Born in Exile

The Story Of Godwin Peak Just before publication in 1892, George Gissing changed the title of his novel to the evocative "Born in Exile" from the name of its primary character, the difficult, complex anti-hero, Godwin Peak. Although written after Gissing had made a name for himself with "New Grub Str......more

This is my third Gissing novel, after New Grub Street and The Odd Women, all three written in close succession between 1891 and 1893. New Grub Street is far the most famous of these novels, but, curiously, it’s the one I liked least of the three. Born in Exile is impressive as a novel of ideas which......more

I was reading a couple of reviews on here, and it seems to me thaT the majority of the authors of said reviews have missed the point of the novel. This book is NOT about the impossibility of climbing outside one's own social sphere. This is an attack on idealism; it is Peak's idealism that forces hi......more

This book is an anti-quest. Fundamentally it encourages us to accept ourselves as human beings, and not to spoil our lives trying to achieve something that is ‘beyond’ our humanity. Doing so only provokes a lifetime of frustrated struggle, it says, which leaves behind it lots of regrets and wasted y......more

George Gissing is an author everyone would like to like; but unless he's the subject of your dissertation, you won't.......more