Caminar invisible. Cartas sobre «Jane Eyre», 1847-1854

by Charlotte Brontë, Angelo Narváez León (Traductor y notas), María Sonia Cristoff (Prólogo)

En 1847, Charlotte Brontë publica «Jane Eyre» con el seudónimo de Currer Bell. No es la primera vez que utiliza ese nombre masculino. Un año antes, junto a sus hermanas Emily y Anne, prepara una antología de poemas, un libro que en un pacto de anonimato firman como Currer, Ellis y Acton Bell, una performance no declarada que les permite pasar de hermanas a hermanos, de escritoras a escritores. El mito en torno a Charlotte, Emily y Anne, las célebres Brontë, las hijas de un pastor anglicano que en plena Inglaterra victoriana escribieron un conjunto de «bestsellers», comenzó a gestarse en su propio tiempo. ¿Quiénes habían escrito esas novelas que parecían desafiar las reglas literarias de la época? ¿Quiénes eran esas reales autorías procedentes de un pequeño pueblo norteño del campo inglés? Persiguiendo las pistas cotidianas, los hilos que componen la formación silenciosa de una obra ineludible, «Caminar invisible. Cartas sobre Jane Eyre, 1847-1854» recopila las cartas que Charlotte Brontë escribe a William Smith Williams y George Smith, sus editores de Smith, Elder & Co. Reúne las sutiles marcas de un intercambio epistolar que rodea la construcción de un nombre propio y la revelación inesperada de una autoría femenina. Expone las negociaciones y vacilaciones de una escritura que apostó por la defensa de la literatura ante el asedio del espacio público y las valoraciones de la crítica. Un libro que, acompañado de la lectura de María Sonia Cristoff, nos sumerge en las tramas del proyecto literario de Charlotte y sus hermanas, en la fuerza de su literatura, y en las interrogantes sobre la visibilidad autoral y de género a la luz de los esquemas contemporáneos.

216 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2024

About the author

Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist, the eldest out of the three famous Brontë sisters whose novels have become standards of English literature. See also Emily Brontë and Anne Brontë.

Charlotte Brontë was born in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, the third of six children, to Patrick Brontë (formerly "Patrick Brunty"), an Irish Anglican clergyman, and his wife, Maria Branwell. In April 1820 the family moved a few miles to Haworth, a remote town on the Yorkshire moors, where Patrick had been appointed Perpetual Curate. This is where the Brontë children would spend most of their lives. Maria Branwell Brontë died from what was thought to be cancer on 15 September 1821, leaving five daughters and a son to the care of her spinster sister Elizabeth Branwell, who moved to Yorkshire to help the family.

In August 1824 Charlotte, along with her sisters Emily, Maria, and Elizabeth, was sent to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire, a new school for the daughters of poor clergyman (which she would describe as Lowood School in Jane Eyre). The school was a horrific experience for the girls and conditions were appalling. They were regularly deprived of food, beaten by teachers and humiliated for the slightest error. The school was unheated and the pupils slept two to a bed for warmth. Seven pupils died in a typhus epidemic that swept the school and all four of the Brontë girls became very ill - Maria and Elizabeth dying of tuberculosis in 1825. Her experiences at the school deeply affected Brontë - her health never recovered and she immortalised the cruel and brutal treatment in her novel, Jane Eyre. Following the tragedy, their father withdrew his daughters from the school.

At home in Haworth Parsonage, Charlotte and the other surviving children — Branwell, Emily, and Anne — continued their ad-hoc education. In 1826 her father returned home with a box of toy soldiers for Branwell. They would prove the catalyst for the sisters' extraordinary creative development as they immediately set to creating lives and characters for the soldiers, inventing a world for them which the siblings called 'Angria'. The siblings became addicted to writing, creating stories, poetry and plays. Brontë later said that the reason for this burst of creativity was that:

'We were wholly dependent on ourselves and each other, on books and study, for the enjoyments and occupations of life. The highest stimulus, as well as the liveliest pleasure we had known from childhood upwards, lay in attempts at literary composition.'

After her father began to suffer from a lung disorder, Charlotte was again sent to school to complete her education at Roe Head school in Mirfield from 1831 to 1832, where she met her lifelong friends and correspondents, Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor. During this period (1833), she wrote her novella The Green Dwarf under the name of Wellesley. The school was extremely small with only ten pupils meaning the top floor was completely unused and believed to be supposedly haunted by the ghost of a young lady dressed in silk. This story fascinated Brontë and inspired the figure of Mrs Rochester in Jane Eyre.

Brontë left the school after a few years, however she swiftly returned in 1835 to take up a position as a teacher, and used her wages to pay for Emily and Anne to be taught at the school. Teaching did not appeal to Brontë and in 1838 she left Roe Head to become a governess to the Sidgewick family -- partly from a sense of adventure and a desire to see the world, and partly from financial necessity.

Charlotte became pregnant soon after her wedding, but her health declined rapidly and, according to biographer Elizabeth Gaskell, she was attacked by "sensations of perpetual nausea and ever-recurring faintness." She died, with her unborn child, on 31 March 1855.

Reviews

[Paula Hernández Torres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Increíble. Francamente este libro alimentó mi obsesión con Charlotte ajaja Me hizo admirarla muchísimo más que cuando terminé de leer Jane Eyre.

Era una mujer tan inteligente, culta, intrépida, sagaz… pero siempre noble y justa. Me dio muchísima pena la parte en donde relata la muerte de sus hermanas y me encantó el cómo se refiere a ellas, sobre todo cuando decide contar la historia y limpiar sus nombres. Una genia!

[Kaitlyn! · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve never read Jane Eyre, but I imagine this is relatively close to the original Brontë version.
I’ll read Jane Eyre (full thing) when I have the time, but this is a nice quick read for those who don’t want to read the full thing.

[Ilse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hay que leer este libro despues de leer Jane Eyre si o si. Es un libro imperdible para comprender mejor y leer en primera persona a Charlotte como autora en su ejercicio de la reflexión escribiendo, siendo autónoma en las decisiones asociadas a sus libros, pero tambien surfeando la época siendo una autora con seudónimo que le permite ser invisible. El libro también da luces del lado más humano de la autora, mostrando el amor por su familia y aprecio por sus editores. Finalmente destaca la importancia de las cartas para la época y como estas permiten reconstruir hoy parte de la historia y aspectos desconocidos de las mentes detrás de los clásicos.

[Andi Asenjo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buenisimo increíble, me obsesionan las bronte y esto lo alimento. Me gusto harto

[citasylibrosporpau]

Este libro es la recopilación de cartas de Charlotte Brontë (Currer Bell) a sus editores, cuando les envía el manuscrito de "Jane Eyre". Son cartas muy significativas porque en ellas hallamos el impacto que tuvo la muerte de Anne, lo que pensaba sobre Gaskell y Austen, así como la forma en que ella concebía la escritura, su postura frente a las sugerencias de los editores y su vida cotidiana. Creo que el género epistolar nos entrega una herramienta maravillosa para entender mejor a los/as autores/as que amamos.

[Sofi Navarrok · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una buena forma de acercarse a la autora Charlotte Brontë y conocer la relación con sus hermanas, con sus editores y su propia escritura.

[Anna Brewer-Calvert · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent retelling. Perfect for YA readers or readers who are new and/or intimidated by classic books!

[Viviana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me pareció una edición preciosa, tanto el texto de Cristoff como las notas del traductor son excelentes y complementan maravillosamente la lectura de las cartas.