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:	9789357270892
Publisher:	Double 9 Booksllp
Publication date:	04/22/2022
Pages:	44
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.11(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, also known as Mrs. Gaskell, was an English author, historian, and short story writer who lived from 29 September 1810 to 12 November 1865. The very poor and other members of Victorian society are all depicted in great detail in her novels. Both readers of literature and social historians will find her work interesting. In 1848, Mary Barton, her debut book, was released. The earliest biography of Charlotte Bront was Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Bront, which was released in 1857. She only covered the moral, sophisticated portions of Bronte's life in her biography; the rest was left out because, in her opinion, some of the obscenity details should be kept out of public view. The BBC has adapted each of Gaskell's most well-known novels for television, including Cranford, North and South (1854-55), and Wives and Daughters (1865). Gaskell wrote to Charles Dickens at the beginning of 1850 seeking his guidance on how to help a girl named Pasley whom she had visited in prison. Ruth's title character had a model thanks to Pasley in 1853. Her remaining books, Cranford (1853), North and South (1854), and Wives and Daughters (1855), are the most well-known (1865). She gained notoriety for her writing, particularly for her ghost stories.

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