Elizabeth’s Reviews > Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories > Status Update

I loved the Wives and Daughters chapter. So many good insights!

“And [George] Smith has not one but two serialized novels in each monthly issue [of Cornhill]. In 1864 Wives and Daughters overlapped with Trollope’s The Small House at Allington…” (601).

Really enjoyed Uglow’s exploration of Cousin Phillis.

I found Uglow’s reflections on Sylvia’s Lovers helpful. She notes how Gaskell is telling the stories of ordinary people whose stories are important even if they don’t change history. Each individual life is still a vibrant part of the existing culture with its speech patterns, stories, etc.

The chapter about EG writing Charlotte Bronte’s biography is fascinating, especially because I remember the details from a modern biography (Juliet Barker’s) that I read a year ago. Now I want to read what Gaskell wrote. Uglow makes it sound well worth the read.

“The problem for us all, not only for Thornton and Margaret, is how to identify with the needs of others yet remain strong as an individual, how to become, in other words, ‘tender and yet a master’” (386).

Yay getting to the North and South section!