DOCSLIB.ORG

The Brontes Interviews and Recollections by the Same Author

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Brontes Interviews and Recollections by the Same Author The Brontes Interviews and Recollections By the same author BRITISH POETRY 1880-1920: Edwardian Voices (editor, with Paul Wiley) CRITICAL ESSAYS ON RUDYARD KIPLING (editor) CRITICAL ESSAYS ON SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (editor) CRITICAL ESSAYS ON THOMAS HARDY'S POETRY (editor) THE DEVELOPMENT OF WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, 1885-1900 *THE DYNASTS, by Thomas Hardy, New Wessex Edition (editor) ENGLISH ROMANTIC POETS AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT: Nine Essays on a Literary Relationship *THE FINAL YEARS OF THOMAS HARDY, 1912-1928 *GILBERT AND SULLIVAN: Interviews and Recollections (editor) *THE HISTORICAL NOVEL FROM SCOTT TO SABATINI: Changing Attitudes toward a Literary Genre, 1814-1920 IRISH HISTORY AND CULTURE: Aspects of a People's Heritage (editor) "A KIPLING CHRONOLOGY *THE LITERARY ACHIEVEMENT OF REBECCA WEST THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY WRITER AND HIS AUDIENCE (editor, with George ]. Worth) POPULAR FICTION IN ENGLAND, 1914-1918 RUDYARD KIPLING: Interviews and Recollections (editor) THE SCOTTISH WORLD (editor, with Marilyn Stokstad and Henn; Snyder) *SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: Interviews and Recollections (editor) SIX STUDIES IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLISH LITERATURE AND THOUGHT (editor, with George J. Worth) THOMAS HARDY'S EPIC-DRAMA: A Study of 'The Dynasts' *THOMAS HARDY'S PERSONAL WRITINGS: Prefaces, Literary Opinions, Reminiscences (editor) THE UNKNOWN THOMAS HARDY: Lesser-known Aspects of Hardy's Life and Career *VICTORIAN LITERARY CRITICS: George Henry Lewes, Walter Bagehot, Richard Holt Hutton, Leslie Stephen, Andrew Lang, George Saintsbury, Edmund Gosse VICTORIAN SHORT STORIES: An Anthology (editor) VICTORIAN SHORT STORIES 2: The Trials of Love (editor) THE VICTORIAN SHORT STORY THE WORLD OF VICTORIAN HUMOR (editor) *Also published by Palgrave Macmillan THE BRONTES Interviews and Recollections Edited by HAROLD OREL University Professor of English University of Kansas Palgrave macmillan Selection and editorial matter © Harold Orel 1997 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or * transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WI P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his rights to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 1997 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN 978-0-333-66314-1 ISBN 978-1-349-25199-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-25199-5 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. To Bill, Marjorie, and Mary Bryden, with love Contents (The year or range of years within parentheses identifies the period covered in the selections.) Introduction xi INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS T. Wemyss Reid, ['liThe Little Family" of the Brontes'] (1829-1849), in Charlotte Bronte: A Monograph 1 Charlotte Bronte, 'A Strange Occurrence at the Parsonage' (1830), in Mrs Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Bronte 8 Sir Humphry Davy Rolleston, ['Charlotte, Emily, and Miss Wooler'] (1831-1838), in The Right Honourable Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt K.C.B.: A Memoir 10 'E' [Ellen Nussey], 'Reminiscences of Charlotte Bronte' (1831-1855), in Scribner's Monthly 13 Emily and Anne Bronte, [,A Diary Note' - No. 11 (1834) 31 Patrick Branwell Bronte, ['A Letter to the Editor of Blackwood's Magazine'] (1835) 33 Patrick Bl'anwell Bronte, ['A Letter to William Wordsworth'] (1837) 35 Emily and Anne Bronte, ['A Diary Note' - No. 21 (1837), in Bronte Society Transactions 37 Arthur Christopher Benson, ['Charlotte Bronte as a