Charlotte Brontë: The Evolution of Genius

by Winifred Gérin

A superb work of scholarship--possibly the best on Bronte. Bibliography and index. 617 pages, requires extra postage. Contact dealer.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History, British Literature

634 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1967

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful! Detailed, but always interesting. I borrowed it from the library more years ago than I would like to say, and was delighted to find a second-hand copy in the gift shop at Haworth Parsonage when we visited not quite so long ago.

[James Askari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very illuminating in showing how much of Charlotte Bronte's novels are autobiographical. Even minor characters are taken from the life; and as her experience widens after the wildly successful publication of _Jane Eyre_, she starts to meet more rounded metropolitan figures, publishers such as George Smith and social reformers like James Kay-Shuttleworth, and to incorporate them as pen-portraits. Charlotte has her three closest siblings die in the space of six months. They are always imaginatively present to her but her life, as an author and figure with a--very unwilling--public profile, her life changes greatly after their deaths. She can never leave her father, a possessive but also a permission-giving man; and this conditions her sense of duty and piety, and her life-prospects in the widest sense.

Gerin knows a huge amount about the Brontes and writes in an exalted tone of passion. The details in her book are too abundant, not well-sorted. Proprieties seem to dull her insight--e.g. Charlotte's taste in men is 'emotionally' formed when she is fourteen--and indulging in fantasies of Wellington/Zamorna/Milton's Satan-type; she probably means 'sexually'. The influence of the Bible on the sisters' writing, as opposed to that of Milton and Shakespeare--is sharply underplayed. Calvinism figures in Gerin's imagination as a grabbag of bugbears for Charlotte.

[Patricia Monger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written several decades ago so I would expect that more recent studies may have challenged some of the inferences in this book. But I don‘t care - read this one. For one thing, it reads like a Brontë novel. And the scholarship is impeccable.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[Catriona Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great companion to Villette and Jane Eyre. It's a very long book, but it is easy to pick out sections of interest. After I read Villette, I was really curious about where the story had come from. I was amazed by the creativity and psychological insight. I read bits and pieces of several books about Charlotte Bronte and discovered that incidents that I thought were strictly from imagination were actually drawn from her emotional experience. Of all the books about C Bronte, this one was definitely the best.

[Marsali Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed, meticulous, and for the first time gave me a better idea of Charlotte's personality. I'd previously been put off her as a person by her seeming religious bigotry in Vilette, but this gave a clear picture of a child whose imaginings spoiled her for real life, a young woman whose sense of duty drove her to stick to her post as a teacher, in spite of acute homesickness and dislike of the work. Her relationship with her brother is explored, particularly her reaction to his self-destructive behaviour, and the whole episode of her love for M Heger treated in depth.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensively documented and well written. I am not a big fan of biography as a genre but this one is really enjoyable for those genuinely interested in Charlotte Brontë.
Gérin, an expert who has written biographies on all the Brontë children (and also on Elizabeth Gaskell), feels great sympathy towards Charlotte and her circumstances as well as admiration for her genius.
Highly recommended.

[Beesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive scholarly biography of Charlotte Bronte. Sticks as closely as possible to CB's own words, as found in her letters and other writings. It doesn't get any better than this.