English writers all, the three Brontë sisters – Charlotte, Emily and Anne, are famous for their passionate novels which include two most popular books in the English language, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights.
The Family Brontë: Three Novelist Sisters
The Brontë family lived in the north of England on the bleak Yorkshire moors. Four years after Charlotte was born, the family moved to Haworth parsonage. After Anne's birth their mother died, leaving five sisters and a brother to be raised by their clergyman father and a strict, religious aunt. later, both eldest sisters died in their early teens.
The remaining three sisters and only brother, Branwell, grew up at home, playing on the moors, reading voraciously, and writing about their imaginary and fantasy lands. They attended school only briefly. Later, they worked as teachers or governesses.
Three Novelist-Sisters
In 1846, Charlotte, Emily and Anne published a book of poems together. The finest poems were Emily's. After only a few copies sold, the Brontës tried writing fiction. A novel by each sister appeared in 1847: Jane Eyre by Charlotte, aged 31; Wuthering Heights by Emily, aged 29; and Agnes Grey by Anne, aged 27.
Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre
All three books drew on each author's own experiences and intense feelings. Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre were most arresting and powerful. Wuthering Heights is a story of love, hate and revenge set on the Yorkshire moors and Jane Eyre tells of a poor but brave girl who falls in love with a harsh and difficult landowner.
Premature Deaths in Brontë Family
No other Victorian novel shares its fierce, wild and savage spirit as depicted in now classic books Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. It was unfortunate that by mid-1849 Emily and Anne died of tuberculosis, and their brother had died from over consumption of drugs and alcohol. Charlotte, the only one left behind, married a clergyman in 854, but also died giving birth the following year.
Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855)
Charlotte Brontë was born on April 21, 1816 and died March 31, 1855, at the age of 38. She wrote by the pen name of Currer Bell. Her personal life was unhappy. Her dissolute brother died early. She was the last one to survive and receive public acclaim but also died few years later in childbirth within a year of her marriage.
Charlotte Brontë's Novels
- Jane Eyre, 1847
- Shirley, 1849
- Villette, 1853
- The Professor, 1857 (Written 1846, published after she died)
Emily Brontë (1818-1848)
Emily Brontë was born on July 30, 1818 and died December 19, 1848, at the age of 30. Novelist and poet, she wrote by the pen name Ellis Bell.
Emily Brontë's Novel
- Wuthering Heights, 1847
Composers with opera adaptation of Wuthering Heights:
Anne Brontë (1820-1849)
Anne Brontë was born on January 17, 1820 and died May 28, 1849, at the age of 29. The youngest of the three sisters, she became a governess, an experience she much reflected in her novel Agnes Grey.
Anne Brontë's Novels
- Agnes Grey, 1847
- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, 1848
Sources:
Goring, Rosemary (editor), Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994
Great British Writers, London: Colour Library Books, 1993
McGovern, Una (editor), Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap, 2002
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