Whether we like it or not, literature has become manufacturing in an era of mass reproduction. Jasper gets this, which allows his more cheery pondering. We often look back at the Victorian area as a golden age of literature, but from Grub St the business of the day looks very familiar.
The Victorian “golden age” may have been tied up in social class...the experimentalists who became Bloomsbury. The Grub Street crowd seems to be writing for a less educated audience. All very interesting indeed!
"Sane literary work cannot be expected from [Reardon." I prefer slightly insane literary work, cf. David Foster Wallace, Plath, Lowell, Berryman, Woolf.
This fixation on invitations to lunches / homes reminds me of how there seems, at the time,, to not have been a Habermasian third space -- pubs, not yet??? or inaccessible to many of the characters, esp. female, in this novel -- where one might bump into an acquaintance. Other than the British Museum reading room.
Milvain’s letter to Mrs Yule describes Reardon as in the “Slough of Despond” -- Milvain’s vanity is apparent in his writing style. What I at first took to be Gissing’s original coinage turned out to be a literary allusion. I admire, and loathe, Milvain’s audacity to impress upon others his learning, his deep well of literary references.
According to Wikipedia, ‘slough of despond’ was originally in Paul Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, 1678, but it’s also been used by Hawthorne, Emily Brontë, C.S. Forster, Somerset Maugham, John Steinbeck, Mary McCarthy, Louisa May Alcott, Charles Portis -- quite a wide range of writers.
We are watching Edwin and Amy suffer slowly through the stages of loss: Denial -both believing that Edwin could write a great novel quickly under duress- check. Anger - at everyone —Amy mad that Edwin can’t write, Edwin that Amy can’t suffer - double check. Bargaining-one more try to pressure Edwin by John Yule; Edwin blames Jasper for ruining their marriage. Now serious depression by both. Will there be acceptance in time?
On My Honor made a huge impression on me. I think when I read it I was shocked that something like that--the boy just disappearing in the river--could happen in a book. And the father's conversation with his son afterwards...unforgettable.
Excruciating to watch both Reardons right now. Gissing makes the situation so complex, I don’t feel on either “side.” And the child? The fact that this is hardly mentioned (except for a moment of spontaneous kisses from Amy in an earlier chapter) shows how parenting norms have changed.
Once again, it is a woman [Dora] who whispers wisdom: “… Jasper’s moral nature will never be safe as long as he is exposed to the risks of poverty … As a poor man, I wouldn’t trust him out of my sight; with money, he will be a tolerable creature – as men go.”
“As men go” – the power of qualification. Priceless!
I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see Edwin's bitterness toward Jasper, but I wouldn't have guessed that they would end up so completely severed. I was somewhat relieved by Jasper's internal recognition of his culpability - "his was the weakness of vanity, which sometimes leads a man to commit treacheries of which he would believe himself incapable."
I am also curious regarding Dora's intentions, where she seems to undermine Jasper's chances with Marian. Apparently we are meant to find out later.
Despite Jasper's selfishness, it's a bit of a relief to spend time inside of his more upbeat and observant thoughts. I got the impression that he was attempting to save Dora from Whelpdale's dubious prospects, and that he seemed concerned that Maud is mixing with an unscrupulous crowd.
It was a relief to return to Jasper's upbeat voice, and yet ... while his ponderings are mostly cheerful, a dark underbelly weaves its way throughout his observations - and internal thoughts.
A delightful phrase: “hapless wooing” (Whelpdale’s story of – ) paired with Jasper’s salty assessment of Whelpdale: “Good natured fellow; but what’s the use of that if you’ve no money” – a succinct capture of much that ails society.
Jasper clearly seeks to support his own “good-natured” façade by ensuring access to money: “This event of John Yule’s death had been constantly on his mind, but there was always a fear that it might not happen for long enough; the sudden announcement excited him as much as if he were a relative.” Ouch! – the presumption that relatives excitedly await death in anticipation of monetary “remuneration?"
