The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft

The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft is a semi-fictional autobiographical work by George Gissing in which the author casts himself as the editor of the diary of a deceased acquaintance, selecting essays for posthumous publication. Observing "how suitable many of the reflections were to the month with which they were dated", he explains that he "hit upon the thought of dividing the little book into four chapters, named after the seasons".[1]

The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft
Title page of the first edition of The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft.
AuthorGeorge Robert Gissing
CountryEngland
LanguageEnglish
GenreJournal
PublisherArchibald Constable
Publication date
1903

It was partly because of the seasonal arrangement, and Ryecroft's obvious love of the natural world, that the book gained widespread popularity in Japan, being introduced as early as 1908 by the scholar of English literature Tokuboku Hirata (1873–1943). Other contributing factors were the classic unaffected style, which made the text suitable for educational and examination purposes, and Ryecroft's frank assessments of society and politics, which may have endeared him to the young academics of the country in the early part of the 20th century.[2]

References
  1. Gissing, George (1903). "Preface" to The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co., pp. xiv.
  2. Hojoh, Fumio (2001). "Gissing and his Japanese Readers." In: A Garland for Gissing, ed. Bouwe Postmus. Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi, pp. 215–224.

Further reading
  • Cope, Jackson I. (1957). "Definition as Structure in Gissing's Ryecroft Papers," Modern Fiction Studies, Vol. III, pp. 127–140.
  • Frye, Lowell T. (1981). "'An Author at Grass': Ironic Intent in Gissing's The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft," English Literature in Transition, 1880–1920, Vol. XXIV, No. 1, pp. 41–51.
  • Goldring, Douglas (1920). "An Outburst on Gissing." In: Reputations: Essays in Criticism. New York: Thomas Seltzer, pp. 125–132.
  • Hind, C. Lewis (1922). "George Gissing." In: More Authors and I. New York: Dodd, Mead, pp. 129–134.
  • Martin, Grace E. (1903). "Not the Real Thing," The Critic, Vol. XLIII, p. 87.
  • More, Paul Elmer (1912). "Introduction" to The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft. New York: The Modern Library, pp. i–xi.


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