The Critical Reception of Elizabeth Gaskell's Works: From Obscurity to Limelight

AbstractDuring her lifetime, the publication of Mary Barton brought ElizabethGaskell instant fame. She was lionized as a champion of the poor and thesubsequent publication of North and South further reinforced the public viewthat she is a vocal writer depicting the 'Condition-of-England'. However, inearly twentieth century, Gaskell's works almost went into oblivion and shewas clubbed together with the less known Victorian writers writing on'feminine' and domestic issues. The advent of Marxist and Feminist criticalreinterpretations of Victorian women writers in the second half of thetwentieth century brought Gaskell into the limelight once again and thisreintervention of her literary oeuvre was stretched further by critics whoendeavored to view her works through the lens of Cultural Studies. Thisarticle aims to review Gaskell scholarship in retrospect and intends to tracethe complex critical reception of her works during the nineteenth andtwentieth century.Keywords: Elizabeth Gaskell, Marxist criticism, Feminist criticism, CulturalStudies, nineteenth century.