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The Bronte Myth [Paperback]

Lucasta Miller
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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The Bronte Myth + The Brontes + The Brontės (Authors in Context) (Oxford World's Classics)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; New Ed edition (3 Jan 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099287145
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099287148
  • Product Dimensions: 13 x 1.9 x 20 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 253,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Lucasta Miller
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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

The Bronte Myth traces the various ways the Brontes have been interpreted by an ever-increasing and increasingly dotty fanbase from their own lifetimes through the end of the 19th and into the 20th century. The book treats first Charlotte then Emily, leaving Anne pretty much out of the picture, since (Miller argues) she has "never taken on the mythic stature of her sisters in her own right", which is hard luck for any dedicated Anne-fans; but Miller certainly finds many absorbing things to say about the other two sisters.

The point of the study is to examine the way interpretations of these two women have shifted so kaleidoscopically over the last century-and-a-half. Charlotte is seen in Gaskell's Life as "paragon of womanhood", then, as the century ends and the vogue for self-improvement takes hold, as a self-taught writer who had risen from obscurity. The 20th century brought the revelation of her thwarted passion for a Belgian schoolteacher, and she became an embodiment of smouldering unfulfilled sexual intensity. Emily, more neglected earlier on, came into her own in the latter part of the last century, revered as "the mystic of the moors". Both women of course were icons of the feminist literary movement in the 1960s, and their popularity continues today in the academy; but they are loved outside the university as well, appealing (says Miller) particularly to shy, lonely, bookish children.

Miller skilfully weaves a narrative of the developing Bronte myth, paralleling it with the development of the art of biography itself, allowing the two to illuminate one another. Sometimes, reading through the trivia (Bronte chocolate and biscuits, D-grade critical studies and so on) the reader might wonder if the subject really merits such in-depth treatment. But in tracing this story, Miller has good points to make about the way a biography is always, to one degree or another, a fiction, reflecting the concerns of the age in which it is produced. For anybody interested in the Brontes, or interested in what Virginia Woolf called the "bastard, impure art of biography" there is a great deal here of interest. --Adam Roberts --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A brilliant and riveting examination of the Bronte phenomenon." - "Daily Mail"
"A sharp-witted study in literary reputation... Miller supplies a deft and immaculately detailed tracing of the many "constructions" of Charlotte Bronte." - Joanna Griffiths, "Observer"

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Greta
Format:Paperback
This book reads a little like an academic thesis, and is predominantly focused on Charlotte. Rather repetitive on some points and not an 'easy' read. If you are looking for relaxing bedtime reading then it's not for you, serious adherents of the subject will find a lot of in-depth information and perspectives, but I had to keep forcing myself to pick it up and continue to plow through it. Not my best buy.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By A. Craig HALL OF FAME TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
The previous review is too good to improve on, but I would like to say that this is one of the best biographies I've read since Adam Sisman's Boswell's Presumptuous Task. The biography of biographies might seem arid and over-scholarly to the general reader but this is witty, shrewd, unsnobbish and full of insight. Hugely impressive and enjoyable.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By C. Pope VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
This book is for those who have been seduced by Gaskell's image of a miserable Charlotte Bronte shuffling along the cobbled streets in her clogs, and have found it difficult to reconcile this idea with the sensuality of her novels. Lucasta Miller strips away nearly 150 years of myth and downright nonsense and describes with wit and lucidity how the sisters' reputations have fallen victim to the attitudes and interpretations of successive generations.

More than just another book about the Brontes, this work examines the art of biography and the changing trends in this genre. As with many other writers, the sisters have become public property and, as such, there is a tendency for us to become focussed on the authors rather than their literary canon. Lucasta Miller urges us to return to the novels in order to learn about these enigmatic women, and that is exactly what I intend to do.

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