Two writers, one a mercenary hack and one an uncompromising artist, are ground against each other by the London literary marketplace. Gissing's bleak novel of art and money.
Books mentioned in New Grub Street (7)
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles: “Now, I want to know how you scan this chorus in the "Oedipus Rex."”
Cousin Pons by Honoré de Balzac: “I have just been reading his "Cousin Pons," a terrible book, but I enjoyed it ever so much because it was nothing like a love story.”
Absalom and Achitophel by John Dryden: “Will you credit that he twice or thrice referred to Settle's reply to "Absalom and Achitophel" by the title of "Absalom Transposed," when every schoolgirl knows that the thing was called "Achitophel Transposed"!”
Absalom Senior; or, Achitophel Transpros'd by Elkanah Settle: “he twice or thrice referred to Settle's reply to “Absalom and Achitophel” by the title of “Absalom Transposed,” when every schoolgirl knows that the thing was called “Achitophel Transposed”!”
Epsom Wells by Thomas Shadwell: “He positively, I assure you, attributed the play of "Epsom Wells" to Crowne!”
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri: “Whilst I was writing “On Neutral Ground” I went solidly through the “Divina Commedia,” a canto each day.”
Oceana by James Harrington: “Marian had finished the rough draft of a paper on James Harrington, author of 'Oceana.”