EMILY BRONTE: A Psychological Portrait

by Norma Crandall ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

The Manse, the moors, the mists and the Bronte family of Haworth, Yorkshire, emerge as a suffused double-exposure in Norma Crandall's careful reconstruction. Not one to trifle with the psyches of the dead, the author achieves an intriguing insight into the family relationships between Emily, her ambitious elder sister, Charlotte, the younger Anne, and the profligate Branwell, the ne'er do-well brother, egomaniacal, aglow with alcohol and bragadaccio at the nearby Black Bull's Inn. Three creative sisters endured the constriction of posts as governesses and teachers, buttressing their spineless brother. Prescience of his impending disintegration shadowed Emily's days. Still, through his drug addiction, alcoholism and a final ill-fated misalliance with his married employer, Mrs. Robinson, pity bound her to him. The domestic discord within the parsonage heightened the tension under which Emily wrote Wuthering Heights. The reader clearly discerns Branwell's outlines superimposed in the image of Heathcliffe. The author eschews affirmation or denial of an incestuous relationship between Emily and Branwell. Cautious.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Richard R. Smith

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1957

Categories: NONFICTION