Brontë Studies. Volume 32, Issue 2

The new issue of Brontë Studies (Volume 32, Issue 2, July 2007) is already available. Regrettably it's not on-line yet. We provide you the table of contents and abstracts:

Editorial pp. iii-iii(1) Author: Adams, Amber M.

ARTICLES

A bishop, bed and breakfast, a mystery dessert and a poignant letter: material found among the papers of Dr Charles Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury
pp. 91-95 Author: Wilks, Brian
Abstract
While researching in the archives of Lambeth Palace library to find out just what Charlotte Brontë meant when she told Ellen Nussey that her conscience would not let her be ‘either a Puseyite or a Hookist’ (7 April 1840), I read the Library Committee’s Annual Report for 2004. Quietly the report announced that among the recently acquired papers of Dr Charles Longley , former Archbishop of Canterbury and one time Bishop of Ripon, there was a firsthand description of Charlotte Brontë (1853) and a ‘poignant letter from Patrick Brontë written after the death of Charlotte two years later’. This modest announcement led me to a remarkable clutch of letters written by the Bishop that add uniquely to our knowledge not only of Patrick Brontë’s diocesan bishop, but also of the remarkable parsonage family.

The two faces of love in Wuthering Heights
pp. 96-105 Author: Phillips, James
Abstract
The character of Catherine Earnshaw in Emily Brontë’s novel struggles against misinterpretations of her two loves. It is as though she draws a Kantian distinction between the empirical and the transcendental. Where Heathcliff is the transcendental face of love, Linton is its empirical face. Heathcliff and Catherine are each other’s first as well as last love: this permanence makes it difficult to conceive a difference between the object of love and love itself. Nothing empirical can disturb their love, and Catherine sets out to demonstrate its transcendental status by removing what might be taken for it empirical foundations. She maltreats Heathcliff. She marries Linton. Emily Brontë breaks love down into two parts. In being removed from the moderating effect of its complement, each part shows up in extreme behaviour. Yet in being isolated they shed light on the general experience of love, on the passion and trust that are reducible neither to the empirical nor the transcendental.

Shirley and the politics of personal faith
pp. 106-115 Author: Rockefeller, Laura Selene
Abstract
This article is the core of a chapter on Charlotte Brontë’s novel Shirley from a thesis paper in which I explored the tension between organised religion and personal faith in Charlotte Brontë’s four major novels, The Professor, Jane Eyre, Shirley and Villette. In this chapter, I specifically examine how Shirley combines many of the themes from Charlotte Brontë’s juvenilia and earlier novels, most strikingly the themes of death and resurrection, and the deep connection of Shirley herself to her Mother Earth. Shirley is also distinguished from Charlotte’s other novels by its exploration of Robert Moore’s implied atheism. I also examine the interesting theme of Mariolatry that runs through the novel, both in Caroline’s search for her idolised mother, and Robert’s frequent tendency to liken Caroline to the Virgin Mary. The antagonhism between Dissenters and the Established Church, which is more vividly depicted in Shirley than in any of Charlotte’s other novels and presents and interesting and timely examination of the problematic connection between Church and State, is explored.

A missing link: the Brontës, the Sowdens and the Listers
pp. 116-124 Author: Emberson, Ian and Catherine
Abstract
Many writers have tried to find a link between the Brontës and Anne Lister—but overlooked the obvious connection via the Sowden family. The article focuses on three of the Sowdens—Samuel (1779-1863) and two of his sons—Sutcliffe (1816-1861) and George (1822-1899). It describes Samuel’s clash with Anne Lister over the subject of voting; Sutcliffe’s friendships With John Fennell, Branwell Brontë, Arthur Bell Nicholls and the Brontë sisters themselves; his part in the wedding of Arthur and Charlotte; and finally his tragic death; and lastly George Sowden’s slighter acquaintanceship with the Brontës, and the writing in his old age of Recollections of the Brontës. There is also a description of Anne Lister’s own life, and the discovery of her journals.

