Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Elizabeth Gaskell
-
Standard Name: Gaskell, Elizabeth
Birth Name: Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson
Nickname: Lily
Married Name: Elizabeth Gaskell
Indexed Name: Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
Pseudonym: Cotton Mather Mills
Pseudonym: The Author of Mary Barton etc.
Self-constructed Name: E. C. Gaskell
Elizabeth Gaskell
, one of the foremost fiction-writers of the mid-Victorian period, produced a corpus of seven novels, numerous short stories, and a controversial biography of Charlotte Brontë
. She wrote extensively for periodicals, as well as producing novels directly for the book market, often on issues of burning interest: her industrial novels appeared in the midst of fierce debate over class relations, factory conditions and legislation; Ruth took a fallen woman and mother as its protagonist just as middle-class feminist critique of gender roles emerged. Gaskell occupies a bridging position between Harriet Martineau
and George Eliot
in the development of the domestic novel.
As well as Jane Porter
, SD
had some acquaintance with Elizabeth Gaskell
, who wrote a letter (formal in tone, dated 26 April 1854) in support of her RLF application. She wrote in the...
Friends, Associates
Beatrix Potter
Friends constituted another bright spot in her life. One early mentor was the Rev. William Gaskell
, whose death in June 1884 was the occasion of moralising in her journal about loss and change.
Grinstein, Alexander. The Remarkable Beatrix Potter. International Universities Press.
28
Friends, Associates
Charlotte Brontë
Elizabeth Gaskell
visited CB
at Haworth for four days.
Surtees, Virginia. Jane Welsh Carlyle. Michael Russell.
205
Friends, Associates
Charles Dickens
As one of the leading literary figures of the period, CD
had an extensive social network. His early acquaintances in publishing included Richard Bentley
, William Harrison Ainsworth
, and John Forster
(who later became...
Friends, Associates
Anna Brownell Jameson
ABJ
's friendship with Elizabeth Gaskell
developed out of Gaskell's letter request for an autograph note. ABJ
was supportive during the scandal over Gaskell's Ruth, and advised her on the composition of North and South.
Thomas, Clara. Love and Work Enough: The Life of Anna Jameson. University of Toronto Press.
203
Uglow, Jennifer S. Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories. Faber and Faber.
339, 368
Friends, Associates
Mary Cowden Clarke
In addition to meeting Dickens
as a result of her theatrical activities, MCC
and her husband met William Hazlitt
through a shared duty of theatre reviewing, and she became friends with Mary Howitt
, and...
Friends, Associates
Caroline Clive
Lady Byron
was another of the Clives' acquaintances. Following a visit in 1843, CC
wrote: That is the woman that has been tossed about by such vehement passions, by contact with such a fiery nature...
Friends, Associates
Julia Wedgwood
Sixteen-year-old JW
visited the holidaying Gaskell
family at Skelwith in Little Langdale, near Ambleside in the Lake District.
Uglow, Jennifer S. Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories. Faber and Faber.
231-2
Friends, Associates
Charlotte Brontë
She and Gaskell
quickly established an epistolary friendship.
Shelston, Alan, and Elizabeth Gaskell. “Introduction”. The Life of Charlotte Brontë, Penguin, pp. 9-37.
11
Friends, Associates
Harriet Martineau
In 1838, HM
met the British diplomat David Urquhart
, who was known for his championship of Turkey against Russia. Although she recorded her dislike for his social egotism and misogynistic opinions, his hatred and...
Friends, Associates
George Eliot
Some of her closest friends were prominent feminists, and they were among those soonest willing to flout convention and visit her after her union to Lewes.
Despite the social and spiritual gulf between them, GE
Friends, Associates
Charlotte Brontë
Numerous friends and acquaintances of CB
wrote tributes or obituaries which initiated the legend of the Brontës and Charlotte in particular: Harriet Martineau
in the Daily News on April 6; Matthew Arnold
in a short...
Friends, Associates
Henrietta Camilla Jenkin
In Manchester HCJ
became by 1854 a friend of Elizabeth Gaskell
, who helped her with publishing business.
Gaskell, Elizabeth. The Letters of Mrs Gaskell. Editors Chapple, J. A. V. and Arthur Pollard, Harvard University Press.
286
Stevenson, Robert Louis, and Fleeming Jenkin. “Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin”. Papers, Literary, Scientific, &c., edited by Sir Sidney Colvin et al., Longmans, Green, p. 1: xi - clxx.
li
To the future writer Vernon Lee
she acted as literary mentor. In July 1871 she...
Friends, Associates
Harriet Beecher Stowe
While visiting Paris, HBS
frequented the salon of Germaine de Staël
, and in Rome she met Elizabeth Gaskell
. In a letter to Grace Schwabe
, Gaskell remarked that Stowe was short and...