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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
The English language shines in this book! Delicious prose doesn't make it any less depressing, as it describes how poverty shapes character. Quite an unknown author, not a single title of his listed at our library. I might donate this copy, if I didn't love it so much.
Hack works: I’m starting to love George Gissing. After his odd women, the difficult men of Grub Street - hopeless Harold Biffen, idealistic Edwin Reardon (no, not him), both doomed while their unscrupulous foe Jasper Milvain - the “alarmingly modern young man” - prospers.
Milvain who’ll write - and marry - anything for money is the antithesis of writer as artist. Yet in a twist of fate, he, too ends up trapped, his need for money and approbation being the flame to his moth. Gissing is so good at lifting the rock of his Victorian world - the restricted lives and crushed hopes of those who weren’t privileged: the men without money or position, and of course the women. Marian, who finds her independence only to have to snatched away and Amy, who defies convention by refusing an ‘I’ll go where you go’ approach to her wifely duties.
What’s even more alarmingly modern is Gissing’s cynicism about love and money, and the attitude of writers to their craft and their audience - the good die young and the bad marry for money and continue to churn it out, les pisseurs de copie, as Madame Spark would have it, who despise their audience. Yet Reardon, and to a lesser extent Biffen, who should be the good guys martyred for their art, are sentimental, inflexible and unable to understand the motives of others, off the page at least.
As a piece of metafiction - one has a sense of the author looking down on his reader, a thin sneer playing on his lips - it sure takes a different tack to Jane Eyre.
Alarmingly modern (for 1891) indeed.
Milvain who’ll write - and marry - anything for money is the antithesis of writer as artist. Yet in a twist of fate, he, too ends up trapped, his need for money and approbation being the flame to his moth. Gissing is so good at lifting the rock of his Victorian world - the restricted lives and crushed hopes of those who weren’t privileged: the men without money or position, and of course the women. Marian, who finds her independence only to have to snatched away and Amy, who defies convention by refusing an ‘I’ll go where you go’ approach to her wifely duties.
What’s even more alarmingly modern is Gissing’s cynicism about love and money, and the attitude of writers to their craft and their audience - the good die young and the bad marry for money and continue to churn it out, les pisseurs de copie, as Madame Spark would have it, who despise their audience. Yet Reardon, and to a lesser extent Biffen, who should be the good guys martyred for their art, are sentimental, inflexible and unable to understand the motives of others, off the page at least.
As a piece of metafiction - one has a sense of the author looking down on his reader, a thin sneer playing on his lips - it sure takes a different tack to Jane Eyre.
Alarmingly modern (for 1891) indeed.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
About writing and the publishing industry. Very heart breaking 💔.
It's a great book, which is strange because so many of the characters are unlikeable. Then again, maybe that is why it is a great book because all the characters are human.
Gissing paints a very good picture of the times, and several characters, in particular Jasper, feel as if they could just work off of the page. There are only a total of two flat characters and that is all. There is something compelling about the tone and style as well. I wish my teachers in college had assigned this book. It's great.
Gissing paints a very good picture of the times, and several characters, in particular Jasper, feel as if they could just work off of the page. There are only a total of two flat characters and that is all. There is something compelling about the tone and style as well. I wish my teachers in college had assigned this book. It's great.
I began reading this book because it was mentioned in some writers’ forums. I’m studying to become a book coach, and some writers/coaches have alluded wryly to New Grub Street as an important book about the publishing industry.
Interesting, because it was published in 1891. And yet, they were right. Really, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
First, to readers who are not particularly interested in publishing, there is plenty of plot and character development. The lives and relationships of the characters are as intriguing as if they had pursued any other field. As with most Victorian novels set in London and its environs, there’s a great emphasis on money and class --tiresomely so. It’s one of the reasons I had a hard time liking any of the characters. While some of them strove to live their lives without consideration for class, a good number were very concerned about getting in with the Right Kind of People. Financial considerations drove much of the plot. In the current economic situation, it was rather tiresome to read a book in which so many people were on the edge of financial collapse and suffering terribly. And it's uncomfortable to hope that somebody's uncle dies so his heir can suddenly be rich.
