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The politics of dirt in Mary Barton and Ruth.(literary criticism of Elizabeth Gaskell's works)(Critical Essay)

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From: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900
Date: 20020922
Author:Freeland, Natalka

Social problem fiction is defined by its dirtiness: transgressively graphic accounts of filth and waste herald a novel's entry into the Condition of England debate. Early examples of the genre spell out the polemical importance of filth, as in the preface to Oliver Twist (1837-38), where Charles Dickens insists that portraying "miserable reality" entails focusing on "the squalid ... dirtiest paths of life." (1) Contemporary critics have confirmed the equation of social problems and dirt: Louis Cazamian, for instance, asserts that Elizabeth Gaskell's "Mary Barton lays down ...

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