A Writer of Books - Softcover

Paston PASTON, George; Paston, George

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0897334655 ISBN 13: 9780897334655

Publisher: Chicago Review Press, 1998

Synopsis

This extraordinary novel, virtually unavailable since its publication in 1899, provides a rare insight into the world of late Victorian authors, which has generally been considered a male stronghold. Here is the "distaff" side of George Gissing's New Grub Street: Cosima Chudleigh, a sheltered, bookish twenty-two-year-old, comes to London to begin what she firmly believes will be a career as a respected novelist. She has an unshakeable determination to study life and to acquire experience; this, combined with her lack of practical knowledge of society, causes her to struggle with trauma after trauma, trapped as she is by rigid social conventions. She encounters an interesting panorama of characters, among whom are Bess Heywood, a beautiful lesbian actress who carries on a relentless vendetta against men who have taken advantage of her friends, and Quentin Mallory, a historian who values and encourages the attempts of women to break out of suffocating confinement. Cosima must rebel against the social code, which is some extent she has invoked against her own best interests.

A Writer of Books marks the climax of a decade of feminist fiction that had reshaped the role of literature in British social debates. This novel pushes the boundaries of gender definition, and attacks simultaneously the conventions of domestic life and what could or could not be addressed in fiction.

About this title

About the Author

George Paston (Emily Morse Symonds)

From Kirkus Reviews

paper 0-89733-465-5 A very old chestnut plucked from the fire, this is a reprint of an 1899 novel by Emily Morse Symonds (pen name: George Paston) describing a young woman who moves to London to pursue a literary career in the twilight of the Victorian Age. Cosima Chudleigh is a good example of what the English used to call a New Woman. The daughter of a provincial librarian, she has grown up in an intellectual household and has never really had any passions not in some way connected to books. At 22, she decides to move by herself to London, where she hopes more easily to find fame and success as a writer. Possessed of some small capital, she can afford to live without other income for up to two years while she writes and looks for publishers. At her boardinghouse she makes the acquaintance of Mr. Carlton, a literary critic who promises to introduce her to some of the many publishers he works with, but its soon apparent that Carltons motives are more sexual than literary and that hes a philistine hack, to boot. Cosima finds better companionship in Bess Heywood, a beautiful actress who despises men and takes delight in tormenting those unfortunate enough to fall in love with her. Eventually, Cosima publishes a novel but makes so little money from it that shes tempted to give up the effort to write. She is rescued from despair by the reappearance of Tom Kingston, a childhood friend who turns up in London and asks Cosima to marry him. Bess Heywood is horrified at the idea, but Cosima agrees and the two settle down to a happy, dull domesticityuntil Cosima meets the brilliant Quentin Mallory, a historian who loves Cosima and (unlike Tom) appreciates her work. But she cant bring herself to leave her husband until Bess provides her with some rather startling news. Slow, obvious, and melodramatic: an interesting period piece, not much more. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0897334655
• ISBN 13: 9780897334655
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 280