This series gathers together a body of critical sources on major figures in literature. Each volume presents contemporary responses to a writer's work, enabling students and researchers to read for themselves, for example, comments on early performances of Shakespeare's plays, or reactions to the first publication of Jane Austen's novels. The selected sources range from important essays in the history of criticism to journalism and contemporary opinion, and documentary material such as letters and diaries. Significant pieces of criticism from later periods are also included, in order to...

First Published in 1968. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In this, his first published novel, George Gissing establishes the hallmarks of his life-long literary obsession with class, money and sex. Against the turbulent background of London in the late nineteenth century he explores the overwhelming obstacles that face men of education, intelligence and talent, who strive to escape from the artisan class into which they were born. The novel marks a turning point in the history of English fiction. Through his subversive treatment of the conventions of fiction, Gissing becomes a founding member of the new school of fin-de-siecle literary realism and...

Against the vivid background of the political and social upheavals of the mid-1880s, in 'Demos' George Gissing weaves an eletrifying story of ambition, betrayal, love and loss.

First published in 1995. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.