Collected Letters Gissing
8 total works
For many years, the only Gissing letters available to the public were those in the modest selection of letters to his family published in 1927. In the following years a good number were published separately in such places as journals, memoirs, and sales catalogues, but like the single and small groups of unpublished letters scattered in libraries around the world, they remained in practical terms inaccessible. Even though in recent years small groups of letters to individual correspondents have come into print, the rapidly growing numbers of Gissing readers and scholars now feel the need for access to his letters in an edition comparable to those of his contemporary novelist friends, Thomas Hardy and Joseph Conrad. In this edition, all the Gissing letters that could be found, published and unpublished, have been brought together from all known sources: private and public collections, journals, newspapers, memoirs, biographies, and sales catalogues. The important advantage is not only that they have at last been brought together, but also that they are placed chronologically and given a uniform editorial context which provides a coherence lacking in letters separately published.
A significant feature of this edition is that it also contains, whenever they are available, letters to Gissing which are of great help in recording his life during the times when his own letters have been lost or destroyed. With the recent publication of Gissing's diary, his commonplace book, and other smaller pieces, this edition becomes the final major publication of Gissing papers known to exist, and certainly the most significant record of his life, his mind, and his art. It will be of crucial importance to any future biographers, and of the greatest value to those who want to study Gissing's novels in relation to his life.
A significant feature of this edition is that it also contains, whenever they are available, letters to Gissing which are of great help in recording his life during the times when his own letters have been lost or destroyed. With the recent publication of Gissing's diary, his commonplace book, and other smaller pieces, this edition becomes the final major publication of Gissing papers known to exist, and certainly the most significant record of his life, his mind, and his art. It will be of crucial importance to any future biographers, and of the greatest value to those who want to study Gissing's novels in relation to his life.
Gissing's career, which spanned the period of about 1877 to his death in 1903, was characterized by prodigious output (almost a novel a year in the early days), modest recognition, and modest income. He wrote of poverty, socialism, class differences, social reform, and later on, about the problems of women and industrialization. His best known works are New Grub Street (1891) and Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (1903), rich sources of social commentary that reflect a literary transition from the Victorian to the modern period. For many years, the only Gissing letters available to the public were a handful written to his family published in 1927. Now the editors have culled widely scattered sources-private and public collections, journals, newspapers, memoirs, biographies, and sales catalogs-to gather and organize Gissing's correspondence, including letters to him, and to provide an editorial context. Before 1898, Gissing's life could not be called happy or content, but during the years that this volume covers-December 1897-December 1899-his life took another radical turn.
Still emotionally vulnerable from his wretched marriage, he met the most genuine love of his life, Gabrielle Fleury, a French woman familiar with his writings. Through his passionate letters to her, he ecstatically welcomed her into his life, and in a private ceremony of union in France he "married" her in May, 1899 (though illegally-he was still married to his second wife who was in England.) Gabrielle's love supported Gissing the rest of his life, until his early death in 1903. Earlier defeats that he felt were his doom were temporarily overcome at this time by his intimacy with Gabrielle. And he continued to write as actively as he could, producing at this time The Crown of Life, a celebration of his rediscovery of the power of love.
Still emotionally vulnerable from his wretched marriage, he met the most genuine love of his life, Gabrielle Fleury, a French woman familiar with his writings. Through his passionate letters to her, he ecstatically welcomed her into his life, and in a private ceremony of union in France he "married" her in May, 1899 (though illegally-he was still married to his second wife who was in England.) Gabrielle's love supported Gissing the rest of his life, until his early death in 1903. Earlier defeats that he felt were his doom were temporarily overcome at this time by his intimacy with Gabrielle. And he continued to write as actively as he could, producing at this time The Crown of Life, a celebration of his rediscovery of the power of love.
For many years, the only Gissing letters available to the public were those in the modest selection of letters to his family published in 1927. In the following years a good number were published separately in such places as journals, memoirs, and sales catalogues, but like the single and small groups of unpublished letters scattered in libraries around the world, they remained in practical terms inaccessible. Even though in recent years small groups of letters to individual correspondents have come into print, the rapidly growing numbers of Gissing readers and scholars now feel the need for access to his letters in an edition comparable to those of his contemporary novelist friends, Thomas Hardy and Joseph Conrad. In this edition, all the Gissing letters that could be found, published and unpublished, have been brought together from all known sources: private and public collections, journals, newspapers, memoirs, biographies, and sales catalogues. The important advantage is not only that they have at last been brought together, but also that they are placed chronologically and given a uniform editorial context which provides a coherence lacking in letters separately published.
