Elizabeth Gaskell

[Teresa Edgerton]

I thought a thread might be in order since I'm reading a collection of her short fiction, and JD just bought the same book. I'm sure that Gollum and others among us who appreciate 19th century fiction are familiar with her work as well.

She is probably best known as a novelist and for her biography of Charlotte Brontë (the two ladies were friends). I've liked those of her novels I've read,North and South and Wives and Daughters, and particularly enjoyed the excellent BBC dramatization of the latter. (Sort of like Jane Austen with a touch of soap opera. Very entertaining stuff. With great costumes and many fine British character actors.)

But where Mrs. Gaskell probably reaches the most readers in the 20th and 21st centuries (and where she fits in here) is through her often anthologized ghost stories and gothic tales. For those who have a passion for that sort of story, it would be hard to miss "The Old Nurse's Tale" which turns up again and again in anthologies and collections (justifiably so, I should add).

The collection I'm reading now, Gothic Tales, includes a lot of stories I've read before. However, "The Poor Clare" was new to me. It's a bit rambling, and some of the "surprises" aren't really (it's the nature of these stories that you expect some sort of fatal twist or dreadful coincidence, and if you expect them it's easy enough to anticipate them), but there are several very powerful passages in the course of this story. One of the final scenes in Antwerp -- how the people behave at the ringing of the bell -- literally brought floods of tears to my eyes. But then, I am as sentimental a soul as any you might meet among Mrs. Gaskell's original Victorian readers. It's possible that more cynical modern readers wouldn't be moved at all.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

But then, I am as sentimental a soul as any you might meet among Mrs. Gaskell's original Victorian readers. It's possible that more cynical modern readers wouldn't be moved at all.

Possibly, Teresa; but I recall going to a screening of the Charles Laughton Hunchback of Notre Dame several years ago, and at the end, when he delivers that final line ("Why was I not made of stone like thee?"), even though I know if they tried to do the same thing today it'd be laughed off the screen, I noticed that there wasn't a dry eye in a very full house.... Maybe we're not quite so cynical as we thought....

I look forward to getting to the Gaskell soon.

[GOLLUM]

I haven't read a lot of Gaskell I must confess but this thread of yours has inspired me to dig a little further for more of her works. I really liked that novel North and South (originally titled Margaret Hale) and her gothic stories are worth seeking out. Here is a link to her many works online:

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu...%201810%2d1865

*The link inlcudes her much talked about Cranford. I'm yet to check it out but have you read this yet Teresa?

The Gothic collection you're talking about sounds like the Penguin Classics edition, am I getting warm?

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by GOLLUM

The Gothic collection you're talking about sounds like the Penguin Classics edition, am I getting warm?

That's the one I got, anyway, going by the title Teresa provided. It certainly fits what she's said so far -- but if there's another, I'd be interested in hearing about it. As with you, I've been a fan of Gaskell since reading "The Old Nurse's Story" at a young age. Very good work....

[Teresa Edgerton]

Yes, that's the edition I've got.

And I have read Cranford. It's a series of short stories, all centered around the same small town, with (as I recall) some continuing characters. Not as impressive as some of her other writing -- or anyway it didn't make much impression on me -- although I understand it was a big hit in its day.

I read "The Doom of the Griffiths" last night. Thinking about it in relation to some of her other stories, grandparents don't come off very well in her writing -- violent tempers doesn't quite express it. I wonder what her own were like?

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

Yes, that's the edition I've got.

I read "The Doom of the Griffiths" last night. Thinking about it in relation to some of her other stories, grandparents don't come off very well in her writing -- violent tempers doesn't quite express it. I wonder what her own were like?

No idea about the grandmother but her grandfather appears to have been OK. Gaskell was only born after they both passed on though.

Elizabeth’s grandmother Catherine Wedgewood (1726-1804) married Rev. William Willets "...a pastor of the Unitarian Church in Newcastle- under-Lyme...a kindly and cultured man" who was some thirty years her senior who died in 1778.

*Elizabeth's Great Uncle on her mother’s side was Joshua Wedgewood (brother of Catherine Wedgwood) of pottery fame whose grandson was Charles Darwin. A pretty illustrious family it would seem…..