One thing about the poor in Victorian London, though. You really begin to appreciate things like central heating, and butter for your toast. And washing machines.
The major benefit I derived from reading New Grub Street was the astonishing fact that the things I deplore about the publishing industry today are the same ones that the characters in this book either loathed or embraced. To wit, the reality that there are too many periodicals which are driven to produce content --any content-- constantly, in order to sell copies. This drives down the quality of what is produced. In addition, the majority of people who read are not interested in improving their minds or inspiring themselves to higher or better thoughts. Rather, they want to read ever-shorter pieces of drivel (apparently, the declining attention span is not a new thing). One character who embraces the reality of what we nowadays call “churn,” put it this way:
“I would have the paper address itself to the quarter-educated; that is to say, the great new generation that is being turned out by the Board schools, the young men and women who can just read, but are incapable of sustained attention. People of this kind want something to occupy them in trains and on ‘buses and trams. As a rule they care for no newspapers except the Sunday ones; what they want is the lightest and frothiest of chit-chatty information --bits of stories, bits of description, bits of scandal, bits of jokes, bits of statistics, bits of foolery.”
Can you think of a better description of most of the stuff available on the internet right now? It's easy to imagine the Victorian internet article titled “Which Corset Are You?”
It seems that drivel has always existed. But it hasn’t succeeded yet in completely overwhelming society. In addition to "the quarter-educated," there are and probably always will be people who want to learn new things, read a well-researched and -reported article on a subject of great import, or be inspired to higher thoughts and feelings than the base ones stirred up by the vast oceans of “foolery” available at the click of a key.
Some will enjoy New Grub Street, as I have, as a commentary on literary society, some for its depictions of Victorians in various social positions. Some will like it because of the few sympathetic characters. It’s long and sometimes pedantic. I skipped some sections muttering to myself, “Gissing is putting his words into the character’s mouth, the pompous old windbag!” Perhaps that makes me one of “the quarter-educated.” Or maybe it just means that some manuscripts could still benefit from editing even though they were published a hundred and thirty years ago.
Interesting, because it was published in 1891. And yet, they were right. Really, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
First, to readers who are not particularly interested in publishing, there is plenty of plot and character development. The lives and relationships of the characters are as intriguing as if they had pursued any other field. As with most Victorian novels set in London and its environs, there’s a great emphasis on money and class --tiresomely so. It’s one of the reasons I had a hard time liking any of the characters. While some of them strove to live their lives without consideration for class, a good number were very concerned about getting in with the Right Kind of People. Financial considerations drove much of the plot. In the current economic situation, it was rather tiresome to read a book in which so many people were on the edge of financial collapse and suffering terribly. And it's uncomfortable to hope that somebody's uncle dies so his heir can suddenly be rich.
One thing about the poor in Victorian London, though. You really begin to appreciate things like central heating, and butter for your toast. And washing machines.
The major benefit I derived from reading New Grub Street was the astonishing fact that the things I deplore about the publishing industry today are the same ones that the characters in this book either loathed or embraced. To wit, the reality that there are too many periodicals which are driven to produce content --any content-- constantly, in order to sell copies. This drives down the quality of what is produced. In addition, the majority of people who read are not interested in improving their minds or inspiring themselves to higher or better thoughts. Rather, they want to read ever-shorter pieces of drivel (apparently, the declining attention span is not a new thing). One character who embraces the reality of what we nowadays call “churn,” put it this way:
“I would have the paper address itself to the quarter-educated; that is to say, the great new generation that is being turned out by the Board schools, the young men and women who can just read, but are incapable of sustained attention. People of this kind want something to occupy them in trains and on ‘buses and trams. As a rule they care for no newspapers except the Sunday ones; what they want is the lightest and frothiest of chit-chatty information --bits of stories, bits of description, bits of scandal, bits of jokes, bits of statistics, bits of foolery.”
