The Life of Charlotte Brontë

by Elizabeth Gaskell

Overview

Published two years after the novelist's death, this two-volume work is the first and the best-known of the many biographies of the Brontë family. Written by the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) the book was instrumental in the creation of the Brontës' public image as a family set apart by literary genius and personal tragedy. Gaskell's chief source for the biography was some 350 letters between Charlotte and her friend Ellen Nussey, letters which Charlotte's husband, Arthur Bell Nicholls, had asked Nussey to destroy after his wife's death, fearing they would damage her reputation. Volume 2 covers Charlotte's writing of The Professor, the publication of Jane Eyre, the deaths of Branwell, Emily and Anne, the publication of Shirley and Villette, her correspondence with Thackeray, Gaskell and Martineau, and her eventual marriage in 1854 to Nicholls, her father's curate. It concludes with a description of Charlotte's funeral.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108020503
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/16/2010
Series:	Cambridge Library Collection - Literary Studies
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

ELIZABETH GASKELL was born in London in 1810. She married a minister, and her literary output was substantial and completely professional. Many of her works are available in Penguin Classics, including NORTH AND SOUTH, SYLVIA'S LOVERS, and WIVES AND DAUGHTERS. She died suddenly in 1865. ELISABETH JAY has taught and lectured at various universities in Great Britain and the USA, and is currently Head of Westminster College, Oxford. Her books include FAITH AND DOUBT IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN.

Table of Contents

1. Mr. Brontë afflicted with blindness, and relieved by a successful operation for cataract; 2. State of Charlotte Brontë's health at the commencement of 1847; 3. The 'Quarterly Review' on 'Jane Eyre'; 4. Commencement and completion of 'Shirley'; 5. 'Currer Bell' indentified as Miss Brontë at Haworth and the vicinity; 6. An unhealthy spring at Haworth; 7. Visit to Sir J. and Lady Kay Shuttleworth; 8. Intended republication of 'Wuthering Heights' and 'Agnes Grey'; 9. Miss Brontë's visit to Miss Martineau, and estimate of her hostess; 10. Remarks on friendship; 11. Miss Brontë visits Scarborough; 12. The biographer's difficulty; 13. Letters to Mrs. Gaskell on writing fiction, &c.; 14. Mourners at the funeral.