and wrote so little af­ ter it, for had he taken this as a new beginning he would have earned a higher place in English letters. We see his subdued tone:

"In vain I have pondered on the stoic virtues. I know that it is folly to fret about the spot of one1s abode on earth.

e,tAll places ;that the eye of heaven visits are to the wise man ports and happy havens.’ But I have worshipped wisdom from afar off. In the sonorous period of the philospher, in the golden measure of the poet, I find.it of all things love­ ly. To its possession I shall never attain. What will it serve me to pretend a virtue of which I am incapable? To me the place and manner of my abode is of supreme import; let it be confessed, and there an end of it. I am no cosmopolite. Were I to think that I should die away from England, the thought would be dreadful to me. And in England, thistlau the dwelling of my choice; this is my house."30

Occasionally we find lovely bits of rhy­

thmic prose in Glsslng’s novels, but Ryeoroft abounds in these:

"Five or six spring times weloom##.

26. Letters, appendix A, p, 398, letter by Rev. Cooper 30. Ryeoroft. pp.6-7. 6 7 .

Joyously, lovingly watched from the first celan­ dine to the budding of the rose; who shall dare Sail it a stinted bloom? Five or six times the miracle of earth reeled, the vision of splendour and loveliness which tongue has never yet describ­ ed, set before my gazing. To think of it, is to fear that I ask too much."26

We notice here a sharp breaking off of long rhythmic words in­ to shorter monosyllables, but even these are harmonio.

As I have mentioned, the tone of Ryecroft is leisurely; the leisure of retrospection, of ease. The style and subject matter are at one:

"As often I survey my bookshelves, I am reminded of Lamb,s 1ragged veterans1. Sot that all my volumes came from the second-hand stall;many of them were neat enough in new covers, some even stately in fragrant bindings, when they passed into my hands.... How that I have leisure and peace of mind, I find myself growing more careful, an illus­ tration of the great truth that virtue is made easy by circumstance. But I confess that so long as a volume holds together, I am not much troubled as to its outer appearance....87

"I know men who say they had as lief read any book in a library copy as in one from their own shelf. To me that is unintelligible. For one thing, I know every book of mine by its soent, and I have but to put my nose between the pages to be re­ minded of all sorts of things. My Gibbon, for exam­ ple, my well-bound eight volumes, Milman edition, which I have read and read again for more than thir­ ty years— never do I open it but the scent of the noble pages restores to me all the exultant happiness of that moment when I first received it as a prize."28

26. Ryecroft, p. 13. 30. * " P* 39. 6 8 .

Or, upon a less exalted subjecti

RBut the gardener and I understand each other as soon as we go to the back of the house and get among the vegetables. On that ground he finds me perfectly sane and Indeed I am not sure that,the kitchen garden does not give me more plea­ sure, than the domain of flowers. Every morning I step around before breakfast to see how things are 'coming on*. It is happiness to note the swelling pods, the healthy vigour of potatoe plants; aye, even the shooting of radishes and cress. This year I have a grove of Jerusalem artichokes; they are seven or eight feet high, and I seem to get vigour as I look at the stems which are all but trunks, at the great beautiful leaves.... I have some mag­ nificent carrots this year— straight, clean, tap­ ering, the colour a joy to look upon.”29

The Private Papers of Henry Ryeoroft con­ tain as charming informal essays as one will find anywhere in modern literature. They have a bit of the oharm of Lamb,with none of his whimsicality or quaintness, and a delightful con­ templative style of their own. The pictures are so cleverly drawn that they remain, even after their source is forgotten.

The book is not laden with cumbersome ideas, discoursive ar­ guments or potential warnings of any sort whatsoever. It is the sort in.which to lose oneself for charming half hours of leisure and delight. It is a fine thing on which to rest one's fame in untroubled and pleasant thought, after so man y years of strife. ; - . ; 'vV'::

"Can it be a whole twelve-month since the last spring? Because I am so content

29. Ryeoroft, p. 13. 69.

with life, must life slip away, as thought it grudged me happiness? Time was when a year drew its slow length of toil and anxiety and ever frustrate waiting. Further away, the year of childhood seemed endless. It is a familiar­ ity with life that makes time speed so quickly. When every day is a step in the unknown, as for children, the days are long with gathering ex­ perience ; the week gone by is already far in retrospect of things learnt, and that to come, especially if it foretell some joy, lingers in remoteness. Past Aid-life one learns little and expects little. To-day is like unto yes­ terday, and to that which shall be to-morrow. Only torment of mind or body serves to delay the indistinguished hours. Enjoy the day, be­ hold, it shrinks to a moment."31

2. By the Ionian Sea and the Letters.

Hear to Ryeoroft, yet for from it in

greatness, stands By the Ionian Sea, a book of travel notes

on Italy. This is a replica of many of George Gissing's Lets.

tors in a condensed form. Here we see the artist in the man

glowing, an artist with a fine sense of oloour, a moderate

sense of detail, and alittle idea of line or form.

