Born in Exile

Gissing, George, 1857-1903Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.1

Word count: 908K words
Chapters: 91

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Born in Exile by George GissingAuthor: Gissing, George, 1857-1903,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Oct 1, 2003

Editor's review

Born in Exile is a social novel by George Gissing, centered on a young character whose origins and aspirations are misaligned, exploring the tensions among class, educational ambition, and self-identity. With a cool, faintly ironic touch, Gissing depicts lower-middle-class life in late nineteenth-century provincial and urban England, and the characters' struggles between ideals and reality form the core tension of the narrative. The book does not pursue dramatic turns like a tightly plotted popular novel; its value lies more in the detailed rendering of characters' psychology and social environment, and in its examination of the contradictions between respectability, class, and intellectual pursuit. As a public-domain electronic text, it serves as supplementary reading for late Victorian English fiction, helping readers understand the difficulties of social mobility and the spiritual predicament of intellectuals at the time. It is best read slowly, attending to the class anxiety and self-justification revealed in characters' speech, in order to appreciate the author's restrained irony.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers who enjoy late Victorian English fiction
Those interested in class mobility and social identity
Readers studying Gissing's work or late nineteenth-century English society
Readers who can accept a slow-paced, psychologically driven novel

Not a good fit for

Readers of popular fiction expecting strong plots and fast-paced narrative
Readers entirely unfamiliar with the Victorian social background and unwilling to look it up
Readers who prefer light, cheerful stories with happy endings

Reading tips

First learn about late nineteenth-century English class and educational background, then enter the characters' situation.
Pay attention to the gap between the protagonist's self-narration and others' evaluations; this is key to understanding the book.
The pace is slow; read chapter by chapter and note character relationships and social identity clues as you go.
After finishing, compare with other works by Gissing to appreciate his sustained attention to the lower classes and the predicament of intellectuals.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is the core theme of this novel?

The novel revolves around the misalignment among origins, educational ambition, and social identity, exploring how a person pursues self-fulfillment in a society with rigid class boundaries. Through the characters' psychological struggles and social situations, Gissing presents the contradictions between notions of respectability, intellectual pursuit, and real conditions, with a restrained irony.

Can I understand it without a background in Victorian literature?

You can follow the story itself, but understanding the characters' class anxiety requires some background knowledge. Before reading, it is advisable to briefly learn about late nineteenth-century England's class structure, educational opportunities, and provincial life, so you can more accurately grasp the self-justification and social pressure in the characters' speech.

How difficult is this book to read?

The language follows the conventional style of late Victorian fiction, with longer sentences and an unhurried narrative; it is not difficult for readers familiar with English public-domain literature. The main challenges lie in the social background and the layers of characters' psychology rather than vocabulary. It suits readers willing to read slowly and do a little background research.

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About the author

Gissing, George, 1857-1903 Author

George Gissing (Gissing, George, 1857-1903) was an English novelist, though public information about his life and education is limited. The library holds 24 of his works, most of which focus on the living conditions of the urban lower classes and those on the margins of the middle class, while also touching on themes of personal growth and self-discipline; they are commonly classified under inspirational growth. His representative works include New Grub Street, The Odd Women, The Nether World and Born in Exile. These works mostly present individual fates under poverty, class and professional pressure in a realistic style, with a cold and restrained tone. He also wrote By the Ionian Sea, a travelogue of southern Italy, and The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft, an essayistic work, revealing his observant and introspective side, as well as short story collections such as The House of Cobwebs and Other Stories.