William Warburton

George Gissing was a complex person. He was a brilliant pupil destined for great things in London's society, but he threw it all away when he was caught stealing money. He as going to give this money Nell Harrison, a young prostitute with whom he was infatuated. Because of this grave mistake, he went to prison for a short time and then to America where he taught school and wrote short stories for a Chicago newspaper. He eventually returned to England but never rose from the humiliation he suffered when caught stealing. This humiliation had ramifications on his thoughts about society also. He had two attitudes toward the poor. He sympathized with the "deserving" poor but hated the rest in that he believed poverty corrupted the human soul and any correction of the ill was futile. The novel, Will Warburton, is about this guilty secret. Warburton runs a grocery store when he loses his money by loaning it to his "friend" who always fails in sudden business ventures. Though Gissing's eyes, Warburton therefore potentially suffers the humiliation of middle class eyes that Gissing himself always feared. Warburton is "just a grocer" and can never rise again above that "class."Though it is one of Gissing's minor writings, it is a complex novel but an enjoyable one. If you can get a copy, read it for a different view of Victorian life and mores.