The Whirlpool George Gissing 9781523395552 Books
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George Gissing was a British novelist, most famous for his novels The Nether World, New Grub Street, and The Odd Women. He is said to have been primarily influenced by Emile Zola.
The Whirlpool George Gissing 9781523395552 Books
George Gissing's last major novel was written during the 1890s and can thus appropriately be called late Victorian. Its social setting, unusually for Gissing, is among the upper middle class, in the financial world of London, which includes victims, speculators, gamblers and swindlers. With my hindsight position the book has two startling anachronisms: it reads like an invitation to occupy Wall Street, and like a prophecy that a major war is coming in the not so distant future. The men in their idle club conversations are strutting their aggressive imperialism, their sexism and racism in a nasty spirit of `social Darwinism'. Knowing that their equals in Germany talked in the same way, I smell that the clash of 1914 was in the air.A main concern of the author and his main hero is the impossibility of a satisfactory and fulfilling married life. The weakness of the novel in relation to that theme is that GG does not let us come to this conclusion ourselves, but he needs to tell us from the start. When the future couple meets, we know right away that this is never going to work. GG was not devious enough. We are not deceived about the woman in the same way as her future husband is. He picks up with our knowledge fast enough when it is too late, but is a good sport and tries to make the best of it. Not that he is a nugget of a man himself.
And, lest I forget to mention it, having children is entirely inconvenient. That is accepted as a matter of course, hardly a debate about it.
The story starts in the year 1886. Central character is an independent gentleman who came into his moderate fortune only after living more modestly as a business employee. Harvey Rolfe, 37, is not a man who is meant to be liked much. He gets to marry a young beauty without much brains, little purpose of mind, and only middlish talents as a violinist. The marriage happens only because the girl's father commits suicide after his big investment vehicle fails. The father was a sort of minor Madoff with a prehistoric sense of honor, which led to his doing himself away before being put away. Without that, his daughter would have been in the hunt for a millionaire, not content with small fry like Rolfe.
Some have compared Gissing's style and subject to Henry James. I can't agree on that. The main similarity between the two novelists is time and location. Apart from that they are rather far apart, not only in their dominant social setting. HJ was clearly an upper class fellow, while GG had his roots in poorer strata.
Gissing was a much more direct and much less elaborate author. James could have told the same story but it would have been a different story. He would have been less explicit. You couldn't have trusted him the way you can trust Gissing. Gissing tells you his version of the truth. James tells you a story and you must blame yourself if you believe him. Gissing is full of ideas, James never had an idea in his life, as somebody said, approximately. I say this as a James admirer who wants to point out the differences, not to pass judgment. James is certainly the greater novelist, but with Gissing you get more to chew on. Reading Gissing is a dialogue from sentence to sentence. Reading James is like looking at a painting in a museum.
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The Whirlpool George Gissing 9781523395552 Books Reviews
Just finished The Whirlpool and I'm trying to organize my thoughts in answer to the question, "Why did I love this book so much?" Well, for one thing, it's different from New Grub Street, Private Papers and Odd Women in that the story line takes place at a higher level of society. I found that a relief, not because I'm a snob, but because I like more interesting dialogue.
What I love about Gissing is his unflinching honesty, his allegiance to the truth no matter how painful---in regard to his characters and to his own life. His characters (in The Whirlpool) are so very real; the dialogue snaps in the air about your ears. It's all so real, so inevitable, so poignant. Gissing can break your heart--not out of sentimentality, like Dickens, but because his own heart is breaking.
It makes me wonder who he wrote for? He knew his novels were not going to be best sellers. I've even read that he expressed some disdain for successful writers. The Whirlpool was one of his last novels; he had no illusions about it being embraced by the literary world, much less the man in the street. Yet he wrote so painstakingly well.
The Whirlpool and The Odd Women moved me in ways that Dickens never could. I would put Gissing right up there with George Eliot. He towers over Henry James, and he's better than Galsworthy.
got it for dad he loved it
Seminally important and beautiful writer, a transition from 19th to 20th century realism. Gritty and haunting. Grub Street considered his most influential work.
This is a truly fine novel. Gissing's exploration of the human condition is not at all dated. Despite the Victorian situations this story could take place today.
