Celebrating the life and work of Elizabeth Gaskell
June was not the most prolific of months in Gaskell’s publishing calendar. Cranford first appeared in book form in June 1853, ‘My Lady Ludlow’ began as a serial in Household Words, June 1858 and ‘French Life’ concluded in Frasers Magazine, … Continued
An introduction to the Curate’s wife The Covid-19 lockdown has meant the Society being unable to go ahead with many of its planned talks and events for 2020. One of these was to have been a Q&A session in which … Continued
Elizabeth Stevenson married Rev. William Gaskell at St John’s Church, Knutsford in 1832 and on 10th July 1833 she gave birth to a stillborn girl. Jenny Uglow writes in her biography “She saw the baby but did not give her … Continued
Again, I hope that everyone is keeping safe, well and entertained. Gaskell Society members have been sharing their current and favourite lockdown reads and a few recommendations for great telly (for those of you in the UK). If you’re in search … Continued
One of the few silver linings to the Covid cloud that’s currently hanging over us is (for many of us) more time to read, and as we are members of a literary society, we seem to be embracing this with … Continued
Only four pieces of Gaskell’s writing were published in May: the last two episodes of Cranford, an obscure piece entitled ‘Company Manners’ (1854) and the short story, “Six Weeks at Heppenheim”. “Six Weeks at Heppenheim” was published in volume five of … Continued
At the Gaskell Society’s 2019 Conference, Dr Diane Duffy and Anthony Burton stood in at short notice to give a talk on “How did Elizabeth Gaskell know what she knew about working-class life?”. This is currently being prepared for publication … Continued
While reading Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel Ruth in connection with another project, I came across some passages that seemed uncannily apt to our own situation – the Great Fever of 2020. As the text wends its way towards a conclusion, fever strikes, … Continued
Our very good friend, Dr Michael Sanders, Senior Lecturer in C19th Writing at the University of Manchester, is running a virtual reading group via Zoom during the COVID-19 lockdown period. The Piston, Pen & Press team has been working on … Continued
Cranford is presented as an isolated community rooted in the past and inwardly focused on the minutiae of domestic routine and etiquette, yet the town has a railway; a dynamic force which undercuts the inward focus and inertia of this … Continued