George Gissing's Essay on Robert Burns. A Previously Unpublished Manuscript

Author:	Korg, Jacob
Year:	1992
Pages:	100
ISBN:	0-7734-9533-9 978-0-7734-9533-3
Price:	$99.95

This essay was part of the brilliant record Gissing compiled as a student at Owens College, Manchester. Written at the age of fifteen, it reflects an excellent knowledge of Burns' life and work. While it does not reveal anything new, it is of value as an indication of Gissing's mind in youth, and also accurately reflects the Victorian attitude toward Burns. This volume includes a selection of Burns's poems.

Reviews

"Jacob Korg's edition of George Gissing's Owens College essay on Robert Burns, recently unearthed in the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh, will fascinate students and scholars alike. Teachers who assign it will be giving a lesson on how to write literary essays, with both Gissing's and Korg's serving as models. Scholars will welcome this latest addition to the Gissing canon. . . . To increase its intrinsic interest, Korg has added biographical entries for 13 persons mentioned in the essay, and lists 3 works on Burns and 5 on Gissing's Owens College period. Newcomers to Gissing studies as well as the novelist's seasoned readers will all find ample direction for their own investigations." - Martha S. Vogeler in The Gissing Journal

"The Burns essay reveals young Gissing as no ordinary fifteen-year-old but one of unusual promise. Professor Korg's well-put-together edition helps to fill in our increasingly detailed picture of the early George Gissing. . . " - Robert Selig

"This essay would be helpful reading to people just beginning to study Burns and also to those interested in collecting books about Robert Burns." - Robert Burns Club of Milwaukee, newsletter