The Literature Network - Faithful Realism: Elizabeth Gaskell and Leo Tolstoy, a Comparative Study.(Book Review)

Faithful Realism: Elizabeth Gaskell and Leo Tolstoy, a Comparative Study.(Book Review)

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From: The Modern Language Review
Date: 20040401
Author:Peace, Richard

Faithful Realism: Elizabeth Gaskell and Leo Tolstoy. A Comparative Study. By JOSIE BILLINGTON. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press. 2002. 227 pp. 35 [pounds sterling]. ISBN 0-838-75458-9.

Josie Billington's title takes the form of a conceit. In the first place she is arguing that Gaskell's realism is 'faithful' to the everyday flow of life, and she quotes Ruskin on 'finish' in a work of art: 'Finish means nothing but consummate and accumulated truth [...] the filling of space and the multiplication of life and thought' (p. 102). She supports her argument by reference to J. ...

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