Governess'] (1839), in The Life of Edward White Benson, Sometime Archbishop of Canterbury 38 Francis A. Leyland, ['The Changing Moods of Branwell Bronte'] (1840-1841), in The Bronte Family, with Special Reference to Patrick Branwell Bronte 39 Emily Bronte, ['A Diary Note' - No.3] (1841) 42 Mrs Strickland, ['Charlotte and the White Family of Rawdon'] (1841), in The Westminster Gazette 43 Anne Bronte, ['A Diary Note' - No.4] (1841) 44 Francis H. Grundy, ['The Decline and Fall of Branwell Bronte'] (1841-1848), in Pictures of the Past: Memories of Men I Have Met and Places I Have Seen 46 Dorothy Melling, 'An Early Acquaintance' (1842), in The Brontes, edited by E. M. Delafield 59 vii viii CONTENTS Charlotte Bronte, ['A Boarding School for Young Ladies'] (1844) 61 Charlotte Bronte, ['Four Letters to M. Heger'] (1844-1845), in The Shakespeare Head Bronte 62 Emily Bronte, ['A Diary Note' - No.5] (1845) 71 Anne Bronte, ['A Diary Note' - No.6] (1845) 73 Patrick Branwell Bronte, ['The Thorp Green Affair'] (1845) 75 Harriet Martineau, ['A Personal Impression of Charlotte Bronte'] (1847-1849), in Biographical Sketches 83 George M. Smith, 'Charlotte Bronte' (1847-1855), in Cornhill Magazine 85 William Makepeace Thackeray, ['Impressions of Charlotte Bronte'] (1847-1853), in The Letters and Private Papers of William Makepeace Thackeray 105 William Makepeace Thackeray, 'The Last Sketch' [Introduction to Emma, by Charlotte Bronte] (1847-1855), in Cornhill Magazine 108 Mary Taylor, ['Letters from New Zealand to Charlotte Bronte'] (1848-1855), in Mary Taylor, Friend of Charlotte Bronte: Letters from New Zealand and Elsewhere, edited by Joan Stevens 110 Anne Bronte, ['Letter to the Reverend David Thorn'] (1848) 120 Harriet Martineau, ['Charlotte Bronte's Reaction to Criticism'] (1849), in Autobiography 122 Catherine Winkworth et al., ['Letters about Charlotte and Her Marriage'] (1849-1854), in Memorials of Two Sisters: Susanna and Catherine Winkworth 127 Charlotte Bronte, 'Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell' (1850) 133 Mrs E. [Elizabeth] C. [Cleghorn] Gaskell, ['Letters about Charlotte Bronte'] (1850-1855), in The Letters of Mrs Gaskell 141 Anne Thackeray Ritchie, ['Charlotte Bronte's Appearance'] (1850), in Letters of Anne Thackeray Ritchie 160 [John Stores Smith], 'Personal Reminiscences: A Day with Charlotte Bronte' (1850), in The Free Lance: A Journal of Humour and Criticism 161 Charles and Frances Brookfield, ['A Party for Charlotte Bronte'] (1850-1851), in Mrs Brookfield and her Circle 170 CONTENTS ix William Scruton, 'A "Stroller's" Interview with Charlotte Bronte' (1851) and 'Martha Brown' (1898), in Thornton and the Brontes 172 Frank Smith, ['An Offer of a Living to Mr Nicholls'] (1854), in The Life and Work of Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth 179 Patrick Bronte, ['Two Autobiographical Letters Sent to Mrs Gaskell'] (1855), in A Man of Sorrow: The Life, Letters and Times of the Rev. Patrick Bronte, by John Lock and Canon W. T. Dixon 181 H. K. Bell, 'Charlotte Bronte's Husband. His Later Life and Surroundings' (1855-1906), in Cornhill Magazine 185 [Anonymous], 'A Winter-Day at Haworth' (1867), in Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art 191 William Cory, ['What Charlotte Bronte Meant to an Eton Schoolboy'] (1867), in Extracts from the Letters and Journals of William Cory 203 C. [Cautley] Holmes Cautley, 'Old Haworth Folk Who Knew the Brontes' (1910), in Cornhill Magazine 205 Index 215 Introduction The selections in this anthology constitute a family portrait, painted by those who knew personally one or more of the Brontes. Because all the Brontes were fascinating personalities, this kind of testi­ mony will go far to satisfy readers interested in the question of how a family living in so small and remote a community as Haworth were able to produce some of the most heart-felt, original, and