"Some American scholars, landing onee at Paula, and looking up at the little yellowish town high above, the shore, and then mounting to it and finding a lodging at the ill-looking inn, the Leone, in a certain room that looked forth upon *a wild garden and the broad pebbly beach, with its white foam edging the blue expanse of sea* found it all strangely and unaccountably familiar; until of a sudden, as one of them has told me, they re­ membered that it was throught George Gisslng^s eyes that they had seen it all before, in By the Ionian Sea."32.

31. Ryeoroft, pp,R66-2C7. 32. The 'Hation, Edward. J. Goo&apeed,; 103: 154. 70,

Glasing's Letters have a similar vividness of colour and exactness of detail. The travel sketches are nothing particularly exceptional, save as they are Gissing,

Here is a famous passage which is relatively representative of his work of this sort:

"I was glad to come upon the pot mar­ ket ; in the south of Italy it is always a beautiful and interesting sight. Pottery for commonest use among the Calabrian peasants has a grace of line, a charm of colour, far beyond anything native to our most pretentious china shops. Here still lingers a trace of the old civilisation. There must be a great good in a people which has preserved this need of beauty through the ages of servitude and suffering. Compare such domestic utensils— these oil-jugs and wqter-Jugs with those of the house of an English la- ourer. Is it really so certain that all virtues of race dwell with those who can rest amid the ugly and know it is not for ugliness?"30

Thus we see that these are not just another man's impressions upon a trip abroad; they are George Gissing1a thoughts and feel­ ings upon the beauty he sees about him. He writes for love of the beautiful in order that we may love it too.

3. Dickens

The second work in Importance, of Gissing is his Charles Dickens, a critical study. Gissing had much in common with Dickens both as a man and writer. His life, like that of Dickens', was London, and he dealt with the lower

33, By the Ionian Sea, p. 35, 7 1 .

olaaaea of thkt great city. That Diokena had some influence

upon Glaalng, we have already seen, but he eould not influ­

ence his successor's temperament. From time to time Gissing

wrote articles upon Dickens, and he also wrote introductions

for a new edition of Dioken'e works. Thus it was nothing new

when he summarized his conception of Dickon1e work in a vol­

ume* Modern critics feel that therein is contained some of

the best criticism of Dickens that has been produced in a ' v:,-' : most admirable and creditable manner#

■ .. : . V v - ’ ■ The book is divided into twelve chaptera ■ ' V '-'v v. ■ with auoh headings aa: His’ Times;; The Story-Teller; Art;

Veracity and Moral Purpose; Style; The radical; Companions,

etc, Gissing managed, somehow, to keep himself in the back­

ground more than in any of this other works. It is surpris­

ing that to one for whom the world held so much gloom, fell

the task of writing a survey of Dickens. It is amazing to

notice how well he seems to catch the spirit of Dickens,True,

there is much of Gissing and less of Dickens in parts, but

it may well be said of the work as a whole, "This is good,"

The chapter on Dickens* character Station where he is defended

against over-exaggeration is particularly successful, and that of comparison with Hugo, Balzac, Ddstoevsky, Daudet, "halt 34 ■ been done with admirable skill", according to Swinnerton,

"It is delightful to find that he is at home with Dickens's humour, from which it might

34, FrankeSwinnerton, George Gissing, p, 150. 7 8 .

have been thought he would shrink as too crude. That was the only thing which might have been wanting from this fine book: being present it makes the whole study invaluable, and a read­ ing of the book on Dickens Is essential to a proper understanding of George Gisslng. It is almost 1self-forgetful1 * which is to say that it is more simple and unaffected than any of the novels."SB

4. Short Stories.

There are two volumes of Giasing’s short stories: Human Odds and Ends, published in 1898, and The

House of Cobwebs, published posthumously by Seeoombe, in 1906. Many of these, unfortunately, were written purely for money and are of no merit. Many of them are repititions,co­ vering ground already covered, and, as a whole, they are ra­ ther inferior to others of the same period. They are mainly of interest to students and admirers of Gisslng’s other works.

The Posthumous selection is far superior to the earlier one, and has much of Glsslng's lato tolerance and quietness. As

Swinnerton reminds us, Gisslng has his own conception of the short story, Just as he had his own conception of the novel. The difference between Gisslng*a novels and short stories is very slight: one is longer; the plot is the same. His por­ traiture seems to me excellent in several of his stories. The old gentlemen, Mr. Spicer, who had "an imperfect mastery" of

56, Frank Swinnerton, George Gisslng, p. 165. 73. a concertina, and could play "Horae Sweet Home", who "had played it for years, and evidently would never improve in his execution", rivals the work of Dickens• There seems to be a livelier humour in Gisslug's short stories than else­ where in his works; perhaps he realized it necessary.

