Poetics of Sensational Literature in “The Grey Woman” Long Short Story by Elizabeth Gaskell

Abstract

The articles deals with “The Grey Woman”, a long short story written by E. Gaskell in 1861. The stress is done on the study of elements of sensational literature poetics in the text of the story, i.e. the setting (château), motifs of secret and fear, the antihero-villain. The paper focuses on the influence of gothic and Newgate novels on the formation of “the hybrid genre” of the sensational novel represented in the analysed long short story. Also, the biography of the author is discussed in its connection with the creation of the story and the collaboration with Charles Dickens in his periodicals. The impact of literature periodical publications on public opinion on various social issues, in particular, on female emancipation and status of women in the British society in Victorian era is considered. The theme of matenity is also treated in the paper as the key one in the works of E. Gaskell.