BIOGRAPHY
"On my way home at night an anguish of
suffering in the thought that I can never hope to have an intellectual
companion at home. Condemned for ever to associate with
inferiors - and so crassly unintelligent. Never a word exchanged on
anything but the paltry everyday life of the household. Never
a word to me, from anyone, of understanding, sympathy or of
encouragement." (
George Gissing's life had been difficult almost
from the beginning. He had grown up as the son of a pharmaceutical chemist in
George managed to gain a place, with financial help from a friend, at
Owens College Manchester. This meant leaving his home and living in lodgings at
the very young age of 16. Despite being brilliant academically, he was unable
to cope socially with such a break from home. In order to relieve his
loneliness he befriended a prostitute, Nell, for whom he had ideas of reform.
Unfortunately, despite her beauty and tender years, she had already become a
hopeless alcoholic. Gissing, determined to keep her
from the streets, was forced to steal from his fellow students in order to pay
for Nell's gin. He was caught in the act and sent for one month's hard labour.
On completion of this humiliation, Gissing,
unable to complete his schooling, was sent to
It soon became obvious that life with Nell was impossible and the couple
separated. Gissing continued to support her
financially until her early death from alcohol in 1888.
After a trip to
He was a man in need of a friend. Clara Collet
fulfilled that need. It was on
Collet soon made herself indispensable to the struggling
author. She even promised to take care of his two children should he, like his
father, die young. She provided the intellectual support that he needed, gave
him no end of practical advice and never failed to offer physical assistance
should it become necessary, such as the time that his house blew up in a gas
explosion, Collet wrote the next day offering
accommodation for the family should it be necessary.
It seems likely that the friendship with Gissing
meant more to Collet emotionally than it did to Gissing. For when Gissing was
forced to leave his second wife due to her constant abuse of her husband, Collet appears to have hoped for something more out of her
relationship with Gissing. She wrote much more
candidly to him during his second trip abroad and may have harboured hopes that
on his return they could become exclusively special friends. It is unlikely
that Collet would have moved in with Gissing as this would have most likely proved very damaging
to her career, and as marriage was not an option for Gissing
would never have contemplated divorce a close friendship would be the only
option open to them. However, Gissing had other
ideas. He met, fell in love with and went to
However, Collet, in her usual rational way,
soon came to accept and love Gabrielle, remaining in correspondence until at
least 1935. Gissing and Gabrielle did not lead a very
happy life together. Madame Fleury fed Gissing a very frugal diet about which he complained to
many of his friends back in
Clara Collet was devastated but practical. She
kept her promise to ensure that Gissing's children
were taken care of and remained in touch with them until they were grown up.
She looked after his meagre estate, protecting Gabrielle from any scandal which
may have come about as a result of her illegal liaison with Gissing
and spent a long battle with H. G. Wells with whom she had a protracted
disagreement over the preface he had written for Gissing's
posthumously published book, Veranilda.
The importance of Collet to Gissing
in those last ten years of his short life cannot be underestimated. Surely she
must have saved his sanity on many an occasion with her level headed, sensible
advice and with her support and love. Without her, maybe many of Gissing's wonderful works may not have been written for he
may not have survived the terrors of his second marriage.
Source: Clara collect
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