‘Domestic visiting as a means of social knowledge

and reconciliation in Gaskell’s fiction

A talk by Professor Martin Hewitt from Anglia Ruskin University 

Martin will draw on Gaskell’s novels and short stories, especially Mary Barton, North and South and her Manchester short stories, to explore the way Gaskell advocated and exemplified what he calls the ‘visiting mode’ as way of knowing the nineteenth century city. His talk will be based on a chapter of his short monograph, provisionally entitled Seeing Space and Place in the Nineteenth Century City: Manchester 1830-1914, to be submitted to Routledge shortly.

Martin is Professor of History at Anglia Ruskin University. He has a broad interest in the social and cultural history of the nineteenth century and has worked on the history of Victorian Manchester, including work on literary associations, libraries, public lectures, social and philanthropic associations. He has also worked on the nineteenth century press and was the founding editor of the Journal of Victorian Culture and the first Secretary of the British Association for Victorian Studies. Martin’s current projects include a study of the reception of Darwin in Victorian Britain, and the Very Short Introduction: the Victorians for Oxford University Press

Everyone is welcome any time after 12 45 pm.  Please bring a packed lunch.

Talks begin at 2pm and usually last about an hour. Each talk is followed by questions, and then tea is served.

At each meeting there is a bring-and-buy book stall in aid of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House in Manchester. elizabethgaskellhouse.co.uk
Please bring any books that you  wish to rehome and which will be of interest to other members,marked with an appropriate price. If, at the end of the meeting, your books have not been sold, we ask you to take them away with you again

We ask for a contribution of £5.00 to cover speakers’ expenses, a donation to the school and tea.If you have any queries please contact Jenny Keaveney 

07791 309784     

All meetings are held at Francis Holland School for Girls, 39 Graham Terrace London SW1W 8JF
The school is only a three-minute walk from Sloane Square tube station, which is on the District and Circle line. This central location means that the meeting is convenient for anyone interested  in Elizabeth Gaskell’s writing. Come along – you will be sure of a friendly welcome