The Gypsy-Bachelor of Manchester: The Life of Mrs. Gaskell's Demon by Felicia Bonaparte (review)

Book Reviews249 FELICIA BONAPARTE. The Gypsy-Bachelor of Manchester: The Life of Mrs. Gaskell's Demon. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1992. 310 p. öeveral years ago, Hilary Schor, in the conclusion to a review of Gaskell studies, noted the need for a broader range of Gaskell criticism. Even after numerous "reassessments" and an increase of feminist readings, Gaskell remains an enigmatic figure. Recently, however, the field has enlarged considerably as four significant Gaskell studies have appeared, including one by Schor herself, a Critical Heritage edition, and two much needed biographical works: an exhaustive study of Gaskell's life by Jenny Uglow and this unconventional, experimental biography by Felicia Bonaparte that attempts to move beyond the persistent image of Elizabeth Gaskell as a Victorian "angel of the house" who also just happened to write. Bonaparte, previously known for her work on George Eliot, argues that Gaskell's "inner self" has been hidden from us, concealed in her letters and in a domestic persona, a self to which we can only gain access by exploring how Gaskell " 'writes' herself" into her works. In a rare eruption of at least one manifestation of this "daemonic self," Gaskell once noted in a letter to Eliza Fox, that " 'Nature intended me for a gypsy-bachelor; that / am sure of" (Bonaparte 218), a reference from which the title of this critical study is drawn. By examining both Gaskell's life and fiction "as one continuous metaphoric text" (1), Bonaparte attempts to expose this inner self whose identity, as she rightly points out, "annihilate[s] the whole of'Mrs. Gaskell's' existence" (218). In the introduction, however, Bonaparte disclaims commitment to any critical or psychological school (11), preferring a close reading of Gaskell's life and works that results in a biography that is more "interpretation " or "psychological inference" than an account of the "facts" of Gaskell's life (12). Bonaparte explores this daemonic self as it surfaces in Gaskell's fiction in those disturbing artistic "disruptions" and inconsistencies that mark Gaskell's work. In them are evidence of a "unified antithesis" that challenges everything that is asserted by the fictional text and by the "text" of Gaskell's life (8). It is in Gaskell's short fiction that Bonaparte finds the richest source of such daemonic subtexts. Less like the more realistic and "official public statements" of "Mrs." Gaskell's novels, her short stories are like "private confidences" in which she was "able to take risks and to do away with layers of defensive self-deception" (48), to explore themes, like the supernatural, which she avoids in her longer works. Bonaparte argues that it is the frequent recurrence and Gaskell's unusual handling of such supernatural themes and images—"The Poor Clare" is cited as a typical example with Lucy Gisborne as an embodiment of the daemonic ideal—that qualifies Gaskell's work as that of another Victorian "female Gothic." This identification helps to reclaim Gaskell even more strongly for feminists, and moves her well beyond the delightful but somehow unsatisfying "Mrs. Gaskell" persona. It serves to ally Gaskell as a writer closer to her contemporaries , like the Brontes, whose work has proven more accessible to 250Rocky Mountain Review feminist critique. This identification helps to define just what "space" Gaskell as a writer occupies in relation to patriarchal power, though Bonaparte does not claim to be engaged in a specifically feminist project. Bonaparte presents an extensive analysis of a great deal of these shorter works, including many of Gaskell's less known—and unfortunately, less available—short stories. Gaskell's longer works, however, are not neglected. Bonaparte's approach offers a way to unify all these vastly different works—the early industrial novels, her "charming" novels of manners, even the rather enigmatic historical novel, Sylvia's Lovers—something many critics in the past have failed to achieve. Bonaparte's "metaphoric" reading allows her, in addition, to unify these disparate novels with the equally wide-ranging short stories, while constructing an image of Gaskell that unifies her identity as an artist with that ofthe private, inner Gaskell. The result is a fresh study of this Victorian woman writer that could have larger implications for Victorian studies...