George Gissing

George Robert Gissing (1857–1903) was an English novelist and short-story writer associated with late-Victorian realism and naturalism. Born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, he studied at Owens College, Manchester, but his education was disrupted by a scandal and imprisonment. After periods of hardship, he built a career writing fiction that examined poverty, class constraint, and the pressures of literary life. His best-known novel, *New Grub Street* (1891), offers a bleak portrait of authorship and the marketplace. *The Odd Women* (1893) explores women’s limited opportunities and the changing social landscape. Gissing also wrote travel writing and literary criticism.