Realist Writing

In looking at the realist frame of reference for Gissing's New Grub Street what the reader expected to receive was a story of literary endeavour and romantic interest. The structure of the novel has as its template the interweaving stories of two couples, rather in the manner of the greatest realist novel Middlemarch. With the careful observation of type and social class there is a resonance with Dickens' work which Gissing knew and critiqued, and was after all the mainstay of the late Victorian reading public. There are strong biographical threads in the work. Gissing was suffering from the same creative and financial pressures as his protagonist Reardon, tied in the same manner to pre-negotiated fees and a rigid format for his works. We have therefore the main characters set before us, balanced and positioned in a realistic manner and Gissing moves on beyond these bounds to show, not only the trials of the workings of the novel but also beyond, into the emotional and social issues that preoccupied him.

Early in the novel, a young couple meet on holiday in a rural setting, away from their literary employment in London. The young man is happy to espouse his theory for advancement in their milieu. 'Men won't succeed in literature that they may get into society,but they will get into society that they may succeed in literature . (Gissing,29), and on reflecting on the trials of an author and mutual acquaintance states `as a married man without means the situation was hopeless.' (30)The young man, Jasper Milvain is keen to indulge his childish enthusiasm and they watch a steam train pass under the bridge they are standing on `I should say that was jolly !It enspirits me . It makes me feel eager to g...

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...student's style - the style of a period when the mind is serene and unawakened to the trafical mysteries of life; when it does not bring anything to the object that coalesces with and translates the qualities that are already there - half hidden, it may be - and the two united are depicted as the All' (Millgate,192)

The hugely visual element in Tess of the d'Urbervilles is, I think, the key to Hardy's distance from, and extension beyond the strict boundaries of realism .Having been forced to scrutinize Tess from every angle,view from near and far, framed and unbound, witnessing her passivity and actions what Hardy has succeeded in doing is to reduce Tess to an ethereal impression .We have to contribute to, and engage with the object that coalesces, and form our own notion of her and of her truth and reality.

Word count 4365

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