Elizabeth Gaskell

When Patsy Stoneman's Elizabeth Gaskell first appeared in 1987, it was welcomed as 'the first major full-length feminist study of Gaskell' (Victorian Studies). Though long out of print, it is still widely used and cited in university contexts, making it certain that this augmented edition will be equally welcome. This pioneering study, described as 'a model of feminist criticism' (The Year's Work in English Studies), reveals Gaskell as an important social analyst who deliberately challenged the Victorian disjunction between public and private ethical values, maintaining a steady resistance to aggressive authority and advocating female friendship, rational motherhood and the power of speech as forces for social change.

Patsy Stoneman is Emeritus Reader in English of the University of Hull.