"To say that they do not chall­ enge comparison with the best English short stories is in no sense to deny their merits. The lack of drama, the lack of any especial poignancy of motif, leaves them smooth and gracefully written tales."36

36. Trank Swlnnerton, George Gleslng. p. 134. 74;

III. The Place of Pissing as a man of letters.

A. Some stylistic qualities.

Great variance is most noticeable in the criticism of George Glssing's beat manner• Some criticism notes his early novels, speaks of their freshness and vigour, and calls these his best work. The reasons given are of a rather negative sort, for they rely chiefly upon a dislike for his later satiric style. Gissing *b later work is not fresh, but it has a refined mellowness which is the achievement of a life and time. Other criticism places its emphasis upon his last novels, and believes that his fame will rest here; among this group Yeranilda is spoken of as the climax of Gissing's greatness. There is yet a third group of criticism, which is representative of the present thought on the subject. This speaks of his Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft and By the Ion­ ian Sea as the only lasting work of this late Victorian. The differences in critical estimates do not end here, for there is also a discussion of Gissing*s best qualities. It is to these I now turn.

Before considering Glssing’s place as a man of letters, it will be well, perhaps, to consider the qualities which may give him permanence. J. D, Beresford says that Giss­ ing ’s was a tense workman-like prose, a flameless fire. He continues:

"He wrote his beat only when he was 7 5 .

describing struggles and miseries and noble suffers ings like those we have dwelt upon.... Directly he dwelt with men and woman living at their ease he lost his grip; he did not see; directly he changed his sober prosaic prose for a loftier style he was without merit*nl

W* T. Young adds a bit to this comment;

"In style, though he is rather con­ sciously literary, he is one of the few novelists who add to the worth of words by the care with which they are used, and his best writing has a rare rhythmical grace and variety. His was an eag­ er rhythm of classical verse as well as the prose of Landor and the poetry of Tennyson; in the later novels, his prose, always pure and finely chosen, breaks into arresting and felicitous phrase, more often, of pungent than imaginative quality."8

These two comments summarize all that has been written of Glssing's qualities. A few Illustrations from

The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft, which is recognized as his best and moot lasting work will be an aid in seeing these points. Yiho but Gisaing could describe the struggles of the commonplace so lovingly? .

"Old companion, yet old enenqrj How many times have I taken it up, loathing the neces­ sity, heavy, in head and heart, my hand shaking, my eyes siok-dazzledt How I dreaded the white page I had to foul with inkl , Above all, on days such as this, when the blue eyes of spring laughed from be­ tween rosy clouds, when the sunlight shimmered up­ on xby table and made me long, long all but to mad­ ness, for the scene of the flowering earth, for the green of the hillside larches, for the singing of the skylark above the downs."3

!• Living Age. 872: <378 ff. . 21. Cambridge History of Eng. Lit. Vol XIII, 513,514. 3, Hyecroft Papers , p. 'S'.' 76.

There is more of imagination here than is oommon with Giseing, and it contributes a small blue flame to the fire of his reminiseenee. It is as lovely and rhythmic as a poem. A more rugged vigour, a more characteristically Giss- ingesque bit is found in a sharp contrast i

"and why should any man who writes even if ho writes things immortal, nurse anger at the world's neglect? Who promised him a hearing? Who has broken faith with him? If my shoemaker turn me out an excellent pair of boots, and 1, in some mood of cantankerous unreason, throw them back upon his hands, the man has just cause for complaint• But your poom, your novel, who bargained with you for it? If it is honest journey work, yet lacks purchasers, at most you may call yourself a hapless tradesman. If it come from on high, with what de­ cency do you fret and fume because it is hot paid for in heavy cash. For the work of man's mind there is one test, and one alone, the judgments of the un­ born. "4

Hero again we find that terse, workman-like prose. Few authors ean carry the reader along with them while reasoning in short sentences, yet Giseing does it beautifully.

He manages to conform to a balanced rhythm which makes the reader unaware of the oratorically constructed sentences. A bit of variety may be seen in the following, which is a sen­ tence of some length, beautifully rounded, and almost triumph­

ant in its excellent construction:

"Far more than I knew at the time these pictures impressed me; I gazed and gazed at

4. Ryeoroft Papers, pp. 2,3. 7 7 .

them, -with that fixed attention of a child which Is half curiosity, half reverie. till every line of them was fixed In my mind; at this moment I see the blaek and white landscapea as if they were hanging on the wall before me, and I have often thought that this early training of the imagina­ tion, for such 11 was— has much to do with the passionate love of rural scenery which lurked with­ in me even when I did not recognize it, and which now for many a year has been one of the emotions directing my life."5

Curiously enough, Gissing seems to use the longer sentence almost entirely in retrospect; when expressing some new idea he usually uses the short form. Within an essay or chapter there is a charming variety of form, conforming, it

. seems, to the idea expressed. Paragraphing is shorter in his later works than in early ones.

