Sisters are doin' for themselves
I have finally retired my Greatest Victorian Novel poll, and was surprised that Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights didn’t attract more votes. Mind you, the former did see a late surge, but I think that was due mainly to Kirsty voting from several computers. Indeed, the Yorkshire lasses seem to have generally fallen out of favour. Having spent the last four years completely immersed in Victorian literature, I would have expected Anne, Emily and Charlotte to have made frequent appearances. I was rather hoping for an opportunity to re-read their work, the last time being about 100 years ago when I was an anguished teenager.
Anyway, I’m going to move Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall to the top of Mount TBR, and see how they fare with my more mature self. I think there ought to be an online dictionary of the Bronte oeuvre, a la the marvellous anthonytrollope.com. Obviously, it would have to be called brontesaurus.com. I suspect somebody has already come up with that one, but I’m still giggling Pooteresquely at my own small joke.
Back in the days when the Brontes were still fashionable, there was occasional debate as to which sister was the better writer. I thought I’d resurrect the issue by way of a poll (see right). There is no option to claim that Branwell wrote all the novels, and any comments to that effect will mysteriously disappear into cyberspace. This is my own tiny republic and my psephological rules prevail.
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Oi! I only voted from, er, two computers.
Now this poll is going to cause me no end of trouble. I love all three of the “main” novels, but for very different reasons. I do think that Anne gets unfairly sidelined because she lacked the passion of Jane and especially Emily, but that does her an injustice. To write about a woman dealing with an alcoholic husband was incredibly advanced for her time (and we certainly have Branwell to thank for providing the inspiration).
But… Jane Eyre is My Favourite Book Ever, and I get similarly googly-eyed over Wuthering Heights (though WH is the one I’ve read least recently). I’m just not sure I can vote yet. Either that, or I’ll need to find a third computer so I can give them a vote each.
Full disclosure: I voted twice too on the greatest Victorian novel, but for two different books, because I was unable to choose. Now I am going to vote for my favourite Brontë sister, which is Charlotte because she wrote both the marvellous Jane Eyre and the wonderful Villette.
Ahhh, so there was widespread cheating on my previous poll. Outrageous behaviour! You have a good point about ‘Villette’ – I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed that novel. Has anyone ever enjoyed ‘Shirley’, though?
Shirley is the only Bronte novel I haven’t read, to my shame. One day…
I’ve never managed to finish it – it’s an absolute stinker.
I did not think Shirley was as brilliant as Jane Eyre and Villette, but I still like it a great deal. Mind you, I read it in 1983, so I don’t remember a lot about it, but at the time I awarded it the equivalent of 4 stars (yes, I have been keeping track of all the books I have read since 1980 …)
That’s a good point, Anna, I must’ve read in about 20 years ago. 4 stars is indeed an impressive mark, so perhaps I ought to give it another try.
I don’t think I can make a choice, but need to re-read Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall as it’s been years. I’ve never got around to Shirley, I always re-read Jane Eyre instead. One of these days though!
I’ve got a big bout of Brontemania again so I’m going back to the whole lot and the ones I haven’t read, I did think The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was amazing when I read it for the first time recently.
I think ‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’ has been woefully overlooked as a genuinely radical novel. I think it’s easy to forget just how shocking some of the scenes were in their day, such as Helen Markham slamming the door in her husband’s face. It certainly prefigures some of the powerful sensation novels of the 1860s, ‘Lady Audley’s Secret’, to name but one.
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