NEW GRUB STREET: THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE CULMINATING IN 'SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST' (Pages 01-06) by Dr. Rupa Rani Tyagi in THE ENGLISH RESEARCH EXPRESS / ISSN:2321-1164 (Online); 2347-2642 (Print)

George Gissing is one of the most powerful novelists of transition from Victorian to the modern age. He has presented in his novels about the socio-economic, cultural and political situations in influence with scientific theories. Gissing‟s novels give a clear picture of the changes which had been taking place in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Hence, his novels serve as a bridge between Victorian and modern literature. This present study is done to deal with Gissing‟s New Grub Street, one of the most informative novels in the history of literature and its writers. „Grub Street‟ was the actual name of a street in London (now called Milton Street), and in Victorian London this was inhabited by writers and was famous for hack literature. Gissing focused on the changing conditions and environment of literary market. He has presented the pathetic condition of writers, who are forced to write; writing not for the sake of writing but for survival. In this present study I examine the struggle of the writers for existence in the literary market and their different ways to survive. I primarily examine two fictional writers from the novel: Edwin Reardon who represents the past and Jasper Milvain is portrayed as a man of his times. Keywords: Victorian, London, struggle, writers, literature, survive