strik­ ing literature of the nineteenth century. Allow me to begin with the arguable proposition that there is no ann us mirabilis in the history of the Bronte family, though the activities of all the children, for better or worse, reached an aston­ ishing climax in the late 1840s. The case may be made, first, with the Reverend Patrick Bronte, who lived longer than all his children, and on till the age of 85; but no single year claimed precedence, either for successes or sorrows, over all the others. An edition of Patrick's Collected Works, compiled by J. Horsfall Turner, was pub­ lished in 1898. Patrick's publications - including foul' volumes of didactic fiction and poems, essays and sermons, religious medita­ tions, and letters to various periodicals, all marked by lucidity, vigour of expression, and a strong sense of the value of the written word - ranged in time from 1810 to 1844; yet none of these broke through to a larger audience. The writings of his children began early, in 1826, but a full two decades were to elapse before a series of published novels would attract the attention of readers outside Haworth. The juvenilia filled more than 100 manuscripts, many of them 2t x It inches in size. All were written in an excruciatingly tiny script. (Charlotte, who was capable of writing more than a hundred words on each scrap of paper, was notoriously near-sighted.) The total wordage, by the time they broke off, exceeded that of all the novels and poems that they would subsequently write. The brother and his three sisters were devising long, complicated stories of Glass Town, an imaginary African kingdom, and of Angria and Gondal. Charlotte and Branwell contributed both prose and poetry to the Glass Town cycle. What we know about the juvenilia is, regrettably, less than we would like to know. Some of the hand­ made volumes have been lost; others survive only in fragments. The prose contributed by Emily and Anne to the Gondal cycle has disappeared. Some of the readings of Charlotte's handwriting must xi xii INTRODUCTION remain problematic: the paper she used was not of high quality, some words blotted into illegible smears, and the Lilliputian script is, even for the dedicated scholar, hard to decipher.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Reminiscences of Charlotte Brontë
    Brontë Society Transactions ISSN: 0309-7765 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ybst19 Reminiscences of Charlotte Brontë Miss Ellen Nussey To cite this article: Miss Ellen Nussey (1899) Reminiscences of Charlotte Brontë, Brontë Society Transactions, 2:10, 58-83, DOI: 10.1179/030977699798899712 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/030977699798899712 Published online: 18 Jul 2013. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 14 View related articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ybst19 Download by: [UNSW Library] Date: 23 April 2016, At: 14:10 58 REMINISCENCES OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE, By MISS ELLEN NUSSEY. Reprinted by permission from "Scrzoner's Monthly," May, I87I, nclw the" Century Magazine." To THE EDITOR: You with much urgency beg me to give you some reminiscences of the Bronte family. The life of Charlotte Bronte, viewed apart from her high gifts and genius as an authoress, was a very unsen- sational life; for the most part it was a life of domestic duty, self-sacrifice. fidelity to whatever she believed to be right, fortitude in ~uffering, and patient resignation under all inevitable trials; and these are not elements of attrac- tion to readers who care for excitement. What is said of Charlotte may, with almost equal truth, be said of Emily and Anne; though they differed greatly in many points of character and disposition, they were each and all on common ground if a prindple had to be maintained or a sham to be detected.
