Unusual Brontë scholars

Some recent (and quite unusual) scholar Brontë papers:

“Reader, I Detained Him Under the Mental Health Act”: A Literary Response to Professor Fennell’s Best Interests and Treatment for Mental Disorder
David Gurnham, Centre for Social Ethics and Policy, School of Law, University of Manchester
Health Care Anal. 2008 September; 16(3): 268–278

Abstract
This is a response to Professor Fennell's paper on the recent influence and impact of the best interests test on the treatment of patients detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) for mental disorder. I discuss two points of general ethical significance raised by Professor Fennell. Firstly, I consider his argument on the breadth of the best interests test, incorporating as it does factors considerably wider than those of medical justifications and the risk of harm. Secondly, I discuss his contention that the apparent permeability of the line between the interests of the patient and the interests of society is something to be concerned about in itself. Since the overarching theme of the paper is the proper place of social and cultural values, my reponse considers the implications of Fennell's arguments in the light of Charlotte Brontë's novel ‘Jane Eyre’, which, through the character of Bertha Mason (the infamous ‘mad woman in the attic’) provides a provocative study of the relationship between mental disorder and society.

And we will really would like to have an abstract for this paper:

Emily Brontë and the Terrorist Imagination
Author: Ian Ward - Ian Ward is Professor at the Newcastle Law School, University of Newcastle.
English Studies, Volume 89, Issue 5 October 2008 , pages 524 - 551

Categories: Journals, Scholar