Stock market crash, failed banks, violin recitals, accidental homicide, sensationalist jury trial...what should/ could have been a compelling read was instead a pretty boring exercise. gissing keeps cutting from a scenes most dramatic moments to describing them weeks later when all the tension has been cut and the characters are tacitly dealing with the aftermath. Toward the final pages the death of a pivotal character felt like a footnote and the ending seemed to belong to another tale. Skip this one
This is a book that demands to be read - as do all of Gissings' books but "The Whirlpool" has been unjustly
forgotten. When Gissing wrote "The Whirlpool" he was quite an expert on disfunctional families. The 1890s
were the time of his greatest literary success but privately he was in the depths of despair.
Harvey Rolfe (who was George Gissing's voice in the novel) marries Alma Frothingham. There are ominous signs
before they are wed. Alma's philosophy is that she wants to live life free of duty and obligation (read
selfish). Harvey doesn't see that - in his view she wants to be totally independant, he sees her as a "new
woman". Alma is ultimately a tragic figure, whose love of praise and adulation is eventually her downfall.
Gissing was interested in the "blood will out" view. Alma's father committed suicide but her mother is never
mentioned. Harvey makes different remarks about Alma, maybe inheriting her unstable temperament from her
mother but it is never gone into in detail.
Gissing has some forward thinking ideas - a conversation with Mary Abbott, a widow who he helps
financially when her husband commits suicide. She and Alma's stepmother, Mrs. Frothingham are two women, who
by strength of character survive. Rolfe predicts there will come a day when there will be "establishments for
young children of the middle class" - child care and kindergarten. The strongest relationship in the book is
ulimately the one Harvey Rolfe enjoys with his little son Hugh - he is determined to bring him up and educate
him in a new way, free of the restrictions of old.
George Gissing's last major novel was written during the 1890s and can thus appropriately be called late Victorian. Its social setting, unusually for Gissing, is among the upper middle class, in the financial world of London, which includes victims, speculators, gamblers and swindlers. With my hindsight position the book has two startling anachronisms it reads like an invitation to occupy Wall Street, and like a prophecy that a major war is coming in the not so distant future. The men in their idle club conversations are strutting their aggressive imperialism, their sexism and racism in a nasty spirit of `social Darwinism'. Knowing that their equals in Germany talked in the same way, I smell that the clash of 1914 was in the air.
A main concern of the author and his main hero is the impossibility of a satisfactory and fulfilling married life. The weakness of the novel in relation to that theme is that GG does not let us come to this conclusion ourselves, but he needs to tell us from the start. When the future couple meets, we know right away that this is never going to work. GG was not devious enough. We are not deceived about the woman in the same way as her future husband is. He picks up with our knowledge fast enough when it is too late, but is a good sport and tries to make the best of it. Not that he is a nugget of a man himself.
And, lest I forget to mention it, having children is entirely inconvenient. That is accepted as a matter of course, hardly a debate about it.
The story starts in the year 1886. Central character is an independent gentleman who came into his moderate fortune only after living more modestly as a business employee. Harvey Rolfe, 37, is not a man who is meant to be liked much. He gets to marry a young beauty without much brains, little purpose of mind, and only middlish talents as a violinist. The marriage happens only because the girl's father commits suicide after his big investment vehicle fails. The father was a sort of minor Madoff with a prehistoric sense of honor, which led to his doing himself away before being put away. Without that, his daughter would have been in the hunt for a millionaire, not content with small fry like Rolfe.
Some have compared Gissing's style and subject to Henry James. I can't agree on that. The main similarity between the two novelists is time and location. Apart from that they are rather far apart, not only in their dominant social setting. HJ was clearly an upper class fellow, while GG had his roots in poorer strata.
Gissing was a much more direct and much less elaborate author. James could have told the same story but it would have been a different story. He would have been less explicit. You couldn't have trusted him the way you can trust Gissing. Gissing tells you his version of the truth. James tells you a story and you must blame yourself if you believe him. Gissing is full of ideas, James never had an idea in his life, as somebody said, approximately. I say this as a James admirer who wants to point out the differences, not to pass judgment. James is certainly the greater novelist, but with Gissing you get more to chew on. Reading Gissing is a dialogue from sentence to sentence. Reading James is like looking at a painting in a museum.
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