The Life of Charlotte Brontë - Volume 2

by Elizabeth Gaskell

This is the second and final volume of Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell's 1957 biography of Charlotte "Bront�, Charlotte Bront� - A Monograph." The first biography of this seminal literary figure, this volume provides a fantastic and unique insight into her life and mind, making it a must-read for fans of her work. Emily Jane Bront� (1818 - 1848), also known under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, was an English poet and novelist best known for her only novel and classic of English literature, "Wuthering Heights." She was the third-oldest of the four Bront� siblings who survived into adulthood. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, (1810 -1865) commonly known as Gaskell, was an English biographer, novelist, and writer of short stories famous for her authentic depictions of Victorian society. Other notable works by this author include: "Cranford" (1851-53), "North and South" (1854), and "Wives and Daughters" (1865). Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this classic volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition for the enjoyment of literature lovers now and for years to come.

Genres: Biography, Classics, Victorian

238 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1857

About the author

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, née Stevenson (29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to simply as Mrs. Gaskell, was an English novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of society, including the very poor, and as such are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature.

AKA:
Елізабет Гаскелл (Ukrainian)

Reviews

[Deodand · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is one that will resonate with a very specific type of reader. It is necessary to have read her works, including the juvenilia, to understand many of the references. You have to be deeply interested in Brontë's life to tackle it. Not a few Goodreaders have been put off by the lengthy descriptions of Yorkshire life that take up the first 50 pages.

The thin information about Brontë contained in the front of many editions of her novels is quite startling when you examine the timeline. It told me almost nothing, yet shocked me. Brontë's life was full of pain and suffering of a type that we cannot even conceive of today. She was hemmed in by her gender. Her life was full of frustration, sacrifice, duty, death, neglect and illness. Through it all she retained her faith and strength, never raising her fist or voice in anger. Her death was the result of a pregnancy she should have never considered in her frail condition, which is the most frustrating thing of all. She was in her prime, experiencing the fullness of married life and ready at last to appreciate the bloom of her genius when she died.

Gaskell was Brontë's friend; some criticism has been made of this biography because of that fact. Gaskell herself admits that she wishes to show her friend in her best light. It is all we can wish for after our own death, I suppose.

One more thing - I hope you aren't reading the North Books edition I read. There are tons of typos. Whoever edited this book needs to grab a freaking brain. Get a better version if you can!

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mrs. Gaskell continues to serve overwritten Victorian treacle dedicated to the memory of Charlotte Brontë in this second volume. The introduction by Alan Shelston in the 1975 edition points out Mrs. Gaskell's omissions and deletions (some due to Charlotte's main correspondent, Ellen Nussey), and her anxiety to please both Charlotte's father Patrick, and her husband Arthur Nicholls. This volume covers the Brontë sisters’ literary success and then the quickly following deaths of Branwell, Emily, and Anne within nine months’ time. Charlotte recovers after a period of grief and depression, and goes on to exchange letters and visits with the literary people of the day, including Thackeray, whom she counts as the greatest living author of her time. Despite her London visits, and her widening circle of acquaintance, she persists in an almost pathological shyness and a dread of meeting new people. The introduction claims that Mrs. Gaskell shaped the Life of Charlotte Brontë to her own morbid and moral purposes, and painted Charlotte’s life as bleaker than it actually was. But even without her sentimentalizing, the bare facts of Charlotte Brontë’s life are bleak enough. The saddest fact is the needlessness of her own death, the result of a pregnancy which seemed ill-advised given Charlotte’s weak constitution and the high maternal mortality rate of the day. Still, it’s consistent with the prevailing religiously-tinged fatalism of the time, as well as Charlotte’s self-abnegating character as she is portrayed in the Life.

[Amy Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume, which picks up in Brontë's life just at the beginning of her publishing career, provides an even stronger emphasis of chronicling her life with her own words. Two themes were significant for my own enjoyment of the book:
1) Brontë's journey as an adult through loss and grief. Her life from early on was characterized by personal tragedy but the loss of her adult siblings took a tremendous toll and I appreciated getting a glimpse into how she dealt with that grief.
2) I was fascinated by the accounts and correspondence that revealed Brontë's thoughts on and interactions with her contemporaries. Simply delightful to read what she had to say about Jane Austen, George Sand, William Thackeray, and many others.

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second volume of Elizabeth Gaskell's biography. I found this a fascinating book with deep insights into the life of a little known British author. I was pleased to find that she eventually married and lived happily for some months together with her husband before her death. Her life was a hard one, but her works continue to inspire and encourage.

[Juliana Lira · Rating 4 out of 5]

It could be a way better like the first volume but it's fine if you're a Bronte fan. Like I said it is too slow, too many letters and focused in little things that wasn't that important about Charlotte while the bigger things about her life in the last chapters are rushed.