The Brontes

284 Pages·2008·2.728 MB·English

by  Bloom, Harold(Editor);Sparks, Tabitha(Editor)

Bloom’s Classic Critical Views
The BronTës
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Bloom’s Classic Critical Views
Benjamin Franklin
The Brontës
Charles Dickens
The BronTës
edgar Allan Poe
Geoffrey Chaucer
henry David Thoreau
herman Melville
Jane Austen
John Donne and the Metaphysical Poets
Mark Twain
Mary shelley
nathaniel hawthorne
oscar Wilde
ralph Waldo emerson
Walt Whitman
William Blake
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Bloom’s Classic Critical Views
The BronTës
Edited and with an Introduction by
harold Bloom
sterling Professor of the humanities
Yale University
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Bloom’s Classic Critical Views: The Brontës
Copyright © 2008 Infobase Publishing
Introduction © 2008 by harold Bloom
All rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For more information contact:
Bloom’s Literary Criticism
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new York nY 10001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Brontës / edited and with an introduction by harold Bloom.
p. cm. — (Bloom’s classic critical views)
A selection of important older literary criticism on the Brontës.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
IsBn 978-1-60413-136-9
1. Brontë family. 2. english fiction—19th century—history and criticism. I. Bloom,
harold. II. Title. III. series.
Pr4169.B77 2008
823’.809—dc22
2008014069
Bloom’s Literary Criticism books are available at special discounts when purchased in
bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call
our special sales Department in new York at [phone] or [phone].
You can find Bloom’s Literary Criticism on the World Wide Web at
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Contributing editor: Tabitha sparks
series design by erika K. Arroyo
Cover design by Takeshi Takahashi
Printed in the United states of America
Bang eJB 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
All links and Web addresses were checked and verified to be correct at the time
of publication. Because of the dynamic nature of the Web, some addresses and links
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Contents
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Series Introduction xi
Introduction by Harold Bloom xiii
CHarlotte Brontë xvii
Biography xix
Personal 3
Robert Southey (1837) 6
Robert Southey (1837) 7
Charlotte Brontë (as “Currer Bell”) (1850) 8
George Eliot (1853) 8
Elizabeth Gaskell (1857) 9
Caroline Fox (1857) 11
T. Wemyss Reid (1877) 11
Harriet Martineau (1877) 12
Sir Leslie Stephen (1877) 13
Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1889) 18
Anne Ritchie (1891) 19
William Wright (1893) 20
Clement K. Shorter (1896) 21
General 23
Sydney Dobell (1850) 26
Peter Bayne (1857) 31
Elizabeth Gaskell (1857) 33
John Skelton (1857) 34
Anthony Trollope (1883) 37
vi Contents
A. Mary F. Robinson (1883) 39
Andrew Lang (1889) 40
Frederic Harrison (1895) 41
George Saintsbury (1895) 43
Angus M. MacKay (1897) 46
Hugh Walker (1897) 46
James Oliphant (1899) 48
Lewis E. Gates (1900) 52
Francis Hovey Stoddard (1900) 67
Works 69
Jane Eyre: An Autobiography 71
Charlotte Brontë (as “Currer Bell”) (1847) 71
Henry F. Chorley (1847) 72
John Gibson Lockhart (1847) 73
Elizabeth Rigby (1848) 74
George Eliot (1848) 79
Edwin P. Whipple (1848) 79
Elizabeth Gaskell (1857) 81
William Makepeace Thackeray (1860) 82
James Russell Lowell (1867) 83
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1877) 83
T. Wemyss Reid (1877) 84
Queen Victoria (1880) 88
Augustine Birrell (1887) 88
Louis E. Gates (1900) 89
Sir George Murray Smith (1901) 90
Shirley: A Tale 91
George Henry Lewes (1850) 92
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1850) 96
Charles Kingsley (1857) 96
Elizabeth Gaskell (1857) 97
Wilbur L. Cross (1899) 98
Louis E. Gates (1900) 99
Villette 100
Charlotte Brontë (1852) 101
Harriet Martineau (1853) 102
George Eliot (1853) 105
Matthew Arnold (1853) 105
Contents vii
George henry Lewes (1853) 105
Catharine M. sedgwick (1853) 106
T. Wemyss reid (1877) 107
Margaret oliphant (1892) 109
Louis e. Gates (1900) 109
The Professor: A Tale 111
Charlotte Brontë (1847) 111
elizabeth Gaskell (1857) 112
Margaret sweat (1857) 112
T. Wemyss reid (1877) 113
Peter Bayne (1881) 115
Mary A. Ward (1900) 116
Theodore Watts-Dunton (1906) 117
emILy BronTë 119
Biography 121

Personal 125
emily Brontë (1841) 128
emily Brontë (1845) 129
Matthew Arnold (1855) 131
elizabeth Gaskell (1857) 131
Charlotte Brontë (1857) 133
T. Wemyss reid (1877) 134
James Ashcroft noble (1883) 134

General 137
George Barnett smith (1873) 140
Algernon Charles swinburne “emily Brontë”(1883) 143
richard Garnett (1892) 150
Arthur L. salmon (1892) 151
Margaret oliphant (1897) 156
Mary A. Ward (1900) 157
Charlotte M. Mew (1904) 164

Works 167
Wuthering Heights 169
Catharine M. sedgwick (1848) 169
edwin P. Whipple (1848) 170
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viii Contents
Charlotte Brontë (“Currer Bell”) (1850) 171
Sydney Dobell (1850) 176
George Henry Lewes (1850) 179
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1854) 179
W. Clark Russell (1871) 180
T. Wemyss Reid (1877) 180
A. Mary F. Robinson (1883) 181
Frederic Harrison (1895) 190
Clement K. Shorter (1896) 191
Richard D. Graham (1897) 191
Hugh Walker (1897) 192
Wilbur L. Cross (1899) 192
William Dean Howells (1900) 193
Alice Meynell (1917) 196
Poetry 197
Edmund Gosse (1880) 198
A.M. Williams “Emily Brontë” (1893) 200
Clement K. Shorter (1897) 205
Angus M. MacKay (1898) 206
Theodore Watts-Dunton (1906) 211
Anne Brontë 215
Biography 217
Personal 221
Charlotte Brontë (1841) 224
Anne Brontë (1841) 224
Anne Brontë (1845) 225
Charlotte Brontë (1849) 227
Ellen Nussey (1849) 228
Elizabeth Gaskell (1857) 230
Ellen Nussey (1871) 231
Clement K. Shorter (1896) 231
Mary Augusta Ward (1900) 232
General 233
Peter Bayne (1857) 236
T. Wemyss Reid (1877) 236
Clement Shorter (1896) 237
Mary Augusta Ward (1900) 237
Contents ix
Works 239
Agnes Grey 241
Charlotte Brontë (1847) 241
henry F. Chorley (1847) 242
W.C. roscoe (1857) 242
Émile Montégut (1857) 243
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall 244
Anne Brontë (1848) 244
Charlotte Brontë (1848) 246
e.P. Whipple (1848) 247
Charles Kingsley (1849) 248
Mary A. Ward (1900) 251
Chronology 253
Index 256
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