New Grub Street

New Grub Street 

by George Gissing
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novel was written in 1890 and is set in the world in which Gissing was living and working. It considers numerous moral and philosophical questions about art, marriage, and money. It is such a well-told tale, however, that the higher considerations add to the enjoyment of the story rather than feeling added-on. It is not an entirely happy story, but the characters are complex and well drawn and I was pulled into their lives and their concerns. I was reading this as my chapter-a-day book and finished early because I wanted to find out how things turned out. (This seems to be becoming a pattern with me!)

In the "Introduction" to the Oxford World Classic's edition (which should under no circumstances be read before the novel as it is full of spoilers) the strengths of the book are well described:

"New Grub Street's account of the writing life draws upon irs author's own experiences, but Gissing offers no straightforward portrait of the artist. Instead, he offers a fragmented and multiple meditation, diffusing elements of his own autobiography through different characters. ... The distribution of personal experience accords with a wider scattering of narrative sympathy, helping to create the novel's striking moral ambivalence." (p. xiii)

This book is from my Classics Club list; it counts toward the Back to the Classics Challenge (as a 19th century classic); and it is on my TBR Pile Challenge list.