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Sunday, May 28, 2006

Anne Brontë's 157 death anniversary

Sunday, May 28, 2006 12:34 am by Cristina   2 comments
Everything we wrote on the occasion of Anne's birthday still applies. If we stop to look at her as most people see her, then she is nothing but a shadowy, blurry figure trailing at her famous sisters' feet. She remains 'the other one'. But if we look at her after having read her novels and knowing a little bit of her life, we see this tremendous writer, brave enough to write about an uncomfortable, controversial subject just because she feels it is her duty without any regard whatsoever to public opinion. We see the youngest sibling who, although looked down on as weak by her own family, she proved she was strong enough to be the Brontë sibling who managed to keep her post the longest.

But we don't despair. We are sure step by step the world will realise that there are *three* Brontë sisters: all of them equally good in their own particular ways. It's just a matter of time.

In the meantime, Anne will patiently wait in her quiet grave which commands a stunning view over the sea at Scarborough, watching the sunrises and sunsets she so much enjoyed looking at.

(Picture courtesy of that fabulous website owned by Mick Armitage. If you want to know basically all there is to know about Anne Brontë, then that is the place to go to.)

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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous5/28/2006 03:14:00 am

    Well said! Anne Bronte is so underrated that it's criminal!

    I recently re-read Agnes Grey and I can honestly say that Anne's prose still stand up with the best of them!

    It's amazing the hardships Agnes had to put up with! even more so when you consider most of it is taken from Anne's personal experience as a Governess.

    The part in A.G. that always makes me rather sad is when she describes her fathers burial:

    "My father's mortal remains had been consigned to the tomb; and we, with sad faces and sombre garments, sat lingering over the frugal breakfast-table, revolving plans for our future life."

    Those lines are so poignant when you realise that Anne died so tragically young and that her father outlived all his children.

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  2. Anonymous5/28/2006 11:36:00 am

    Agnes Grey is a great little novel. I also like Anne's subtle sense of humour in it.

    I have been thinking of rereading Tenant for a while now. Perhaps I will in the near future.

    Anne being overlooked is a matter of everybody taking it for granted! I'm so sure if people started to feel curious about her so-called second-rate novels they'd be extremely impressed, and they'd question where that opinion really came from. It's so sad.

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