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Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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This first edition of Gissing's poems is based upon a transcription of the MS notebook "Verses 1869 to [1882]", held by the Beinecke Library of Rare Books and Manuscripts at Yale University, and a variety of other sources, printed or autograph. The volume consists of over 50 titles, ranging from youthful experiment to the achievement of maturer years. An introduction points out the intimate and revealing links between Gissing's life and letters, particularly during the fateful spring and summer of 1876 and his subsequent journey to America. This volume provides a unique insight into the heart and mind of a talented late-Victorian young man, determined to chart for himself a career as a poet/man of letters. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

gissing review
I rate this book 5 stars because it gives you all the information you need on gissing.I had to write a four page paper on him and it gave me everything I needed.I wish that there were more books in the world that gave that much information on one single, simple little subject.I haven't seen a book in years that has actually had all the information you need all in one book.I didn't have to find 6 or 7 books just to write a 3 or 4 page paper.I exceeded my number of pages and my teacher gave me an A on the paper and it brought my grades alot and he told me if I would keep writing papers like that then I would have and A in his class I am glad that I made that grade now I can complete other papers like that and get a higher grade in a class. ... Read more

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This text is one of the last unpublished Gissing documents. It is a small notebook containing observations of people and places, many of which found their way into the books to come out of his last years. There are also entries revealing domestic details of the last years of his second marriage to Edith Underwood, itineraries and other travel details of the holiday in Switzerland in 1899 with the last woman of his life, Gabrielle Fleury. Entries also document the increasingly desperate search for health, his stay in the East Anglian Sanatorium at Nayland, and the attempt to ward off the fatal threat of consumption at Arcachon, all filling out the picture of Gissing, the man and the writer. ... Read more

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These are family letters, telling about the writing of his books and about his travels. The first letters are written from America where he went when he was nineteen, staying for a year. The letters are simple and grave marked throughout by a strong family affection, and by the depression and isolation of his life. The letters are supplemented by extracts from his diary.

THIS TITLE IS CITED AND RECOMMENDED BY:Books for College Libraries. ... Read more

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The Unclassed. please visit www.valdebooks.com for a full list of titles ... Read more

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This file includes: The Unclassed (1884), Demos (1886), Thyrza (1887), A Life's Morning (1888), The Nether World (1889), The Emancipated (1890), New Grub Street (1891), Denzil Quarrier (1892), Born In Exile (1892), The Odd Women (1893), In the Year of Jubilee (1894), Eve's Ransom (1895), The Paying Guest (1895), The Whirlpool (1897),
The Town Traveller (1898), The Crown Of Life (1899), By the Ionian Sea (1901), Our Friend the Charlatan (1901), The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (1903), Will Warburton (1905), and Veranilda (1903, unfinished).According to Wikipedia: "George Robert Gissing (IPA: /ˈɡɪsɪŋ/; November 22, 1857 – December 28, 1903) was an English novelist who wrote twenty-three novels between 1880 and 1903. From his early naturalistic works, he developed into one of the most accomplished realists of the late-Victorian era... by some critics he is counted alongside George Meredith and Thomas Hardy as one of the best three novelists of his day. He also enjoyed new friendships with fellow writers such as Henry James, and H.G. Wells, and came into contact with many other up and coming writers such as Joseph Conrad and Stephen Crane."

Responding to customer feedback, I fixed a formatting problem (too much space between paragraphs) on 7/1/2009.If you bought a copy before then, you should be able to download the new version at no additonal cost.Feedback always welcome, seltzer@samizdat.com
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This novel is masterpiece that defies classification. Crossing and recrossing the precarious line between fiction and autobiography, it portrays a man coping with disillusionment and bitterness at literary failure. ... Read more

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Webster's edition of this classic is organized to expose the reader to a maximum number of synonyms and antonyms for difficult and often ambiguous English words that are encountered in other works of literature, conversation, or academic examinations. Extremely rare or idiosyncratic words and expressions are given lower priority in the notes compared to words which are ¿difficult, and often encountered¿ in examinations. Rather than supply a single synonym, many areprovided for a variety of meanings, allowing readers to better grasp the ambiguity of the English language, and avoid using the notes as a pure crutch. Having the reader decipher a word's meaning within context serves to improve vocabulary retention and understanding. Each page covers words not already highlighted on previous pages. If a difficult word is not noted on a page, chances are that it has been highlighted on a previous page. A more complete thesaurus is supplied at the end of the book; synonyms and antonyms are extracted from Webster's Online Dictionary.

