The Brontës VIII

I'm up to 1851 and am gradually cruising toward the end of the book. With the publication of Shirley, Charlotte began a new role as a major English literary figure. She had sent advance copies of Shirley to friends and to Mrs. Gaskell and Harriet Martineau, whom she eventually met. She visited London several times and did the literary rounds. There she met one of her heroes, William Makepeace Thackeray. She had her little clash with G.H. Lewes, but apparently they made up. She also heard from Lewes's friend, Thornton Hunt, who invited her to write for their new publication, The Leader. She declined. Charlotte's friend, Mary Taylor, comes up periodically in the book, even after she has moved to New Zealand. She apparently was more intellectual than Ellen Nussey and disliked Shirley. Compared to Charlotte and Ellen, Mary was independent and a feminist. In 1849, Charlotte met James Taylor, an employee of her publisher, Smith, Elder & Co. He proposed to her in 1851, and she turned him down.

Oddly, this period reminds me of Carson McCullers. Once McCullers became a celebrity, she seemed to have the time of her life – but that was in the 1940's. Also, she was a lesbian and often hit on women. Technically, there were similarities between literary rises in the U.S. in the 1940's and in the U.K. in the 1850's. But, comparatively speaking, the Victorians were stick-in-the-muds. And the literary culture then wasn't really exciting. I have never bothered to read any Charles Dickens or William Makepeace Thackeray. I only know Thackeray through Stanley Kubrick, whose film, Barry Lyndon, I think, was his most boring. But even though Charlotte had significant literary aspirations, she still preferred Haworth to London.

Unfortunately, I'm losing enthusiasm for this book as I wade through it. This isn't really the fault of Juliet Barker; rather, it's because I found Emily to be the most interesting of the Brontës, and she's already dead. Anne may have been interesting too if she had lived longer. I don't actually miss Branwell, because he seemed to be disorganized and self-destructive, and I don't share his interest in the Romantic poets. So, now I'm stuck with Patrick and Charlotte, whether I like it or not. They are probably both too conservative for me, and I have none of their religious convictions. Charlotte also lived in a different universe from Harriet Martineau, who was an atheist – they later had a falling-out. Other than escaping a life of poverty in Ireland and reestablishing himself in a more stable life in Yorkshire, Patrick doesn't seem especially interesting to me. His main contribution to his family and society seems to have been good literary genes, though it is also possible that good genes came from Maria Branwell, his wife. 

As far as Branwell is concerned, he may have made an oblique contribution to American film by serving as a model for Benjamin Braddock, possibly a new name for Branwell Brontë, in The Graduate (1967), starring Dustin Hoffman. That film is based on a novel by Charles Webb. The story is about the young Benjamin having an affair with Mrs. Robinson shortly after graduating from college. However, in light of American moral standards, Benjamin ends up falling in love with Mrs. Robinson's daughter and runs off with her at the end. I don't think that Paul Simon was aware of a possible Brontë connection when he wrote Mrs. Robinson for the soundtrack. That album, Bookends, also became highly popular.

I must also say that, while I do find Charlotte to be a good writer, she still falls within a fairly standard careerist literary model. She clearly wrote novels specifically to improve her financial situation, and, given her other social aspirations, her behavior probably fits into the category of social climbing. If you take Barker's text at face value, Charlotte spent much of her time cultivating her friendships with her two rich female friends, whereas there is little evidence of Emily or Anne showing much interest in people beyond their immediate circle in Haworth. Charlotte produced the idea of writing and publishing novels and supervised the process for Emily and Anne. This is particularly noticeable to me, because Emily seemed to embody the idea of placing value on art itself and didn't generally concern herself with monetizing it.