Reviews for The Collected Letters of George Gissing: 1895-1897, Vol. 6

The average rating for The Collected Letters of George Gissing: 1895-1897, Vol. 6 based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-03-08 00:00:00 Panagiotis Leonidou Rupert does have a way with words. He is at his best in his letters describing what he sees around him. One full chapter (Chapter 8) contains descriptions of his impressions of Niagara Falls. The next chapter describes travelling, at night, by train from Sault Ste. Marie to Winnipeg: "To taste the full deliciousness of travelling in an American train by night through new scenery, you must carefully secure a lower berth. And when you are secret and separate in your little oblong world, safe between sheets, pull up the blinds on the great window a few inches and leave them so. Thus, as you lie, you can view the dark procession of woods and hills, and mingle the broken hours of railway slumber with glimpses of a wild starlit landscape." But there is also the Edwardian English prejudices on full display: From Chapter 10 "Outside": "The problem of immigration here reveals that purposelessness that exists in the affairs of Canada even more than those of other nations. The multitude from South or East Europe flocks in. Some make money and return. the most remain, often in inassimilable lumps. There is every sign that these lumps may poison the health of Canada as dangerously as they have that of the United States. For Canada there is the peril of too large an element of foreign blood and traditions in a small nation already little more than half composed of British blood and descent." Overall, this book is an interesting pre-World War I travelogue of Northern USA and Canada. Brooke's Edwardian English prejudices may prevent some readers from fully enjoying his writing. (I read that part as, well, that's how upper-class Englishmen pre-World War I thought.)

Review # 2 was written on 2016-01-02 00:00:00 Jihan Holton interesting. i think i rated it so highly because i envisioned myself the receiver of these letters. thus, heart palpitating madly, i was quite pleased with myself.