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 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...
The journal All the Year Round, founded by MAD
's grandfather
and then edited by her father, was one of the first and most significant platforms for her short stories and serialized novels. Other...
Residence
Selina Davenport
Both during and after her marriage SD
lived at Knutsford in Cheshire (which was not only her husband's home but also the original of the town in Gaskell
's Cranford, published in volume form...
Occupation
Selina Davenport
During her marriage SD
worked at running a school, which, however, was far from profitable. She also supported her daughters through her writing, and opened another unsuccessful school at Greenwich after she left her husband....
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...
Textual Features
Ella D'Arcy
A young Roman Catholic priest ministers to a tiny parish in the fictional south-coast town of Hattering. His patroness, Lady Welford, is dictatorial; his housekeeper, Mrs Lucas, is a bad cook, weakly indecisive, and sometimes...
Publishing
Dinah Mulock Craik
Dinah Mulock
implicitly attacked Elizabeth Gaskell
's Life of Charlotte Brontë in Literary Ghouls for Chambers's.
Some felt she wrote too much too fast. Elizabeth Gaskell
commented in a letter of 1851, I wish she had some other means of support than writing, which must be pumped up instead of bubbling...
Textual Production
Georgiana Craik
GC
also published shorter fiction in a number of journals. This included Alwyn's First Wife for Fraser's Magazine in 1855, A Sketch of Two Homes and the sensational tale My Sister's Husband in 1857 for...
Textual Features
Isa Craig
IC
's article has a documentary feel typical of much social investigation literature, particularly the seamstress narrative popularized by writers such as Thomas Hood
, Henry Mayhew
, and Elizabeth Gaskell
in her novel Ruth...
Publishing
Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
MEC
's essay Mrs. Gaskell appeared in the pages of the Times Literary Supplement.
Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth. “Memoir and Editorial Materials”. Gathered Leaves from the Prose of Mary E. Coleridge, edited by Edith Sichel, Constable, pp. 1 - 44; various pages.
186n1
Theme or Topic Treated in Text
Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
While Charlotte Brontë
, MEC
argues, swept the world away in the storm of her passion and George Eliotconquered it with the power of understanding, [Elizabeth] Gaskell
forced it to weep for pity [and]...
