A couple years ago, Javamom shared this interesting find::
I was ever so excited when I found the Norton Critical Edition of North and South at our library last week. In it are letters from Charles Dickens to Mrs. Gaskell, as some of her work was printed by Dickens, in serial form (in weekly, numbered appearances) in his magazine called “Household Words.” He liked her writing and her ideas, but shared (in all manner of gentlemanly fashion) his opinion of an occasional edit needed in order for a particular scene to fit into his magazine.
I was excited to find out that there was a relationship between the two authors, and that his input had some bearing on her work. As well, Gaskell was one of few friends to Charlotte Bronte, and Gaskell even wrote a biography of Miss Bronte. There is at least one letter that EG wrote to Bronte for input on North and South, and a letter back from her. Other letters included are from Thackery, John Forster (friend of EG and of Dickens, who became principal biographer of Dickens), Harriet Beecher Stowe, and several others.
You can get Gaskell’s North and South
The movie is fun, too, and very well done.
One Comment
I love Gaskell! I read Cranford several years ago but couldn’t find any of her other books at my local library. I was reminded of her just a few months ago while reading a book about daily home life in the Victorian era (Inside the Victorian Home by Judith Flanders, which has some very interesting facts but also a very heavy feminist bias). The book quoted her novels, along with Dickens and others, to illustrate her points.
With my Kindle, I was able to download many Gaskell books for free, so I did and spent a big portion of December reading North and South, Ruth, and Wives and Daughters. They were all really good, and I was impressed with Gaskell’s ability to write varied works with different themes. They obviously did have some similarities, but I think they were more varied than even some of Dickens’ novels. I wonder why I was able to get a degree in English without ever studying her.