    [Show full text]
  • “Life” Charlotte Bronte
    CHARLOTTE BRONTE “LIFE” Belen Francia Blanca Reyes Per. 1 Biography • Charlotte Brontë (21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855). He was a British novelist, the oldest of the three famous Brontë sisters whose novels have become standards of English literature. In August 1824 Charlotte was sent with three of her sisters to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge. • Charlotte maintained, permanently affected her health and physical development and hastened the deaths of her two elder sisters. Angria and Emily and Anne wrote articles and poems about their country. The sagas were elaborate and convoluted (and still exist in part manuscripts) and provided them with an obsessive interest in childhood and early adolescence, which prepared them for their literary vocations in adulthood. Charlotte continued her education at Roe Head, Mirfield where she met her lifelong friends and correspondents, Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor. During this period, she wrote her novella The Green Dwarf under the name of Wellesley. • In May 1846, Charlotte, Emily and Anne published a joint collection of poetry under the assumed names of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Although the book failed to attract interest the sisters decided to continue writing for publication and began work on their first novels. • Charlotte is also the central figure in the play The Gales Of March which tells the story of the Brontë family. In 1853 Charlotte’s Villette was published with similar themes to Jane Eyre and Shirley; the struggles of a strong independent woman and her need for love. • After some months of correspondence, on 29 June 1854 Charlotte married Arthur.
    [Show full text]
  • Ii Introduction: Picturing Charlotte Brontë
    1 Ii Introduction: picturing Charlotte Brontë Amber K. Regis and Deborah Wynne In response to the centenary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth in 1916, the Brontë Society commissioned a volume of essays entitled Charlotte Brontë, 1816– 1916: A Centenary Memorial (1917), with contributions by some well- known literary fi gures, including G. K. Chesterton and Edmund Gosse. It opened with a foreword by the then president of the Brontë Society, Mrs Humphry Ward, in which she explained that the book set out to off er ‘fresh impressions and the fi rst- hand research of competent writers who have spoken their minds with love and courage’ (Ward, 1917 : 5). One hundred years later, the current volume of essays, Charlotte Brontë: Legacies and Afterlives , also strives to off er ‘fresh impressions’ based on the ‘fi rst- hand research’ of ‘competent writers’; equally, most of the contributors can claim that a love of Brontë’s work motivated this project. However, while the contributors to the 1917 volume considered courage to be required to assert Charlotte Brontë’s importance, the writers in this book show no inclination to defend her reputation or argue for the signifi cance of her work. Her ‘genius’, a term emphasised repeatedly, often anxiously, in the 1917 collection, can now be taken for granted, and for that comfortable assumption we have generations of feminist scholars to thank. Th e current volume instead charts the vast cultural impact of Charlotte Brontë since the appearance of her fi rst published work, Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell (1846), highlighting the richness and diversity of the author’s legacy, her afterlife and the continuation of her plots and characters in new forms.
    [Show full text]
  • Reminiscences of the Late Miss Ellen Nussey
    Brontë Society Transactions ISSN: 0309-7765 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ybst19 Reminiscences of the Late Miss Ellen Nussey. William Scruton To cite this article: William Scruton (1898) Reminiscences of the Late Miss Ellen Nussey., Brontë Society Transactions, 1:8, 23-42, DOI: 10.1179/bronsoc.1898.1.8.23 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/bronsoc.1898.1.8.23 Published online: 18 Jul 2013. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 9 View related articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ybst19 Download by: [University of Sydney Library] Date: 06 June 2016, At: 23:08 one ever moved men so deeply, so permanently, so marvellously, and the secret of his magic is buried in his grave. Noone since his death has risen to repeat the achievement. Dr. Fawcett had as his pupil a Yorkshire man of whom Yorkshire people ought to make more. He was a great. essaYist, and critic, and moralist, John Foster, and he left some interesting information as to the state of religion and morals in this country at that time. I think a good service would b~ rendered by some member of the Bronte Society who would· trace the revival of religion in. Yorkshire and. its effects in Haworth. The religious history of Haworth ·in the time. of the Brontes has been very. iInperfectly .sketch,~d, yet it is evidently a story worth telling, and the lives of. Grimshaw, Fawcett, Henry Venn, of Huddersfield, and others, would furnish materials.
