An Ideal Woman and the Marriage Question

Female behaviour and the choice of marriage partner are concerns for both Elizabeth Gaskell and George Eliot, writes Dr Diane Duffy.
Alan Shelston

Alan Shelston (1937-2024) Gaskell Society members all over the world were greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Alan Shelston – not only one of the foremost Gaskell scholars […]
Visits and Records – a list for further reading

Gaskell Society president Shirley Foster shares a reading list to accompany her 2024 Conference talk, ‘Visits and Records: nineteenth-century women travellers and their writings.
Looking ahead to Conference 2024

It doesn’t seem like nearly two years since we gathered in Caernarvon for our Gaskell Society Conference; but here we are in February 2024, finalising the details for yet another […]
The Life of Charlotte Brontë – The Aftermath

Elizabeth’s plan, in writing The Life of Charlotte Brontë, was to reframe her subject as a proper lady in order to counter the scathing reviews of Jane Eyre by Lady […]
The Life of Charlotte Brontë – Collecting Resources

As soon as the commission to write the biography of Charlotte Brontë had been accepted, Elizabeth needed to collect information from as many sources as she could.
Graduate Student Essay Prize 2024

Joan Leach Memorial Graduate Student Essay Prize 2024 Deadline for submissions: 1 February 2024 The Gaskell Journal runs a biennial Graduate Student Essay Prize in honour of Joan Leach MBE, founder […]
Sylvia’s Lovers – an Introduction

Our subject of our 2023-24 season of Knutsford discussions is Sylvia’s Lovers. Dr Diane Duffy offers an introduction to Gaskell’s only historical novel. Sylvia’s Lovers (1863) was Elizabeth’s first novel […]
The Life of Charlotte Brontë – An Invitation to Write

The Life of Charlotte Brontë – an invitation to write Two months after the death of her friend, Charlotte Brontë, Elizabeth Gaskell wrote to George Smith (their publisher) asking for […]