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A review by courtneydoss
The Bronte Myth by Lucasta Miller
5.0
The Bronte sisters (for they are often depicted as a group rather than as individuals) have long captured the hearts - and imaginations- of the general public. As three androgynous pseudonyms whose novels breached the limits of Victorian propriety, they were a novelty to the public. When their true identities became known, three spinster sisters, the interest the public took in them skyrocketed to new heights. The distinct undercurrent of sexual passion in their novels, the topics of alcoholism and violence and impropriety that they addressed unabashedly were all reasons why these sisters were disparaged as "vulgar" and "coarse" in their own time.
To clear their names, to stop the insults that flew even after two of the three sisters died, Charlotte Bronte did what she did best; she created a work of fiction that convinced the world she and her sisters were simple country folk, unused to proper society and so ignorant to the mistakes they had made by addressing topics so taboo for the time. She painted her sisters after their deaths as unlearned, an attempt to "wipe the dust" from their legacies. Her depiction of her sisters, heavily biased and willfully inaccurate, did its work. Her sister Anne, whose novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall offended Victorian sensibilities far more than the others, fell into obscurity - forgiven by the public and forgotten as a consequence. Emily, on the other hand, was depicted as a lonely country woman whose relationship with her alcoholic brother Branwell twisted an otherwise moral and upright mind.
As the only surviving Bronte child, Charlotte herself was left with the task of PR. She made friends with well-known authors of the era, such as William Thackery and Elizabeth Gaskell (the latter would go on to write her most well-known biography), and set about showing herself to be timid and mild - the antithesis of her heavily autobiographical heroine, Jane Eyre. The confusion of identities between the author and her most famous creation was a source of frustration for her, and she did what she had to do to make sure that her legacy was not tainted by what others saw as inappropriate within her plucky heroine.
What Charlotte Bronte perhaps failed to consider was the gossipy and fantastical personality of Elizabeth Gaskell. A married mother of four, Gaskell had a negative view of spinsterhood and a set idea of what constituted femininity. Developing an affection for Charlotte through repeated correspondence (in which Charlotte was playing her docile role), Elizabeth Gaskell could not allow the legacy of her friend to remain tarnished by her radical writing, and so she posthumously set about writing a biography of Charlotte that was so full of fiction as to completely shape the view of the Brontes for generations after.
There were many elements of the Brontes' lives that Gaskell fictionalized, not the least of which was the isolation of their country home. She depicted it as a dark, lonely place lacking in the benefits of culture that others had outside of Haworth. On the contrary, the Brontes had access to many culturally significant works, such as the work of Byron. She depicted Emily Bronte as heavily masculine, a consequence of the "masculine" nature in her work, and Charlotte as a kindly, virginal young woman. She disparaged Charlotte's husband, with whom she'd had a relatively happy marriage (however short lived it was), and made horrible claims against Patrick Bronte, their father. The former was, understandably, not a fan of Gaskell's work, but Patrick Bronte, in a true show of his character, was pleased with the work because it rehabilitated his daughters' images. That was all that mattered to him, despite all of the harm it did to his own character.
From that point on, Gaskell's biography would serve as a launching point for other biographers of the Brontes. Her use of correspondence between Charlotte and her friends provided first person accounts of Charlotte's life, and people ate it up. However, Gaskell knew what she was doing. Details of Charlotte's life that didn't fit the narrative Gaskell preferred were ignored, including Charlotte's inappropriate love for her married professor, Constantin Heger.
The letters sent by Charlotte Bronte to Heger, in which she confesses her love, were released to the public in 1913, and so the image of the famous author once again underwent a change. This fact and many more contributed to the evolving image of the Bronte sisters over the generations, and Lucasta Miller expertly traces the popular impression of the sisters through the centuries, clearing up all of the fictionalized element along the way.
