ABSTRACT
So wrote George Gissing seven months before he first made the acquaintance of Clara Collet. If anyone was in the need of a friend able to give him hope and fulfil his need for intellectual conversation it was Gissing. What was it that led Gissing to be in such a despairing frame of mind in the early months of 1893? All his problems stemmed from an event which had occurred way back in his youth, and which destroyed his ambitions and paved the way for his future discontent both in his career and in his social life. It was also responsible for producing the wonderful novels he wrote based on his angst-ridden life.