A significant feature of this edition is that it also contains, whenever they are available, letters to Gissing which are of great help in recording his life during the times when his own letters have been lost or destroyed. With the recent publication of Gissing's diary, his commonplace book, and other smaller pieces, this edition becomes the final major publication of Gissing papers known to exist, and certainly the most significant record of his life, his mind, and his art. It will be of crucial importance to any future biographers, and of the greatest value to those who want to study Gissing's novels in relation to his life.
A significant feature of this edition is that it also contains, whenever they are available, letters to Gissing which are of great help in recording his life during the times when his own letters have been lost or destroyed. With the recent publication of Gissing's diary, his commonplace book, and other smaller pieces, this edition becomes the final major publication of Gissing papers known to exist, and certainly the most significant record of his life, his mind, and his art. It will be of crucial importance to any future biographers, and of the greatest value to those who want to study Gissing's novels in relation to his life.
Gissing's career, which spanned the period of about 1877 to his death in 1903, was characterized by prodigious output (almost a novel a year in the early days), modest recognition, and modest income. He wrote of poverty, socialism, class differences, social reform, and later on, about the problems of women and industrialization. His best known works are New Grub Street (1891) and Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (1903), rich sources of social commentary that reflect a literary transition from the Victorian to the modern period. For many years, the only Gissing letters available to the public were those in the modest selection of letters to his family published in 1927. Now the editors have culled widely scattered sources - private and public collections, journals, newspapers, memoirs, biographies, and sales catalogs - to gather and organize Gissing's correspondence, including letters to him, and to provide an editorial context. The two and a half years covered in this volume (mid-1895-1897) continued to be professionally productive for Gissing. He completed a number of novels - Sleeping Fires, The Paying Guest, and The Whirlpool.
He revised The Unclassed, wrote many short stories, and towards the end of 1897 in Italy he completed a life of Dickens. During these years Gissing was much sought after by editors and by his fellow literati. He solidified friendships with George Meredith and Thomas Hardy, and he formed a new friendship with H. G. Wells. But the letters of this period most poignantly depict Gissing's domestic problems and turmoil which eventually led him to break with his second wife, Edith. As the editors write, in the present volume, \u201cwhich begins at a spiritually low point and steadily verges lower until near the very end, one fancies one can see the beginnings of a permanent frame of mind which was to last or to recur to the end of Gissing's life: a feeling of ineluctable and undeserved defeat...\u201d
He revised The Unclassed, wrote many short stories, and towards the end of 1897 in Italy he completed a life of Dickens. During these years Gissing was much sought after by editors and by his fellow literati. He solidified friendships with George Meredith and Thomas Hardy, and he formed a new friendship with H. G. Wells. But the letters of this period most poignantly depict Gissing's domestic problems and turmoil which eventually led him to break with his second wife, Edith. As the editors write, in the present volume, \u201cwhich begins at a spiritually low point and steadily verges lower until near the very end, one fancies one can see the beginnings of a permanent frame of mind which was to last or to recur to the end of Gissing's life: a feeling of ineluctable and undeserved defeat...\u201d
Gissing's career, which spanned the period of about 1877 to his death in 1903, was characterized by prodigious output (almost a novel a year in the early days), modest recognition, and modest income. He wrote of poverty, socialism, class differences, social reform, and later on, about the problems of women and industrialization. His best known works are New Grub Street (1891) and Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (1903), rich sources of social commentary that reflect a literary transition from the Victorian to the modern period. For many years, the only Gissing letters available to the public were a handful written to his family published in 1927. Now the editors have culled widely scattered sources-private and public collections, journals, newspapers, memoirs, biographies, and sales catalogs - to gather and organize Gissing's correspondence, including letters to him, and to provide an editorial context. Volume four begins when Gissing is in Florence, elated to be making a cultural pilgrimage that also took him to Greece the following winter, then briefly back to Italy. The Nether World is published in the spring of 1889, and The Emancipated the following spring.