    [Show full text]
  • To Walk Invisible: the Brontë Sisters
    Our Brother’s Keepers: On Writing and Caretaking in the Brontë Household: Review of To Walk Invisible: The Brontë Sisters Shannon Scott (University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, USA) To Walk Invisible: The Brontë Sisters Writer & Director, Sally Wainwright BBC Wales, 2016 (TV film) Universal Pictures 2017 (DVD) ***** In Sally Wainwright’s To Walk Invisible, a two-part series aired on BBC and PBS in 2016, there are no rasping coughs concealed under handkerchiefs, no flashbacks to Cowen Bridge School, no grief over the loss of a sister; instead, there is baking bread, invigorating walks on the moor, and, most importantly, writing. Wainwright dramatises three prolific years in the lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë when they composed their first joint volume of poetry and their first sole-authored novels: The Professor, rejected and abandoned for Jane Eyre (1847), Wuthering Heights (1847), and Agnes Grey (1847), respectively. The young women are shown writing in the parlour surrounded by tidy yet threadbare furniture, at the kitchen table covered in turnips and teacups, composing out loud on the way to town for more paper, or while resting in the flowering heather. For Charlotte, played with a combination of reserve and deep emotion by Finn Atkins, to “walk invisible” refers to their choice to publish under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, but in Wainwright’s production, it also refers to invisibility in the home, as the sisters quietly take care of their aging and nearly-blind father, Reverend Patrick Brontë (Jonathan Price), and deal with the alcoholism and deteriorating mental illness of their brother, Branwell (Adam Nogaitis).
    [Show full text]
  • The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë
    The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë by Syrie James READING GROUP GUIDE 1. Discuss the Brontë family dynamics. Describe Charlotte’s relationship with her sisters, Emily and Anne. Why was Charlotte so devoted to her father? How did her relationship with her brother Branwell evolve and change over the years, and what influence did he have on her life? 2. What secrets did Charlotte and her siblings each keep, and why? Whose secret had the most devastating impact on the family? How did Charlotte’s secret affect her life and her work? 3. Who are your favorite characters in the novel, and why? Who is your least favorite character? 4. What are your favorite scenes in the novel? What was the saddest scene? The happiest? The most uplifting? Did any scene make you laugh or cry? 5. Discuss Charlotte’s relationship with Mr. Nicholls. When does he begin to care for Charlotte? How does he quietly go about pursuing her? How does the author maintain romantic tension between the two? Do you think Mr. Nicholls changes and grows over the course of the story? 6. In Chapter Five, Charlotte tells Ellen Nussey, “I am convinced I could never be a clergyman’s wife.” She lists the qualities she requires in a husband. How does Mr. Nicholls measure up to these expectations? What are his best and worst qualities? Why is Charlotte reluctant to accept Mr. Nicholls’s proposal? What does Charlotte learn about herself—and her husband—after she marries? Do you think he turns out to be the ideal match for her? 7.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bronte Sisters: a Ministerial Home Without Much Blessed Assurance
    GRACE IN THE ARTS: THE BRONTE SISTERS: A MINISTERIAL HOME WITHOUT MUCH BLESSED ASSURANCE JAMES A. TOWNSEND Elgin, Illinois I. INTRODUCTION Charlotte Bronte [BRAHN-tay] wrote of her sister Emily in her obituary, “I have never seen her parallel in anything.”1 As a matter of fact the very same eulogium could be applied to all three Bronte sisters– Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. Never in the history of literature have three sisters so distinguished themselves as such world-class authors. Some literature professors would probably class Emily’s Wuthering Heights among the top ten novels in English literature. Charlotte’s Jane Eyre is not to be rated far behind that novel. Another unparalleled fact is that none of the trio of world-renowned sisters lived to be forty years old. Charlotte (1816-1855) lived to be 39, Emily (1818-1848) 30, and Anne (1820-1849) only 29, yet among the three of them seven of their novels were published—with two of them proving to be blockbusters. The great literary critic Matthew Arnold penned a poem entitled “Haworth Churchyard,” referring to where this remarkable family of authors was buried. Charlotte Bronte met other celebrated contemporary English writers such as William Thackeray, Thomas Carlyle, and Matthew Arnold, as well as being friends with two well-known female authors—atheist Harriet Martineau and Unitarian writer Elizabeth Gaskell (who would become Charlotte’s first biographer). She was also a contemporary of female authors George Eliot, George Sand, and Jane Austen. (Austen’s novels Charlotte did not particularly admire.) Intriguingly, if we include the three Bronte sisters along with the last three named novelists, five of the six female authors felt compelled—in that male-dominated society—to assume masculine pen names in order to get their excellent 1Rebecca Fraser, The Brontes (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1988), 317.
