‘The Dung-heap and the Flower’: Gissing’s Nether World

This paper examines the creative dynamic behind Gissing’s most successful slum novel, The Nether World, by speculating on Gissing’s own ‘nether world’: in particular, his social disgrace following his conviction for petty theft at Owens College, Manchester and his sexual preference for uneducated, w...

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Main Author: Nigel Messenger
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée 2005-12-01
Series:Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/cve/15040
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author Nigel Messenger
author_facet Nigel Messenger
author_sort Nigel Messenger
collection DOAJ
description This paper examines the creative dynamic behind Gissing’s most successful slum novel, The Nether World, by speculating on Gissing’s own ‘nether world’: in particular, his social disgrace following his conviction for petty theft at Owens College, Manchester and his sexual preference for uneducated, working class girls. Using the concept of ‘abjection’ as theorised by Julia Kristeva in Powers of Horror, the paper goes on to discuss some of the language, social settings and characters of The Nether World, and concludes by suggesting that Gissing’s novel anticipates some aspects of twentieth-century Modernism.
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publisher Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
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series Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
spelling doaj-art-f643494c7f7c45869efdd9182d1c5e8a2025-01-30T10:22:35ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492005-12-016110.4000/11s9k‘The Dung-heap and the Flower’: Gissing’s Nether WorldNigel MessengerThis paper examines the creative dynamic behind Gissing’s most successful slum novel, The Nether World, by speculating on Gissing’s own ‘nether world’: in particular, his social disgrace following his conviction for petty theft at Owens College, Manchester and his sexual preference for uneducated, working class girls. Using the concept of ‘abjection’ as theorised by Julia Kristeva in Powers of Horror, the paper goes on to discuss some of the language, social settings and characters of The Nether World, and concludes by suggesting that Gissing’s novel anticipates some aspects of twentieth-century Modernism.https://journals.openedition.org/cve/15040
spellingShingle Nigel Messenger
‘The Dung-heap and the Flower’: Gissing’s Nether World
Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
title ‘The Dung-heap and the Flower’: Gissing’s Nether World
title_full ‘The Dung-heap and the Flower’: Gissing’s Nether World
title_fullStr ‘The Dung-heap and the Flower’: Gissing’s Nether World
title_full_unstemmed ‘The Dung-heap and the Flower’: Gissing’s Nether World
title_short ‘The Dung-heap and the Flower’: Gissing’s Nether World
title_sort the dung heap and the flower gissing s nether world
url https://journals.openedition.org/cve/15040
work_keys_str_mv AT nigelmessenger thedungheapandtheflowergissingsnetherworld