Gissing, George (1857-1903), was an English novelist. His books are noted for realism and for clear psychological portraits of people. Gissing’s novels reflect his own miserable life, which was dominated by poverty and tuberculosis. Gissing’s best novel, New Grub Street (1891), describes how struggling writers try to maintain their literary standards when their work is rejected by society. The Odd Women (1893) is a sympathetic portrayal of the economic struggles of several middle-class women in Victorian England. Gissing also wrote a warm, charming autobiographical novel, The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (1903).
George Robert Gissing was born on Nov. 22, 1857, in Wakefield. His early writing shows the influence of Charles Dickens. Gissing wrote one of the first important studies of Dickens: Charles Dickens, A Critical Study (1898). Gissing died on Dec. 28, 1903.
