Author Description
Elizabeth Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Bronte (1857) is a pioneering biography of one great Victorian woman novelist by another. Gaskell was a friend of Bronte's and, having been invited to write the official life, determined to both tell the truth and honor her friend. This edition collates all three previous editions, as well as the manuscript, offering fuller information about the process of writing and a more detailed explanation of the text than any previous edition.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This biography investigates the personal and professional life of Charlotte Brontë through the lens of a contemporary peer and friend. Elizabeth Gaskell, a prominent Victorian novelist, utilizes her intimate access to Brontë’s correspondence and personal history to construct a comprehensive account of the author’s development. The text balances the objective requirements of a biography with the subjective nuances of a close personal relationship, aiming to preserve Brontë’s legacy while addressing the complexities of her private life.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Detailed accounts of the Brontë family history and the Haworth parsonage environment
- Analysis of Charlotte Brontë’s literary influences and professional struggles
- Primary source material including personal letters and private journals
Scope Limits
- The narrative is constrained by the social and moral standards of the mid-19th century
- The text does not provide modern psychological or clinical analysis of the subject
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Scholars recognize this work as a foundational text in the study of Victorian literary biography. Readers frequently note the dense, formal prose style characteristic of the era, which provides significant historical context for the Brontë canon.
Page Count:
624
Publication Date:
1996-07-18
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0192828096
ISBN-13:
9780192828095
Biography
History
Non-Fiction
Victorian
Literary Criticism
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