Commerce and Cupido in George Gissing's Artistic World. Provocations of a Late-Victorian Novelist

      Аннотация: This latest research into late-Victorian literature has attempted to correct previous misunderstandings of George Gissing's personal attitude allegedly portrayed in his social-realist fiction. His innovative contributions to genre-development are being high-lighted throughout the reinterpretation of his major novels while bearing in mind the impact of his shorter fiction. This multilingual author must be of particular interest to foreign learners of English because his provocative stories can offer them timeless opportunities for intercultural learning. Looking at the precarious state of Europe from our contemporary stance, it must be high time to move this highly underrated late-Victorian author back into our literary consciousness.

Ключевые слова: odd women, George Gissing, lste-Victorian novel, social-realist fiction, 19th-century-novel, Women's Education, female employment, Historical Fiction, leisure industry, Italian Culture, genre development, women's right movement, New Grub Street, social criticism, grave comedian, prostitution in fiction, ut pictura poesis, ancient mythology, freethinking artists, the writer as artist, the publishing market, work and leisure, art and commerce, technology and progress, scandal and sensation