New Grub Street by George Gissing

If you want to understand how worked the so-called market for writers, journalists, people interested in writing in the Victorian age New Grub Street

by George Gissing will be extremely helpful. And telling to you the truth, I don't think that the market is changed a lot.

We will always find people like Jasper Milvain, reporter, writer, interested to write for money. His reasons after all, are nobles under many ways. If a person thinks all the time to write a masterpiece, she/he could be wrong, wasting time. Better is, the main philosophy of Jasper, to follow trends, what people and editors are searching for. After all, what Jasper remarks, is that this one is a market like another one. 

Jasper tries to surround himself with people of letters and in general everyone in grade to better his position, encouraging the sisters at writing short fictions. He calculates strategies for obtain the most by the existence. Jasper remains funny under many ways. 

His friend Reardon is completely different. He lives with the idea that a good book is written being inspired  by some Muse, and he can't accept that, cinically he can writes without "feeling" what he writes. Reardon is a character pretty interesting, tragic and romantic. 

He studied in a good school, at the age of 18 or so left for London in search of fortune as a man of letters, journalist, writer, but his pieces didn't meet the interest of any audience. He found in the while another job for going on. He started to publish during this moment of relaxation various books and everything sounded to return to the normality. He met a girl, Amy, soon his wife.

The existence of a poor writer, is dominated by financial problems and different struggles. 

Money, being assaulted by the block of writer two conditions absolutely devastating. 

Plus with the time, speaking with his wife Amy, Reardon starts to develop, being depressed, a big fear regarding possible bad reviews of his books. He doesn't have a great consideration of his latest works.

When a writer is a writer, is impossible also in condition of depression to relax the mind; it will always goes here and there, and it is what happen to Reardon. Restless, Amy, the wife has always lived an existence pretty sacrified, because the husband hadn't reached a good status with his job and so she has been constricted at staying at home most of the time living a modest, frugal existence. 

When she married Reardon her idea was to marry an important man she could go proud of, but later she understood that her husband wouldn't never been who she thought he could become with the time.. Tensions increases when money became a necessity. Amy appears desperate. The man she married once was unable to provide to them all, kid included and Amy will decides to start a new existence. Reardon, left alone, will become more desperate continuing to live pretty poorly, in a house very cold, falling sick. The family completely destroyed, Amy returned to help him in the moment of greatest and final necessity.

This book is not simple at all. I felt a great compassion for Reardon, his problems, his character, too weak, maybe for a world like the Literary one can be.

Why the title New Grub Street? Because Grub Street was the headquarter of printing houses more than two centuries ago in London.

Here many writers and reporters tried to become, in most cases without any hope, affirmed pens.

So sad, but beautiful. 

Highly recommended.

I thank Fazi Editori for the copy of this book.

Anna Maria Polidori