Orwell and Gissing
By: Mark Connelly.
Series: American university studies.; v. 185
Publisher: Peter Lang; Lang AG International Academic Publishers, Peter
Published: 1997
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 126
Subjects: Orwell, George, 1903-1950 -- Knowledge -- Literature.; Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 -- Influence.; Gissing, George, 1857-1903 -- Influence.; Literature and society -- England -- History.; Authors, English -- 20th century -- Biography.; Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.) -- History -- 20th century.; Utopias in literature.
Description: This in-depth study reveals that Orwell drew heavily on the Gissing novels he admired in shaping his own. Gissing's New Grub Street and The Odd Women directly influenced Orwell's Depression-era novels Keep the Aspidistra Flying and A Clergyman's Daughter. Even Orwell's most imaginative work, Animal Farm, mirrors Gissing's own novel of a failed Socialist Utopia, Demos. Gissing was Orwell's role model and alter ego.

Gissing provided him with a touchstone to his beliefs, his pessimism, his love of Dickens and cozy corners, his suspicion of "progress," his restless sexuality. To understand Orwell fully, one must first read Gissing.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [119]-122) and index.