The paragraphing in Ryeoroft is notably short, as are the essays themselves. I think that length in any sort in writing bothered Gissing. He wrote the first vol­ ume of his three-volume novels with zest, but the second and third volumes came more slowly and after greater effort. I have wondered if the very brevity of The Private Papers of Henry

Ryeoroft * the shortness of its divisions, the conciseness of its essays, paragraphs, and sentence structure, are not large­ ly contributory to its popularity. Gissing, I feel sure, found

Joy in writing it, and the style is so simple that it does not obtrude itself above the lovely philosophy and thought, though

5. Ryeoroft Papers, pp 74. 7 8 ,

I am certain It contributes its share to the popularity of the work. A prely literary characteristic of Glsslug's style,which shows the excellent word choice and almost characteristic con­ ciseness of the man, is the topic-sentence beginning, which he uses often. The first sentence of an essay will throw the read­ er in medlao res. This is probably a carrying over from his work as a Journalist and short story writer. His first sentence is apt to be his topic sentence. Let us examine a few of these. 6 :', V"v_.v. "For more than a week my pen has lain untouched." We assume immediately that the author will explain i t , as he does. It forms, standing as it does, the keynote of the whole book. We find: "I am no botanist, but I have long found pleasure in 7 herb gathering." Nothing could be more straight-forward or simple. Here is no eulogy on herb gatherers; it is a simple statement of affairs, Gissing follows it with a charming ex­ planation of the cause of his oleasure, and again: "Someone, 8 I see is lifting up his sweet voice in praise of conscription."

The very tone here tells us that Gissing is not in favor of con­ scription and we shall learn why. When he begins another essay: 9 "I have been spending a week in Somerset." we are equally cer­ tain that Somerset it will be, and we shall do well to hearken to a description of it.

There is no failure in Gissing to intrigue

6. Rveoroft Papers* opening sentence. 7. " p. 7. 8. " p. 49. 9. " p. 73. 7 9 . to oat oh the imagination! Far from that! He simply tells us of what we shall read and the probable tone it will take. There is a lovely directness. Hot all his introductory comments are so simple; occasionally they are suggestive of humour, as when he writes;

"The honest fellow who comes to dig in my garden is puzzled to account for my peculiar­ ities; I often catch a look of wondering speculation in his eye when it turns upon me...•

"But the gardener and I understand each other as soon as we go to the back of the house and get among the vegetables. On that ground he finds me perfectly sane."10 ;

Here is a bit of whimsicality, not often found in Gissing; the ambiguity in the word ground may not be intentional, but it adds 6r ■ ' ...... , . .. greatly to the fun of the essay.

Another literary quality noticeable in Giss­

ing is found in those signs of his scholarship whioh are scat­

tered about everywhere in his work. Scarcely a page is without

its literary allusion, its foreign phrase or word, o^ its dir­

ect quotation. These are not thrown in as conscious bits so much as to enlighten the reader as to the author’s exact mean-

■ " ' - ■ ing or idea. One of his essays begins:

"Homo animal querulum oupide suis in- oumbens miseriis*"!!

10. Ryeeroft, pp. 100-131. 11. n ‘ p. 14. 80.

This is given with a secondsry source and a pondering as to what the original might he. Sometimes

Giasing's use of other authors is g^lfest in a word or two which seem to him to have no English equivalent half so good as : "If he have at the hack of his dim mind no living ideal which lends his foolishness a generous significance, then in- 12 deed— videant oonsules•" Or again: "I am not denying the ------;---- 13 possibility of a mens in corpora sane; that is another thing."

In a book as much concerned with books, as is Ryeoroft, it would be strange if we had no reference to them. Such , of course, is not the case. The ancients,writ­ ers of classics of all ages, are constantly reflected in Giss- . ' ■ ing*s thoughts. It seems moot natural, then, to find refer­ ences to them in his works; such references come naturally to a man who is nore at home with books than with hie fellow-men.

It seems that hie living in the past has a felt influence even in his vocabulary, which is of surpris­ ing simplicity, tending just a bit toward quaintness. It may be (as Gisstag himself suggests) that he is decidedly -English, and that I am equally American. The vocabulary of any true

Englishman of the period might seem quaint compared with mo­ dern standards. Thus we find that Gisslng's thoughts reflect the best in music, art, and literature, his style is coloured

12. Ryeoroft, p. 125. 13. p. 124. 81, by them, tila word choice Is excellent, through association with them. Els vocabulary shows a lovely simplicity which comes only with a confidence and familiarity attained through a complete understanding of words, their meaning and use; I believe that Glssing’s thorough understanding of good books did much to foster this, '

B, A general critical estimate.

"What then, is Gisslng's note? What is 14 his special contribution to modern prose?" asks Hay Yates. Her

answer, which embodies much of the criticism of others is:

"It is the note of the scholar whose appeal is primarily to academic people; by choosing and polishing his diction he has, to some extent, limited his public. He cherishes the classical 1* deals of lucidity and restraint. His influence should avail to foster a love of letters in an un~ regenerate age. His delightful account of Cassi- doruo^lG for example, awakens more than momentary desire to read the Varial of the original. The pe­ culiar grace of his literary and historical allu­ sions is a constant delight. Again and again the man of letters sees more, and suggests more, to the reader than the actual scene before him."18 .