And Jasper “as if he were a relative” anticipates an opportunity to woo Marian? Presumably not “haplessly!”
To me, Jasper’s “upbeat” nature belies the dark vanity of his ambitious desire(s) – a blending, perhaps of "the sentimental and the shrewd.”
And ambitions focused on writing....an ambitious young man could try so many paths. I find this an interesting aspect of the novel as a whole. “Writing” and journalism opened up new possibilities for the middle class. Distinctly non-Bloomsbury.
“The day came, and he [Reardon] entered upon his duties in City Road. It needed but an hour or two, and all the intervening time was cancelled; he was back once more in the days of no reputation, a harmless clerk, a decent wage-earner.”
Did anyone else think of Melville becoming a customs inspector the last 18yrs of his life after his writing career was unable to support his family? Of course, it’s super unlikely Reardon has Moby Dick in him!
Anthony Trollope worked for the post office for many years. He brought the first post box to England. He was apparently a multi-tasker. and wrote 47 books.
"[Whelpdale's] breeding, in truth, had been that of a gentleman, and it was only of late years that he had fallen into the hungry region of New Grub Street."
Is this the only time we see the title of the book: New Grub Street? Whelpdale's character–writer of a "manual" for manufacturing writing and also someone who appreciates women is a weird, dependent way–proves to be a bit of the core of the book. And Dora is is one of his readers. Milvain gets the last (very unflattering) line in this chapter about money and moving fortunes. All compelling...if depressing.
Is it desperate ambition....? The wealthier crowd wouldn’t have the same drive. I don’t quite know how to read it, which is part of the strength of the line.
It seems with all of the literary magazines mentioned that serialized fiction had to make writing a bit formulaic like a "manufacturing process." There must have been rules about how many pages each month and the pacing of the events in the story as well as how long the serialization commitment should go on for. It is manufacturing. The author can't change his mind on the beginning segment of a story that is already out in print, and I doubt the whole book was written in advance. The Pickwick Papers were serialized over 19 months! The Old Curiosity Shop was serialized from April 1940-February 1941! It was so popular that New York readers stormed the wharf when the ship bearing the final instalment arrived in 1841. Imagine the investment a reader makes in following a story for a year or two, as well as the writer whose job is to continue to interest the public for that amount of time.
I found this online: "Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was an extremely popular British novelist who wrote during the Victorian period of literary history. In this period, advances in mass production made it possible to cheaply print books, so novels were considered a low-brow form of entertainment rather than a form of literary art."
We get quite a close up view of Jasper in this chapter, more character development. Reardon of course is correct in his suspicions that his friend has been influencing his wife's thoughts about him.
When Gissing writes "He too, was weak, but with quite another kind of weakness than Reardon's" I think this is not coming from Jasper's head but from the narrative voice. Jasper takes "refuge in the pretense of misconception, which again was a betrayal of littleness." A betrayal to Reardon and to us, but not to himself, I think.
I was still surprised when he wrote to Mrs. Yule confirming her convenient 'suspicion' that Reardon is having a mental breakdown. But I should not have been.
Jasper's 'concern' for his sisters is about appearances. He is telling Maud, don't lost your (sexual) virtue, otherwise we will all be sunk. There is a monetary value on everything.
Jasper it seems while carefully shaded by Gissing to show his better side can rationalize anything in order to get what he wants.
It's not only Jasper who would make a better novelist than Reardon - check out Maud saying "Jasper's moral nature will never be safe as long as he is exposed to the risks of poverty."
I like how Amy is kept out of view in this chapter.
Reardon:"There's something amiss between me and everyone." Heartbreaker!
"It was so painful to see the defeated man wandering at night near the house where his wife and child were comfortably sheltered; and the tone in which he spoke revealed such profound misery." This was the most affecting passage of the chapter for me. I think I took heart in the last chapter that Reardon might find some peace in returning to his bachelor life and that this might allow him to regroup. But now the circumstances are different: he has lost his family; he has failed; instead of hope for the future, he has a wretched series of recent events dragging him down. Jasper seeks him out at once, and "a sense of compassion prevails" in him, even at Edwin's accusation, but not enough to save the friendship. I can't really blame Jasper; Reardon is resistant to him and utterly exhausted. But I still wanted him to try harder rather than washing his hands.
