#charlotte shirley

[girlycinephile]

a.k.a the best kind of character there is

[adobongsiopao]

Man, this confession is painful. I feel you Charlotte.

[academic-vampire]

I am always astounded when I ask a male literature major which writers they like, and they don’t name ANY women …

(Like dude you say you like fucking HEMMINGWAY???? But not, like, oh I don’t know, Rossetti or Plath or Bradstreet or O’Connor or Welty or Woolf or Austen or Alcott or the Brontës or Shelley or Hurston or Dillard or Dickinson or Jackson or Chopin or Gilman or Atwood or Wharton or Angelou or Stowe or Sappho or E. Browning or…—????)

Don’t even get me started… (too late)

[everythinglucymaudmontgomery]

[aniaks]

[...] but when people are long indifferent to us, we grow indifferent to their indifference.

Shirley by Charlotte Bronte

[burningvelvet]

Ranking all the Brontë novels + briefly reviewing The Professor

I finally finished The Professor by Charlotte Brontë, which means I HAVE COMPLETED ALL THE BRONTË NOVELS, which means I can now rank them. This is a rough order, but brief explanations will be given...

As an aside, bc I don't want to make a separate post for my review of The Professor, but I did note several strong similarities to Jane Eyre (the female lead's description, her elvish comparisons) and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Hunsden/Huntington as the cynic, although the former is mostly good and the latter mostly bad). Really all the Brontë novels are very similar so there are tons of more common themes I could mention but won't. Also, more references to Scottish besties Walter Scott & Lord Byron!

Now for my official Brontë Book Ranking (which may be subject to change over the years...)

7. Shirley - I would like to revisit this one. There are some great gems in it, and I'm fascinated by the Luddism subject matter. It is also a strong contender for the most feminist Brontë novel and has probably the most in-depth female relationships which does count for something. But it's SO UNNECESSARILY LONG! And often boring! And it took me the longest to finish. So it has to be last.

6. The Professor - this one benefits from not being Shirley. It's also a good attempt at a first novel I think. It has some gems, but it's often boring like Shirley is in my opinion. I thought the main male, Crimsworth, was a bit more exciting to follow than any of the men in Shirley. I actually think Crimsworth is a pretty inspiring figure and I enjoyed his observations and his anti-work rhetoric. Like most Brontë protagonists, he's a teacher who experiences classism, poverty, and oppression, and manages to overcome these things through frugality, faith, love, hope, etc.

5. Agnes Grey - it's hard to get through at times but it's generally worth it and has a strong pay off. I think Anne's writing style is generally enjoyable. It's has a lot of the horror of Wuthering Heights and the lighter parts of Jane Eyre but it lacks Charlotte and Emily's stronger passions and has more of Anne's calm reasoning, faith, and stoicism. That makes it sound more boring than it really is maybe. I also think it's fascinating for being largely semi-autobiographical like Charlotte's works can be. We get to "know" Anne more than we do in Tenant I feel, and I think she's pretty admirable. The bird scene was based on a real experience she had as a governess, and she wrote most of the novel as a rebellious act in her room right after work. All teachers and childcare workers – and really all women and members of the working-class – should take this novel as the cautionary tale it was written to be.

4. Villette - this is the weirdest Brontë novel. Some interesting scenes and characters. Charlotte's last novel shows far more writerly evolution than in Shirley where she was again trying for more progressive social commentary (and mostly succeeded I think) but often fell back into the more sedate or conventional nature that parts of The Professor has (saving Crimsworth's sometimes strong, sassy, rebellious attitude). Villette was written in a strange period of grief for Charlotte and it shows. Villette is basically Jane Eyre's weirder older sister.

3 and 2 are almost tied for me. I have also written about 3, 2, and 1 so much on my blog that I probably won't go into as much detail as I have with the others.

3. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - shockingly underrated. Hard to get through, but so is Wuthering Heights which it's pretty similar to at times. Radically progressive and daring, it is a strong contender for being the most feminist Brontë novel and the most oriented toward social justice (although they really all are). Brilliant use of mystery and gothic allure with a social realism that was too ahead of its time to fall into the common traps of that genre. Has everything you could want in a Brontë novel.

2. Wuthering Heights - a bomb in your face. Full of passion. Grand drama. What can I say? It's infamous for valid reasons. Never a boring moment, which instantly pushes it to the top of the list for me who am easily bored. I have elaborated on this work very often on my page so I don't feel the need to reiterate everything here but I will say that this novel has basically everything you could want.

