Cousin Phyllis (Owc) * 2010

*One of the most popular of Victorian novelists, Gaskell's short stories are no less attractive, and in the novella-length Cousin Phillis she wrote a masterpiece of the genre.
*In addition to Cousin Phillis, this unique selection brings together five varied and representative stories written during the 1850s for Dickens's periodical Household Words to provide the best compact introduction to Gaskell's short fiction.
*Heather Glen's illuminating introduction is the first to offer extended consideration of Gaskell as a writer of short stories and it includes original discussion of the status and history of the short story in the early nineteenth-century and Gaskell's
pre-eminence in developing the potentialities of the genre. She sets each story in the context of their original periodical publication and discusses them as highly readable and sophisticated works of art.
*Includes chronology, bibliography, and invaluable notes.

'I see her now - cousin Phillis. The westering sun shone full upon her, and made a slanting stream of light into the room within.'

Elizabeth Gaskell has long been one of the most popular of Victorian novelists, yet in her lifetime her shorter fictions were equally well loved, and they are among the most accomplished examples of the genre. The novella-length Cousin Phillis is a
lyrical depiction of a vanishing way of life and a girl's disappointment in love: deceptively simple, its undercurrent of feeling leaves an indelible impression. The other five stories in this selection were all written during the 1850s for Dickens's
periodical Household Words. They range from a quietly original tale of urban poverty and a fallen woman in 'Lizzie Leigh' to an historical tale of a great family in 'Morton Hall'