The provincial fiction of Mitford, Gaskell and Eliot / Kevin A. Morrison.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Morrison, Kevin A., 1976- author.

Series:

Nineteenth-century and neo-Victorian cultures.

Nineteenth-century and neo-Victorian cultures

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mitford, Mary Russell, 1787-1855--Criticism and interpretation.

Mitford, Mary Russell.

Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn, 1810-1865--Criticism and interpretation.

Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn.

Eliot, George, 1819-1880--Criticism and interpretation.

Eliot, George.

English literature--19th century--History and criticism.

English literature.

English fiction--19th century--History and criticism.

English fiction.

Nature in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 308 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 2023.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Although Elizabeth Gaskell was influenced by Mary Russell Mitford, and George Eliot by Gaskell, only a small number of scholars have considered the affinities and resemblances among all three writers of provincial fiction, and none have done so in depth. Establishing a chain of influence, this book considers Mitford, Gaskell, and Eliot's interrelated careers, including the challenges they encountered in achieving distinction within the literary sphere, and the various pressures exerted on them by publishers, reviewers, and editors. It also analyses the career-enhancing possibilities afforded by different modes of publication-including periodicals, anthologies, the three-volume novel, and monthly and bimonthly instalments-as well as their concomitant limitations. In so doing, the book offers a reassessment of Mitford's and Gaskell's provincial fiction, which has been frequently derided as a 'minor literature'. It also demonstrates the importance of their work to the development of Eliot's liberalism in the age of high realism.

Contents:

List of illustrations

Acknowledgements

Series preface

Introduction: The politics of provincial fiction

1. Sketches of rural character: Mary Russell Mitford's 'Fugitive Pieces'

2. Sketches of rural scenery: Mitford's country rambles

3. From sketches to papers: Gaskell's country village

4. Landscape-shaped subjectivity: George Eliot's 'Mother Tongue'

5. A wider horizon: portable interiority and provincial life

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 07 Mar 2025).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-3995-1611-6

1-3995-1610-8

OCLC:

1402309398