George Gissing (1857–1903) was an English novelist who described the poverty of London and the struggles of educated people without money. His best-known novel, New Grub Street (1891), depicts the literary world of his time with bitter realism.
A brilliant start broken
George Robert Gissing was born on 22 November 1857 in Wakefield, Yorkshire, the son of a chemist. A brilliant student at Owens College, Manchester, he won many prizes in classics.
In 1876 he was caught stealing money from his fellow students to help a young prostitute, Nell Harrison, whom he loved. He was expelled, imprisoned for a month and sent to America, where he lived precariously for a year.
London and the novel
Back in England he married Nell and lived in poverty in London, giving private lessons. His first novel, Workers in the Dawn (1880), was published at his own expense.
He wrote more than twenty novels, among them Demos, The Nether World, New Grub Street, Born in Exile and The Odd Women (1893), about unmarried women seeking independence.
Last years
After Nell's death and an unhappy second marriage, Gissing found companionship with a Frenchwoman, Gabrielle Fleury. He travelled in Italy, which he loved, and wrote a book on Dickens.
He died of pneumonia at Ispoure, in the French Basque Country, on 28 December 1903. The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (1903), a fictional diary, was his last success.
Anecdotes
Visited by H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells, a close friend, travelled to the south-west of France to be with Gissing in his last days in December 1903.
Stories for Chicago
During his year of exile in America in 1876–1877, almost penniless, Gissing earned a living by writing short stories for the Chicago Tribune, his first published fiction.
Frequently asked questions
What is New Grub Street about?
Two writers in London in the 1880s: Jasper Milvain, who writes to please the market and succeeds, and Edwin Reardon, an honest novelist who fails and sinks into poverty.
What is 'Grub Street'?
A street in London once home to poor hack writers; the name came to mean the world of commercial, poorly paid writing.
Why was Gissing expelled from Owens College?
In 1876 he was caught stealing from fellow students to help Nell Harrison, the young woman he later married.