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6th out of 94 books
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24 voters
The Brontës: A Life in Letters
Barker's selection of letters reveals the authentic voices of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, as well as their brother, Branwell, and father, Reverend Patrick Bronte. Charlotte was a letter-writer of supreme ability, ranging from facetious notes and intimate gossip to artfully composed pages of literary criticism, while Emily and Anne remain tantalizingly evasive, as few of th...more
Hardcover, 448 pages
Published
March 1st 1998
by Overlook Hardcover
(first published January 1st 1997)
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55th out of 158 books
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27 voters
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This is the book for every Brontë lover who has ever longed for another manuscript to be found. It is the book. Reading it was like reading Jane Eyre for the first time. It's that good. Juliet Barker is my new hero.
The book is a collection of all the best parts of the family's correspondence, with brilliant additions, selected by the editor, to round out the story. So you have letters from Charlotte, Anne, Emily, their father, Bramwell, and then selected ones from others about them (like a very...more
The book is a collection of all the best parts of the family's correspondence, with brilliant additions, selected by the editor, to round out the story. So you have letters from Charlotte, Anne, Emily, their father, Bramwell, and then selected ones from others about them (like a very...more
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I read this along with several Brontë books for an immersion class I took. Like journals, a writer's letters give a sense of the person behind the published work. These were never meant to be published. In fact, a key irony is that two of Charlotte's most frequent correspondents were on the receiving end of very different communication, and with different outcomes. With her friend Mary Taylor, a bit of a free spirit and a radical, she shared her writing ambitions. Charlotte shared a more hidden...more
Was struck by the manner in which they all lived through writing, how entirely their imaginative world was of the very everyday day air they breathed. Charlotte's vast lonliness, especially after the death of her sisters, is heartbreaking. On an up note, here is her summation of Jane Austin's Emma..."but what throbs fast and full, though hidden, and what blood rushes through, what is the unknown Seat of Life and the sentient target of Death - this Miss Austin ignores.
1 like · like · see review
Jan 21, 2012
rinabeana
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Brontë enthusiasts and anyone who has ever felt lonely and isolated
Shelves:
brontë
I cannot even begin to describe how profoundly this book moved me. Barker did a phenomenal job selecting letters and providing just enough of her own connecting text to give them context. The letters truly speak for themselves, however. Jane Eyre has been my favorite book since I was twelve years old and has stood the test of time (even when details had faded and I had doubts that it was as good as I remembered - IT WAS). I have read the novels of all three sisters and always felt a special affi...more
An extraordinary book, this one.
Having said that, I think one of the book's greatest strengths is the same thing that can sometimes make the reading of it a little uncomfortable. None of these letters were written to be made public and so every now and again the reader might feel a little voyeuristic in reading some of the more personal letters dealing with anything from grief to jealousy to triumph.
But then that to me is also the joy of these letters. Letters written in the knowledge that they...more
Having said that, I think one of the book's greatest strengths is the same thing that can sometimes make the reading of it a little uncomfortable. None of these letters were written to be made public and so every now and again the reader might feel a little voyeuristic in reading some of the more personal letters dealing with anything from grief to jealousy to triumph.
But then that to me is also the joy of these letters. Letters written in the knowledge that they...more
I love this book. I don't think I can really find words to describe how much I love this book.
It is exactly what the title suggests... a life in letters.
Letters and some diary entries from each Bronte dating back to their childhoods.
If I were stranded on a desert island, I'd have to have this book with me :-)
It is exactly what the title suggests... a life in letters.
Letters and some diary entries from each Bronte dating back to their childhoods.
If I were stranded on a desert island, I'd have to have this book with me :-)
Nov 06, 2012
Amy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Bronte novices AND those who know a lot about them
Some books of letters are simply organized by date written, writer, or receiver, and they can be hard to maintain an interest in and "follow the plot".
Not so with this book. The letters are carefully arranged to follow the course of events, providing multiple perspectives whenever possible. There is no excess of information; only that which is relevant to the story of the Brontes is included. There are little bits of connective narration when necessary.
For someone who has read a lot about the Br...more
Not so with this book. The letters are carefully arranged to follow the course of events, providing multiple perspectives whenever possible. There is no excess of information; only that which is relevant to the story of the Brontes is included. There are little bits of connective narration when necessary.
For someone who has read a lot about the Br...more
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this tape of the letters to and by the various Brontes and their friends. They were such an interesting family, but I never knew the real detail of their lives, apart from the bare bones.
Lovely, evocative letters. If you're interested in the Brontes in specific or in literary families in general (for me, rather more the latter), this is an interesting book to read and own. So striking how vivid and rich the imaginative world was in which the siblings all lived and wrote and consorted together; so very sad to lose members of this secret sibling society.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this tape of the letters to and by the various Brontes and their friends. They were such an interesting family, but I never knew the real detail of their lives, apart from the bare bones.
Mar 19, 2013
Margaret Bell
added it
Just fascinating ...
I found this so much more fascinating than any biography I have read on the Brontes. The different letters, most from, to or about Charlotte, showed more of the true character of the tragic family. The author did a good job at giving some background information on what was happening in the family at certain times, but truly allowing the letters tell the story. A must read for any Bronte fan.
This is a collection of letters from the Brontë family members to each other and other contacts. Mainly of interest to scholars probably, but amazing reading for anyone seriously interested in this most odd literary family. The editor, Dr. Barker, did a great job of selecting the letters and developing supportive materials for the book.
Powerful, so very very bleak, and distinctly unsatisfying for the lack of those particular letters about writing from Charlotte to Mary Taylor.
I have always loved Charlotte Bronte and her work. I have read biographies about her, but there is nothing like hearing about her feelings and experiences in her own words. the letters are both humorous and heartbreaking!
An AMAZING biography of an amazing family!! I love everything Bronte, and this book uses their own diaries and letters to tell their story. Remarkable!
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Juliet R. V. Barker (born 1958) is a British historian, specialising in the Middle Ages and literary biography. She is the author of a number of well-regarded works on the Brontës, William Wordsworth, and medieval tournaments. From 1983 to 1989 she was the curator and librarian of the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
Barker was educated at Bradford Girls' Grammar School and St Anne's College, Oxford, where...more
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Barker was educated at Bradford Girls' Grammar School and St Anne's College, Oxford, where...more
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“The first duty of an Author is --- I conceive --- a faithful allegiance to Truth and Nature; his second, such a conscientious study of Art as shall enable him to interpret eloquently and effectively the oracles delivered by those two great deities.
--- Charlotte Bronte”
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--- Charlotte Bronte”
