George Gissing
Overview
 
George Robert Gissing was an English novelist who published twenty-three novels between 1880 and 1903. From his early naturalistic
Naturalism (literature)
Naturalism was a literary movement taking place from the 1880s to 1940s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character...

 works, he developed into one of the most accomplished realists
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...

 of the late-Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

.
Gissing was born in Wakefield
Wakefield
Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....

, Yorkshire, to lower-middle class parents. A brilliant student, he won a scholarship to Owens College, the present day University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

. He excelled at university, winning many coveted prizes, including the Shakespeare prize in 1875, but his academic career ended in disgrace when he fell in love with a young prostitute, Marianne Helen Harrison.
Quotations

It is our duty never to speak ill of others, you know; least of all when we know that to do so will be the cause of much pain and trouble.

The Unclassed (1884), ch. 1: School

'A man who comes to be hanged,' pursued Jasper, impartially, 'has the satisfaction of knowing that he has brought society to its last resource.[…]

New Grub Street (1891), ch. 1: A Man of His Day

I tell you, writing is a business.

New Grub Street (1891), ch. 1: A Man of His Day

I maintain that we people of brains are justified in supplying the mob with the food it likes.

New Grub Street (1891), ch. 1: A Man of His Day

No, no; women, old or young, should never have to think about money.

The Odd Women (1893), ch. 1

The thought, however, of his girls having to work for money was so utterly repulsive to him that he could never seriously dwell upon it.

The Odd Women (1893), ch. 1

The insult was thrown out with a peculiarly reckless air; it astounded the hearer, who sat for an instant with staring eyes and lips apart; then the blood rushed to his cheeks.

Eve's Ransom (1895), ch. 1

How I dreaded the white page I had to foul with ink!

The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (1903): Spring

For the man sound in body and serene of mind there is no such thing as bad weather; every sky has its beauty, and storms which whip the blood do but make it pulse more vigorously.

The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (1903): Winter

To be at other people's orders brings out all the bad in me.

Will Warburton (1905), ch. 3

 
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