11.00 am The Joan Leach Memorial Lecture  will be given by Marie Moxon, taking as her title:

The Sounding Cataract and the Tall Rock: From William Wordsworth’s ‘Tintern Abbey’ to Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth.

Writing to her sister-in-law Lizzie in 1836, Elizabeth Gaskell is enthusiastic about the Lakeland poet. Sitting ‘in a shady corner of a field gay with bright spring flowers’, and with ‘the air so full of sweet sounds’ the surroundings provide a ‘fit place’ for study of his works. It is a rural idyll, calm and pleasant, and evocative of the joys of nature.

Wordsworth’s influence on Gaskell’s fiction is clear and has been well documented. But, in this paper, I will examine more specifically how Gaskell uses the inheritance of Romanticism to take Ruth beyond its designation as an industrial novel laced with romance. Gaskell makes ‘Nature’ the key to Ruth’s narrative travails and, ultimately, her rehabilitation. Wordsworth’s suggestion – that ‘Nature never did betray the heart that loved her’ – is taken up by Gaskell and skilfully manipulated as a tool to shape her flawed heroine into the Ruth who will, at her death, ‘be in the light of God’s countenance’.

Marie is a postgraduate researcher at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge and her doctoral thesis examines British and continental space in Elizabeth Gaskell’s fiction and journalism.

12.30 pm approx. Lunch

2 pm A talk on composer Sir Edward Elgar by one of our favourite speakers, Geoff Scargill

Members who went on the Study Tour to Worcester will remember how much they enjoyed the visit to the Elgar’s birthplace and will appreciate hearing more about this creative genius!

Geoff was, until last year the Chairman of the North West Branch of the Elgar Society and his enthusiasm has helped the Society to set up new branches and his support and guidance have helped both new and existing branches.  He has spoken to the Society on two previous occasions 

The cost is £16.50 for members of the Gaskell Society and £18.50 non-members, which includes our usual delicious lunch served by Duncan and his colleagues.

Talks only: Members:  £10  Non-members: £12