Writing Place

<p>Exploring a hitherto neglected field <i>Writing Place: Mimesis Subjectivity and Imagination in the Works of George Gissing</i> is the first monograph to consider the works of George Gissing (1857-1903) in light of the ‘spatial turn’. By exploring how objectivity and subjectivity interact in his work the book asks: what are the risks of looking for the ‘real’ in Gissing’s places? How does the inherent heterogeneity of Gissing’s observation influence the textual recapitulation of place? In addition to examining canonical texts such as <i>The Nether World </i>(1889) <i>New Grub Street </i>(1891) and <i>The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft </i>(1901) the book analyses the lesser-known novels short stories journalism and personal writings of Gissing in the context of modern spatial studies. The book challenges previously biographical and London-centric accounts of Gissing’s representation of space and place by re-examining seemingly innate contemporaneous geographical demarcations such as the north and the south the city suburb and country Europe and the world and re-reading Gissing’s places in the contexts of industrialism ruralism the city in literature and travel writing. Through sustained attention to the ambiguities and contradictions rooted in the form and content of his writing the book concludes that ultimately Gissing’s novels undermine spatial dichotomies by emphasising and celebrating the incongruity of seeming certainties</p>