Sinossi
Grub Street è la via di Londra in cui furono aperte le prime stamperie e dove nacque il mestiere di scrittore in senso moderno. Resa celebre da Alexander Pope nella sua satira del mondo letterario, da allora definì l'ambiente in cui si svolgeva l'oscuro e ingrato lavoro di un esercito di scribacchini costretti a sbarcare il lunario. Nella Londra di fine Ottocento, Edwin Reardon è uno scrittore di grande talento ma dallo scarso successo commerciale. Sebbene la continua incertezza economica e la povertà incipiente minaccino il suo matrimonio con Amy, è incapace di piegare la sua arte alle logiche del mercato e porterà avanti la sua coerenza fino alle estreme conseguenze. Al contrario, Jasper Milvain, giornalista rampante e giovane sfrontato, in cambio di ricchezza e affermazione sociale è disposto a tutto: curerà sempre e solo le relazioni convenienti, scriverà ponendosi come obiettivo primario di ottenere fama e denaro, romperà la promessa di matrimonio fatta a Marian Yule, figlia dello scrittore Alfred Yule e scrittrice a sua volta, preferendole un'altra donna che può portargli maggiore vantaggio. Pubblicato nel 1891, "New Grub Street" diede a George Gissing un posto di primo piano tra gli scrittori dell'epoca vittoriana. Con uno stile originale, ricco di humour, Gissing ritrae un variegato gruppo di romanzieri, giornalisti e studiosi durante la crisi culturale e letteraria degli ultimi anni del diciannovesimo secolo.
- ISBN: 8893254417
- Casa Editrice: Fazi
- Pagine: 574
- Data di uscita: 05-03-2020
Recensioni
"Literature nowadays is a trade. Putting aside men of genius, who may succeed by mere cosmic force, your successful man of letters is your skillful tradesman. He thinks first and foremost of the markets; when one kind of goods begins to go off slackly, he is ready with something new and appetizing.
“That is one of the bitter curses of poverty; it leaves no right to be generous.” George Gissing was a young man on his way. He had impressive scores at the Oxford Local Examinations, and all was going well until he fell in lust with a young orphaned prostitute named Marianne Helen Harrison or Nell. Leggi tutto
Sometimes you see those guys on the street with one long dotted line tattoed round their neck and an inscription CUT HERE. This is one of their favourite novels.
Gissing is fast becoming on of my favourite Victorian writers. His writing is so strong, his description of people and his observations so well thought out and poignant. This is a story that deals will struggling writers within 1880s London, and is superbly and heart-breakingly written. Brilliant.
Gissing’s seminal novel is perched peculiarly on the precipice of modernism and the hard crank of technogeddon is hewn into every toilsome syllable. Jasper and Edward are the foolish scribes living by their pens (imagine such an absurd notion!), kicking against the hot fuzz of hackdom and bitchery i Leggi tutto
Revisiting New Grub Street I have been a reader of the late Victorian novelist George Gissing (1857 -- 1903) for most of my life and have read or reread much of his writing and reviewed it online. Gissing remains too little known and I focused in my reading and online reviewing on some of his less fa Leggi tutto
George Orwell said that George Gissing was "perhaps the best novelist England has produced" . Orwell identified New Grub Street (1891), along with The Odd Women and Demos: A Story of English Socialism as Gissing's "real masterpieces" . Orwell, as an impoverished writer, would doubtless have identified Leggi tutto
I thought this would be dry, so I left it on the shelf for a number of years. It took my husband reading it and telling me how much I would like it, to finally attempt it. Boy, was I wrong. Thoroughly engaging and written in an almost modern style, I didn't want it to end. One of my favorite books t Leggi tutto
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