George Gissing’s The Nether World is a nightmare of naturalistic realism. Or realistic naturalism. In any case, it a deeply pessimistic novel, a deeply pained story of a variety of characters for whom inborn nobleness, goodness, generosity, and intelligence offer no recourse from being born on the wrong side of the class line. It almost…
Tag: George Gissing
What marriage meant to the Victorians–and by “the Victorians,” I mean three novels by Gissing and Trollope
Oh, I am remiss. I know this. I keep breezing through delightful books and then not blogging about them. This must change, if only because I don’t want all my book posts to be jerk-faced complaint-fests. A couple of years ago, over at Bookphilia, I began a very serious Victorian Literature Project; I was to…
Two Penguins enter, one Penguin leaves
I mentioned in my previous post that I recently read and greatly enjoyed Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters, unfinished though it may be. Part of my enjoyment of it–indeed, of my pleasure in all the Victorian door-stoppers I’ve made my way through in the past 18 months–was reading every single footnote provided by the hardworking…
Jam and Idleness 