Gissing and Schopenhauer

G ISSING DID NOT very often call himself, unreservedly, a realist. He did once contrast the novelists of the school of Dickens with "our school of strict veracity, of realism."1 In other places he implied his sympathy with the realists without directly committing himself.2 In practice, of course, he belonged to the school of Dickens quite as much as to any school of "strictly veracity," and there are few of his novels that are not overtly formed in the manner of Dickens, in plot, character, situation, and construction. It is true, however, that he did attempt always to serve the ideals of impersonality, objectivity, and veracity; furthermore, he was influenced directly by his reading of French and Russian novelists, especially Zola and Turgenev. The resulting clash of incompatibles (he was quite right in considering the two schools to be opposites) causes his novels to resemble a literary battlefield; at times, the work of not one but two different writers. The detailed effects themselves form an intriguing study. One is tempted to say that Gissing had very little idea of what he was doing when he wrote. True, his writings on Dickens show he had analytical ability; his habit of extensive rewriting would suggest that he had also the power of criticizing his own works. On the other hand, there is a certain paucity of critical comment in his various writings, especially in reference to his own novels. (Where personal letters are concerned, it may be unfair to think that reticence indicates anything more than consideration for a nonliterary correspondent; but it is at least noticeable that his comments on the novels he is writ-