But by 1891, his mood is altogether different. His relationships with his family continue to be conflicted and he is increasingly disenchanted with his publishers and his half-hearted marriage to Edith Underwood.
But by 1891, his mood is altogether different. His relationships with his family continue to be conflicted and he is increasingly disenchanted with his publishers and his half-hearted marriage to Edith Underwood.
For many years, the only Gissing letters available to the public were those in the modest selection of letters to his family published in 1927. In the following years a good number were published separately in such places as journals, memoirs, and sales catalogues, but like the single and small groups of unpublished letters scattered in libraries around the world, they remained in practical terms inaccessible. Even though in recent years small groups of letters have come into print, the rapidly growing numbers of Gissing readers and scholars now feel the need for access to his letters in an edition comparable to those of his contemporary novelist friends, Thomas Hardy and Joseph Conrad. In this edition, all the Gissing letters that could be found, published and unpublished, have been brought together from all known sources: private and public collections, journals, newspapers, memoirs, biographies, and sales catalogues. The important advantage is not only that they have at last been brought together, but also that they are placed chronologically and given a uniform editorial context which provides a coherence lacking in letters separately published.
A significant feature of this edition is that it also contains, whenever they are available, letters to Gissing which are of great help in recording his life during the times when his own letters have been lost or destroyed. One might expect the years covered by this volume, 1900-1902, would have been among Gissing's happiest. During the greater share of this time he was with his beloved Gabrielle Fleury, sometimes living in great comfort in France, and he enjoyed some periods of good health. But gloom and depression seemed to be his companions wherever he went. And Gabrielle had to tend daily to her sickly mother, who was a formidable presence in Gissing's life. Gissing makes it clear that he is aware that happiness will elude him. Typical comments in his letters include: "The whole of this present life is spent in gaining experience which it is always too late to use." And further, during the Boer War, "I wish I had died ten years ago. I should have gone away with some hope for civilization, of which I now have none." He was to write later that one "puts into literary form hopes which are not very likely to be realized."
And yet he was able to work and was able to see Our Friend the Charlatan along with By the Ionian Sea published during these years.
A significant feature of this edition is that it also contains, whenever they are available, letters to Gissing which are of great help in recording his life during the times when his own letters have been lost or destroyed. One might expect the years covered by this volume, 1900-1902, would have been among Gissing's happiest. During the greater share of this time he was with his beloved Gabrielle Fleury, sometimes living in great comfort in France, and he enjoyed some periods of good health. But gloom and depression seemed to be his companions wherever he went. And Gabrielle had to tend daily to her sickly mother, who was a formidable presence in Gissing's life. Gissing makes it clear that he is aware that happiness will elude him. Typical comments in his letters include: "The whole of this present life is spent in gaining experience which it is always too late to use." And further, during the Boer War, "I wish I had died ten years ago. I should have gone away with some hope for civilization, of which I now have none." He was to write later that one "puts into literary form hopes which are not very likely to be realized."
And yet he was able to work and was able to see Our Friend the Charlatan along with By the Ionian Sea published during these years.
For many years, the only Gissing letters available to the public were those in the modest selection of letters to his family published in 1927. In the following years a good number were published separately in such places as journals, memoirs, and sales catalogues, but like the single and small groups of unpublished letters scattered in libraries around the world, they remained in practical terms inaccessible. Even though in recent years small groups of letters to individual correspondents have come into print, the rapidly growing numbers of Gissing readers and scholars now feel the need for access to his letters in an edition comparable to those of his contemporary novelist friends, Thomas Hardy and Joseph Conrad. In this edition, all the Gissing letters that could be found, published and unpublished, have been brought together from all known sources: private and public collections, journals, newspapers, memoirs, biographies, and sales catalogues. The important advantage is not only that they have at last been brought together, but also that they are placed chronologically and given a uniform editorial context which provides a coherence lacking in letters separately published.
A significant feature of this edition is that it also contains, whenever they are available, letters to Gissing which are of great help in recording his life during the times when his own letters have been lost or destroyed. With the recent publication of Gissing's diary, his commonplace book, and other smaller pieces, this edition becomes the final major publication of Gissing papers known to exist, and certainly the most significant record of his life, his mind, and his art. It will be of crucial importance to any future biographers, and of the greatest value to those who want to study Gissing's novels in relation to his life.
