Cranford

by Elizabeth Gaskell

Overview

A sensitive and moving portrait of life and manners in an English country village during the 1830s, Cranford recounts the events and activities in the lives of a group of spinsters and widows who struggle in genteel poverty to maintain their standards of propriety, decency, and kindness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780486110943
Publisher:	Dover Publications
Publication date:	01/22/2013
Series:	Dover Thrift Editions: Classic Novels
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
File size:	692 KB
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810-1865) was an English author who wrote biographies, short stories, and novels. Because her work often depicted the lives of Victorian society, including the individual effects of the Industrial Revolution, Gaskell has impacted the fields of both literature and history. While Gaskell is now a revered author, she was criticized and overlooked during her lifetime, dismissed by other authors and critics because of her gender. However, after her death, Gaskell earned a respected legacy and is credited to have paved the way for feminist movements.

Table of Contents

Contents

DOVER THRIFT EDITIONS FICTION,
Title Page,
Copyright Page,
Note,
Chapter I - OUR SOCIETY,
Chapter II - THE CAPTAIN,
Chapter III - A LOVE AFFAIR OF LONG AGO,
Chapter IV - A VISIT TO AN OLD BACHELOR,
Chapter V - OLD LETTERS,
Chapter VI - POOR PETER,
Chapter VII - VISITING,
Chapter VIII - "YOUR LADYSHIP",
Chapter IX - SIGNOR BRUNONI,
Chapter X - THE PANIC,
Chapter XI - SAMUEL BROWN,
Chapter XII - ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED,
Chapter XIII - STOPPED PAYMENT,
Chapter XIV - FRIENDS IN NEED,
Chapter XV - A HAPPY RETURN,
Chapter XVI - PEACE TO CRANFORD,

Editorial Reviews

Elizabeth Langland’s edition of Cranford is likely to introduce a new generation of readers to the pleasures of Gaskell’s most delightful but least immediately appreciated novel. By including in her appendices of historical materials choice selections from conduct books and writings on political and domestic economy, as well as in her informed, accessible introduction, Langland demonstrates that, appearances aside, the world of Cranford is firmly located in its Victorian context and addresses, however obliquely, some of the most intractable problems of its age—and of ours.” — Eileen Gillooly, Columbia University

From the Publisher

"Elizabeth Langland's edition of Cranford is likely to introduce a new generation of readers to the pleasures of Gaskell's most delightful but least immediately appreciated novel. By including in her appendices of historical materials choice selections from conduct books and writings on political and domestic economy, as well as in her informed, accessible introduction, Langland demonstrates that, appearances aside, the world of Cranford is firmly located in its Victorian context and addresses, however obliquely, some of the most intractable problems of its age—and of ours."

Eileen Gillooly Columbia University

Clare Wille’s performance of this gently satirical look at a genteel English village in the first half of the nineteenth century may be the wittiest I’ve ever heard. Like a kinder version of E.F. Benson’s Mapp v. Lucia novels, Gaskell’s ladies of Cranford have their jealousies and their vanities. They also have moments of quiet tragedy (a lost brother, a suitor rejected to please the family but never forgotten) and of high drama. Wille made me laugh aloud at the pompous trumpeting of the late Reverend Jenkins. When Miss Poe comes in out of breath, you could swear Wille was running up stairs while delivering her lines. Her performance is always fully engaged, at one with the story, which is itself a small gem. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2008 - AudioFile