Elizabeth Gaskell

'I think I must be an improper woman without knowing it, I do so manage to shock people.' Elizabeth Gaskell's second novel challenged contemporary social attitudes by taking as its heroine a fallen woman. Ruth Hilton is an orphan and an overworked seamstress, an innocent preyed upon by a weak, wealthy seducer. When he heartlessly abandons her she finds shelter and kindness in the home of a dissenting minister and his sister, who do not reject her when she gives birth to an illegitimate child. But Ruth's self-sacrificing love and devotion are tested to the limit by a twist of fate that brings her past back to haunt her. Gaskell's depiction of Ruth lays bare Victorian hypocrisy and sexual double-standards, and her novel is a remarkable story of love, of the sanctuary and tyranny of the family, and of the consequences of lies and deception. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Ruth Hilton is an orphaned young seamstress who catches the eye of a gentleman, Henry Bellingham, who is captivated by her simplicity and beauty. When she loses her job and home, he offers her comfort and shelter, only to cruelly desert her soon after. Nearly dead with grief and shame, Ruth is offered the chance of a new life among people who give her love and respect, even though they are at first unaware of her secret - an illegitimate child. When Henry enters her life again, however, Ruth must make the impossible choice between social acceptance and personal pride. In writing Ruth, Elizabeth Gaskell daringly confronted prevailing views about sin and illegitimacy with her compassionate and honest portrait of a 'fallen woman'.

Beware the self-righteous man of faith, the wicked-eyed child, the jealous lover. For this is Salem, in 1691, where rumours fly on the wind and witchcraft is abroad. Lois Barclay, cursed in childhood, is a stranger in a strange land â?? and the devil will work his mischief on Loisâ??s neighbours before the season of madness is out.

In the rigid confines of Victorian society, Ruth's transgression casts a shadow over her life. Yet, amidst the judgment and scorn, she finds a glimmer of hope and a chance for redemption. Through acts of kindness and unwavering devotion, she seeks to make amends for her past mistakes.Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth challenges societal norms, offering a compassionate portrayal of a woman's struggle for acceptance and the enduring power of the human spirit to overcome adversity.

In the rigid confines of Victorian society, Ruth's transgression casts a shadow over her life. Yet, amidst the judgment and scorn, she finds a glimmer of hope and a chance for redemption. Through acts of kindness and unwavering devotion, she seeks to make amends for her past mistakes.Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth challenges societal norms, offering a compassionate portrayal of a woman's struggle for acceptance and the enduring power of the human spirit to overcome adversity.

Ruth is a young orphan girl working in a respectable sweatshop for the overworked Mrs. Mason. She is selected to go to a ball to repair torn dresses. At the ball she meets the aristocratic Henry Bellingham, a rake figure who is instantly attracted to her. They meet again by chance and form a secret friendship which is frowned upon by Mrs. Mason who dismisses Ruth. Henry and Ruth go on holiday to Wales together where Henry falls sick with fever. When Henry's mother finds out about their relationship, she forces him to abandon Ruth, leaving her some money. But they don't know that Ruth is pregnant. Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) was an English novelist and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of Victorian society, including the very poor, and are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature. Some of Gaskell's best known novels are Cranford, North and South, and Wives and Daughters.

Die h bsche Ruth w chst im viktorianischen England als Einzelkind auf dem Bauernhof ihrer Eltern auf. Doch sie ist noch sehr jung, als sie verwaist und von einer strengen Damenschneiderin in die Lehre genommen wird. Hier, in der Stadt, beginnt f r sie ein Dasein voller Entbehrungen. An einem Winterabend begegnet sie einem jungen Mann aus vornehmem Hause, der ein wenig Licht und W rme in ihr Leben bringt. Wird er alles zum Guten wenden? Zwei Jahre vor ihrem Roman "Norden und S den" gelang Elizabeth Gaskell mit "Ruth" das Portr t einer jungen Frau, die ein wechselvolles Schicksal bew ltigen muss.

I början av 1800-talet blev romanläsandet en populär sysselsättning. Nya tryckmetoder och bättre kommunikationer spred den nya underhållningsformen. Tekniska och vetenskapliga framsteg som järnvägar och elektricitet, tillsammans med spiritism och andra flugor, förändrade världen. Horace Walpole hade skrivit sin skräckroman Borgen i Otranto några årtionden tidigare, och 1818 kom Mary Shelleys Frankenstein. Sådana böcker blev början till en våg av gotisk skräck i framför allt Storbritannien mer eller mindre övernaturliga berättelser i miljöer med vittrande slott, åskväder, sönderslitna moln och månsken över upprörda hav, alltsammans befolkat av hålögda adelsmän och bleka jungfrur. Många av de som skrev gotisk skräck var kvinnor, och några av dem finns i den här samlingen. Inte bara deras noveller och romaner var förfärande och utmanande, utan kanske ännu mer deras sätt att leva: ogifta; boende ensamma; boende med gifta män; till och med boende med andra kvinnor! Novellerna i boken är skrivna mellan 1840- och 90-talen, av författare som systrarna Brontë, George Eliot och Charlotte Perkins Gilman, och förtjänar mycket väl att läsas än i dag.

