Gissing and the city : cultural crisis and the making of books in late Victorian England

Gissing and the City: Cultural Crisis and the Making of Books in Late Victorian England addresses the late Victorian cultural crisis and aesthetic revolt in urban life, politics, literature and art, by special reference to the experience of the shocks of the new urban environment, and literary and artistic responses. It does so through interdisciplinary discussion of the novels of George Gissing, whose work is particularly linked to 'the city' and the crisis of urban experience, especially in the archetypal modern imperial city. Introduction: Why Does Gissing Matter?; J. Spiers -- New Woman On Grub Street: Art In The City; M. Clarke -- Buildings, Residences And Mansions: George Gissing's 'prejudice Against Flats'; R. Dennis -- Gissing's Saturnalia: Urban Crowds, Carnivalesque Subversion And The Crisis Of Paternal Authority; L. Villa -- Gissing, Literary Bohemia, And The Metropolitan Circle; J. Sloan -- Between Dream Worlds And Real Worlds: Gissing's London; S. Mccracken -- 'citizens Of London?' Working Women, Leisure And Urban Space In Gissing's 1880's Fiction; E. Liggins -- 'counter-jumpers' And 'queens Of The Street': The Shop Girl Of Gissing And His Contemporaries; E.f. Evans -- Rebellion In The Metropolis: George Gissing's New Woman Musician; L. Vorachek -- 'children Of The Street': Reconfiguring Gender In Gissing's London; M.e. Mitchell -- 'woman As An Invader': Travel And Travail In George Gissing's The Odd Woman; J.a. Mcquail -- The Clash Of Space And Culture: Gissing And The Rise Of The 'new' Suburban; L. Baker Whelan -- 'muddy Depths': The Thames In Gissing's Fiction; C. Huguet -- 'amid The Dear Old Horrors' Memory, London And Literary Labour In The Private Papers Of Henry Ryecroft; M. Hammond -- Gissing's Urban Euthenasia; J. Halperin -- In Public: George Gissing, Newspapers And The City; S.j. James -- George Gissing's Scrapbook: A Storehouse Of 'elements Of Drama To Be Fused And Minted In His Brain; B. Postmus -- Gissing: A Life In Death-a Cavalcade Of Gissing Criticism In The Last Hundred Years; P. Coustillas. Edited, And With An Introduction By John Spiers. Includes Bibliographical References. Gissing's novels compel because of the ideas they present and the art they embody. This new collection, unusually, brings together contributors from a range of disciplines - an innovative art historian, a leading urban geographer, and literary and feminist critics from Britain, Europe and North America. Together, they address a cluster of central themes, tensions and relationships dramatised by life in the city, from the viewpoint of gender, class, art, urban development, social justice and democratic change. With an introductory essay by John Spiers on the cultural framework, Gissing in the City focuses on the literary and cultural life of London at the end of the nineteenth century, Gissing and the City contributes to students and scholars in literary, gender and urban studies