This, surely, is a virtue which is not too

common among his contemporaries. Seooombe holds a similar view

as to Closing's distinctive qualities. These two criticisms em­

body practically the whole of the comment of Giasing-critios,

14. George Pissing, pp. 99-100. 15. n ^ 'll pp. 99-100, 16. By the Ionian Sea, pp* 173-181, 8 2 .

I believe of resent years even the "book-eentere&" have re- jeoted. all but his Private Papers of Henry Ryeoroft.

"The distinctive qualities of Gisa- ing at the time of his setting forth were a schol­ ar ly style, rather fastidious and academic in its restraint, and the personal discontent, slightly morbid, of a self-conscious student who finds him­ self in the position of a sensitive woman in a crowd. His attitude through life was that of a man who, having set out on his career with the un­ derstanding that a second-class ticket is to be provided, allows, himself to be unceremoniously hustled into the rough and tumble of a noisy third. Circumstances made him revolt against an anonymous start in life for a refined and educated man under such conditions• They also made him prolific. He shrank from the restraints and humiliations, to which the poor and shabbily dressed private tutor is exposed— revealed to us with a persuasive terse­ ness in the pages of The UnelaesSd, Hew-Grub Street, Ryeoroft, and the story of. Tophamra Chance. Writing fiction in a garret for a sum sufficient to keep body and soul together for the six months follow­ ing payment was at any rate better than this. The result was a long series of highly finished novels, written in a style and from a point of view which will always render them dear to the studious and the book-centered. Upon the larger external rings of the book-reading multitude it is not probable that Gissing will ever succeed in impressing him­ self. There is an absence of tranStendental qual­ ity about his work, a failure in humour, a remote­ ness from actual life, a deficiency in awe and my­ stery, a shortcoming In emotional power, finally, a lack of the dramatic faculty, not Indeed indis­ pensable to a novelist, but almost indispensable as an ingredient in great novels of this particu­ lar germ. In temperament and vitality he is palp­ ably inferior to the masters (Dickens, Thackeray, Hugo, Balzac) whom he reverenced with such a cor­ dial admiration and envy. A *low vitality1 may aocount for what has been referred to as the 'ner­ vous exhaustion* of his style. It were useless to pretend that Gissing belongs of right to 'the first series' of English Men of Letters. But if debarred by his limitations from a resounding or popular success, he will remain exceptionally dear to the heart of the recluse, who thinks that the scholar does w%ll to oheriah a grievance against the vul­ gar world beyond the cloister; and dearer still, 83.

perhaps, to a certain number of enthusiast!os who began reading George Gissins as a college night- course; who closed Thyrssa and Demos as dawn was breaking through the elms of somb Oxford quadran- gle, a M who have pursued his work patiently ever since in a somewhat toilsome and broken accent, secure always 6f suave writing and coneientious workmanship, of an individual prose cadence and genuine: vein of PeSsroso:

^hus. Bight, oft see me in thyypale eareer... Where brooding Darkness spreads his jealous . .. . ' wings, -■ ■ ' ' . And the night-raven sings.1

"Yet by % e larger, or at any rate, the intermediate public, it is a fact that Gissing has never been quite fairly estimated. He loses immensely.if you estimate him either by a single book, as is eommonly done, or by his v/ork as a whole, in the perspective of which* owing to the lack of critical instruction, one or two books, of rather inferior quality have obtruded themselves unduly;"17

fhus far the critics of Gissing; agree. They also agree to his transitional qualities; his retaining the fea­ tures of the passing Vietbrim type sueh as being sentimental, capacious, benevolently admoniory, plot-ridden, and at the same time they refer to his modern forms and "siloes of life" meth­ ods . He is recognized as one of the earliest of the English realists of fiction. It was this perhaps, which made for un- popularity in his own day, and it is the Victorian tendencies ' V • ■■ • ■ ' . 18 which make for almost no knowledge of him to-day• In France, where realism was indigenous, Gissing's reputation was among the highest in British fiction before the London libraries were

17. Secoombe, Preface to House of Cobwebs, viii.ix.x. 18. Waugh, Arthur, LivinfTage, 84. at all diaoonoerted by any pressing demand for his books. The young French enthusiasts wore hailing him as "le Jeune maltre", and comparing him with Zola, vrihen not even an illustrated London paper had found occasion to beg him to be photographed. Indeed, his most popular book, The Private Papers of Henry Ryeoroft sold very slowly# It is only recently that the book has gained the popularity which has taken it through fourteen editions#

"They are only novels# It seems that there is genuine cause for shuddering when one’s work takes this form. Dead leaves oannot be more brittle or worthless than things faintly imagined— -and that the fruit of one’s life should be twelve volumes of dead leavesl We have one moment of auoh panic be­ fore the novels of George Gissing, and then we rise again. Hot in our time will they be worthless#••• nevertheless it is his own word ’respect1 that seems to describe the attitude of the public toward him; he is certainly not popular; he is not really fa­ mous,,.. We can imagine that he is the favorite novelist of a great many middle-aged, sceptical, ra­ ther depressed men and women, who when they read want thought and understanding of life as it is, not wit or romance."19