On another note, I do not want Whelpdale to woo Dora. Why do I feel this repugnance? There is something unsavory about him, perhaps the fact that he is so eager and "reverential" in this first meeting, like he's always on the lookout for a woman he can marry. I want someone better for her.
Is it possible that you don't feel good about Whelpdale because he takes the rejection too well. It seems normal to be upset that the girl you were going to marry has taken off with an old boyfriend. It almost seems like he doesn't care one way or another. The opposite of love is indifference and he seems to be indifferent. There is no emotion. Who wants that?!
I think I question his sincerity. "A fortnight more, and I should have had her safe," he says of his latest lost love. It seems he's trying to trap someone, and then what? He may just be lonely, but what would life be like with him? He has the breeding of a gentleman and the instincts of a hustler. Hmm.
Ok, today's chapter revealed what unnerves me about Whelpdale. "There may be thousands of women whom I could love with equal sincerity," he tells Jasper. That is my impression of him, though I guess I needed him to articulate it. Given that he clearly likes women A LOT, can he be faithful to one?
Edwin has yet to learn the first step on the path to redemption--accept full responsibility for your own failures (even if that's an over simplification).
Whether we like it or not, literature has become manufacturing in an era of mass reproduction. Jasper gets this, which allows his more cheery pondering. We often look back at the Victorian area as a golden age of literature, but from Grub St the business of the day looks very familiar.
The Victorian “golden age” may have been tied up in social class...the experimentalists who became Bloomsbury. The Grub Street crowd seems to be writing for a less educated audience. All very interesting indeed!
"Sane literary work cannot be expected from [Reardon." I prefer slightly insane literary work, cf. David Foster Wallace, Plath, Lowell, Berryman, Woolf.
This fixation on invitations to lunches / homes reminds me of how there seems, at the time,, to not have been a Habermasian third space -- pubs, not yet??? or inaccessible to many of the characters, esp. female, in this novel -- where one might bump into an acquaintance. Other than the British Museum reading room.
Milvain’s letter to Mrs Yule describes Reardon as in the “Slough of Despond” -- Milvain’s vanity is apparent in his writing style. What I at first took to be Gissing’s original coinage turned out to be a literary allusion. I admire, and loathe, Milvain’s audacity to impress upon others his learning, his deep well of literary references.
"Admiration and loathing" - a fine pairing of emotions!
According to Wikipedia, ‘slough of despond’ was originally in Paul Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, 1678, but it’s also been used by Hawthorne, Emily Brontë, C.S. Forster, Somerset Maugham, John Steinbeck, Mary McCarthy, Louisa May Alcott, Charles Portis -- quite a wide range of writers.
We are watching Edwin and Amy suffer slowly through the stages of loss: Denial -both believing that Edwin could write a great novel quickly under duress- check. Anger - at everyone —Amy mad that Edwin can’t write, Edwin that Amy can’t suffer - double check. Bargaining-one more try to pressure Edwin by John Yule; Edwin blames Jasper for ruining their marriage. Now serious depression by both. Will there be acceptance in time?
I learned about the stages of loss through the YA book On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer! Thanks for the pleasant trip blast from my education past!
Amazing how perceptive was Kubler-Ross’ mapping of the stages of grief, even if they’re not always in the specific order.
On My Honor made a huge impression on me. I think when I read it I was shocked that something like that--the boy just disappearing in the river--could happen in a book. And the father's conversation with his son afterwards...unforgettable.
Excruciating to watch both Reardons right now. Gissing makes the situation so complex, I don’t feel on either “side.” And the child? The fact that this is hardly mentioned (except for a moment of spontaneous kisses from Amy in an earlier chapter) shows how parenting norms have changed.
