Elizabeth Gaskell is a 19th century British novelist and short story writer. Among her memorable creative works are the novels "Cranford" and "North and South". She holds an honorable place among other literary writers of the Victorian era due to the fact that in her works she reflected the problems of industrialization and society of that time. Elizabeth Gaskell is also famous for writing a biography of her friend Charlotte Brontë, the creator of Jane Eyre.
Biography of Elizabeth Gaskell
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell was born on September 29, 1810 in Lindsey Row, Chelsea, UK, to a devout Unitarian family. She was the daughter of William Stephenson, a Unitarian priest, and his wife, née Elizabeth Holland, who passed away when she was just over a year old. Lily, as the future writer was called in childhood, was sent to Knutsford, Cheshire, to be raised by her aunt Anna Lamb. Later, Lily will call her "more than a mother." The house in which Lily grew up has survived to this day.
Knutsford is a small village that would later inspire Elizabeth to write the novels Cranford and Wives and Daughters.
Lily also spent her early years in Edinburgh and Newcastle upon Tyne. When the girl was 4 years old, her father married again. Lily's stepmother was Catherine Thomson, the sister of the Scottish artist William John Thomson. In 1832, he even painted the famous portrait of the writer.
Personal life of Elizabeth Gaskell
In her youth, Elizabeth was a rather lively and attractive girl. In 1832, she married William Gaskell, then assistant priest in the Unitarian Chapel. The young family settled in Manchester, where they would later live almost their entire life. Elizabeth often helped her husband with his work, offering support to the poor and teaching Sunday School classes to teach parishioners to read and write.
Later, her husband became a professor of history, literature and logic. Both William and Elizabeth were interested in new scientific ideas and literature.
In marriage, Elizabeth had three girls: Marianne (1834), Margaret Emily (1837) and Florence (1842). Due to the replenishment, the family had to move to a larger house. In 1845, Elizabeth gave birth to a son, but at the age of 9 months the child fell ill with scarlet fever and died. Elizabeth walked away from the sadness of her loss through writing, which her husband encouraged. In 1846, the fourth daughter, Julia, is born to the writer.
Career and work of Elizabeth Gaskell
The writer Gaskell lived in Manchester with her family. This city influenced her literary work.
In those years, Manchester looked like a large cultural and intellectual center that boasted educational institutions in the fields of literature, philosophy, and institutions for the training of common workers. This was the time of a new industrial era, which was gaining momentum very quickly. However, there was also a negative side: such growth led to an uncontrolled increase in the city, appalling squalor and poverty.
In 1844, Friedrich Engels, in his work Conditions of the Working Class in England, wrote: “The dwellings of the workers of Manchester are dirty, poor and lacking in comfort. In such conditions, only inhuman, degraded and unhealthy creatures can feel at home."
Manchester has been a center of great political change and radical activism. Elizabeth noticed this social tension and decided to reflect everything she saw in her novels.
In her first novel, Mary Barton, published anonymously in 1848, Elizabeth Gaskell describes the story of the two fictional families Barton and Wilson against the backdrop of Manchester, as well as the hardships the Victorian working class faced. This work had a great impact on the readership, and prompted a broad discussion of the work of the writer. Thanks to her sensational plot and full realism of what is happening in the book, Elizabeth Gaskell attracted the positive attention of the famous British writer - Charles Dickens.
Elizabeth was a humanist, actively led a social life and participated in charity work. Gaskell loved to travel, in part to leave the smoky and bustling Manchester. Elizabeth has visited France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. She liked meeting new people and looking for interesting topics for her work.
In 1850, the family moved to a new rented spacious home overlooking open fields, outside the dirty and industrial area. Elizabeth was incredibly happy with the change of scenery, and even tried to bring in "country life": she started a vegetable garden and livestock.
Elizabeth continued to publish her novels and stories anonymously, but readers began to call her "Mrs. Gaskell" - a venerable nickname for the writer.
She was quite bold in choosing the subject for her work, often criticizing Victorian society and the prevailing attitudes towards women. The writer raised this problem in the novel "Ruth" - a story about a seduced seamstress (1853).
Gaskell was personally acquainted with the writer Charlotte Brontë, with whom they became good friends. In 1855, after Bronte's death, Elizabeth even wrote a biography of her friend, which is still considered an invaluable contribution to history.
Elizabeth Gaskell wrote many lively and good-natured short stories and novels, her favorite being Cousin Phyllis (1863). Among the long novels, the most popular are Cranford (1853), North and South (1855), Sylvia's Admirers (1863), as well as the unfinished work Wives and Daughters (1866).
The writer died suddenly of a heart attack on November 12, 1865 in a house located in the picturesque village of Holiburn, Hampshire, which she wanted to present as a gift to her husband and family.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the writer's work was considered old-fashioned and provincial, but today Elizabeth Gaskell is one of the most respected British novelists of the Victorian era. Elizabeth Gaskell's works are considered classics. They were published in different languages and found their recognition all over the world.
Several of Gaskell's works have been filmed. In particular, the most successful television versions are considered the miniseries North and South (2004), the miniseries Wives and Daughters (1999) and the TV series Cranford (2007-2009) starring Judi Dench.
Also around the world there are literary circles of lovers of the writer's creativity. And in the UK there is even a society that holds weekly meetings of devoted readers at the preserved house-museum in Knutsford, as well as other historical sites associated with the life of Elizabeth Gaskell.
