Anne Lister of Shibden Hall

Reading the program of the "PRIVACY (and Secrecy) " 15th annual Cultural Studies Conference at Kansas State University (March 9-11, 2006 Kansas State University Manhattan, Kansas) we have found that the following talk was presented on the 10th March:

“Private Lives and Public Documents: Anne Lister’s Diaries and Charlotte Bronte’s Shirley in the Age of Post-Secrecy,” by Anne Longmuir (Kansas State University)

Anne is currently working on an article that explores the significance of Anne Lister's diaries, which have been called the "Rosetta stone of lesbianism," to our reading of Charlotte Bronte's Shirley. (source)

Trying to know something about who this Anne Lister was, and why this name sounded so familiar to us, we realized that Anne Lister was "in Emily's day (that is when she taught in Law Hill) the 'master of Shibden Hall, a sprawling building with dark, gleaming, wood-panelled walls inside, open beamed celings and huge fireplaces similar to those in Wuthering Heights (...) Anne Lister was a strange spinster heiress who always wore black and habitually dressed in men's clothes" (Katharine Frank, Emily Bontë: A Chainless Soul, p.123).

Chitham insists in this idea: She is alleged to be a lesbian; quite certainly she was a forceful lady of great intellect and energy, as appears from her diaries. However, there is no mention in them of any contacts with Miss Patchett (the young headmistress of Law Hill) (...) unless in the strange coded passages frequently found in the diary" (Edward Chitham, A life of Emily Brontë, p 120).

Some of the diaries and biographical information are available here.

Bibliography:

Presenting the Past: Anne Lister of Halifax by Jill Liddington, Pennine Pens
Female Fortune : Land, Gender and Authority The Anne Lister Diaries and Other writings, 1833–36 (Paperback) by Jill Liddington (Preface), Ann Lister, River Oram Press.
Miss Lister of Shibden Hall: Selected Letters (1800–1840) ,Muriel Green, editor
Anne Lister, I Know My Own Heart, Helena Whitbread, editor (New York University Press; 1992)
Liddington, J. , Ann Lister and Emily Brontë. 1838-39 Brontë Studies 26(2001),
Brontë Studies, March 29(1) 2004, 85-7

Categories: Talks, Scholar, Shirley