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A review by joannam13
The Bronte Myth by Lucasta Miller
5.0
It took me quite literally two years to hunker down and read this book, but I am glad I finally got around to it.
There's a lot of Bronte-stuff floating around, books, plays, movies, weird things on Etsy, and I am very guilty of loving of all of them. But in this book Lucasta Miller goes to great lengths to detail how reactions to the Brontes were shaped, and how they have evolved through the changes from the Victorian era to modernity. She writes with very accessible prose very effectively about a fairly large period of time. The first half of the book is dedicated to Charlotte's reputation, especially how it is shaped by both Charlotte herself and Elizabeth Gaskell. The second half focuses on Emily's reputation, especially within the 20th century. There is very, very little focus on Anne (which is fairly typical of biographies that claim to cover all the Brontes), and a little bit of Patrick and Branwell are sprinkled in, though of course their cultural portrayals depend upon the portrayals of the sisters.
There's a lot of Bronte-stuff floating around, books, plays, movies, weird things on Etsy, and I am very guilty of loving of all of them. But in this book Lucasta Miller goes to great lengths to detail how reactions to the Brontes were shaped, and how they have evolved through the changes from the Victorian era to modernity. She writes with very accessible prose very effectively about a fairly large period of time. The first half of the book is dedicated to Charlotte's reputation, especially how it is shaped by both Charlotte herself and Elizabeth Gaskell. The second half focuses on Emily's reputation, especially within the 20th century. There is very, very little focus on Anne (which is fairly typical of biographies that claim to cover all the Brontes), and a little bit of Patrick and Branwell are sprinkled in, though of course their cultural portrayals depend upon the portrayals of the sisters.