Villette (Barnes & Noble Classics) - Charlotte Bronte [2]
Following the deaths of Branwell and Emily Brontë in 1848 and Anne in 1849, Charlotte made trips to London, where she began to move in literary circles that included such luminaries as Thackeray, whom she met for the first time in 1849; his daughter described Brontë as “a tiny, delicate, serious, little lady.” In 1850 she met the noted British writer Elizabeth Gaskell, with whom she formed a lasting friendship and who, at the request of Reverend Brontë, later became her biographer. Charlotte’s novel Villette was published in 1853.
In 1854 Charlotte married Arthur Bell Nicholls, a curate at Haworth who worked with her father. Less than a year later, however, she fell seriously ill, perhaps with tuberculosis, and she died on March 31, 1855. At the time of her death, Charlotte Brontë was a celebrated author. The 1857 publication of her first novel, The Professor, and of Gaskell’s biography of her life only heightened her renown.
The World of Charlotte Brontë and Villette
1816 Charlotte Brontë is born on April 21 in Thornton, England , the third of six children of the Reverend Patrick and Maria Branwell Brontë.
1817- 1820 Charlotte’s younger siblings, Patrick Branwell, Emily, and Anne, are born.
1820 The Brontë family moves to Haworth, where Reverend Brontë has been offered a lifetime curacy.
1821 Charlotte’s mother, Maria, dies, and her sister, Elizabeth Branwell, moves into the Brontë household to help raise the six young children.
1824 Charlotte and Emily, along with their older sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, attend Cowan Bridge School.
1825 Maria and Elizabeth contract what is probably tuberculosis and die. Charlotte and Emily are pulled out of school to return home to Haworth.
1826 The four surviving siblings create the “Young Men” plays, the first of their imaginative fictional writings, which are followed in 1827 by “Our Fellows” and “The Islanders.”
1831- 1832 Charlotte attends Miss Wooler’s school at Roe Head.
1835 Charlotte returns to Roe Head as a teacher. Emily attends as a student, but stays only three months; Anne takes her place, studying there until 1837.
1837 Charlotte writes to Robert Southey, the British poet laureate , to ask his opinion of her poetry. His disheartening response implies that while Charlotte displays what Wordsworth calls “faculty of verse,” this is nothing extraordinary in a time of so many decent poets. He goes on to declare that women have no business in literature.
1838 Charlotte resigns from her teaching position at Roe Head.
1839- 1841 She works as a governess, first in Lothersdale and later in Rawdon.
1842 Charlotte and Emily travel to Brussels to study at Pensionnat Héger, where they read, among other things, works by French and German Romantics. They stay less than a year, returning to Haworth because their aunt Elizabeth Branwell has died.
1843- 1844 Charlotte spends a second year at the Pensionnat in Brussels honing her French and German language skills. She develops a strong emotional attachment to her married employer and former teacher, Constantin Héger, a situation that may have informed the Jane Eyre love story. Charlotte returns to Haworth in January 1844.
1846 In February, Charlotte sends a manuscript, Poems by Currer , Ellis, and Acton Bell (the pen names of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, respectively), to the London publisher Aylott and Jones. The poems are published in May at the sisters’ expense; only two copies are sold. In June Charlotte completes her first novel, The Professor. By the end of the year she has begun work on Jane Eyre.
1847 While Charlotte’s manuscript for The Professor is rejected by various