Three Books By Three Sisters: Re-Reading the Classics

Mon, 07/31/2017 - 8:16pm by ballybeg

It is hard to imagine a family with more talent and tragedy woven through all its members than the Brontes. After I saw the new, most excellent film about the Bronte sisters, To Walk Invisible, I became curious to know more about their lives and to set about reading (and re-reading) their books, to explore further the depth of their genius, and how it was nurtured in near isolation on the moors of Yorkshire.

We have many biographies of the three sisters, but I found these three books especially interesting and approachable:
The Bronte Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily and Anne
The Bronte Cabinet: Three Lives in Nine Objects
The Brontes at Haworth

Charlotte most famously wrote Jane Eyre which is a book you can return to again and again, for the atmospheric setting, the twisty plot, and the parade of complex characters. Jane is one of most enduring and beloved heroines in literature. There have been over 50 film versions of the book, so far, and a new one comes about every 5-6 years. Real fans of this book have strong opinions about which one captures the essence of plain Jane and the tortured Rochester. This BBC version leaves very little out of the original, and this one, from Masterpiece, is also very true to the feeling of the book. But for the real experience read it! The book is better than any film version I have seen, and that runs to somewhere around 10 of them (my favorite is the 1996 Charlotte Gainsbourg version). I bet you read this in high school or college and loved it. It might be time to revisit Jane.

Anne wrote two novels, the better-known one being, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which is still not as famous as Charlotte and Emily’s books. I am reading it now, and I find this relative obscurity unfortunate because it is excellent, with all the requisite moody, atmospheric settings and the strong, mysterious heroine. It explores the themes of domestic violence, alcoholism, child abuse, and the independence of women, even married women, in such a shocking way that it was considered scandalous when it was published. It is considered one of the first feminist novels. The film version of this book is outstanding.

Emily wrote quite a lot of captivating poetry, but she only published one novel, the enigmatic Wuthering Heights. Here is a sample review, which appeared in Graham’s Lady Magazine, when it first came out: "How a human being could have attempted such a book as the present without committing suicide before he had finished a dozen chapters, is a mystery. It is a compound of vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors." Emily died believing the book was a failure. Little did she know the perennial fascination and loyalty the ill-fated relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy, and all the films based on it, would inspire.