‘If This Be All’ and the poetry of statement
pp. 125-131 Author: Butterworth, Robert D.
Abstract
Is Anne Brontë’s poetry only for those willing to be indulgent to her out of their general devotion for her works? She writes the poetry of statement, and if she accomplishes anything noteworthy, it must be in her achievement of the capturing of life and of density of meaning within the constraints of plain language and simple imagery. What she is capable of achieving is demonstrated by the poem ‘If This Be All’. Its subject is a deeply meaningful and powerful one to the poet, as its context reveals. Skillful use of multi-layered language and careful choice of detail to explore her theme enable her to achieve resonance and vividness in depicting her experiences.

The case for Anne Brontë’s marginalia in the author’s own copy of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
pp. 132-137 Author: Talley, Lee A.
Abstract
This essay examines some of Anne Brontë’s marginalia in the controversial author’s own copy of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall to argue that, based on the revisions to the second volume, we should should consider this edition as significantly contributing to studies on Anne Brontë. Further, this essay asserts that the marginalia make Helen Huntingdon appear to be an even stronger heroine, as well as illuminating Anne Brontë’s writing habits and her belief in the central importance of the diary to the novel.

Deaths and Entrances
pp. 138-144 Author: Daniggelis, Paul Daniel
Abstract
The use of the title-phrase, Deaths and Entrances, is traced and its relationship to John Donne, Dylan Thomas, Martha Graham, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, and the Brontë family described.

Emily Brontë and Emily Dickinson: parallel lives on opposing shores
pp. 145-150 Author: Powers, Wendy Anne
Abstract
The lives of Emily Brontë and Emily Dickinson are seen as paradigms of the problems and responsibility of the biographer of the quiet life or inward world. The similar familial environment of the authors: strong father; lack of maternal influence; devoted siblings enjoying intellectual rivalry; a background of the written word, is examined. Both Emilies found sustenance and defence in their homes and suffered homesickness when absent. The influence of the Brontës, particularly of Emily and Charlotte, on Emily Dickinson and her poetry is investigated.

Exciting recent acquisitions at the Brontë Parsonage Museum: letters bought by the Brontë Society on 4 July 2006
pp. 151-154 Author: Salter, Polly

Charles Lemon, MBE (1914-2007)
pp. 155-156 Author: Duckett, Bob

A Brontë reading list
pp. 157-164 Author: Ogden, James
Abstract
This is a selective annotated bibliography reporting and describing articles on the Brontës in scholarly and critical journals, 2000-2005. I hope to bring the survey up to date in a later issue of Brontë Studies.

REVIEWS
Cornelia Parker, Brontëan Abstracts (Bob Duckett) (165-166)
Ann Dinsdale, The Brontës at Haworth (Brian Wilks) (166-167)
Maureen Peters, The Haunting of Houses (Carolyne Van Der Meer) (167-168)
Keith M. Sagar, ‘Emily Brontë—The Crime Against Heathcliff’, Chapter 12 (pp. 183-94) in Literature and the Crime Against Nature: From Homer to Hughes (Chaucer Press, c. 2005) (Bob Duckett) (168-169)
Sarah Fermi, Emily’s Journal, with Annotations by her Sisters, Charlotte and Anne Brontë, edited by Charlotte Brontë (Edward Chitham) (170-171)
Sue Lonoff and Terri A. Hasseler, eds. Approaches to Teaching Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (Juliette Wells) (171-173)
Martin Danahay, Gender at Work in Victorian Culture: Literature, Art and Masculinity (Juliette Wells) (173-174)
Christine Alexander and Margaret Smith, eds. The Oxford Companion to the Brontës (Jonathan N. Wike) (174-175)
Larry H. Peer, ‘The Discourse of Religious Bildung in Anne Brontë’s Agnes Grey’, in Larry H. Peer and Diane Long Hoeveler, eds. Romanticism: Comparative Discourses (Ashgate, c. 2006) (Yukari Oda) (175-176)
Charlotte Brontë, Tales of Angria, ed. by Heather Glen (Robert Barnard) (176)
Charlotte Brontë, The Secret [and other stories], foreword by Sally Vickers (Bob Duckett) (177)
Wide Sargasso Sea, television drama (Richard Wilcocks) (178-179)

Categories: Brontë Society, Journals, Scholar