APS TOGETHER
Day 15
New Grub Street by George GissingChapter 15
November 20, 2023 by Yiyun Li
“It seemed to him that the greatest happiness attainable would be to creep into some dark, warm corner, out of the sight and memory of men…”
“Out of the sight of men” is one thing; “out of the sight and memory of men,” another.
Every once in a while Gissing has a sentence that sends a chill down a reader’s spine. Such acute understanding of a specific kind of despair.
“And to think that people will skim over it without a suspicion of what it cost the writer!”
Even a mediocre writer like Reardon understands the real pain of writing: a writer’s words always carry more weight, more memory, and more meaning for the writer than to the readers.
What happens between Amy and Reardon—allow me to use a word I never use—it’s so profoundly predictable, and yet so profoundly sad.
