The much awaited new approach by Edward Chitham, a well known Brontë scholar, to the Irish origins of the Brontë family is published this month:Western Winds: The Brontës' Irish Heritage
By Edward Chitham
The History Press
Format: Paperback
Published: 2015-05-04
ISBN: 9781845888336
The Irish heritage of the Brontë family has long been overlooked, partly because both Charlotte and her father Patrick did their very best to ensure that this was the case and partly because there was a strong understanding at the end of the nineteenth century that the Brontës were Yorkshire regional novelists. Yet their ideas and attitudes, and perhaps even their storylines, can be traced to Ireland. This book, which develops ideas originally published in The Brontës’ Irish Heritage in 1986, sets the record straight. By re-evaluating the sources available, it traces Patrick’s Irish ancestry and shows how it prevented him from achieving his ambitions; it shows how that heritage influenced his children’s writings, particularly Emily; and it sheds further light on the genesis of Wuthering Heights.
Very much looking forward to this publication . The more one sees the Brontes though this lens, the less" inexplicable" they become . The Brontes were Irish and descended from story tellers.Their mother's side keeps up the Celtic drumbeat as she was from Cornwall . The closest the Bronte children came to being of Yorkshire blood was when Tabby called then her "barins "
ReplyDeleteThis is like admitting 2 + 2 = 4 . It's been there all the time. However as the post says
The Irish heritage of the Brontë family has long been overlooked, partly because both Charlotte and her father Patrick did their very best to ensure that this was the case...
Indeed and I would add Mrs Gaskill was interested in separating CB from her Irish ( read: " coarse " ) background as well. Hense the stress on Patrick's wild Irish ways ...as if the family being Irish stopped with him
It's remarkable reading CBN's letters from her Honeymoon when she discovered being Irish wasn't as bad as she was taught it would be! She rushed to inform her two best friends , Ellen and Miss Wooler, who knew Charlotte since she was a school girl with a strong Irish accent.