Gissing's early novels were not well received, but he achieved greater recognition in the 1890s, both in England and overseas. The increase in popularity was linked not just to his novels, but to the short stories he wrote in this period and his friendships with influential and respected literary figures such as the journalist Henry Norman, author J. M. Barrie and writer and critic Edmund Gosse. By the end of the 19th century, critics placed him alongside Thomas Hardy and George Meredith as one of the three leading ...
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Gissing's early novels were not well received, but he achieved greater recognition in the 1890s, both in England and overseas. The increase in popularity was linked not just to his novels, but to the short stories he wrote in this period and his friendships with influential and respected literary figures such as the journalist Henry Norman, author J. M. Barrie and writer and critic Edmund Gosse. By the end of the 19th century, critics placed him alongside Thomas Hardy and George Meredith as one of the three leading novelists in England. Sir William Robertson Nicoll described Gissing as "one of the most original, daring and conscientious workers in fiction." Chesterton called him the "soundest of the Dickens critics, a man of genius." George Orwell was an admirer and in a 1943 Tribune article called Gissing "perhaps the best novelist England has produced." He believed his "real masterpieces" were the "three novels, The Odd Women, Demos, and New Grub Street, and his book on Dickens. The central theme can be stated in three words - 'not enough money'."
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It is becoming a rare treat to visit a walk-in used book store and find something wanted and unexpected. I recently had the opportunity to browse in an old used book store, stuffed with two floors of books, in the Capitol Hill section of Washington, D.C. I have the habit of looking for books by the late Victorian novelist George Gissing, (1857 -- 1903), and on this visit I found a surprise: a 1976 hardback edition of Gissing's little known book, "Our Friend the Charlatan" complete with an introduction, notes and variant manuscript readings by the Gissing scholar, Pierre Coustillas and illustrations by Launcelot Speed from the original edition of the book published in 1901. I was elated; finding the book made my day.
The edition I found does not seem to be available here on Amazon. Thus, I am doing the next best thing by reviewing the easily accessible kindle edition of "Our Friend the Charlatan". Gissing remains relatively unfamiliar to most readers, and this book is a rarity even to his admirers. The book was written late in the author's life. long after his novels set in the poor areas of London and his latter better-known books such as "New Grub Street" and "The Odd Women". Critics have not been kind to "Our Friend Charlatan". But I was glad to read the book.
The novel differs from most of Gissing in that it is a sharp political satire and in its setting: it is almost a drawing room novel set largely in rural England and told, as is typical for Gissing, largely in dialogue. Unusually for Gissing, the book maintains a sense of distance and detachment from its characters. The reader does not become emotionally involved with most of them or with the story. Yet in its treatment of character and ideas and in its pessimism the book is worthy of its author.
The main character of the book is a man in his late 20's, Dyce Lashmar. Dyce is described in the book, with great irony as "the coming man" which was Gissing's original title before the publisher demanded a change. Dyce is the "coming man" in his individualism, cynicism, lack of feeling, and continued pursuit of the main chance. Dyce is a vocal protagonist of the "new woman", a companion to the "coming man" and distinguished by her independence, intellect, and her freedom from false attempts at chivalry and her contempt for male chauvinism. Yet no one is more sexist, to use the modern term, than Dyce Lashmar. An in his relationship with women there is nothing of romance, love, or sexuality but only the quest for money and personal advantage. Although he is ever resourceful and opportunistic, this book sees Dyce's, "the coming man's", downfall.
The child of a poor rural curate, Dyce is Oxford educated but his parents are worried that he has made nothing of himself. His father at last due to his own fiscal difficulties cuts off the young man's allowance, and Dyce must leave his position as tutor to the son of a young widow when the boy is sent away to school. The young widow has long been attracted to Dyce who has his eye on larger opportunities. Dyce inveigles the acquaintance of a dying, wealthy, and autocratic widow, Lady Ogram, who had in her youth been an artist's model and actress but who married well. Lady Ogram sees potential in Dyce and sponsors him in a bid for a seat in Parliament, running as a Liberal in opposition to the ensconced conservative member with whom Lady Ogram has had a personal feud for many years. Lady Ogram is dictatorial and rigid in her old age and insists that Dyce marry her personal secretary, Constance Bride, a "new woman" whose affections Dyce had abused somewhat some years earlier. Dyce is reluctant to do so because he thinks Lady Ogram about to will her money to a long lost niece, May Tomalin, half-educated, addled, and ambitious. Dyce sets out secretly to woo May and to jettison Constance. As ambiguities in Lady Ogram's intent develop, Dyce shifts his attention from one woman to the other depending on where he thinks the money will land. At length, he is found out in a sharp, searing scene with both women and with Lady Ogram just before her death. Even after his exposure as a cad, Dyce proposes to Constance, who receives a substantial bequest, but is, finally, roundly rebuffed.
The part of the book that deals with ideas centers around a French book called "The Modern City" by M. Jean Izoulet, a Professor of Sociology. Dyce Lashmar has read this book and claims its ideas as his own without acknowledging the book. As the novel unravels, Dyce is uncovered as a plagiarist and a hypocrite, but Izoulet's book gets explored in its own right. The book, which fascinated Gissing, is an early version of "socio-biology". Izoulet took evolutionary theory and said it could be applied directly to human politics. The book advocates a form of socialism, of communalism, but with a twist. The more gifted, intelligent people are to be put on the top of society and the other people are to be happy with the places. In Dyce Lashmar's hand, Izoulet's theory becomes the basis for rampant egoism and self-pursuit. Gissing's point in the book is that socio-biology or scientific theory cannot be applied to the problems of human society. It is position still worth taking. Besides exploring Izoulet's book, the novel has critical things to say about Nietzsche -- Gissing thinks both Dyce Lasmar and Constance Bride are more like Nietzsche than they care to admit, and admiring things to say about Plato, Marcus Aurelius, and Thomas Huxley. The latter two figures are important to the only sympathetic character in the book, a poor English peer, Lord Dymchurch, who is rebuffed by May Tomalin and settles on the decaying family farm. In so doing, Dymchurch has an experience with a poor gardener which teaches him that human society operates in a manner generally in opposition to the physical rules which govern nature.
At the end of the story, Dyce, rebuffed by both May and Constance, loses his bid for parliament and is accepted by the young widow whose son he formerly tutored. Dyce believes the woman has an income of about 700 pounds a year but, alas, after the marriage, most of this money is lost to a corrupt trustee. Dyce and his wife and stepson are left to fend for themselves.
As with all of Gissing, "Our Friend the Charlatan" is a novel of ideas with much of value. It is a book I might not have read if I hadn't found it fortuitously. It would not be my first suggestion for readers new to Gissing. "Our Friend the Charlatan", however, is worth reading. It deserves to be remembered.
