The politics of dirt in Mary Barton and Ruth.(literary criticism of Elizabeth Gaskell's works)(Critical Essay) From: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 | Date: September 22, 2002| Author: Freeland, Natalka | COPYRIGHT 2002 Rice University. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

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...