    [Show full text]
  • Charlotte Bronte's Other Belgian Novel: Sex, the Foreign Body, and the Legacy of Brussels in "Jane Eyre"
    W&M ScholarWorks Undergraduate Honors Theses Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 4-2014 Charlotte Bronte's Other Belgian Novel: Sex, the Foreign Body, and the Legacy of Brussels in "Jane Eyre" Rachel M. Watson College of William and Mary Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses Part of the English Language and Literature Commons, and the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons Recommended Citation Watson, Rachel M., "Charlotte Bronte's Other Belgian Novel: Sex, the Foreign Body, and the Legacy of Brussels in "Jane Eyre"" (2014). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 8. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/8 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Table of Contents Introduction 3 Chapter I: Victorian Sexuality and the Female Body in Jane Eyre and Brussels 7 Chapter II: The Female Body’s Relationship to Society at Thornfield Hall and the Pensionnat Héger 25 Chapter III: The Regional vs. Cosmopolitan Visions in Jane Eyre 34 Chapter IV: Imperialism, Colonialism, and Bertha/Antoinette Mason in Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre 55 Conclusion 69 Works Cited 71 Bibliography 73 Watson 2 Introduction “This weakness of sight is a terrible privation for me—without it, do you know what I would do, Monsieur?—I would write a book and I would dedicate it to my literature master—to the only master that I have ever had—to you Monsieur.” Letter to Constantin Héger, 24 July 1844 On New Year’s Day in 1844, Charlotte Brontë returned to Haworth, Yorkshire from her two-year sojourn on the Continent in Brussels, Belgium.
    [Show full text]
  • Traces of the Life of Charlotte Brontë in Jane Eyre
    1st International Conference on Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics May 5-7 2011 Sarajevo Traces of the Life of Charlotte Brontë in Jane Eyre Mine Özge Çeri School of Foreign Languages Sùleyman Demirel University, Turkey [email protected] Abstract: ‗‗Details, situations which I do not understand and cannot personally inspect, I would not for the world meddle with. Besides not one feeling on any subject, public or private, will I ever affect that I do not really experience.‘‘ (Smith, 2000) This confession settles the question whether the books written by Charlotte Brontë are drawn from what came within her own world of experience. This paper wants to show the influence of the life and experiences of Charlotte Brontë on her famous novel Jane Eyre. The first part of the article provides a brief summary of the life of Charlotte Brontë. The second part provides information about the schools she attended to which are Cowan Bridge and Roe Head and their similarities to the novel. The third part of this paper provides Charlotte Brontë‘s working experience as a governess in Stonegappe. The fourth part provides information about Henry Nussey, Mr. Heger and Hathersage, which have important influences on the novel. The paper concludes that a close acquaintance with Charlotte Brontë‘s life shows that the story of Jane Eyre is largely her own experience. Key Words: Literature, novel, biography. Introduction In An Hour with Charlotte Brontë, C. Holloway argues about Charlotte Brontë‘s works that ‗‗Her works are mainly delineations of actual experiences; she was not an inventor of fiction.
