APS TOGETHER
New Grub Street by George Gissing
Hosted by Yiyun Li
Began on November 6, 2023 (37 Days)
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“I tell you, writing is a business… We talk of literature as a trade, not of Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare… I speak only of good, coarse, marketable stuff for the world’s vulgar," says a character in New Grub Street, a novel about the publishing world in London in the 1880s. The character might as well have been talking about the state of publishing in the twenty-first century. George Gissing's own life story was as novelistic as any Dickens novel, and he had very little wish to sugarcoat the reality for his readers. Not only is there no sugarcoating in New Grub Street, but there is not even a thin layer of dusting sugar in this novel. For the next thirty-seven days, I invite APS Together readers to read this clear-eyed and unsentimental novel about the business of making literature, the (possible or impossible) livelihood of writers, and many other topics that are highly relevant today.
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Join us on December 13 for a virtual discussion of New Grub Street with Yiyun Li.
Yiyun Li
is the author of several novels, including Wednesday's Child and The Book of Goose (both FSG); Where Reasons End, which received the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award; the memoir Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life (both Random House); and Tolstoy Together (A Public Space Books). She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, Windham-Campbell Prize, and the PEN/Malamud Award, among other honors. A contributing editor to A Public Space, she teaches at Princeton University. Her essay “Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life” appeared in A Public Space No. 19.
Daily Reading
Day 1
New Grub Street. Chapter 1
November 6, 2023 by Yiyun Li
Rather refreshing to open a novel with such an unpalatable character, and unapologetically so.
Day 2
New Grub Street. Chapter 2
November 7, 2023 by Yiyun Li
A prickly chapter. Gissing never seems to leave any space for any wishful thinking, not for the characters, not for the readers, either.
Day 3
New Grub Street. Chapter 3
November 8, 2023 by Yiyun Li
This chapter makes a good snapshot of the contemporary publishing world.
Day 4
New Grub Street. Chapter 4
November 9, 2023 by Yiyun Li
I can’t decide if it feels more horrible or more comforting that the market has always been that shark threatening to devour the souls of many writers before our time.
Day 6
New Grub Street. Chapter 6
November 11, 2023 by Yiyun Li
Imagine anyone these days saying: I’m going to set myself afloat in literature!
Day 7
New Grub Street. Chapter 7
November 12, 2023 by Yiyun Li
This may be one of my favorite chapters so far.
Day 8
New Grub Street. Chapter 8
November 13, 2023 by Yiyun Li
One refreshing view of this novel is that we get to see many struggling writers.
Day 9
New Grub Street. Chapter 9
November 14, 2023 by Yiyun Li
The description of a particular kind of writer’s block (if there is such a thing—I don’t know) in this chapter.
Day 10
New Grub Street. Chapter 10
November 15, 2023 by Yiyun Li
“She would rather have had him flare into a worthless popularity than flicker down into total extinction.”
Day 11
New Grub Street. Chapter 11
November 16, 2023 by Yiyun Li
A short chapter of misery, which reminds me of a line from an ancient Chinese poem.
Day 12
New Grub Street. Chapter 12
November 17, 2023 by Yiyun Li
I hate to admit it, but after the chapters of the private misery of Reardon’s impossible literary pursuit, it’s refreshing to have Milvain back in the book.
Day 13
New Grub Street. Chapter 13
November 18, 2023 by Yiyun Li
In every generation there must be an abundance of Alfred Yules.
Day 14
New Grub Street. Chapter 14
November 19, 2023 by Yiyun Li
“I meant, what was the literary value of it?” said his sister, with a smile.
Day 15
New Grub Street. Chapter 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…”
Day 16
New Grub Street. Chapter 16
November 21, 2023 by Yiyun Li
Gissing doesn’t really pressure his language, but when he does it, it really works well.
Day 17
New Grub Street. Chapter 17
November 22, 2023 by Yiyun Li
This is Gissing at his sharpest.
Day 18
New Grub Street. Chapter 18
November 23, 2023 by Yiyun Li
This is Gissing at his most succinct.
Day 19
New Grub Street. Chapter 19
November 24, 2023 by Yiyun Li
With Dickens's protagonists, falling into hard times or misery often gives hope of rising again.
Day 20
New Grub Street. Chapter 20
November 25, 2023 by Yiyun Li
Upon my words: easily I can come up with five men in each category in today’s publishing.
Day 21
New Grub Street. Chapter 21
November 26, 2023 by Yiyun Li
“What certainty could be arrived at in matters of literary gossip?”
Day 22
New Grub Street. Chapter 22
November 27, 2023 by Yiyun Li
Once in a while Gissing can have a sentence so satisfying.
Day 23
New Grub Street. Chapter 23
November 28, 2023 by Yiyun Li
Concrete evidence we haven’t advanced far from the 1880s.
Day 24
New Grub Street. Chapter 24
November 29, 2023 by Yiyun Li
The last chapter of the second of the triple-decker: a chapter of unusual courting.
Day 25
New Grub Street. Chapter 25
November 30, 2023 by Yiyun Li
“Sometimes he opened his Shakespeare, for instance, and dreamed over a page or two.”
Day 26
New Grub Street. Chapter 26
December 1, 2023 by Yiyun Li
Amy is becoming more and more interesting.
Day 27
New Grub Street. Chapter 27
December 2, 2023 by Yiyun Li
To be a poor writer of mediocre quality is rather a tragedy.
Day 28
New Grub Street. Chapter 28
December 3, 2023 by Yiyun Li
Chapters about Milvain bring some energy compared to the Reardon chapters.
Day 29
New Grub Street. Chapter 29
December 4, 2023 by Yiyun Li
“Their eyes met and the look of each seemed to fascinate the other.”
Day 30
New Grub Street. Chapter 30
December 5, 2023 by Yiyun Li
Well, what an apologetically Milvainy question.
Day 31
New Grub Street. Chapter 31
December 6, 2023 by Yiyun Li
In the opening two paragraphs of this chapter, Gissing did something extraordinary (for Gissing).
Day 32
New Grub Street. Chapter 32
December 7, 2023 by Yiyun Li
Willie died from diphtheria.
Day 33
New Grub Street. Chapter 33
December 8, 2023 by Yiyun Li
“The simple, sober truth has no chance whatever of being listened to, and it’s only by volume of shouting that the ear of the public is held.”
Day 34
New Grub Street. Chapter 34
December 9, 2023 by Yiyun Li
This moment doesn’t make Milvain a better person, but it does make him a humane character.
Day 35
New Grub Street. Chapter 35
December 10, 2023 by Yiyun Li
Sometimes I wonder if the reason that literature still lives on is not because of people’s strong convictions, but despite of…
Day 36
New Grub Street. Chapter 36
December 11, 2023 by Yiyun Li
An insightful line into Milvain’s psyche.
Day 37
New Grub Street. Chapter 37
December 12, 2023 by Yiyun Li
Amy and Jasper are rewarded in the end.