BIOGRAPHY – ELIZABETH GASKELL
Elizabeth Gaskell
1810-1865. was born in Chelsea, London, in 1810. Her mother, worn out by giving
birth to eight children, of whom only two survived, died thirteen months later.
Elizabeth's father, William Stevenson, was a Unitarian but had given up
preaching to become the Keeper of the Treasury Records. Unable to raise her
himself, Stevenson sent Elizabeth to live with her aunt Hannah Lamb, who lived
in Knutsford, Cheshire.
Elizabeth shared her
father's religious beliefs and attended the local Unitarian chapel and taught
at Sunday School. At the age of eighteen, Elizabeth's brother, John Stevenson was
drowned at sea. The news devastated her father and he went into a deep
depression. Elizabeth now returned to her father's household in London where
she nursed him until his death in 1829.
A distant relative,
William Turner, a Unitarian minister in Newcastle, invited Elizabeth to live
with his family. Elizabeth's was deeply influenced by Turner's religious
beliefs and charitable works. On a visit to Turner's daughter, who lived in
Manchester, Elizabeth met William Gaskell, a minister at their local Unitarian
chapel. They quickly developed a close friendship and were married on 30th
August, 1832.
Most of William
Gaskell's parishioners were textile workers and Elizabeth was deeply shocked by
the poverty she witnessed in Manchester. Elizabeth, like her husband, became
involved in various charity work in the city. She also started writing a novel
that attempted to illustrate the problems faced by people living in industrial
towns and cities.
Mary Barton: A Tale of
Manchester Life was published in 1848. With its casts of working-class
characters and its attempts to address key social issues such as urban poverty,
Chartism and the emerging trade union movement, Gaskell's novel shocked
Victorian society. It also was greatly admired by other writers such as Charles
Dickens, William Thackeray, John Ruskin, Charles Kingsley and Thomas Carlyle.
Dickens was so impressed that he arranged for Gaskell's next novel, Cranford,
to be serialised in his journal, Household Words (1851-1853).
Other novels written by
Gaskell include Ruth (1853), North and South (1855), and Sylvia's Lovers
(1863). In her books Gaskell expressed a deep sympathy for the poor and
suggested the need for large-scale social reform. Gaskell also wrote an
acclaimed biography of Charlotte Bronte. This also created controversy and some
allegedly libellous statements had to be removed before The Life of Charlotte
Bronte could be published. Elizabeth Gaskell died in 1865.
Elizabeth
Gaskell- Books, Biography, Quotes – Read Print
19
Septiembre de 2009, 14:05
© 2009 Read
Print Publishing — your free online books library.
URL: http://www.readprint.com/author-40/Elizabeth-Gaskell-books
Academic year 2009/2010
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Natalia Quintana Morán
naquinmo@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de Valčncia Press
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