Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-76186-4 - The Brontës in Context Edited by Marianne Thormählen Frontmatter More information THE BRONTE¨ SINCONTEXT Very few families produce one outstanding writer. The Bronte¨ family produced three. The works of Charlotte, Emily and Anne remain immensely popular, and are increasingly being studied in relation to the surroundings and wider context that formed them. The forty-two new essays in this book tell ‘the Bronte¨ story’ as it has never been told before, drawing on the latest research and the best available scholarship while offering new perspectives on the writings of the sisters. A section on Bronte¨ criticism traces their reception to the present day. The works of the sisters are explored in the context of social, political and cultural developments in early nineteenth- century Britain, with attention given to religion, education, art, print culture, agriculture, law and medicine. Crammed with infor- mation, The Bronte¨s in Context shows how the Bronte¨s’ fiction interacts with the spirit of the time, suggesting reasons for its enduring fascination. marianne thorma¨ hlen is Professor of English Literature and Dean of Research in the Humanities and Theology at Lund Univer- sity, Sweden. The author of books and articles on T. S. Eliot and on John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, she has published two books on the Bronte¨s, both with Cambridge University Press: The Bronte¨s and Religion (1999) and The Bronte¨s and Education (2007). © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-76186-4 - The Brontës in Context Edited by Marianne Thormählen Frontmatter More information © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-76186-4 - The Brontës in Context Edited by Marianne Thormählen Frontmatter More information THE BRONTE¨ SINCONTEXT edited by MARIANNE THORMA¨ HLEN © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-76186-4 - The Brontës in Context Edited by Marianne Thormählen Frontmatter More information cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sa˜o Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 8ru,UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521761864 # Cambridge University Press 2012 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2012 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Bronte¨s in context / edited by Marianne Thorma¨hlen. pages cm. – (Literature in context) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-521-76186-4 1. Bronte¨ family. 2. Authors, English–19th century–Biography. 3. English literature–19th century–History and criticism. I. Thorma¨hlen, Marianne, 1949– pr4168.b775 2012 8230.809–dc23 2012015673 isbn 978-0-521-76186-4 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-76186-4 - The Brontës in Context Edited by Marianne Thormählen Frontmatter More information Contents List of illustrations page ix Notes on contributors xi Acknowledgements xviii Chronology xix Abbreviations and editions xxxiii Map of Haworth and its surroundings xxxv Map of the Bronte¨s’ region of Yorkshire and Lancashire xxxvi Introduction 1 Marianne Thorma¨hlen part i places, persons and publishing 1 Haworth in the time of the Bronte¨s 9 Michael Baumber 2 Domestic life at Haworth Parsonage 18 Ann Dinsdale 3 Locations in northern England associated with the Bronte¨s’ lives and works 27 Ann Dinsdale 4 The father of the Bronte¨s 36 Dudley Green 5 A mother and her substitutes: Maria Bronte¨ (ne´e Branwell), Elizabeth Branwell and Margaret Wooler 44 Bob Duckett v © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-76186-4 - The Brontës in Context Edited by Marianne Thormählen Frontmatter More information vi Contents 6 Patrick Branwell Bronte¨ 53 Victor A. Neufeldt 7 Charlotte Brontё 61 Dinah Birch 8 Emily Bronte¨ 68 Lyn Pykett 9 Anne Bronte¨ 75 Maria Frawley 10 Friends, servants and a husband 83 Stephen Whitehead 11 The Bronte¨s’ sibling bonds 91 Drew Lamonica Arms 12 Juvenilia 98 Christine Alexander 13 The Brussels experience 107 Sue Lonoff 14 The Bronte¨ correspondence 115 Margaret Smith 15 Portraits of the Bronte¨s 123 Jane Sellars 16 The poetry of the Bronte¨s 134 Janet Gezari 17 Literary