1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910965374303321

Autore

Morton Peter <1946 Apr. 10->

Titolo

The Busiest Man in England : Grant Allen and the Writing Trade, 1875-1900 / / by P. Morton

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Palgrave Macmillan US : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2005

ISBN

1-281-36460-6

9786611364601

1-4039-8099-3

Edizione

[1st ed. 2005.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (270 pages)

Disciplina

821/.914

Soggetti

Fiction

Literature, Modern - 19th century

European literature

Fiction Literature

Nineteenth-Century Literature

European Literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction : "the most hateful of professions?" -- 1. Canada and Oxford (1848-1873) -- 2. Jamaica (1873-1876) -- 3. Setting out the stall (1876-1880) -- 4. "A pedlar crying stuff" : selling the wares (1880-1889) -- 5. The stock in trade : writing science -- 6. The stock in trade : light fiction -- 7. The prosperous tradesman (1890-1895) -- 8. Dealing with the "dissenting grocer" -- 9. Retailing The woman who did -- 10. Last orders (1896-1899) -- Conclusion : "we of the proletariat..."

Sommario/riassunto

This book is a critical biography of Grant Allen, (1848-1899), the first for a century, based on all the surviving primary sources. Born in Kingston, Ontario, into a cultured and affluent family, Allen was educated in France and England. A mysterious marriage while he was an Oxford undergraduate wrecked his academic career and radicalized his views on sexual and marital questions, as did a three-year teaching stint in Jamaica. Despite his lifelong ill health and short life, Allen was a



writer of extraordinary productivity and range. About half - more than 30 books and many hundreds of articles - reflects interests which ran from Darwinian biology to cultural travel guides. His prosperity, however, was underpinned by fiction; more than 30 novels, including The Woman Who Did , which has attracted much recent attention from feminist critics and historians. The Better End of Grub Street uses Allen's career to examine the role and status of the freelance author/journalist in the late-Victorian period. Allen's career delineates what it took to succeed in this notoriously tough profession.