George Gissing

New Grub Street (1891) by George Gissing

New Grub Street is a novel by George Gissing published in 1891, which is set in the literary and journalistic circles of late-1800s London. The story is about the literary world of late-Victorian London that Gissing inhabited, and its title, New Grub Street, alludes to the London street, Grub Street, which in the 18th century became synonymous with the "hack writing" that pervades Gissing's novel. The novel contrasts Edwin Reardon, a congenitally uncommercial but talented writer, against Jasper Milvain, a selfish and unscrupulous hack who rejects artistic endeavour for material gain. The novel suggests that the literary world rewards materialistic self-promotion more than serious artistic sensibility.