Once again, it is a woman [Dora] who whispers wisdom: “… Jasper’s moral nature will never be safe as long as he is exposed to the risks of poverty … As a poor man, I wouldn’t trust him out of my sight; with money, he will be a tolerable creature – as men go.”
“As men go” – the power of qualification. Priceless!
It's a fantastic passage. Dora is sharp. I want to read her book.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see Edwin's bitterness toward Jasper, but I wouldn't have guessed that they would end up so completely severed. I was somewhat relieved by Jasper's internal recognition of his culpability - "his was the weakness of vanity, which sometimes leads a man to commit treacheries of which he would believe himself incapable."
I am also curious regarding Dora's intentions, where she seems to undermine Jasper's chances with Marian. Apparently we are meant to find out later.
Despite Jasper's selfishness, it's a bit of a relief to spend time inside of his more upbeat and observant thoughts. I got the impression that he was attempting to save Dora from Whelpdale's dubious prospects, and that he seemed concerned that Maud is mixing with an unscrupulous crowd.
It was a relief to return to Jasper's upbeat voice, and yet ... while his ponderings are mostly cheerful, a dark underbelly weaves its way throughout his observations - and internal thoughts.
A delightful phrase: “hapless wooing” (Whelpdale’s story of – ) paired with Jasper’s salty assessment of Whelpdale: “Good natured fellow; but what’s the use of that if you’ve no money” – a succinct capture of much that ails society.
Jasper clearly seeks to support his own “good-natured” façade by ensuring access to money: “This event of John Yule’s death had been constantly on his mind, but there was always a fear that it might not happen for long enough; the sudden announcement excited him as much as if he were a relative.” Ouch! – the presumption that relatives excitedly await death in anticipation of monetary “remuneration?"
And Jasper “as if he were a relative” anticipates an opportunity to woo Marian? Presumably not “haplessly!”
To me, Jasper’s “upbeat” nature belies the dark vanity of his ambitious desire(s) – a blending, perhaps of "the sentimental and the shrewd.”
And ambitions focused on writing....an ambitious young man could try so many paths. I find this an interesting aspect of the novel as a whole. “Writing” and journalism opened up new possibilities for the middle class. Distinctly non-Bloomsbury.
I flagged the same quote re: Jasper. There is something about is self-awareness of his vanity that I find endearing.
“The day came, and he [Reardon] entered upon his duties in City Road. It needed but an hour or two, and all the intervening time was cancelled; he was back once more in the days of no reputation, a harmless clerk, a decent wage-earner.”
Did anyone else think of Melville becoming a customs inspector the last 18yrs of his life after his writing career was unable to support his family? Of course, it’s super unlikely Reardon has Moby Dick in him!
Anthony Trollope worked for the post office for many years. He brought the first post box to England. He was apparently a multi-tasker. and wrote 47 books.
that's more than we can say for our Reardon!
I did think of that too, and yes, super unlikely ..!!
But don't you get the feeling it might do the depressed Reardon good to go on a whaling voyage? Isn't that why Ishmael went?
"[Whelpdale's] breeding, in truth, had been that of a gentleman, and it was only of late years that he had fallen into the hungry region of New Grub Street."
Is this the only time we see the title of the book: New Grub Street? Whelpdale's character–writer of a "manual" for manufacturing writing and also someone who appreciates women is a weird, dependent way–proves to be a bit of the core of the book. And Dora is is one of his readers. Milvain gets the last (very unflattering) line in this chapter about money and moving fortunes. All compelling...if depressing.
I love that phrase "the hungry region" - like the street is a bottomless pit ..
reminded me of a 90s new wave song lyric!
Is it desperate ambition....? The wealthier crowd wouldn’t have the same drive. I don’t quite know how to read it, which is part of the strength of the line.