'A man ... is so in the way in the house!' A vivid and affectionate portrait of a provincial town in early Victorian England, Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford describes a community dominated by its independent and refined women. Undaunted by poverty, but dismayed by changes brought by the railway and by new commercial practices, the ladies of Cranford respond to disruption with both suspicion and courage. Miss Matty and her sister Deborah uphold standards and survive personal tragedy and everyday dramas; innovation may bring loss, but it also brings growth, and welcome freedoms. Cranford suggests that representatives of different and apparently hostile social worlds, their minds opened by sympathy and suffering, can learn from each other. Its social comedy develops into a study of generous reconciliation, of a kind that will value the past as it actively shapes the future. This edition includes two related short pieces by Gaskell, 'The Last Generation in England' and 'The Cage at Cranford', as well as a selection from the diverse literary and social contexts in which the Cranford tales take their place. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

'How am I to dress up in my finery, and go off and away to smart parties, after the sorrow I have seen today?' Elizabeth Gaskell's compassionate, richly dramatic novel features one of the most original and fully-rounded female characters in Victorian fiction, Margaret Hale. It shows how, forced to move from the country to an industrial northern town, she develops a passionate sense of social justice, and a turbulent relationship with mill-owner John Thornton. North and South depicts a young woman discovering herself, in a nuanced portrayal of what divides people, and what brings them together. This is a stunning new Clothbound Classics edition of Gaskell's famous novel, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. These delectable and collectible Penguin editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design.

Elizabet Gaskell - odna iz samykh znachimykh britanskikh pisatelnits viktorianskoj epokhi. Ejo tvorchestvo sochetaet tonkij psikhologizm, sotsialnuju nabljudatelnost, teplotu i chelovechnost. "Krenford" - eto ocharovatelnaja i trogatelnaja khronika zhizni malenkogo provintsialnogo gorodka. Glavnye geroini - pozhilye damy iz srednego klassa, chi privychki, predrassudki i malenkie tajny stanovjatsja osnovoj dlja ironichnykh, a poroj i melankholichnykh zarisovok. "Krenford" schitaetsja klassikoj anglijskoj literatury, a ego geroini - odnimi iz samykh obajatelnykh i zapominajuschikhsja v tvorchestve Gaskell.

Posle smerti ottsa Meggi Braun zhivet s materju i bratom Edvardom v uedinennom domike posredi vereskovoj pustoshi. Chestnaja i trudoljubivaja Meggi mechtaet o materinskoj zabote i podderzhke, no missis Braun vsju svoju ljubov tratit na rastuschego izbalovannym egoistom Edvarda. Zhenschina i ot docheri ozhidaet analogichnogo otnoshenija k bratu, no mozhno li obresti lichnoe schaste, otkazavshis ot sobstvennogo buduschego v polzu drugogo cheloveka? V dannoe izdanie takzhe voshli rasskazy "Lizzi Li", "Serdtse Dzhona Middltona", "Morton-Kholl" i "Polzhizni nazad".

Eta kniga posvjaschena odnoj iz samykh znamenitykh anglijskikh pisatelnits XIX veka, chej roman "Dzhejn Ejr" polzuetsja ogromnym uspekhom vo vsem mire. Odnako nemnogim izvestno, naskolko tragichno slozhilas sudba samoj Sharlotty Bronte. Ona muzhestvenno i s dostoinstvom perenosila vse nevzgody i ispytanija, vypadavshie na ee dolju. Perezhiv rodnykh sester i brata, Sharlotta Bronte dovolno pozdno vyshla zamuzh, no umerla menshe chem cherez god posle svadby - ej bylo 38 let. Ob etom i o mnogom drugom (o zhizni semi Bronte, tvorchestve sester Emili i Enn, literaturnom debjute i slave, o vstrechakh s pisateljami i t. d.) rasskazala drugaja izvestnaja anglijskaja pisatelnitsa - Elizabet Gaskell. Ee znakomstvo s Sharlottoj Bronte sostojalos v 1850 godu, i v techenie pochti pjati let ikh svjazyvala lichnaja i tvorcheskaja druzhba. Kniga "Zhizn Sharlotty Bronte" - tsennejshij biograficheskij istochnik, osnovannyj na bogatom dokumentalnom materiale: E. Gaskell vkljuchila v tekst sotni pisem Sh. Bronte i ee korrespondentov (podrug, rodnykh, literatorov, izdatelej). Kniga snabzhena vklejkoj s illjustratsijami.