Within the confines of a remote vicarage and the span of a very few years, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Anne Bronte and their tragic brother Branwell produced novels, poems, drawings, paintings and whole fictional, even fantastical worlds.  They were a family blighted beyond measure (all died young, and in quick succession) and perhaps blessed beyond measure (two of the sisters are among England's greatest novelists).  Their writing and visual representations include explorations of the complexities of childhood, of illicit desire, of money and power, of civility and violence, of life and death.  In this course, we will be working especially closely with the rich variety of literary works produced by these writers, and examining also the remarkable mid-Victorian phenomenon that the Bronte household itself presents.

Readings will proceed in the chronological order of their production, with a few exceptions.  We will begin with the impressive juvenilia of all four, drawing from their early narratives and art work to enter into the imaginary worlds they created.  Alongside these, we'll read a riveting biographical account, The Life of Charlotte Bronte (1857), written by Elizabeth Gaskell, a notable Victorian novelist in her own right.  Gaskell in effect chronicles the entire family, since they were inseparable in their development and mutual influences.  Then we will work closely with the first novels, written to some degree in tandem and all published around 1847: Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, and Anne Bronte's  Agnes Grey.  The sisters also jointly published a volume of poetry, and we will concentrate especially on the poems of Emily Bronte.  Tuberculosis early ended the lives of Emily and then Anne (in 1848 and 1849, respectively); opium addiction and alcoholism had already killed Branwell.  The course proceeds with Charlotte's remaining novels (before her own death in 1835), concentrating on Villette (1853), considered by many her masterpiece.

After Emily's death, Charlotte wrote, "An interpreter ought always to have stood between her and the world"--and indeed a great many interpreters have stepped forward to offer their services.  The novels Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights alone have deservedly received an immense amount of critical attention.  As this is an advanced seminar, we will attend to some of the variety of theoretical approaches brought to these novels (including feminist, deconstructive, psychoanalytic, and new historical readings).  We will work with criticism in order to sharpen our own critical and analytical understanding not only of the novels but of the usefulness and limitations of varying approaches.  At the center of the course, however, are these extraordinary literary works; in reading them it is impossible not to feel at points as Charlotte Bronte did, in re-reading her sister's novel Wuthering Heights: "we seem at times to breathe lightning."

Requirements: an oral presentation, a short paper at midterm,which may be revised, and a longer paper at the end of the term.  Consistent attendance and thoughtful, engaged participation are assumed.

Prerequisites: at least one 200-level course in the English department, or permission of the instructor.