Title: Cash Nexus and Sympathetic Love: Community Imagination in North and South

Abstract: North and South is a novel that describes the conditions of industrial society in the Victorian era and demonstrates the important role of sympathetic love in Elizabeth Gaskell’s community imagination. In the 19th century, Britain's industrialization and urbanization accelerated, and social transformation led to changes in the structure of feelings. The quiet and leisurely feelings of rural life in the past faded away, while cash nexus gradually became the commonsense of community members. As a result, the contradiction between labor and capital has become increasingly acute, and the community has been surrounded by crises. In the context of the work, Gaskell intends to mediate class contradictions and solve the community crisis through the function of sympathy, reflecting the community imagination and attempts of British critical realistic novelists in the 19th century.

Keywords: North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell, community, sympathy

Authors: Weiqi Yi, School of Foreign Languages, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China; Quan Yang, Professor, School of Foreign Languages, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.

DOI: 10.19967/j.cnki.flc.2024.03.004