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.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford University Press.
Friends, Associates
Bessie Rayner Parkes
BRP
knew personally and corresponded with many of the Victorian intelligentsia. In addition to her Langham Place associates already mentioned, her literary friends and acquaintances included Matilda Hays
, Harriet Martineau
, Anthony Trollope
,...
Friends, Associates
Flora Shaw
Here she became a friend of novelist and neighbour George Meredith
, who introduced her to a wider social circle, including W.T. Stead
, the scandalous journalist and editor of the Pall Mall Gazette...
Friends, Associates
Jane Welsh Carlyle
Some time after 1835 the Carlyles met Harriet Martineau
. While Martineau took to Thomas, she found Jane coquettish and disliked her tendency to interrupt abstract philosophical conversations with little jokes & wanting notice.
Skabarnicki, Anne M. “Two Faces of Eve: The Literary Personae of Harriet Martineau and Jane Welsh Carlyle”. The Carlyle Annual, Vol.
11
, pp. 15-30.
20
Friends, Associates
Selina Davenport
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.