The essay highlights Elizabeth Gaskell’s contribution to the debate on gentlemanliness, investigating to what extent her fiction, and 'North and South' in particular, subverts some recurring elements in the literary fashioning of the Victorian gentleman. Different representations of gentlemanliness displayed and demolished in the novel are discussed, setting Gaskell’s response against the reflections of the so-called Victorian prophets: Mill, Ruskin, Newman and Smiles. The essay contends that in the figures of Thornton and Higgins Gaskell produces the first attempt to mould an industrial gentleman, associated with the dysphoric elements of North, city, industry, present, and workshop.

“North and South": an Industrial Version of the Victorian Gentleman

ANTINUCCI, Raffaella
2010-01-01

Abstract

The essay highlights Elizabeth Gaskell’s contribution to the debate on gentlemanliness, investigating to what extent her fiction, and 'North and South' in particular, subverts some recurring elements in the literary fashioning of the Victorian gentleman. Different representations of gentlemanliness displayed and demolished in the novel are discussed, setting Gaskell’s response against the reflections of the so-called Victorian prophets: Mill, Ruskin, Newman and Smiles. The essay contends that in the figures of Thornton and Higgins Gaskell produces the first attempt to mould an industrial gentleman, associated with the dysphoric elements of North, city, industry, present, and workshop.
2010
978-90-382-1629-4
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11367/16165
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 0
social impact