Will Warburton

Gissing's Romance Of Real Life George Gissing's (1857 - 1903) last completed novel "Will Warburton: a Romance of Real Life" was published posthumously in 1904. Frequently overlooked or downplayed among his works, "Will Warburton" shows marked shifts for Gissing. Moving from his characteristic pessimi......more

Gissing's final novel presents a happier resolution than most of his gloomy earlier works. The romance of real life appears to reside less in the prospect of the companionable marriage than in Will's overcoming of his internalised social prejudice against counter jumpers. His wife-to-be is perhaps o......more

It seems appropriate that Gissing's swansong should end on a note of courage and hope, with only twinges of the bleak despair we see in some of his earlier novels. ‘Will Warburton’ is the parable of Job transferred to a turn-of-the-century society. Gissing's strengths as a novelist are threefold: goo......more

What a wonderful book. Gissing is a hugely important Victorian writer, a social realist who confronts the deep inequalities of the times he lives in with all the moral dilemmas that involves. The conflict in male and female gender roles and relationships, the significance of one's profession to soci......more

"Yes, the accident of possessing money; a life to depend upon that! In another station--though, as likely as not, with no moral superiority to justify the privilege--the sick woman would be guarded, soothed, fortified by every expedient of science, every resource of humanity. Chance to be poor and n......more