Thus each critic shifts Gissing’s probable

public a trifle. An anonymous one suggests:

"It is too early, as yet, to decide what place he will finally take among the writers of the late Victorian shoool, but, though prophecy is both thankless and unprofitable, it is safe to say, never a popular author, he will be remembered when the men who outran him in public favour are wholly, and deservedly forgotten. He wrote, in all, some five,and twenty books, and, of these, six touch the highewater mark of excellence in the style that is peculiarly his own— repressed, yet full of power, vivid though somber in colouring."80

19. Anon. Article in Living Age, 272: 675 ff. 20. Living Age, 249; 238 ff. 86,

Giseing will probably be remembered, for hie

Private Papers of Henry Ryeeroft, By the Ionian Sea, perhaps for several novels of protest which mark the way between his period. and ours— Thyrza, flew Grub Street * The Odd Woman, The Whirlpool, or Eve's Ransom will be among these, and by his Letters. His criticism of Charles Dickens which made Chesterton call him a 21 man of genius, is still recognized as one of the best criticisms of Dickens that has ever been put forth. More fame than this Gissing himself did not expect; he might well have said of his own books:

"OhLvthe books .that one will never read again. They gave delight, perchance something more; they left a perfume in the memory; but life hhas passed them by forever, I have but to muse, and one after another they rise before me. Books gen­ tle and quieting; books noble and inspiring; books that will merit to be pored over, not once but many a time. Yet never again shall I hold them in my hand; the years fly too quickly, and arc too few. Perhaps when I lie waiting for the end, some of those lost books will come into my wandering thoughts and I shall remember them as friends to whom I owe a kindness--friends passed upon the way. What a re­ gret In that last farewelli" 22

22. Ryeeroft, p, 46. 86,

GEORGE GISSIRG, HIS LIFE AHB WORK

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. WORKS (Given ohronologioally, with dates of first publica­ tion and present publication,)

1880, Workers in the Dawn; throo volumes, 1880, London, Remington,

1884. The Unolassed; 1896, London, Lawrence and Sullen,

1886, laobel Clarendon; 1886, London, Chapman and Hall, Limited. 1886. Demos; 1897, London, Smith, Elder and Company,

1887. . Thyrza; 1907, London, Smith, Elder and Company,

1888. A Life's Horning; three volumes; publisher unknown,

1889. The Esther World; three volumes, 1907, London, Smith, Elder and Company,

1890. The Emancipated; 1901. A, H. Sullen.

1891. Hew Grub Street; three volumes; 1905, Hew York, R. F. F e m o and Company,

1892-3 Born in Exile; three volumes; 1893, London and Edinburgh, A, and C. Black.

1892. Denzll Quarrler; London, Lawrence and Sullen.

1893. The Odd Woman; three volumes; 1905, London. A. H, Sullen.

1894. In the Year of Jubilee; c.1894, New York, A. L. Burt and Company,

1896. The Paying Guest; (Casael’s Pocket Library) Lon­ don, Cassel and Company, 8 7 .

1895. Sleeping Fires; (Antonym Library), University, Lon-

1896. Eve18 Ransom; 1901, London. A. H. Sullen. 1897. The Whirlpool; 1897, Hew York, P. A. Stokea and ' Company.

1898. Human Odds and Ends; (Stories and Sketches); 1911, !...... London, Sidgwich and Jackson, Ltd.

1898. The Town Traveler; 1898, Hew York, F. A. Stokes.

1898. Charles Dickens; a Critical Study; 1904, Hew York, Dodd, Mead, and Company.

1899. The Crown of Life; London, Methuen and Company•

1901. Our Friend the Charlatan; London, Chapman and Hall.

1901. By the Ionian Sea; Motes of a ramble in Southern Italy; lyob1, London, Chapman and Hall, Ltd.

1903, Foresters Life of Dickens; (abridged) London, not listed In English or American cat­ alogues.

1903, The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft; 1903, New 1 and Company,

1903. Veranllda; (vdth a preface by Frederick Harrison), Mew York, E. P. Dutton and Company,

ISO5, 77111 Warburt'on; 190b, Mew York, E. P, Dutton and ' . ... 1 '. ' ■ Company,

1906, The House of Cobwebs; and other stories, to which is prefixed. The Work of George Gisslng, and Introd­ uctory survey by Thomas See- oombe, 1907, Mew York, E, P. Dutton and Company, M.D. Letters to Edward Clodd, thirteen in number, 1896- 1903, Printed for private circulation. British Museum

M. D, Letters to an Editor, l.e. Mr. C. K. Shorter, 1894- 1900, of value also for a final"Hote on George Gissing" by C. K. S. Printed for priv ate circulation. British Museum. 88.

