Literary Christmas returns for Blogmas 2024! This was a very popular mini-series for me during Blogmas 2022, so I thought I would bring it back. Many Western authors either work Christmas and the holiday season into their novels, or they write separate short stories. (Sometimes both!) Elizabeth Gaskell has long been a popular author, but the nineteenth century writer is steadily gaining popularity now. (Some of the 2000s BBC adaptations of her work are becoming popular again.) I thought she would be a great author to start up this series again, because the holiday season has quite a different place in her works than we typically see. Let’s get into Literary Christmas: Elizabeth Gaskell!
Who Is Elizabeth Gaskell?
Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson was born in London in 1810. Her mother died when she was young, and she spent much of her childhood and teen years with different family members. In 1832, she married William Gaskell, a Unitarian minister. She began writing in the mid-1830s but it was beginning in the 1850s that we start seeing her novels published serially. (In this case, it means it was often published weekly in a magazine.) Cranford, North and South, and Wives and Daughters were all published weekly over one to three years. Her novels and short stories are well-known for their social commentary of the period.
Christmas in Wives and Daughters, North and South, and Cranford
I read Wives and Daughters earlier in 2024 (as one of my reading goals), and interestingly, the holidays don’t feature heavily. There are references to Christmas simply for timing- a character wants to be married before the holidays, but that is it.
North and South is the same, as is Cranford. I’ve not read N&S in nearly two decades, and it’s been four years since I read Cranford, but I have no memory of the holidays in either, and searching within the books turns up nothing! It is interesting to me that she doesn’t really address the holidays anywhere.
Interestingly, The Moorland Cottage, one of the short stories related to Cranford does partially take place on Christmas Day. (This is separate from the full novel.) This short story was included in the BBC adaptation, Return to Cranford!
“Christmas Storms and Sunlight”
Gaskell does actually have a separate short story that takes place at Christmas, though. “Christmas Storms and Sunlight” is roughly fifteen pages and follows two wives at Christmas as they deal with different stresses and try to save a baby. Arguably, this story could be set at many different times of the year. However, I think it is notable that Gaskell chose Christmas as the setting when she pointedly avoids it elsewhere for the most part. Much like her novels, it paints a stark picture of life at the time but that was reality.
I have to say, the opening is my favourite- it really highlights Gaskell’s wit (though also ignores the holidays ha!
“In the town of —- (no matter where) there circulated two local newspapers (no matter when). Now the Flying Post was long established and respectable — alias bigoted and Tory; the Examiner was spirited and intelligent — alias new-fangled and democratic. Every week these newspapers contained articles abusing each other; as cross and peppery as articles could be, and evidently the production of irritated minds, although they seemed to have one stereotyped commencement”.
I hope you’ve enjoyed Literary Christmas: Elizabeth Gaskell and returning to this series!
Cheers,
The Historian
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