"fallen into" seems to suggest that it wasn't entirely of his own causing perhaps
It seems with all of the literary magazines mentioned that serialized fiction had to make writing a bit formulaic like a "manufacturing process." There must have been rules about how many pages each month and the pacing of the events in the story as well as how long the serialization commitment should go on for. It is manufacturing. The author can't change his mind on the beginning segment of a story that is already out in print, and I doubt the whole book was written in advance. The Pickwick Papers were serialized over 19 months! The Old Curiosity Shop was serialized from April 1940-February 1941! It was so popular that New York readers stormed the wharf when the ship bearing the final instalment arrived in 1841. Imagine the investment a reader makes in following a story for a year or two, as well as the writer whose job is to continue to interest the public for that amount of time.
I found this online: "Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was an extremely popular British novelist who wrote during the Victorian period of literary history. In this period, advances in mass production made it possible to cheaply print books, so novels were considered a low-brow form of entertainment rather than a form of literary art."
It does seem very strange and exciting - like the TV shows we used to wait for that we no longer wait for and now we wait for "seasons."
New Grub Street was not serialized but came out in 3 volumes - the "triple decker" : )
LOL! Yes! It is like TV.
We get quite a close up view of Jasper in this chapter, more character development. Reardon of course is correct in his suspicions that his friend has been influencing his wife's thoughts about him.
When Gissing writes "He too, was weak, but with quite another kind of weakness than Reardon's" I think this is not coming from Jasper's head but from the narrative voice. Jasper takes "refuge in the pretense of misconception, which again was a betrayal of littleness." A betrayal to Reardon and to us, but not to himself, I think.
I was still surprised when he wrote to Mrs. Yule confirming her convenient 'suspicion' that Reardon is having a mental breakdown. But I should not have been.
Jasper's 'concern' for his sisters is about appearances. He is telling Maud, don't lost your (sexual) virtue, otherwise we will all be sunk. There is a monetary value on everything.
Jasper it seems while carefully shaded by Gissing to show his better side can rationalize anything in order to get what he wants.
It's not only Jasper who would make a better novelist than Reardon - check out Maud saying "Jasper's moral nature will never be safe as long as he is exposed to the risks of poverty."
I like how Amy is kept out of view in this chapter.
Reardon:"There's something amiss between me and everyone." Heartbreaker!
"It was so painful to see the defeated man wandering at night near the house where his wife and child were comfortably sheltered; and the tone in which he spoke revealed such profound misery." This was the most affecting passage of the chapter for me. I think I took heart in the last chapter that Reardon might find some peace in returning to his bachelor life and that this might allow him to regroup. But now the circumstances are different: he has lost his family; he has failed; instead of hope for the future, he has a wretched series of recent events dragging him down. Jasper seeks him out at once, and "a sense of compassion prevails" in him, even at Edwin's accusation, but not enough to save the friendship. I can't really blame Jasper; Reardon is resistant to him and utterly exhausted. But I still wanted him to try harder rather than washing his hands.
On another note, I do not want Whelpdale to woo Dora. Why do I feel this repugnance? There is something unsavory about him, perhaps the fact that he is so eager and "reverential" in this first meeting, like he's always on the lookout for a woman he can marry. I want someone better for her.
Is it possible that you don't feel good about Whelpdale because he takes the rejection too well. It seems normal to be upset that the girl you were going to marry has taken off with an old boyfriend. It almost seems like he doesn't care one way or another. The opposite of love is indifference and he seems to be indifferent. There is no emotion. Who wants that?!
I think I question his sincerity. "A fortnight more, and I should have had her safe," he says of his latest lost love. It seems he's trying to trap someone, and then what? He may just be lonely, but what would life be like with him? He has the breeding of a gentleman and the instincts of a hustler. Hmm.
Ok, today's chapter revealed what unnerves me about Whelpdale. "There may be thousands of women whom I could love with equal sincerity," he tells Jasper. That is my impression of him, though I guess I needed him to articulate it. Given that he clearly likes women A LOT, can he be faithful to one?
Edwin has yet to learn the first step on the path to redemption--accept full responsibility for your own failures (even if that's an over simplification).