The Late-Victorian London Literary Field In George Gissing’s New Grub Street

George Gissing is primarily known for his realist masterpiece New Grub Street(1891),in which he portrays the poverty-stricken lives of various London literary hacks toiling and struggling in the commercialized late-Victorian literary field.Many critics have analyzed several major issues of the novel,including the Gissing hero—educated,poor and alienated intellectual,writer’s identity and survival crisis,commercialization of literature,etc.Inspired by Bourdieu’s theory of the literary field,this thesis examines the internal dynamics of the Grub Street from the aspects of authorship,readership and marketplace,and manifests that writers cannot produce relatively independently,but are in fact laborers subject to the law of literary market,worming their way to success.This thesis consists of three chapters.The first chapter demonstrates that the opposite habitus between Reardon and Milvain results in their different trajectory of literary career:large-scale production prevails over restricted production.It also illustrates the two main predicaments that harass writers in literary production—exhaustion of inspiration and literary drudgery.The second chapter investigates the responses of literary tradesmen and conscientious artists to the changing market demand dictated by the emerging quarter-educated reading public.Literary reviewers of periodicals also make full use of their tricks to manipulate public opinion on writers and their works.The last chapter uncovers the important requisite for literary success—getting into society through material wealth and useful social connections.Fortune lays the foundation for further advantages,including human relations,fame and influence.The novel represents that the poverty-stricken literary men yearn to inherit property or marry above in order to succeed.