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Elizabeth Gaskell

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Divia
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Elizabeth Gaskell

Post by Divia » Sun March 20th, 2011, 12:13 am

I was wondering if anyone has read anything by Ms. Gaskell. I know a lot of people have read North and South. But what about her other stuff like her Gothic tales and novellas n' stuff.

Do you enjoy her as an author?
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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Sun March 20th, 2011, 12:27 am

Divia, I like her a lot of those I've read and for a 19C author she's very *readable* and you won't find yourself so weighed down with more ponderous prose as with some others. I've read Wives and Daughters and Ruth (gawd, that's depressing), and have N&S and Mary Barton languishing somewhere on the pile.
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boswellbaxter
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Post by boswellbaxter » Sun March 20th, 2011, 12:40 am

I've read all of her novels and some of her shorter pieces, though it's been a while. Wives and Daughters is my favorite.
Susan Higginbotham
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Divia
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Post by Divia » Sun March 20th, 2011, 1:39 am

Interesting. Thanks ladies.
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LoveHistory
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Post by LoveHistory » Sun March 20th, 2011, 5:09 pm

All I've read of hers is North & South. I really liked it. Planning to read Cranford since I liked the mini so much.

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princess garnet
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Post by princess garnet » Sun March 20th, 2011, 6:30 pm

I read Wives & Daughters after seeing it on PBS's "Masterpiece" in college. The other novel I read is Mary Barton, her 1st one, for a European social history class. It's set during the 1840s England.

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Post by Nefret » Tue July 31st, 2012, 8:17 am

I've seen the recent miniseries for North and South, and liked it. I'm watching Cranford soon.
Besides those books, what other novels of hers should I read?
Into battle we ride with Gods by our side
We are strong and not afraid to die
We have an urge to kill and our lust for blood has to be fulfilled
WE´LL FIGHT TILL THE END! And send our enemies straight to Hell!
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boswellbaxter
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Post by boswellbaxter » Tue July 31st, 2012, 12:28 pm

I'd try any of them, but Wives and Daughters is my personal favorite. Mary Barton and Ruth are also good (but not light reading). Cranford is fun to read.
Susan Higginbotham
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Prof.Hirata
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Post by Prof.Hirata » Tue December 10th, 2013, 4:13 pm

I have read only Cranford. It was written after her debut novel Mary Barton, and it looks very much like the idea behind it was to mitigate the sharp criticism she was assailed with for showing the heavy fate of the working class under the merciless rule of the factory owners. And she found nothing better than describe the patriarchal world of old spinsters in a small town pretending to be the pillars of respectability in spite of their far from well-to-do status. In such cases it is usual to say that there's no derision in the author's attitiude but only mild sympathetic humor and stuff, but in this case the plan is so transparent that the story is mostly boring apart from several funny moments (and not all of them, as a matter of fact, the episode of the lace re-possessed through defecation, for example, does not seem too funny for me). Maybe it did not look so evident in the 50-s of the 19-th century and the English perceived (or still perceive) the signs of "good old England" in it, I do not know, but it is evidently far from the masterpieces her contemporaries already produced.
Last edited by Prof.Hirata on Tue December 10th, 2013, 4:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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