Cranford

by Elizabeth Gaskell

Overview

In this classic portrait of life in a quiet English village of the early nineteenth century, Elizabeth Gaskell writes with wit and affection of the foibles, follies and endearing eccentricities of its occupants as they struggle to maintain standards in their genteel poverty. This witty and poignant comedy, with its ironic observations on the pretensions of class is told through the eyes of a young woman who befriends the elderly ladies of Cranford.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681952222
Publisher:	Xist Publishing
Publication date:	08/07/2015
Series:	Xist Classics
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	100
File size:	268 KB

About the Author

Elizabeth Langland is Professor of English and Dean of the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University. She has published widely on Victorian literature.

Table of Contents

I	Our Society	1
II	The Captain	9
III	A Love Affair of Long Ago	20
IV	A Visit to an Old Bachelor	26
V	Old Letters	35
VI	Poor Peter	43
VII	Visiting	52
VIII	"Your Ladyship"	59
IX	Signor Brunoni	69
X	The Panic	76
XI	Samuel Brown	87
XII	Engaged to Be Married	95
XIII	Stopped Payment	101
XIV	Friends in Need	110
XV	A Happy Return	123
XVI	Peace to Cranford	132

Editorial Reviews

Elizabeth Langland’s edition of Cranford is likely to introduce a new generation of readers to the pleasures of Gaskell’s most delightful but least immediately appreciated novel. By including in her appendices of historical materials choice selections from conduct books and writings on political and domestic economy, as well as in her informed, accessible introduction, Langland demonstrates that, appearances aside, the world of Cranford is firmly located in its Victorian context and addresses, however obliquely, some of the most intractable problems of its age—and of ours.” — Eileen Gillooly, Columbia University

From the Publisher

"Elizabeth Langland's edition of Cranford is likely to introduce a new generation of readers to the pleasures of Gaskell's most delightful but least immediately appreciated novel. By including in her appendices of historical materials choice selections from conduct books and writings on political and domestic economy, as well as in her informed, accessible introduction, Langland demonstrates that, appearances aside, the world of Cranford is firmly located in its Victorian context and addresses, however obliquely, some of the most intractable problems of its age—and of ours."

Eileen Gillooly Columbia University

Clare Wille’s performance of this gently satirical look at a genteel English village in the first half of the nineteenth century may be the wittiest I’ve ever heard. Like a kinder version of E.F. Benson’s Mapp v. Lucia novels, Gaskell’s ladies of Cranford have their jealousies and their vanities. They also have moments of quiet tragedy (a lost brother, a suitor rejected to please the family but never forgotten) and of high drama. Wille made me laugh aloud at the pompous trumpeting of the late Reverend Jenkins. When Miss Poe comes in out of breath, you could swear Wille was running up stairs while delivering her lines. Her performance is always fully engaged, at one with the story, which is itself a small gem. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2008 - AudioFile