7 North and South (1854)
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Patsy Stoneman
Abstract
With Mary Barton, North and South is now the most widely read of Elizabeth Gaskell's works, and we owe its modern rehabilitation to the Marxist critics of the 1950s. This critical mediation, however, means that we now receive the text together with a consciousness of its shortcomings in Marxist terms: its parent–child analogy for class relations obscures the economic source of class oppression in the appropriation of surplus value, and its ‘resolution’ is a marriage which at best seems a symbolic reconciliation and at worst a romantic diversion from the industrial theme. However, this chapter argues that the novel only appears inadequate because of the assumption underpinning Marxist theory that work relations alone provide the fundamental structures of society. Feminist theory affirms that gender relations are at least of equal, if not primary, importance. North and South sees class and gender as axes that intersect rather than coincide, and, moreover, it recognises class struggle as the product of economic conflicts of interest which are not resolvable, though they can be ameliorated, by benevolence.
Abstract
With Mary Barton, North and South is now the most widely read of Elizabeth Gaskell's works, and we owe its modern rehabilitation to the Marxist critics of the 1950s. This critical mediation, however, means that we now receive the text together with a consciousness of its shortcomings in Marxist terms: its parent–child analogy for class relations obscures the economic source of class oppression in the appropriation of surplus value, and its ‘resolution’ is a marriage which at best seems a symbolic reconciliation and at worst a romantic diversion from the industrial theme. However, this chapter argues that the novel only appears inadequate because of the assumption underpinning Marxist theory that work relations alone provide the fundamental structures of society. Feminist theory affirms that gender relations are at least of equal, if not primary, importance. North and South sees class and gender as axes that intersect rather than coincide, and, moreover, it recognises class struggle as the product of economic conflicts of interest which are not resolvable, though they can be ameliorated, by benevolence.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- Dedication vii
- Preface to the Second Edition ix
- Preface to the First Edition xi
- References and Abbreviations xiii
- 1 Reading Elizabeth Gaskell 1
- 2 Woman and Writer 14
- 3 Two Nations and Separate Spheres 30
- 4 Mary Barton (1848) 45
- 5 Cranford (1851) 57
- 6 Ruth (1853) 65
- 7 North and South (1854) 78
- 8 Sylvia’s Lovers (1863) 92
- 9 Cousin Phillis (1863) 105
- 10 Wives and Daughters (1865) 112
- Conclusion 132
- Afterword 136
- References 172
- Select Bibliography 181
- Index 183
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- Dedication vii
- Preface to the Second Edition ix
- Preface to the First Edition xi
- References and Abbreviations xiii
- 1 Reading Elizabeth Gaskell 1
- 2 Woman and Writer 14
- 3 Two Nations and Separate Spheres 30
- 4 Mary Barton (1848) 45
- 5 Cranford (1851) 57
- 6 Ruth (1853) 65
- 7 North and South (1854) 78
- 8 Sylvia’s Lovers (1863) 92
- 9 Cousin Phillis (1863) 105
- 10 Wives and Daughters (1865) 112
- Conclusion 132
- Afterword 136
- References 172
- Select Bibliography 181
- Index 183
