Reading and Misreading the Country House in the Novels of George Gissing: The Dangers of Fiction

Deciphering the perceived simplicity of the romance and idealisms of Isabel Clarendon as intentional and self-conscious intimates an entirely different view of the upper-class setting. Decoded, it appears as the site of precarious preset narratives that are precisely disposed to misreading and self-deception. Situating this early novel within the wider context of Gissing's works provides a better account of country house aesthetics than one based on the clear-cut dichotomy between "illusion and reality" that a chronological and biographical reading provokes. The focus of this argument is not to deny the presence of these concepts but rather to challenge the notion of their binary opposition through a rereading of the country house setting