GISSING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1651, 18 January 1913, Page 9

GISSING.

Wo have now, apparently (says an English writer) two-books which claim to need..light.upon the personality of George Gissing.' "The Private Papers of Henry Byecroft" was commended to tho publio as "but thinly veiled autobiography," while- Mr; Moriey Roberts's book is a' biography .sdWortlrunder tho form of; a romance. ..They.afe in .obvious respects widely different books,- and tho impression that a-reading of both leaves upon the mind. i 9 that if ever there is'to be a full and systematic life of Gissing it has yet to bewTiEton. In the meantime most will prtbably agreo in regarding the two work 9 as complementary to each otlier, and; will- make a mental conflation of them oh the principle'that Mr. Kiberts gives us,the outward facts of his.friend's career,; while, the "Papers" reveal chiefly his temperament, reflections', and outlook upon,life.: ;.-.;...: -•■ ■■■.■■ . _ . Thus combined they enable us to singlo out Certain elements that must have contributed to make the burdon of Gissing's privations ,and misfortunes just less than absolutely intolerable: . That tho burden was' heavy is known.. ' Byecroft.gavo us some glimpses of: themi- But there wero calamities in Gissing's life to which in his writings he does not allude, and those raise-his. story at' times almost to tho level of tragedy;'.. Thus it is a fino picture whichwa'havoofßyecroft .writing in the cellar whero by day the. grey light that enters comes filtered; first through the.- grating in the street overhead, and then.through,tho panes of a thickly,be- .. grimed>>.wind'ow, and whero by night ho can hear the tramp.of tho posso <f policemen going 'out upon duty.- It is one of those pictures .which,' presenting genius in-.uncongenial surroundings,' have always a curious charm for the . imagination, and perhaps, for; its extreme definiteness, it deserves to be classic. But Mr.' Roberts's description, of the lodging in tW'Slu'm; of the filthy, disordered, and'unfurnished interior, with the.wifo lying on the brink of delirium tremens in the next room, awakes far more sombre feelings.; Now hissing tal been, at any Tate, decently brought up; he wn3 an educated ! mnn; ho had artistic perceptions; how. could, he continue to endure such circumstances which he had failed to mend ?,-'>..-.. :■'. ■";■ <■ -..'

At any rate, he did endure them, and that, it would seem, not without chceffnlnesSrAnd'tt is possible to .signalise' threeIngredients, in ■■ Gissing's temperament th.at enabled 'him. to' do so.- I'or ono thing, he'had'one of those adaptable natures which, however, they may resent and ;strugglo against a -painful environment, contrive,-'nevertheless, by and by, to sink into a'state approximating to sbntentment.; "A door that locked, a fire in winter, .a-pipe, of tobacco— these wern thing's ."essential; and,, 'granted these, I. have l>?bn often richly contented in the6qUalidost garret" "Did I feel miser-

able?" he odds. "Not a bit of it. .. . How surprised .and indignant I should have felt had I known, of anyone who pitied mo!" Then good 'literatim) was to him what it .is to few.. Ho «>ems to have been one of those men who can read a classic "with a shout of joy," and he had the key to many literatures. Books, of course, aro not'everything, but he who, while writing a novel in seven months, elected to givo • his spare moments to Aristophanes and the "Divina Commedia" must havo had a marvellous power of absenting himself from nality. Finally, t6 tho appreciation of -the scholar . lie .added tho passion of the craftsman." •■ Ho took a pleasure in fine workmanship,., and those correctings of his manuscript, .those tearings up and rewritings .which, are so repugnant to the ordinary .artisan in dcttors,' were part of tlio pleasure "ho took in exercising his craft of writer;. i