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lelia_t's review against another edition
2.0
This was one of the most tedious biographies I’ve ever read. It will serve as a nice reference when rereading Gaskell’s books, but as a vehicle for getting to know Elizabeth Gaskell, it presents a barrier of words. Where a few sentences would suffice to describe a new acquaintance in Gaskell’s life, we get bogged down in paragraphs. Stories are repeated unnecessarily - we’re told about Gaskells’ friendship with Bronte in the early pages and then told more thoroughly (but no more interestingly) later in the book.
There are some enjoyable details and I found Uglow’s discussion of Cranford quite engaging, but generally there were too many minute particulars - parts of the book read like Gaskell’s engagement calendar - and the lengthy treatment of each novel and story was excessive.
Uglow describes the journal that carried Elizabeth’s first published works as “a rather bland soup” and that is an apt description of this book too. I think part of the problem I have with the book is that Uglow takes a top down view, giving us a topographical perspective of the times and Gaskell’s place in them. I would rather have gotten to know Gaskell as a person, and even though there are ample quotations from Gaskell’s letters, these are somehow less insightful because they are so buried in prose that reads like an encyclopedia entry.
There are some enjoyable details and I found Uglow’s discussion of Cranford quite engaging, but generally there were too many minute particulars - parts of the book read like Gaskell’s engagement calendar - and the lengthy treatment of each novel and story was excessive.
Uglow describes the journal that carried Elizabeth’s first published works as “a rather bland soup” and that is an apt description of this book too. I think part of the problem I have with the book is that Uglow takes a top down view, giving us a topographical perspective of the times and Gaskell’s place in them. I would rather have gotten to know Gaskell as a person, and even though there are ample quotations from Gaskell’s letters, these are somehow less insightful because they are so buried in prose that reads like an encyclopedia entry.
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