The new issue of
Brontë Studies (Volume 47 Issue 4, November 2022) is already available
online. We provide you with the table of contents and abstracts:
Editorial
pp. 219-222 Author: Sarah Fanning, Carolyn Van Der Meer
An Orphan’s Dissent: Charlotte Brontë’s Spiritual Vision in Jane Eyre
pp. 223-236 Author: Andrew J. Weller
Abstract:
Although often considered subversive of religion, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) employs discrete biblical language and allusions to present a dissenting feminist historicist hermeneutics. As a daughter of reverend Patrick Brontë, Charlotte’s spiritual vision is particularly significant but overlooked due to her use of what I am calling a dialectical misdirection. I show how even the subversive statements towards Christian teachings articulate the moral philosophy that guides Jane’s decisions thus weaving together plot sequences to ultimately provide autonomy. Through typological assessment and a cultural critique of mid-century Evangelical doctrines, it appears Jane’s faith emboldens her resistance to systemic oppression.
Charlotte Brontë and the ‘Horrors of Homeless Destitution’: How Brontë’s Relationship to Haworth Illuminates the Importance of Permanent Shelter in Jane Eyre and Villette
pp. 237-248 Author: Natalie Brown
Abstract
Charlotte Brontë is closely associated today with Haworth Parsonage. Our identification of Brontë with Haworth, however, obscures the precarity of her hold on the Parsonage. Brontë’s occupancy was predicated upon her father’s employment as the perpetual curate of Haworth, and Brontë knew she would be forced to leave upon his death. This article argues that Brontë’s precarity as clergyman’s daughter whose shelter was contingent upon his employment explains the prominence she gives in Jane Eyre (1847) and Villette (1853) to women who lack secure homes and their quests for permanent shelter. Attention to her preoccupation with permanent shelter reveals the difficulty of separating the emotional, familial and physical components of ‘home’ and allows readers to view her as writer more attuned to structural problems than scholarship emphasising her novels’ seemingly individual or class-complicit solutions sometimes recognizes.
‘[P]Lainer, If Possible, than Ever’: Plainness and Self-Representation in Charlotte Brontë’s ‘Henry Hastings’
pp. 249-260 Author: Mona AlBassam
Abstract:
Charlotte Brontë’s juvenilia, unlike her mature novels with their independent plain heroines, is dominated by female beauties who represent her imaginary aristocratic world. The desire for beauty that dominated Brontë’s early writings is abandoned in the tale ‘Henry Hastings’ (1839) and the heroine’s plainness comes to create a substitute for the image of female beauty. In considering Elizabeth Hasting’s plainness as a form of self-representation, this article challenges the perception of plainness as merely an indication of the heroine’s invisibility or more profoundly a reflection her interiority and morality. Instead, this paper explores the exteriority and subversiveness of Elizabeth’s plainness in the narrative. Plainness in ‘Henry Hastings’ is not only related to homeliness but also goes into the realm of plainness as a self-imposition, particularly through dress. The heroine’s beauty or on the other hand, her plainness, as I will argue, comes to offer different positions of making the self visible to the dominant male gaze in the late juvenilia.
Fierce Courtship: Animal Judgement in Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley
pp. 261-273 Author: Valerie L. Stevens
Abstract:
This article considers how Tartar serves as a unique type of guard dog in Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley. While we expect guard dogs to ward off burglars, Tartar uses protective fierceness to fortify Shirley’s home and body from unsought romantic invasions, necessary given her gender positioning. Sometimes Tartar’s judgement aligns with Shirley’s wishes, as when he helps to forcefully remove the insufferable Mr Donne from Shirley’s property. However, Tartar’s high valuation of Shirley’s eventual husband, Louis, while the heiress still resents the tutor reveals Tartar’s agency as he guides Shirley’s choices like a respected father. Once Tartar helps to bring Shirley and Louis together, Louis can then take over the paternal role of guardian. Brontë’s animals shape the marriage plot, allowing Tartar a powerful role within the text.
Book Reviews
Lit for Little Hands: Jane Eyre
pp 274-276 Author: Sara Pearson
The Business of Reading
pp. 276-278 Author: Sara L. Pearson
The Red Monarch Octobwr 6, 2022
pp. 289-290 Author: Carolyne Van Der Meer
p. 291 Author: Carolyne Van Der Meer
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