Orwell and Gissing [Hardcover]

Mark Connelly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1997 | ISBN-10: 0820433306 | ISBN-13: 978-0820433301

Three generations of critics have commented on the parallels between George Orwell and his favorite novelist, George Gissing. "I am a great fan of his," Orwell wrote in 1948, proclaiming "that England has produced very few better novelists." 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 Aspidstra 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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 126 pages
• Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820433306
• ISBN-13: 978-0820433301
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,605,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark Connelly was born in Philadelphia and grew up in New Jersey. He attended Carroll College and received an MA in Creative Writing and a PhD in English from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He currently teaches at Milwaukee Area Technical College and serves as Vice President of the Irish Cultural and Heritage Center of Wisconsin.