A Study of Elizabeth Gaskell's Artistic Theory and Practice in Her Major Works

Abstract

Elizabeth Gaskell's commitment to and understanding of her art are considered in the context in which she wrote. She was active at a time when some of the greatest Victorian novels were being produced and the form was beginning to be discussed seriously, but while the general understanding of it was increasing in a creative environment favourable to the emergence of novels, the process was of necessity unsystematic. Her environment undoubtedly influences Mrs Gaskell but she is no more systematic than her contemporaries. This does not mean, however, that she did not think about what she was doing, and what is known of her working habits is considered, as well as the scattered but often illuminating remarks to be found in her correspondence which reveal something of the development of her artistic position. This is extended by a reading of her novels, the biography of Charlotte Bronte and Cousin Phillis. The evolution of each work is discussed as well as the reaction of contemporaries and there is an emphasis on the novelist's changing sense of the potentialities and form of the novel, as well as the gathering complexity of her approach to it which is reflected in the organisation and greater achievement of her work as time goes on. Mrs Gaskell is not innovative in her thought about the novel but she tackles it sensitively and responsibly, her theoretical position being strongly influenced by what she learns in her own practice.