This comprehensive study of George Gissing's short stories and related non-fiction is essential reading for students of nineteenth-century realism. For the first time readers will be able to follow the development which transformed Gissing's unremarkable early stories into the very individual tales that elevated his work to the vanguard of realistic short fiction. Gissing's American period is notable for its accumulation of themes that were repeatedly refined and adapted for his later work, causality emerging as the dominant voice. On his return to England, shifting political and...