Chapter 2 - Economies of Emotion in the Diaries of George Eliot and George Gissing

Sep 2, 2026

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This chapter examines Victorian diary writing by George Eliot and George Gissing through the lens of “economies of value.” Although their diaries initially seem to function as bare records of books read and pages written, the analysis argues that the authors use diary mechanisms to estimate, negotiate, and manage personal and authorial worth. Their professional success creates both monetary and intellectual standing, yet it also intensifies performance standards and frames the emotional self as an exploited resource. The chapter contrasts Eliot’s hope for emotional influence on readers with Gissing’s fusion of affect with art and landscapes in Italy, showing different philosophical agendas that nonetheless serve to test creative potential and authorial authority through economic processes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatDOCX

Pages65

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Chapter 2: Economies of Emotion in the Diaries of George Eliot and George Gissing

Diaries as economies of value

Philosophical agendas and emotional resources

Evaluative entries and yearly balance sheets

Chapter 2 Economies of Emotion in the Diaries of George Eliot and George Gissing At first glance, the diaries of the Victorian realists George Eliot and George Gissing appear to epitomise the bare-boned diary, because they diligently document books read and pages written but remain relatively silent when it comes to what we would nowadays call personal matters. Nevertheless, these irregularly-kept arrays of what Fothergill would qualify as “non-entities and non-events” are by no means to be disparaged as “artless” lists, but have to be recognised as testimonies of the sophisticated economies of value that both authors established in and through their diaries. Both diarists estimated and negotiated their personal and authorial value through the formal mechanisms of their diaries, which allowed them to manage their emotional resources and ensure maximal productivity and creativity. Through their much-desired professional success, Eliot and Gissing were able to create the monetary and personal value that gave them the gratification of establishing themselves among the intellectual elite of their time. Neither Eliot nor Gissing was, however, able to enjoy these rewards—for both, success raised the bar of the self-set standards of quality and productivity that dictated their work ethic and professional routine, to the point that the emotional self came to be seen as a resource to be aggressively exploited. Despite the many similarities in form, purpose and process, the two diaries display a radically different philosophical agenda: while Eliot expected to be emotionally moved by the external world and hoped to change the emotional make-up of her readers through her fiction, Gissing emotionally fused with the artwork and landscapes he visited in Italy and cared more about the artistic status than about the emotional impact of his work. This chapter shows that these diaries, though generated by different ideological outlooks, were the means by which Eliot and Gissing sought to gauge their own creative potential, intellectual prowess and authorial authority through an economic process. Although the formal characteristics and professional focus of Eliot’s and Gissing’s diaristic writing initially suggest the authors’ categorical omission of their private selves, their professional and private selves are in fact closely intertwined. While early twentieth-century diary critics tended to adhere to the standards of literary quality that Robert A. Fothergill established in his pioneering Private Chronicles (1974), requiring flawlessly crafted prose and a high degree of self-disclosure as criteria of quality, I will show that these supposedly bare-boned diaries not only acquaint us with the material conditions of authorship in the nineteenth century, as Nancy Henry and Pierre Coustillas have demonstrated, but also allow us to gain insight into the interrelations between economic and philosophical thought. Significantly, Fothergill cites Eliot’s diary as an example of a meaningless text when he establishes his diaristic canon: “A diary will be more or less noteworthy depending on the range and interest of its ‘symptoms’. Though neither of them is especially valuable per se, the diary of Lady Frederick Cavendish is worth a good deal more than what survives of George Eliot’s.” While Cavendish’s social diary accommodates the reader through providing entertaining detail, Eliot’s, though clearly aware of the presence of a potential reader, consists mainly of notes on her reading and on her health.” Even though Fothergill insightfully views “the journal-habit […] as the physical counterpart of that mental attitude which cultivates systematic and discriminating observation” and presents “the journal [as] an instrument for seeing more clearly and remembering more profitably,” he does not acknowledge the intricate economic of value that characterises Eliot’s diary. Similarly, Robin Barrow ignores the motivational and evaluative work that Gissing condu

FAQs

Why do Eliot’s and Gissing’s diaries seem “bare-boned” at first glance?

They meticulously record books read and pages written while remaining relatively quiet about matters that would be considered personal today. The chapter argues this surface form should not be dismissed as artless listing.

How does the chapter interpret the “economies of value” in these diaries?

Both diarists use formal diary practices to estimate and negotiate personal and authorial worth. This supports managing emotional resources and sustaining productivity and creativity.

What philosophical difference does the chapter draw between Eliot and Gissing?

Eliot expects to be moved by the external world and aims to reshape readers’ emotional dispositions through fiction. Gissing instead fuses emotionally with the artwork and landscapes he visits in Italy and prioritizes artistic status over emotional impact.

Sep 2, 2026

Upload by Miles