Cranford (Oxford World's Classics)

by ElizabethGaskell (Author), ElizabethPorgesWatson (Contributor), Dinah Birch (Introduction), Dinah Birch (Introduction), Elizabeth Gaskell (Author), Elizabeth Porges Watson (Primary Contributor)

• New

  Paperback
  2011

  $10.17

  'A man ...is so in the way in the house!' A vivid and affectionate portrait of a provincial town in early Victorian England, Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford describes a community dominated by its independent and refined women. Undaunted by poverty, but dismayed by changes brought by the railway and by new commercial practices, the ladies of Cranford respond to disruption with both suspicion and courage. Miss Matty and her sister Deborah uphold standards and survive personal tragedy and everyday dramas; innovation may bring loss, but it also brings growth, and welcome freedoms. Cranford suggests that representatives of different and apparently hostile social worlds, their minds opened by sympathy and suffering, can learn from each other. Its social comedy develops into a study of generous reconciliation, of a kind that will value the past as it actively shapes the future. This edition includes two related short pieces by Gaskell, 'The Last Generation in England' and 'The Cage at Cranford', as well as a selection from the diverse literary and social contexts in which the Cranford tales take their place. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.31

  Cranford is the best known and most charming of Elizabeth Gaskell's novels. It is a comic portrait of an early Victorian country village and its genteel inhabitants, mostly women, whose social attitudes remain firmly unchanging against the modernising world, and whose domestic details dominate conversation. Gaskell describes the uneventful lives of Cranford's inhabitants in this witty and poignant classic which deserves to be read and re-read.

• Used

  Hardcover
  1955

  $3.31

• New

  Paperback
  2010

  $23.53

  The country town of Cranford is home to a diverse range of characters, whose seemingly uneventful lives are full of conflicts, failures, and unexpected connections. This edition provides a rich assortment of historical materials to put the novel in context, including the author's letters while writing the novel.