George Gluing : Grave Comedian. By Mabel Collins Donnelly. (0.U.P.,
36s.)
'GissiNo's reputation is at the mercy not only of critics but also of publishers,' writes Dr. Donnelly, and her work should be mentioned first as a well-considered plea for the reissue of his more readable books. Gissing deserves to be read, and he is not read. He deserves to be read because, though he wrote too mechani- cally and too much, some things he wrote are unique. No other Victorian (perhaps no other English writer at all, except Orwell) combined artistic honesty with clinical exactness to por- tray the intellectual exile, who is also the feeling victim of his own neurosis and his gifts. This is George Gissing's life, as it is also pars of the life of our time. And Dr. Donnelly's clinical study of him and his work, though it suffers sometimes from being American and so out of touch with his world, should serve as a useful guide to New Grub Street, Born in Exile, The Odd Women and The Whirpool. However, these must be reprinted before they can be at all generally read.
CLIFFORD COLLINS
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