1987. Lettera of George Gisaing; 1869-1903$ 1987, Boston ■■ 1 1 /"'■ and Hew York, Houghton Mifflin Company. With a preface by Alfred Glssing and additional letters and notes.

II. SPECIAL WORK OP GISSIWG OH DICKERS.

*Charles Dickens; A Critical Study, 1898.

Works of Charles Dickens; Rochester edition with introduc­ tion by George Glssing, 1900, etc.

*Charles Dickens; A Critical Study, revised with topographi­ cal illustrations by F. G. Kitton, 1908,

Works of Charles Dickens; (Imperial edition) 1902, etc.

♦foresterfs Life of Dickens; abridged and revised by George ------:------Glssing, 1903 (1902)

Dickens, in Memory; in Hew York Critic, January, 1908.

III.CRITICISM AHD LIFE.

\ 1. BJORKMAN, E.'j Voices of To-morrow, critical studies in L the Hew Spirit of Literature, 1914, Lon­ don, Richards.

; 8. BEHRETT, ARNOLD, Fane and Fiction, 1901, London, Rioh- ‘ ards.

^ 3. CLODD, EDWARD, Memoirs, New York, Putman Company, 1916.

4* THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITAZIHICA, Cambridge, at the Univer- ~1"'.."".. sity press, 1910, anon.

5. ENCYCLOPEDIA UNIVERSAL ILLUSTRADA, Ho. 26, Barcelona, ! 7 ' 7 tiijos de J. Esposa, 1925.

♦Mentioned previously in bibliography. 89.

6. FOLLETT, HELEH THOMAS, and WILSON, Some M o d e m novelist?, Hew York, u. Holt and uospany, 1918.

*7. HARRISON, FREDERIC, Yeranllda, Preface, E. P. Dutton and Company, 1905.

8, MASTEHMAN, 0. E. G., In Peril of Change, 1905, London.

9. MORE, PAUL ELMER, Sheltonme Eb b ays. Volume V, G. P. Put- name Sons, Hew York end London, r 1908. [_10. ROBERTS* MORLEY, The Private Life of Henry Maltland,1928.

*11. SECCOMBE, THOMAS, The House of Cobweba. Introduction. New York, Ep£. Dutton a M Com- pany. 18. Biograiday, aupp. S, vol, 11, George Giasing, ®ie MoMill- an Company, Hew York.

13. SWINNERTON, FRANK, George Giasing, Hew York, George H. . Doran and Company, 0.1923.

14* Upton Letters, 1905 (Reference from Seeeombe.)

15. YATES* MAY, George Gigging, Manchester University Press, London and N6w York, Longman’s Green and Company, 1922.

16. Literature, Volume XIII, chapter 14, Hew York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1917.

IV. PERIODICAL REFERENCES.

The Academy.

1) 60: 535. George Giasing as a Trawler, anon. 2) 51: 516. The Whirlpool, anon. 3) January 9, 1904, pp. 40-46, Article by personal friend, W. Morris Colles; also letters from S.W. Williamson. (Reference from Yates, 104.)

The Albany.

(1) December, 1904. p. 27. An encounter on the Hero­ ine ikos , anon. (Reference from Seooombe, xzii) 9 0 .

Th@ Athenaeum *{1) June 12, 1880. Review of Workers In the Dawn. (2) February 21, 1903, 1:234, R'e¥le¥'of trivateTPapere of Henry Ryeoroft. Also in Ration, 76: V/8, Je* 'll; t’onteBip. 83:6^9-601, Ap. *03.

(3) January 2, 1904, %: 18. Sketch, anon.

(4) January 16, 1904, Sketch by C. F. Keary. (Reference from Seocombe, Iv)

(5) 1904, 2: 544, Veranllfla Review, anonl

1904, 93: 280-2. Idealistic Realist, anon, ore o^puran.)

The Book Buyer .

(1) 16: 40, J. N. Hilliard, with Portrait. (0. White) Semonee 6: 360.

The Bookman

(1) 14: 95, Out Friend the Shariaban. Also in Over­ land, 5. S. 38: 314-0* Oct. «01. Anon.

*(2) February, 18: 600-3. Work of E. Bjorkman, por­ trait. Also in Review of Reviews, 29: 353-4. Mr, A. Waugh; Fortnightly, 81: 244-56; Living Age, 240: 714-23. March 19, (04,

*f3) February 1, 1914, 38: 590-1. Trail of Gieaing, anon,

*(4) March, 1914, 39: 6-9. biasing the Extra-ordinary, anon.

*(5) August, 1926, 63: 683-6• A Stearns, George Gisiing in America.

The Contemporary Review

(1) August, 1897, 72: 192. H. G. Wells,

(2) July, 1929, 128: 82-9• A Harrison, Signposts of fiction. 91*

fhe Crltlo

(1) August, 1901. 39: 103. Portrait*

(2) March, 1904, 44: 147. Portrait. Also see l.tonsey 89: 615, July; Independent 58: 853. Ap. 9, *03*

(3) March, 1905, 46: 208. Also Independent:59: 321. A&. 10, *05.

