In this episode I'm joined by Dr Tom Ue, who has researched into authors such as George Gissing, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Edward Prime-Stevenson. We begin by discussing how Tom developed his PhD from his previous studies into George Gissing, and how Gissing's diaries show how well-read and well-connected he was. We consider Gissing's shift from working-class writing, and the ethical issues that still exist today surrounding writing about disadvantaged people, and possibly for them, rather than giving them agency. We marvel at how a nineteenth-century author like Gissing recognised this problem, and how this is a legacy that continues to be unpacked and challenged.

About my guest: Dr Tom Ue is Assistant Professor in Literature and Science at Dalhousie University. He is the author of Gissing, Shakespeare, and the Life of Writing (Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming) and George Gissing (Liverpool University Press, forthcoming); the editor of George Gissing, The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming); and an editor of the journal Global Nineteenth-Century Studies (Liverpool University Press, 2022-present). Ue has held the prestigious Frederick Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship and he is an Honorary Research Associate at University College London.

For more information on Tom's work, check out the details below:

https://dal.academia.edu/TomUe
Twitter: @GissingGeorge

Check out Tom's suggestions:
Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
George Gissing - New Grub Street

Episode Credits:

Episode Writer, Editor and Producer: Emma Catan
Music: Burning Steaks (by Stationary Sign) - obtained via EpidemicSound

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