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.
This work had the unusual distinction of earning approving comments from both Austen
and Wollstonecraft
. The contrasted sisters are generally seen as an important source for Austen
's Sense and Sensibility, and the...
Intertextuality and Influence
Matilda Charlotte Houstoun
The choice of name for the seduced woman in MCH
's novel suggests that it is in part a response to the fortunate and highly idealised fate of the fallen woman and mother in Elizabeth Gaskell
Intertextuality and Influence
Anna Mary Howitt
Anna Mary Howitt
published An Art-Student in Munich, written on the advice of her mother, Mary Howitt
, and of Elizabeth Gaskell
.
Marsh, Jan, and Pamela Gerrish Nunn. Women Artists and the Pre-Raphaelite Movement. Virago, 1989.
41
Athenæum. J. Lection.
1333 (1853): 584-5
Intertextuality and Influence
George Eliot
Much feminist interest in the novel has centered on the relationship between Felix and Esther Lyon and the novel's treatment of the relationship between women and the public sphere. The book is in many ways...
Intertextuality and Influence
Edna Lyall
A Hardy Norseman makes honorific reference to Elizabeth Gaskell
's Wives and Daughters. Though it is largely set in Norway (convincingly portrayed), a crucial meeting takes place at Hyde Park Corner in London...
Intertextuality and Influence
U. A. Fanthorpe
With this volume, says UAF
, I entered the different world of S. Martin's, Lancaster, and of France; and I was just beginning to have things to say about the condition of women...
Literary responses
Frances Hodgson Burnett
The American reviews were highly flattering. The reviewer for the Boston Transcript could think of no more powerful work from a woman's hand in the English language, not even George Eliot
at her best.
qtd. in
Gerzina, Gretchen. Frances Hodgson Burnett. Chatto and Windus, 2004.
67
Literary responses
Adelaide Procter
Athenæum reviewer H. F. Chorley
, sandwiching his discussion of A Chaplet of Verses between those of two other works by earnest women, expressed some annoyance at its assured and zealous sectarianism and regretted...
Literary responses
Margaret Sandbach
Writing for the Athenæum, Elizabeth Gaskell
was convinced the author was a woman because the person who would call a horse a pleasure-giving thing, and talk so fluently of imaginings and questionings...
Literary responses
Anthony Trollope
AT
's reputation grew steadily over the appearance of these novels. Elizabeth Gaskell
wrote: I wish Mr. Trollope would go on writing Framley Parsonage for ever.
qtd. in
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
A Commonplace Book was reviewed by the Literary Gazette, the Athenæum (by Henry Fothergill Chorley
), The Spectator and Gentleman's Magazine.
Johnston, Judith. Anna Jameson: Victorian, Feminist, Woman of Letters. Scolar Press, 1997.
47
Elizabeth Gaskell
pronounced herself in a letter to ABJ
delighted with its graceful suggestive wisdom.
qtd. in
Jameson, Anna Brownell. Anna Jameson: Letters and Friendships (1812-1860). Editor Erskine, Beatrice Caroline, T. Fisher Unwin, 1915.
295
Literary responses
Flora Thompson
The Country Life reviewer wrote that the trilogy would take a permanent place in English letters for both its individual and social significance.
qtd. in
Lindsay, Gillian. Flora Thompson: The Story of the Lark Rise Writer. Hale, 1996.
163
Historian Sir Arthur Bryant
put it on a level with Gaskell
Literary responses
J. K. Rowling
Of course nobody could review this book without implicit or explicit reference to the Harry Potter books. What, some wondered, would devoted child readers make of the sex and swearing? The novel violently divided commentators...
Literary responses
Isabella Neil Harwood
This novel generated a large amount of attention and positive reviews. They all made some points in common: they loved the plot, the way Minnie/Minna's character developed, the originality and the sustained interest it provided...