influences on the Bronte¨s 143 Sara J. Lodge 18 The Bronte¨s’ way into print 151 Linda H. Peterson 19 Reading the Bronte¨s: their first audiences 159 Stephen Colclough © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-76186-4 - The Brontës in Context Edited by Marianne Thormählen Frontmatter More information Contents vii part ii scholarship, criticism, adaptations and translations 20 Bronte¨ biography: a survey of a genre 169 Tom Winnifrith 21 Mid-nineteenth-century critical responses to the Bronte¨s 175 Miriam Elizabeth Burstein 22 Bronte¨ scholarship and criticism, 1920–1970 183 Herbert Rosengarten 23 Bronte¨ scholarship and criticism, c. 1970–2000 191 Sara J. Lodge 24 Current trends in Bronte¨ criticism and scholarship 198 Alexandra Lewis 25 Adaptations, prequels, sequels, translations 207 Patsy Stoneman part iii historical and cultural contexts 26 Religion 217 David Jasper 27 The philosophical-intellectual context 224 Stephen Prickett 28 Education 232 Dinah Birch 29 Art and music 240 Christine Alexander 30 Natural history 250 Barbara T. Gates 31 Politics 261 Simon Avery 32 Newspapers and magazines 269 Joanne Shattock © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-76186-4 - The Brontës in Context Edited by Marianne Thormählen Frontmatter More information viii Contents 33 Agriculture and industry 276 Marianne Thorma¨hlen with Steven Wood 34 Transport and travel 283 Edward Chitham 35 Law 290 Ian Ward 36 Class 296 Elizabeth Langland 37 Careers for middle-class women 303 Elizabeth Langland 38 Marriage and family life 311 Marianne Thorma¨hlen 39 Dress 318 Birgitta Berglund 40 Sexuality 328 Jill L. Matus 41 Physical health 335 Janis McLarren Caldwell 42 Mental health 344 Janis McLarren Caldwell Further reading 352 Index 373 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-76186-4 - The Brontës in Context Edited by Marianne Thormählen Frontmatter More information Illustrations 1 Haworth Old Church, Sunday School and Parsonage, photographed before 1878 page 10 2 Ebor Mill. Photograph by Simon Warner 11 3 Emily Bronte¨’s diary paper of 26 June 1837, with a sketch of herself and Anne writing at the dining-room table 19 4 The windows at the Red House, Gomersal, which are graphically described in Charlotte Bronte¨’s novel Shirley 30 5 High Sunderland Hall at Southowram, Halifax. It is likely that features of the house came into Emily Bronte¨’s mind when she began to write Wuthering Heights 32 6 A portrait of Patrick Bronte¨ as a young man, by an unknown artist 37 7 A copy of a portrait of Maria Bronte¨, ne´e Branwell, made by her daughter Charlotte in October 1830 45 8 A caricature self-portrait of Branwell Bronte¨, c. 1840 54 9 Portrait of Anne Bronte¨ by her sister Charlotte, c. 1833 76 10 ‘The Young Men’s Magazine’, August 1830, by Charlotte Bronte¨, one of the early ‘little books’ made by the Bronte¨s as children 103 11 A view of the rue d’Isabelle, Brussels, showing the Pensionnat Heger on the left 108 12 A letter by Charlotte Bronte¨ to W. S. Williams, her publisher’s reader, dated 18 October 1848 116 13 The Bronte¨ Sisters, the so-called ‘Pillar Portrait’, by the sitters’ brother Branwell Bronte¨, c. 1834 124 14 A fragment portrait of Emily Jane Bronte¨ by her brother Branwell, torn from the so-called ‘Gun Group’ portrait, c. 1834, now lost 125 ix © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-76186-4 - The Brontës in Context Edited by Marianne Thormählen Frontmatter More information x List of illustrations 15 George Richmond’s portrait of Charlotte Bronte¨. Coloured chalk drawing, 1850 126 16 A carte-de-visite photograph believed to be of Charlotte Bronte¨, c. 1854. Part of the collection of Emery Walker 131 17 Manuscript of Emily Bronte¨’s poem ‘How long will you remain?’, dated 12 August 1839 135 18 Anne Bronte¨’s drawing of Roe Head School, c. 1835–7 235 19 Branwell Bronte¨’s portrait of John Brown, the Haworth sexton, c. 1838–9 242 20 ‘What you please’, a pencil drawing by Anne Bronte¨ 243 21 A page from a manuscript music book belonging to Anne Bronte¨. The book is inscribed ‘Anne Bronte¨, Thorp Green, June, 1843’ 246 22 Charlotte Bronte¨’s portrait of ‘Zenobia Marchioness Ellrington’, 1833 248