Can you think of a better description of most of the stuff available on the internet right now? It's easy to imagine the Victorian internet article titled “Which Corset Are You?”
It seems that drivel has always existed. But it hasn’t succeeded yet in completely overwhelming society. In addition to "the quarter-educated," there are and probably always will be people who want to learn new things, read a well-researched and -reported article on a subject of great import, or be inspired to higher thoughts and feelings than the base ones stirred up by the vast oceans of “foolery” available at the click of a key.
Some will enjoy New Grub Street, as I have, as a commentary on literary society, some for its depictions of Victorians in various social positions. Some will like it because of the few sympathetic characters. It’s long and sometimes pedantic. I skipped some sections muttering to myself, “Gissing is putting his words into the character’s mouth, the pompous old windbag!” Perhaps that makes me one of “the quarter-educated.” Or maybe it just means that some manuscripts could still benefit from editing even though they were published a hundred and thirty years ago.
I enjoyed this book, I found it easy to read. The characters were all interesting and engaging and I was fully invested in the plight of them all.
The story follows the lives, loves and family matters of a circle of interconnected writers in Victorian London. The book explores their triumphs and hardships in a wonderfully descriptive and sometimes heart wrenching way. Gissing writes very 'real' characters, all making mistakes and hurting themselves and others in the process of trying to 'make it' in the world and on the London literary scene.
The story follows the lives, loves and family matters of a circle of interconnected writers in Victorian London. The book explores their triumphs and hardships in a wonderfully descriptive and sometimes heart wrenching way. Gissing writes very 'real' characters, all making mistakes and hurting themselves and others in the process of trying to 'make it' in the world and on the London literary scene.
Thoroughly engaging and modern book about the publishing industry which could be from the 1990s as well as the 1890s. Is it possible to be an artist or writer if you don't have inherited money to live on? Art vs. commerce is one of the major themes of this novel, and it is astute and well-observed, if depressing for those of us who don't come from money. I loved Biffen, and I want some follow-up fanfiction about Marian! 4.5 stars rounded up to 5. I liked Gissing's The Odd Women more, because the main characters were much more sympathetic. Reardon, Milvain, and Yule, the three main characters here, are all on the scale of annoying to horrible. If you love Dickens but get annoyed by his happy endings, this might be the author for you!
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think that this book is totally deserving of the title of classic. The writing is compelling and the story is solid, as well as the characters. The only thing I didn't particularly enjoy was the fact that the chapters could drag a bit, especially toward the beginning of the book.
The story was compelling and the characters interesting and even though I didn't agree or even like some of the characters, there is no mistaking them for one dimensional. Every character had a personality and motivations and I really enjoyed that aspect of the book.
I also enjoyed the fact that the book depicted more true to live aspects of being a writer in the 1880's, not a romantic fairytale about art and passion but rather a dirge through poverty often not only affecting yourself but your loved ones as well leading to the bittering of marriages, the struggle for a home, and the death of loved ones.
That being said, I do think that it is appropriate to mention that the book is fairly cynical and though I enjoyed reading it even though I don't normally enjoy books of this nature, if you are looking for a happy ending it is not necessarily in this book.
The story was compelling and the characters interesting and even though I didn't agree or even like some of the characters, there is no mistaking them for one dimensional. Every character had a personality and motivations and I really enjoyed that aspect of the book.
I also enjoyed the fact that the book depicted more true to live aspects of being a writer in the 1880's, not a romantic fairytale about art and passion but rather a dirge through poverty often not only affecting yourself but your loved ones as well leading to the bittering of marriages, the struggle for a home, and the death of loved ones.
That being said, I do think that it is appropriate to mention that the book is fairly cynical and though I enjoyed reading it even though I don't normally enjoy books of this nature, if you are looking for a happy ending it is not necessarily in this book.
putting this as read, although havent read all 3 volumes, have read a few chapters and did some in-depth reading during class. influential bit of victorian lit, didn't appeal to me tho. apparently gissing wrote this at a pace of approx 20k words a day