|
|
|
|
Emily Jane Brontė (July 30, 1818 December 19, 1848) was a British novelist
and poet, best remembered for her one single novel Wuthering Heights, which
is now an acknowledged classic of English literature.
Emily was born at Thornton in Yorkshire, the younger sister of Charlotte
Brontė and the fifth of six children. In 1820, the family moved to Haworth,
where Emily's father was perpetual curate, and it was in these surroundings
that their literary talent flourished.
***
***
In childhood, after the death of their mother, the three sisters and their
brother Branwell created imaginary lands (Angria, Gondal, Gaaldine), which
featured in stories they wrote. Little of Emily's work from this period
survives, except for poems spoken by characters (The Brontės' Web of
Childhood, Fannie Ratchford, 1941).
In 1838, Emily commenced work as a governess at Miss Patchett's Ladies
Academy at Law Hill Hall, near Halifax. Later, with her sister Charlotte,
she attended a private school in Brussels.
It was the discovery of Emily's poetic talent by her family that led her and
her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, to publish a joint collection of their
poetry in 1846. Owing to the prejudices on female writers, all three used
male pseudonyms, Emily's being "Ellis Bell".
She subsequently published her only novel, Wuthering Heights, in 1847 - a
powerful, poetic work, but whose innovative structure somewhat puzzled
critics. Although it received mixed reviews when it first came out, the book
subsequently became an English literary classic.
Like her sisters, Emily's constitution had been weakened by their harsh life
at home and at school. She died on December 19, 1848 of tuberculosis, having
caught a chill during the funeral of her brother in September, and was
interred in the Church of St. Michael and All Angels family vault, Haworth,
West Yorkshire, England.
Emily was a woman of remarkable force of character, reserved and taciturn.
Profile:
Further Reading
A Life of Emily Brontė, Edward Chitham
Heretic, Stevie Davies
Emily Brontė, Katherine Franks
The Brontės, Juliet Barker
Emily Brontė, Winifred Gerin
The Brontės' Web of Childhood, Frances Ratchford
Gondal's Queen, Fannie E. Ratchford
The Birth of Wuthering Heights: Emily Brontė at Work, Edward Chitham
Emily Brontė, Charles Simpson
In the Footsteps of the Brontės, Ellis Chadwick
The Oxford Reader's Companion to the Brontės, Christine Alexander & Margaret
Smith
Literature and Evil, Georges Bataille |
|
