Gissing, George Robert

Japanese: ギッシング（英語表記）Gissing， George Robert

Born: November 22, 1857, Wakefield
[died] December 28, 1903. Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France. British novelist and essayist. Known for his realistic portrayals of lower-middle-class life. Born into a family of pharmacists, he was known for his giftedness from an early age, and won a scholarship to study at Manchester University. After two unhappy marriages, he led a wandering life and experienced extreme poverty. At about the age of 21, he decided to become a novelist, and made his literary debut with Workers in the Dawn (1880). He later wrote works such as Demos (86), The Nether World (89), New Grub Street (91), and Born in Exile (92), which depicted in detail the impoverished lives of the fallen intellectual class, based on his own experiences, and came to be regarded as a representative of British naturalist literature. Although Gissing depicted the ugliness of lower-class life, he had no sympathy for socialism, and instead leaned toward pessimism. In later years, he increasingly yearned for the world of classical culture. His talent as an essayist is shown in By the Ionian Sea (1901), written during his visit to Italy, and The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (03), an autobiographical essay written around the time he moved to France and achieved a somewhat stable life. His best-known critical essay is Charles Dickens: a Critical Study (1898).

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

[生]1857.11.22. ウェークフィールド
[没]1903.12.28. フランス，サンジャンドリュズ
イギリスの小説家，随筆家。中流下層の生活の写実的描写で知られる。薬剤師の家に生れ，幼児より秀才の名高く，奨学金を得てマンチェスター大学に学んだ。2度の不幸な結婚が原因で放浪生活をおくり，極度の貧困を経験した。 21歳頃から小説家を志し，『暁の労働者』 Workers in the Dawn (1880) で文壇に登場。そののち『群衆』 Demos (86) ，『どん底』 The Nether World (89) ，『新三文文士街』 New Grub Street (91) ，『漂泊の身』 Born in Exile (92) などで，自己の体験に基づいて，零落した知識階級の貧しい生活を微細に描き，イギリス自然主義文学の代表者と目されるにいたった。ギッシングは下層生活の醜悪さを描いたけれども，社会主義には共感せず，むしろ悲観主義に傾き，後年にいたるに従って，ますます古典的教養の世界に憧れるようになった。イタリアに遊んだ際の『イオニア海のほとり』 By the Ionian Sea (1901) ，フランスに移り住んで，やや生活の安定を得た頃の自伝的随想『ヘンリー・ライクロフトの私記』 The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (03) は，彼の随筆家としての才能を示すもの。評論としては『チャールズ・ディケンズ論』 Charles Dickens: a Critical Study (1898) が名高い。

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