1. Jane Eyre - has all the gothic mystery and passion of Wuthering Heights but focuses on fewer characters whose arcs thus feel more personable and fulfilling in my opinion. We get to know Jane and Rochester much more fully than almost any of the other Brontë characters I feel. And it is my love for the characters that really makes this one my favorite Brontë novel as well as one of my favorite tales of all time (whereas Heights is notorious for its unlikeable characters which actually repel many readers from enjoying it). No wonder it's the most adapted and tied with Wuthering Heights for being the most famous (although I think it may have surpassed Wuthering Heights in pop culture at times). I also think there are a lot of really meaningful themes, morals, and subjects that are explored in this novel, which again can be said of all Brontë novels, but it all feels so much more full in this one. The plot itself is also the most well-crafted in my opinion, and it has one of the greatest twists in all of literature/media imo.

[paris-in-a-whisper]

La Pluie Et Vous.

[readtheuniverse]

[clair-blake]

Acquired this first edition of Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley at last month’s New York International Antiquarian Book Fair - it was complete luck that I saw the volumes in one of the cases. The text blocks show their age, but they were beautifully rebound in leather around the turn of the 20th century.

It was such an overwhelming feeling when I opened one and saw the first page with the year and the publisher.

So many amazing things at this Fair! I highly recommend checking it out next year if you are in the area.

[venusleontios55555]

Best Fictional Characters to date (not ranked)

1. Percy Jackson: a man who would jump into Tartarus just to be with me ... GOD YES, 12-year-old me is screaming right now. Plus do not forget the golden retriever energy Percy has around Annabeth.

2. Gilbert Blythe: Imagine getting rejected by your crush of 10 years in the late 1800s when asking her hand for marriage. Most men of that time would perhaps yell at the woman, or threaten to force her hand in marriage. But not our Gilbert Blythe. This man took the rejection well and constantly supported Anne's hopes and dreams while loving her from the sidelines and never telling her so, till she told him that she loved him first. And she did she loved him to death. (slight spoiler: they have seven children together)

3. Nick Nelson: Never judged Charlie for his sexual orientation, protected him from his bullies, never mistreated him, always stayed beside him no matter what the situation (webtoon readers will know what I mean), and was just the perfect fucking boyfriend overall. Ps: the beach scene.

4. King George the 3rd: OK, I might be a bit biased, but cmon have you seen this absolute perfection of a human being. He ALLOWED himself to be tortured just so he could be with the woman he loves. Was the kindest and sweetest person who allowed his BRIDE the option of not getting married if she did not want to... RIGHT BEFORE THE FUCKING WEDDING!!!!! (I did not add the under-bed scene below because I did not want anyone to cry... you are welcome. )

5. Prince Wilhelm: THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE COUPLE OH MY GOD!!!! I FUCKING LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT! Not only was this guy the absolute fucking green flag, but he was so deeply in love with Simon that he was ready to give up the fucking crown for him!! And the way he cared and loved Simon, even though he was unsure of his sexuality was amazing. Most tv shows would just immediately portray the character as homophobic but, Young Royals has done an amazing job at portraying the teenage mindset, especially when it comes to sexuality.

"NEVER SETTLE FOR LESS EVERYONE"

PS: This was just my opinion, I am sure everyone feels differently

[adobongsiopao]

Martha Brown, the loyal servant of the Brontë family revealed to a parsonage visitor about Charlotte Brontë's situation after her two younger sisters Emily and Anne died from consumption. The Brontë sisters used to walk around the dining table at night to discuss and share ideas about writing the plot for their novels.

[brontebites]

Brontë Bites

Just a reminder that we start Wuthering Heights tomorrow! Subscribe to our Substack here to read along with us!

[shortstorytournament]

Short Story Tournament

THE LOTTERY by Shirley Jackson (1948) (link) - tw: death

The people had done it so many times that they only half listened to the directions: most of them were quiet, wetting their lips, not looking around.

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1887) (link) - tw: depression, insanity

John is so pleased to see me improve! He laughed a little the other day, and said I seem to be flourishing in spite of my wall-paper. I turned it off with a laugh. I had no intentions of telling him it was because of the wall-paper — he would make fun of me. He might even want to take me away.

[softly-and-suddenly]

Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House // Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper" // Toni Morrison, Beloved // Alison Bechdel, Fun Home // Paula Fox, Desperate Characters

[burningvelvet]

just found out that there's an audiobook of charlotte brontë's the professor narrated by james wilby aka the actor who played maurice in maurice 1987... yeah, i'm putting shirley on pause for now. 70% thru but still has over 6 hrs left which is nearly as long as all of the professor at 9 hrs. i've gone thru over 17 hrs and it's had a few gem passages here and there but has dragged much more than the other brontë novels. maybe one day i'll revisit it with a fresh perspective