The Brontë Sisters
It is striking to contemplate that an awesome, singular, irreproducible wave of literature that would sweep the world for two centuries began in a parsonage in remote Yorkshire, England. The Brontë sisters and, to a lesser subsidiary extent, their older brother Branwell worked hard and professionally at making childhood dreams and fantasies become real in the fields of fiction and poetry.
Charlotte (1816-1855), Emily (1818-1848) , and Anne (1820-1849) are responsible for seven finished novels and a fair scattering of poetry. Each novel has grown in critical estimation with the passing years. Each novel is acknowledged by both fellow writers and generations of critics as strange, powerful, textured, dense, and simultaneously of their time and ahead of their time. Each sister has her distinctive voice, each her reader-partisans, and yet the feeling of a family of voices and thoughts and concerns is strong.
A legacy of influence is mysteriously vague in later literature — perhaps Thomas Hardy? But just say the phrase “the madwoman in the attic” or breathe one name, “Cathy . . .” — and you have the staying power of their creations.
I have included some associated fiction, including a mystery series with the sisters as the detectives and a notable Young Adult novel. I will be alert to adding other material as I discover it. Enjoy!
Jane Eyre [Oxford World's Classics edition]
Jane Eyre [Oxford World's Classics edition]
"Gentle reader, may you never feel what I then felt!"
Throughout the hardships of her childhood - spent with a severe aunt and abusive cousin, and later at the austere Lowood charity school - Jane Eyre clings to a sense of self-worth, despite of her treatment from those close to her. At the age of eighteen, sick of her narrow existence, she seeks work as a governess. The monotony of Jane's new life at Thornfield Hall is broken up by the arrival of her peculiar and changeful employer, Mr Rochester. Routine at the mansion is further disrupted by mysterious incidents that draw the pair closer together but which, once explained, threaten Jane's happiness and integrity.
A flagship of Victorian fiction, Jane Eyre draws the reader in by the vigour of Jane's voice and the novel's forceful depiction of childhood injustice, of the restraints placed upon women, and the complexities of both faith and passion. The emotional charge of Jane's story is as strong today as it was more than 150 years ago, as she seeks dignity and freedom on her own terms.
In this new edition, Juliette Atkinson explores the power of narrative voice and looks at the striking physicality of the novel, which is both shocking and romantic.