    [Show full text]
  • Kiezgroup 9Th January 2018 the Bronte Story
    KIEZgroup 9th January 2018 Welcome to all, especially Stephan. Wishes for the class for the coming year – subjects or techniques or….. We’re talking about biographies and autobiographies: Will you ever write your autobiography? Have you started? Cf Professor Hausmann (Cf the involuntary effect on me of reading autobiography of Claire Tomalin’s.) The Bronte Story – a fictionalized autobiography Oxford Bookworms level 3 A. Talking about biographies: Books, books, books – but also films, plays etc. (1) - Talk to each other about what you have been reading and watching and what you have been given (in that line or important to you). - Are all novels a kind of autobiography? Mrs Pilcher can only write about what she has experienced. NB the interview. Get it out to read what she says about her experience (end) (Reading together: ) By the way: Diana Athill wrote a memoir called ‘Somewhere towards the end’ which she published when she was 91. She is now 100! Among other things she says that she is glad she is still given novels to review but that really she only enjoys reading biographies nowadays. It rather seems to her that everything else has been said. (Pilcher or Brecht???) (2) Talk to each other about which biographies or autobiographies you have read recently or long ago. Were there some which impressed you greatly? (3) Autobiography or biography? Which do you prefer? Where are the (subtler) differences? (4) How do you like this poem by Emily Bronte? I’ll read it out then you can, too. Past, Present, Future - Poem by Emily Jane Brontë Tell
    [Show full text]
  • The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë
    The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë by Syrie James READING GROUP GUIDE 1. Discuss the Brontë family dynamics. Describe Charlotte’s relationship with her sisters, Emily and Anne. Why was Charlotte so devoted to her father? How did her relationship with her brother Branwell evolve and change over the years, and what influence did he have on her life? 2. What secrets did Charlotte and her siblings each keep, and why? Whose secret had the most devastating impact on the family? How did Charlotte’s secret affect her life and her work? 3. Who are your favorite characters in the novel, and why? Who is your least favorite character? 4. What are your favorite scenes in the novel? What was the saddest scene? The happiest? The most uplifting? Did any scene make you laugh or cry? 5. Discuss Charlotte’s relationship with Mr. Nicholls. When does he begin to care for Charlotte? How does he quietly go about pursuing her? How does the author maintain romantic tension between the two? Do you think Mr. Nicholls changes and grows over the course of the story? 6. In Chapter Five, Charlotte tells Ellen Nussey, “I am convinced I could never be a clergyman’s wife.” She lists the qualities she requires in a husband. How does Mr. Nicholls measure up to these expectations? What are his best and worst qualities? Why is Charlotte reluctant to accept Mr. Nicholls’s proposal? What does Charlotte learn about herself—and her husband—after she marries? Do you think he turns out to be the ideal match for her? 7.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bronte Cycle
    The Brontë Cycle By John O'Keefe CAST Rev. Patrick Brontë. Father of the Brontë family. Minister to Haworth Church. He was a published author of poetry and essays. Uncommon in his nurturing of his daughter’s education. Born in Northern Ireland. Maria Brontë (Mother). Wife of Patrick, delicate, plain, very intelligent and witty. Of a merchant’s family, accustomed to good society. Died at 37 due to uterine cancer. Maria Brontë. Eldest daughter. Considered to have been one of the most brilliant of the Brontë’s. Died at 11 of consumption. She was Helen Burns in Jane Eyre. Elizabeth Brontë. Second eldest daughter. Died at 1o of consumption. Charlotte Brontë. Third child. She was tiny (four foot nine inches) and plain. Incredibly shy and self-conscious about her looks. Author of the Professor, Jane Eyre, Shirley, and Villette. She died at 38, possibly from complications due to pregnancy. Branwell Brontë. Fourth child and only son. An outgoing and lovable personality in his best times, a nightmare in his worst. An alcoholic and opium addict. Died at 31 of consumption. Emily Brontë. Fifth child. Was tall for the period, with handsome masculine features, soft brown hair and piercing slate blue eyes. Intensely private and aloof to everyone but her immediate family, with a strange combination of power and vulnerability. A deeply spiritual pantheist. The most original and powerful genius of the Brontë clan. One of the great Victorian poets and author of Wuthering Heights. Anne Brontë. Last born of the Brontë children and perhaps the prettiest. Gentle and withdrawn with an uncanny way of getting her point across or ameliorating a situation.
    [Show full text]