The Brontë Cabinet
Three Lives in Nine Objects
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
"Yields up all sorts of fascinating new angles on the famous siblings…Illuminating." —Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air
In this unique and lovingly detailed biography, Victorian literature scholar Deborah Lutz illuminates the fascinating lives of the Brontës through the things they wore, stitched, and inscribed. Lutz immerses readers in a nuanced re-creation of the sisters’ days while moving us chronologically through their lives. From the miniature books they made as children to the walking sticks they carried on hikes on the moors, each possession opens a window onto the sisters’ world, their beloved fiction, and the Victorian era.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Applying "thing theory" to the lives and literary legacy of the Bront s, Lutz (Pleasure Bound) skillfully uses the titular nine objects to explore the relationship between the sisters' world and their fiction. For instance, the miniscule volumes in which the Bront sisters and their brother, Branwell, recorded their juvenilia (fantasies set in the worlds of Angria and Gondal), prompts discussion of the dearness of printed books in the early 19th century and the consolation that so many Bront characters find in reading and owning books. A sampler made by Anne, meanwhile, is tied to the many types of needlework and knitting by which Bront heroines contribute to their households. A chapter on each sister's portable writing desk as a "personal space safeguarding secrets" contrasts Charlotte (who craved affection) with Emily (who was "deeply reserved"). Lutz bolsters her observations with abundant references to the Bront s' novels, poetry, and letters, proving especially insightful on Wuthering Heights. She muses on Emily's special relationship with the nearby moors (in connection with Branwell's walking stick), and on the imagery of death and the afterlife that laces the novel (elaborated from locks of the Bront s' hair kept as death mementos). Lutz commends Emily for her "visceral engagement with her subject matter," and the same could be said of Lutz in this illuminating biographical study.