I adored this book. I found myself highlighting and annotating almost every page, thrilled to find information that I had never heard before and fascinated to find information on the character of not only the Bronte sisters themselves, but many of the people in their lives. As an influential trio of sisters, the Brontes have long held the fascination of the general public and it was so interesting to see the way that fact gave way to fiction again and again throughout the years. The Brontes and their fiction represent something different to each of us, because we place a piece of ourselves into their stories. Lucasta Miller peels back the layers, showing us what is underneath. And while the information we do have is hardly as much as we would wish, it provides an interesting picture of these sisters who so changed the world with their prose.
To clear their names, to stop the insults that flew even after two of the three sisters died, Charlotte Bronte did what she did best; she created a work of fiction that convinced the world she and her sisters were simple country folk, unused to proper society and so ignorant to the mistakes they had made by addressing topics so taboo for the time. She painted her sisters after their deaths as unlearned, an attempt to "wipe the dust" from their legacies. Her depiction of her sisters, heavily biased and willfully inaccurate, did its work. Her sister Anne, whose novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall offended Victorian sensibilities far more than the others, fell into obscurity - forgiven by the public and forgotten as a consequence. Emily, on the other hand, was depicted as a lonely country woman whose relationship with her alcoholic brother Branwell twisted an otherwise moral and upright mind.
As the only surviving Bronte child, Charlotte herself was left with the task of PR. She made friends with well-known authors of the era, such as William Thackery and Elizabeth Gaskell (the latter would go on to write her most well-known biography), and set about showing herself to be timid and mild - the antithesis of her heavily autobiographical heroine, Jane Eyre. The confusion of identities between the author and her most famous creation was a source of frustration for her, and she did what she had to do to make sure that her legacy was not tainted by what others saw as inappropriate within her plucky heroine.
What Charlotte Bronte perhaps failed to consider was the gossipy and fantastical personality of Elizabeth Gaskell. A married mother of four, Gaskell had a negative view of spinsterhood and a set idea of what constituted femininity. Developing an affection for Charlotte through repeated correspondence (in which Charlotte was playing her docile role), Elizabeth Gaskell could not allow the legacy of her friend to remain tarnished by her radical writing, and so she posthumously set about writing a biography of Charlotte that was so full of fiction as to completely shape the view of the Brontes for generations after.
There were many elements of the Brontes' lives that Gaskell fictionalized, not the least of which was the isolation of their country home. She depicted it as a dark, lonely place lacking in the benefits of culture that others had outside of Haworth. On the contrary, the Brontes had access to many culturally significant works, such as the work of Byron. She depicted Emily Bronte as heavily masculine, a consequence of the "masculine" nature in her work, and Charlotte as a kindly, virginal young woman. She disparaged Charlotte's husband, with whom she'd had a relatively happy marriage (however short lived it was), and made horrible claims against Patrick Bronte, their father. The former was, understandably, not a fan of Gaskell's work, but Patrick Bronte, in a true show of his character, was pleased with the work because it rehabilitated his daughters' images. That was all that mattered to him, despite all of the harm it did to his own character.
From that point on, Gaskell's biography would serve as a launching point for other biographers of the Brontes. Her use of correspondence between Charlotte and her friends provided first person accounts of Charlotte's life, and people ate it up. However, Gaskell knew what she was doing. Details of Charlotte's life that didn't fit the narrative Gaskell preferred were ignored, including Charlotte's inappropriate love for her married professor, Constantin Heger.
The letters sent by Charlotte Bronte to Heger, in which she confesses her love, were released to the public in 1913, and so the image of the famous author once again underwent a change. This fact and many more contributed to the evolving image of the Bronte sisters over the generations, and Lucasta Miller expertly traces the popular impression of the sisters through the centuries, clearing up all of the fictionalized element along the way.
I adored this book. I found myself highlighting and annotating almost every page, thrilled to find information that I had never heard before and fascinated to find information on the character of not only the Bronte sisters themselves, but many of the people in their lives. As an influential trio of sisters, the Brontes have long held the fascination of the general public and it was so interesting to see the way that fact gave way to fiction again and again throughout the years. The Brontes and their fiction represent something different to each of us, because we place a piece of ourselves into their stories. Lucasta Miller peels back the layers, showing us what is underneath. And while the information we do have is hardly as much as we would wish, it provides an interesting picture of these sisters who so changed the world with their prose.