The Life of Charlotte Brontë

by Elizabeth Gaskell

Overview

Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of her close friend Charlotte Brontë was published in 1857 to immediate popular acclaim, and remains the most significant study of the enigmatic author who gave Jane Eyre the subtitle An Autobiography. It recounts Charlotte Brontë's life from her isolated childhood, through her years as a writer who had 'foreseen the single life' for herself, to her marriage at thirty-eight and death less than a year later. The resulting work - the first full-length biography of a woman novelist by a woman novelist - explored the nature of Charlotte's genius and almost single-handedly created the Brontë myth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781406790665
Publisher:	Pomona Press
Publication date:	01/28/2006
Pages:	500
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.11(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.