Current Literature

(1) May, 1906, 40: 609.10* Victim of 19th Century Grub Street• Anon.

Current Opinion .

(1) February, 1913. 54: 143-4, Anon.

Dally Mail Yearbook

(1) 1906, pa 8— Eloquence, Anon. (Reference from Seooombe, xiii)

Dial

(1) June 22, 1916. M.B. Anderson, Chat about George Gissing. (Reference from Swinnerton, 200.)

English Illustrated Magazine - '* (1) lovember, 1903— Portrait. (Reference from Yates, 114.) .

\ fhe Fortnightly Review

(1) Jan.-June, 1900, 73: 884-98. By the Ionian Sea. George Gissing. . ...1 ...1 " ' " - .. 1900 X (2) July-Deoember, 74: 161076, 337-54, 623-32, 701- Y __ 18. By the Ionian Sea George Gissing.

(3) Jan.-June, 1902; 77: 891-923, Author at Grass, Anon.

(4) Aug.-Mo t ., 1902, 78: 330-60, 889-916. Anon.

(5) Jan.-June, 1903, 79: 365-93. Author at Grass, Anon* 9 8 .

The In&epen&ent Review

(1) Februaiy 8» 1904, 56: 378-81. J. U. McCarthy, Character Sketch. P ortrait.

(2) March 20, 1913, 74: 655, Portrait.

(3) April 9, 1927, 118: 391. Readers and Writers. 1. Boyd.

.Gentleman's Magazine

(1) Fehmary, 1906 .Human Odds and Ends* anon. (Ref­ erence from Swihherton, 200.} Guardi# (1) January 6, 1904, anon. (Reference from Seooombe, lv.) literary Digest

*(1) ' December 21, 1912, 45: 1180-1, Body Snatching in Fiction. Portrait. Anon.

(2) March 13, 1920, 64: 41, Death of the Children. Poem by Giasing* . . literature ^ .'' (1) July 20, 1901, Morley Roberts. living Age

(1) October 2, 1897; 2151 22. H. G. Wells, Hovels of George Gissing.

*(2) April 28, 1906, 249: 238-48, Recollections.

December 17, 1904, 243: 733-41, J. D. Flndlate, r.w The Spokesman of Despair. *(4) March 16, 1912, 272: 67 5-80, How lights, Anon. *(5) Hovember 11, 1902, B. B. Osborn, Dismal Dickens• (Reference from Seooombe, lv.) 93e

The Monthly Review

(1) Volume XVI, Ionian Sea Experiences, Anon# (Ref­ erence from Seceombe, xxii#)

(2) August, 1904, H# G. Wells, Goerge Glaaing, an Expreaeion# (Reference from Yates, 104.)

Murray*a Magazine

(1) III. 606-508# l!iae Seohel on Philanthrppio Novelists#

The Hation(N#Y.) '

*(1) Junell, 1903, 40446. The antt-aoeial aide of Giaelng.

*(2) January 17, 1907, 84i 63-5. P. B. More, Esti­ mate. ISame phliahed in Shelbourne Essays]

*(0) August 17, 1916, 103: 164, E. G. Gooda^eed, Letter of Gisaings*.

The national Review

(1) X X X Hew Grub Street F. Dolman. (Reference from Seceombe, xxx.j

(2) XIIV ' Hew Grub Street, Anon. -'v.' " ■

The How Repub 11 o

(1) March 2, 1987 , 60 : 49 - 60. V. Woolf, George Gisa- ing. .

The nineteenth Cantury

*(1) September, 60: 453-63. Also in living Age, 251: 216-225, Oct. '27, *06. A Harrison.

*(2) September, 1927, 102 : 417-24, B. Glaaing, Char­ acter Sketch. SSe V'

fhe Horth -American Review

(1) September,^.982*1215: 364-77, S. Alien, George Giasing,

(2) November, 1982, 216: 691-4, M. P. Allen, Odd Woman and the girls.

ITotes on Hovelipto ■ ' .

(1) 436-45, London Rotes, H. James.

The Owen College Unloii.

(1) January 1904, 80-81, A* S* Wilkins, London Scenes.

The Saturday Review of Literature

(1) May 14, 1927, 3: 821, C. Morley, Motes on G. Ciaaing*

(2) July 6, 1927, 3: 980, Glesing again. Reply to 0. Morley.

(3) August 6, 1927, 4: 26, V. 0*Sullivan, More About Gieeings

The Sphere

(1) January, 1904, Sketch from life by Mre, Clar­ ence Rook. (Reference from Yates, p. 104.)

The Times

(1) December 29, 1903, Anon. (Reference from Yates, p. 104.)

(2) January 11, 1912, Anon* (Reference from Swinn- erton, p. 200.)

The Tuppence

(1) May, 1900, 66x 796-800* nightfall, Anon. X ) 7l £ 979/ 9

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