Jem's heart beat violently when he saw the gay, handsome young man
approaching, with a light, buoyant step. This, then, was he whom
Mary loved. It was, perhaps, no wonder; for he seemed to the poor
smith so elegant, so well-appointed, that he felt the superiority
in externals, strangely and painfully, for an instant. Then
something uprose within him, and told him that "a man's a man for
a' that, for a' that, and twice as much a' that." And he no longer
felt troubled by the outward appearance of his rival. -from Chapter
XV As interest in 19th-century English literature by women has been
reinvigorated by a resurgence in popularity of the works of Jane
Austen, readers are rediscovering a writer whose fiction, once
widely beloved, fell by the wayside. British novelist ELIZABETH
CLEGHORN GASKELL (1810-1865)-whose books were sometimes initially
credited to, simply, "Mrs. Gaskell"-is now recognized as having
created some of the most complex and broadminded depictions of
women in the literature of the age, and is today justly celebrated
for her precocious use of the regional dialect and slang of
England's industrial North. Mary Barton-Gaskell's first novel,
originally published anonymously in 1848-established her reputation
as a champion of the working class. Set in Manchester, where the
author herself settled as the wife of a progressive preacher, it
concerns the trials and tribulations of two poor families, the
Bartons and the Wilsons, and a tragedy that cements their joint
fate and highlights the class divide in highly stratified Victorian
society. Friend and literary companion to the likes of Charles
Dickens and Charlotte Bront-the latter of whom Gaskell wrote an
acclaimed 1857biography-Gaskell is today being restored to her
rightful place alongside them. This charming replica volume is an
excellent opportunity for 21st-century fans of British literature
to embrace one of its most unjustly forgotten authors.
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