Elizabeth Gaskell

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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.
Photograph of a well-known head-and shoulders drawing of Elizabeth Gaskell by George Richmond, 1851. She looks calmly at the viewer, her smooth hair parted in the middle, with a ribbon or scarf hanging from her head and a bow at her neckline. She thought the drawing on the whole a good likeness. National Portrait Gallery.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Literary responses Charlotte O'Conor Eccles
Once again reviewers (as quoted at the back of The Matrimonial Lottery) were delighted with these [c]lever studies of Irish life and character. The Athenæum praised especially those stories which reflected first-hand knowledge (with...
Friends, Associates Florence Nightingale
In this year, 1854, Elizabeth Gaskell visited the Nightingales' Derbyshire home, Lea Hurst, and stayed on there to write when the family left for Embley Park.
Cook, Edward. The Life of Florence Nightingale. Macmillan.
8n1, 39, 139
Having met FN at...
Literary responses Florence Nightingale
Edward Cook and William John Bishop agree that although Notes is FN 's least read work, it is her most remarkable.
Cook, Edward. The Life of Florence Nightingale. Macmillan.
343
Bishop, William John, and Sue Goldie. A Bio-Bibliography of Florence Nightingale. Dawsons for the International Council of Nurses.
52
On 31 December 1858Elizabeth Gaskell said of the second volume:...
Textual Features Anne Mozley
The review of Adam Bede is indeed most perceptive as well as detailed. AM begins by noticing how novels have been expanding their empire: how many have been added to their readership by the newer...
Literary Setting Mary Louisa Molesworth
This novel is the story of an unhappy marriage. The male protagonist, mentioned twice in the title, proves not to be a good husband. The novel is set in Mallingford, an unflattering portrayal of Knutsford...
Friends, Associates Eliza Meteyard
She became connected through her writing to Douglas Jerrold , Mary and William Howitt , and Harriet Martineau .
Lightbown, Ronald W., and Eliza Meteyard. “Introduction”. The Life of Josiah Wedgwood, Cornmarket Press.
The difficulties of social life for unattached women are visible in her regret and anxiety over...
Textual Features Flora Macdonald Mayor
The Rector's Daughter showcases once again FMM 's ability to make literature and her own experiences immediately relevant, as well as her outspokenness. Condensing the friction between the dying Victorian world and the modern world...
Reception Flora Macdonald Mayor
The novel established FMM 's reputation for precise use of prose,
“The Times Digital Archive 1785-2007”. Thompson Gale: The Times Digital Archive.
60741 (4 October 1980): 8
received good reviews, and very nearly won the Polignac Prize.
Williams, Merryn. Six Women Novelists, Macmillan.
45
FMM was judged sensitive yet detached, firm and...
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...
Intertextuality and Influence Harriet Martineau
The novel prompted a complimentary letter on 7 November 1849 from Currer Bell (Charlotte Brontë ) saying that in it he tasted a new and keen pleasure, and experienced a genuine benefit. In his...
Textual Production Harriet Martineau
These collections supply parts of HM 's correspondence with Matthew Arnold , Charlotte Brontë , Jane Welsh Carlyle , John Chapman , Maria Weston Chapman , Anne Jemima Clough , Samuel Courtauld , Ralph Waldo Emerson
Family and Intimate relationships Anne Marsh
Anne's brother-in-law from 1822 was the distinguished Sir Henry Holland (physician to Princess Caroline, and later Prince Albert and Queen Victoria ), a descendent of the Wedgwood family and cousin of Elizabeth Gaskell ...
Reception Anne Marsh
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography notes AM 's very high contemporary reputation. It cites the London Weekly Chronicle and Margaret Oliphant each hailing her, in her heyday, as a leader among women novelists (though...
Textual Production Olivia Manning
After her return to England she sometimes wrote for the BBC (with which her husband was now a producer), providing scripts for the long-running serial Mrs. Dale's Diary, one number in the series A...
Textual Features Shena Mackay
The stories here deal with all kinds of complexity and nuance in the sisterly relationship. The collection ends, as the introduction begins, with Christina Rossetti 's Goblin Market. The nineteenth century is further represented...

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