PSAT¿ is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT¿ is a registered trademark of the College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE¿, AP¿ and Advanced Placement¿ are registered trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither sponsors nor endorses this book, GMAT¿ is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council which is neither affiliated with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT¿ is a registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council which neither sponsors nor endorses this product. All rights reserved. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Rare Late Victorian Novel
Although little-known today, George Gissing's (1856 - 1903) second published novel "The Unclassed" deserves to be read and remembered.The book was written in 1884 and published as a three-decker novel for which Gissing received the paltry sum of 30 pounds. In 1895, when he had received some recognition as a novelist, Gissing edited "The Unclassed" by cutting about one-third of the initial text and writing a short Preface.Although it seems to me the weaker of the two versions, the second edition of "The Unclassed" is virtually always used when the book is reissued.

The novel was an ambitious effort for a young struggling writer of 26, with broad themes of love, friendship, social alienation, and urban life. It includes powerful scenes of the slums of Victorian London and a treatment of prostitution which, for its day, was frank and explicit. Much of the novel is autobiographically based, but the reader new to Gissing would be well advised to approach it simply on its own ground. The two primary male characters in the book Osmond Waymark and Julian Casti are young, bookish and aspiring writers. They are both lonely and meet through a personal ad for companionship that Waymark had placed in the paper. The men led a bohemian type of life, spurning and yet envying middle-class security, stolidity and respectability. Casti has ambitions of writing a long poem about ancient Rome while Waymark wishes to describe the life of the poor around him. Waymark had began as a radical and an advocate for social change but, in part under the influence of Schopenhauer, had abandoned any form of activism. Waymark aspires to write solely for the beauty of art. As are many people today, Waymark is skeptical of established values and a relativist.

With all this, "The Unclassed" is primarily a love story.Waymark is torn between two women, the conventional, prim and religious Maud Enderby and Ida Starr.Ida is working as a prostitute when Waymark meets her. The two establish a friendship as Waymark brings her books and encourages Ida's interest in educating and uplifting herself. Casti is manipulated into marriage by a woman named Harriet Smales who also is a prostitute.But in contrast to Ida, Harriet is lowlife.She ultimately destroys both Casti's manuscripts and his life and bears false witness to send Ida Starr to six months in prison.With his terrible marriage, Casti also falls in love with Ida, one of the love interests of Waymark, provoking both Waymark's and Harriet's jealousy.

The novel is at its best in the portrayals of the squalid parts of London, where Waymark takes work as a collector of rents to support himself while he writes his long novel, including the filthy tenements and the sordid bars. Gissing also has a sense for portraying viciousness in the persons of Harriet and Smiley, a denizen of the slums. The book also shows bohemian literary life as it describes long conversations into the night between Waymark and Casti on art, philosophy, and literature.Both Waymark and Casti are inveterate walkers at all hours of the London streets, and Gissing captures their endless ramblings through the city. Although restrained to meet Victorian expectations, there is much discussion in this book about middle-class sexual standards and expectations and about prostitution in the persons of Ida, Harriet, and some other women. In the best-known scene of "The Unclassed", Ida Starr immerses herself in the ocean on a dark night during a brief holiday in the hopes of cleansing what she sees as the stain of her way of life and beginning anew.

The book is frequently criticized for its idealistic, romanticized portrayal of Ida Starr.Gissing seems all-to-ready to assume her ability to rise in a short time to a high emotional and intellectual level given the life in which she finds herself.The book also appears conflicted between its apparent goal of taking a realistic, dispassionate look at slum life on the one hand, and the preaching, didactic, and idealistic elements which permeate the story. The book moves uneasily between a realistic novel and a novel of ideas. But these conflicts are also part of the book's, and the author's, unique strength and character. This form of divided sensitivity is still prevalent for many and is a source of the fascination and passion that a group of readers still has for Gissing.

In 1884 under pressure from his publisher, Gissing rewrote the final section of his novel to give it a somewhat positive ending.Then, in 1895, Gissing shortened the book. In his Preface, Gissing wrote that the "book was written and sent forth a long, long time ago" and that the themes and attitudes which had so troubled the book's early readers had become reduced in significance with time.Gissing also explained the term "unclassed" in the book.He wrote "Male and female, all the prominent persons of the story dwell in a limbo external to society.They refuse the statistic badge - will not, ..... be `classed and done with.'"

Readers who become fascinated with Gissing or with "The Unclassed" will want to read the work in the original 1884 edition which, for all its prolixity, tells a fuller, more convincing story.
But it is fortunate that this work, in either edition, remains available to be read and savored by those readers wanting to engage with Gissing.

Robin Friedman

A close look at hard lives
As usual, Gissing is unsparing in his depiction of the lives of the working class.Some of the characters are not wholly convincing - especially the key character Ida, the former prostitute with a heart of gold, and Maud, the pure and self-denying - and there are maybe a few too many subplots, but on the whole, the characters, male and female, are interesting and believable, and the difficult choices that they face are plausible and engrossing.Well worth a look for those who have read New Grub Street and The Odd Women and want more Gissing. ... Read more

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Originally published in 1905.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more