North and South (Wordsworth Classics)
With an Introduction and Notes by Dr Patsy Stoneman, University of Hull.
Set in the mid-19th century, and written from the author's first-hand experience, North and South follows the story of the heroine's movement from the tranquil but moribund ways of southern England to the vital but turbulent north. Elizabeth Gaskell's skilful narrative uses an unusual love story to show how personal and public lives were woven together in a newly industrial society.
This is a tale of hard-won triumphs - of rational thought over prejudice and of humane care over blind deference to the market. Readers in the twenty-first century will find themselves absorbed as this Victorian novel traces the origins of problems and possibilities which are still challenging a hundred and fifty years later: the complex relationships, public and private, between men and women of different classes.
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Community Reviews
I really like the plot set up and the overall sort of message in its broad stroke. Margaret and Thornton are both interesting enough characters. The novel is essentially Pride and Prejudice merged with Hard Times or maybe Germinal. And its moral resolution has an air of Howards End about it - resolution of misunderstanding through communication, empathy, and a whiff of Christian-influenced respect for humanity outside of alienating institutions like the market or the workplace.
However, Gaskell spends WAYYYYYYYYYY too much time and space examining every last detail of the sentiments of Margaret. The book has several false starts, where we really don't get anything about the main plot. There's a whole parallel subplot with her brother accused of mutiny that does have thematic resonance with the main plot, but that isn't well articulated. One death in the novel is drawn out wayyyyy too long and another thought sudden, has an insane mourning period of weakness, as though she'd just had a stroke or something. In sum, there's just a heck of a lot of the 'Victorian novel' tendency to draw things out and waste the reader's time. If you were to give the romance and family plots the same pacing and time as the union-masters plot, then the book would probably be much better and about 200 pages shorter. Mary Barton is a much better book in that regard if I recall correctly.
However, Gaskell spends WAYYYYYYYYYY too much time and space examining every last detail of the sentiments of Margaret. The book has several false starts, where we really don't get anything about the main plot. There's a whole parallel subplot with her brother accused of mutiny that does have thematic resonance with the main plot, but that isn't well articulated. One death in the novel is drawn out wayyyyy too long and another thought sudden, has an insane mourning period of weakness, as though she'd just had a stroke or something. In sum, there's just a heck of a lot of the 'Victorian novel' tendency to draw things out and waste the reader's time. If you were to give the romance and family plots the same pacing and time as the union-masters plot, then the book would probably be much better and about 200 pages shorter. Mary Barton is a much better book in that regard if I recall correctly.
Like nearly all classic literature, North and South features timeless conflicts and issues. This novel features a wonderful heroine, Margaret Hale, who must move (reluctantly) with her family to a gritty industrial town in the north of England after her father steps down from a comfortable position as a rector in a more socially desirable southern town.
Margaret, like almost everyone of her social station in England at that time, has prejudices about people involved in "trade," yet finds herself in an environment where everyone is either a tradesman or a worker. When she discovers the suffering of the oppressed workers in her town of Milton, she develops a passionate sense of social justice, while also learning to understand the struggles of the businesses owners. Margaret's new-found social conscience is tried by a love interest, a local business owner. It's a wonderful story, told intelligently and wryly by the wonderful Gaskell.
Margaret, like almost everyone of her social station in England at that time, has prejudices about people involved in "trade," yet finds herself in an environment where everyone is either a tradesman or a worker. When she discovers the suffering of the oppressed workers in her town of Milton, she develops a passionate sense of social justice, while also learning to understand the struggles of the businesses owners. Margaret's new-found social conscience is tried by a love interest, a local business owner. It's a wonderful story, told intelligently and wryly by the wonderful Gaskell.
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