Charlotte Brontë: A Passionate Life
by Lyndall Gordon
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Description
"Charlotte Bronte: A Passionate Life looks beyond the insistent image of the modest Victorian lady, the slave to duty in the shadow of tombstones. Instead we see a strong, fiery woman who shaped her own life and transformed it into art. This biography looks at the shared gifts and class ambitions of the Bronte family - at the active feminist, Mary Taylor; at the demanding mentor, Constantin Heger; and at the rising publisher, George Smith - as Charlotte strove to possess them in life and show more fiction. Her highly autobiographical novels refused current bars to women's writing to release a public voice which could speak intimately to her readers."--Jacket. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Focuses on the passion for Heger and the near erotic teaching/learning language. Good insights.
During my early teens I went through a Bronte obsession, I devoured as many biographies as I could. This one is one of my favourites. I was asked at the time why I read so many biographies of the same people as surely they all must be the same thing regurgitated over and over again - this is the one that laughs in the face of that theory and enabled me to justify reading different biographies on the same person- as otherwise I would never have come across this wonderful work.
Any Bronte fan who has read countless Bronte biographies will find this a refreshing read, with thought and a studied and knowledgeable approach by Gordon. It is extremely detailed and meticulously researched and will give insights alike to general Bronte readers show more with an interest to know more about the author's life as well as Bronte scholars. show less
Any Bronte fan who has read countless Bronte biographies will find this a refreshing read, with thought and a studied and knowledgeable approach by Gordon. It is extremely detailed and meticulously researched and will give insights alike to general Bronte readers show more with an interest to know more about the author's life as well as Bronte scholars. show less
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Best Biographies of Notable Women
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Author Information
13+ Works 1,870 Members
Lyndall Gordon is the prize-winning author of, most recently, "T. S. Eliot: An Imperfect Life" & "A Private Life of Henry James". (Bowker Author Biography)
Awards and Honors
Awards
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Charlotte Brontë: A Passionate Life
- Original publication date
- 1994
- People/Characters
- Charlotte Brontë
- Important places
- Haworth, Yorkshire, England, UK; Yorkshire, England, UK
- Epigraph
- 'I wanted to speak, to rise - it was impossible....'
Charlotte Bronte, 'Roe Head Journal' (14 October 1836) - First words
- ' A private governess has no existence', wrote Charlotte Bronte to her sister, Emily, in the summer of 1839.
- Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Arthur Bell Nichols returned to Ireland, taking Bronte manuscripts and memorabilia which he retained until 1895.
- Blurbers*
- Wullschlager, Jackie; Hattersley, Roy; Marsh, Jan; Bostridge, Mark
- Original language*
- Englisch
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 252
- Popularity
- 128,646
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.95)
- Languages
- English, Italian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 10
- ASINs
- 3
