Jasper and Marian watching the train coming and going: a rare bright moment so far. It has poetic resonance to the game of Poohsticks in Winnie the Pooh, though this moment does not take place in a childhood paradise. Rather, it is clouded by a candid conversation about the lack of money.
“But you’d have to cultivate a particular kind of vulgarity.”
Cultivate! Vulgarity! Jasper is the worst kind of prophet. Much of what he observed in 1882 is a reality to us.
Full of literary gossips, literary feuds, and clear-eyed words such as “marketable,” this chapter makes a good snapshot of the contemporary publishing world.
Join us on December 13 for a virtual discussion of New Grub Street with Yiyun Li.
Wave after wave of cynicism! Not just from Jasper but the narrator (Gissing?) who calls it regrettable that the Milvain girls received an education incompatible with their material circumstances. How very sad!
You mentioned the train and when I read the part where they missed seeing the oncoming train I thought "Jasper's train has left the station" Maybe it just triggered a familiar quote but I also wondered if this is indicative of things to come for Jasper.
"Milvain and his companion ran to the opposite parapet, but already the whole train had emerged, and in a few seconds it had disappeared round a sharp curve.