A significant feature of this edition is that it also contains, whenever they are available, letters to Gissing which are of great help in recording his life during the times when his own letters have been lost or destroyed. With the recent publication of Gissing's diary, his commonplace book, and other smaller pieces, this edition becomes the final major publication of Gissing papers known to exist, and certainly the most significant record of his life, his mind, and his art. It will be of crucial importance to any future biographers, and of the greatest value to those who want to study Gissing's novels in relation to his life.
This ninth volume concludes the widely-acclaimed edition of The Collected Letters of George Gissing, which not only renders obsolete all other collections and selections of his letters, but also contains a considerable quantity of hitherto unpublished or inaccessible materials. If Gissing was a rather less assiduous letter-writer in 1902 and 1903, largely owing to the deterioration of his health, he nonetheless remained in touch with a number of major writers of the period such as Wells, Conrad, and Hardy, whose last letter to him, unavailable until now to biographers and editors, are printed here. During the last eighteen months of his life, which he spent with Gabrielle Fleury in Southern France, first at Ciboure on the Atlantic coast and then farther inland in the small Basque village of Ispoure, Gissing wrote his last novel of modern life, Will Warburton, and at last turned to the historical narrative of sixth-century Romans and Goths, Veranilda, for which he had been collecting material since the mid-nineties. But he was not to complete it, and five chapters remained unwritten.
Even more than in previous volumes, the illustrations here help one to visualize the world Gissing left in December of 1903. Included in an appendix are a number of letters to and from Gissing which were discovered too late for publication in the previous volumes, where they belonged chronologically. Several other important features also distinguish this final volume from the others. A number of letters and telegrams exchanged between Gabrielle Fleury and Gissing's friends importantly reflect the dramatic circumstances under which he died in the Maison Elgue, where H. G. Wells's presence proved to be more calamitous than useful. Then, the fifty or so messages of condolence that were preserved, sent by sympathizers known and unknown from half a dozen countries, while emphasizing the loss to the family and to literature itself, throw retrospective light on the high esteem in which Gissing was held in the cultural world.
Finally, Gabrielle Fleury's informal but extraordinary recollections provide a definitive description of Gissing's death and illuminate many dark corners in the four and a half years they spent together from the spring of 1899 until his death, adding much to our knowledge of their daily activities at Ciboure and Ispoure and of Gissing's personality as well as of his opinions on matters literary and unliterary. The usefulness of the whole set will be improved by the cumulative indices and lists of recipients, correspondents, miscellaneous letters, and illustrations. In the view of the editors and the publisher, these nine volumes of Gissing correspondence will enhance considerably the image of Gissing's life, public and private, and accelerate the current revaluation of his achievements as a novelist and short story writer, a Dickens critic and classicist. And they open another window on the vanished but ever more fascinating world of a century ago.
Even more than in previous volumes, the illustrations here help one to visualize the world Gissing left in December of 1903. Included in an appendix are a number of letters to and from Gissing which were discovered too late for publication in the previous volumes, where they belonged chronologically. Several other important features also distinguish this final volume from the others. A number of letters and telegrams exchanged between Gabrielle Fleury and Gissing's friends importantly reflect the dramatic circumstances under which he died in the Maison Elgue, where H. G. Wells's presence proved to be more calamitous than useful. Then, the fifty or so messages of condolence that were preserved, sent by sympathizers known and unknown from half a dozen countries, while emphasizing the loss to the family and to literature itself, throw retrospective light on the high esteem in which Gissing was held in the cultural world.
Finally, Gabrielle Fleury's informal but extraordinary recollections provide a definitive description of Gissing's death and illuminate many dark corners in the four and a half years they spent together from the spring of 1899 until his death, adding much to our knowledge of their daily activities at Ciboure and Ispoure and of Gissing's personality as well as of his opinions on matters literary and unliterary. The usefulness of the whole set will be improved by the cumulative indices and lists of recipients, correspondents, miscellaneous letters, and illustrations. In the view of the editors and the publisher, these nine volumes of Gissing correspondence will enhance considerably the image of Gissing's life, public and private, and accelerate the current revaluation of his achievements as a novelist and short story writer, a Dickens critic and classicist. And they open another window on the vanished but ever more fascinating world of a century ago.