Women Authors - British - Literary Criticism, English Fiction & Prose Literature - 19th Century - Literary Criticism, Publishing Industry - History, Publishing Industries - General & Miscellaneous, Mass Media - Europe
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Overview
Victorian Publishing and Mrs. Gaskell's Work portrays an elusive and self-aware writer whose refusal to grant authority to a single perspective even while she recirculated the fundamental assumptions and debates of her era enabled her simultaneously to fulfill and deflect the expectations of the literary marketplace. While she wrote for money, producing periodical fiction, major novels, and nonfiction, Mrs. Gaskell was able to maintain a tone of warmth and empathy that allowed her to imagine multiple social and epistemological alternatives. Writing from within the established rubrics of gender, narrative, and publication format, she nevertheless performed important cultural work.Editorials
Booknews
Gaskell's (1810-65) embodiment of the conventional Victorian loyal wife, good mother, and respected writer has led 20th- century literary critics to discount her, but Hughes (literature, Texas Christian U.) and Lund (English, Longwood College) point out how her high standing in society allowed her to effect change in the very ideology she represented. They characterize her as an elusive and self-aware writer who refused to grant authority to a single perspective and recirculated the fundamental assumptions and debates of her era, which enabled her simultaneously to fulfill and deflect the expectations of the literary marketplace. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Deirdre David
A persuasive close analysis of Gaskell's clever appropriation of Victorian literary form and narrative rhythms to represent, explicitly or implicitly, the previously unsaid about women's lives.
Book Details
Published
October 31, 1999
Publisher
University of Virginia Press
Pages
220
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780813918754