Charlotte Bronte: biography, interesting facts. Biography of Charlotte Bronte Charlotte Bronte interesting

Charlotte Brontë is an English writer and novelist.

Charlotte Bronte
(1816-1855)
Nickname - Currer Bell
“Life is too short, and you shouldn’t waste it harboring enmity or remembering grievances.”

Charlotte Brontë was born into the family of an Irish rural priest in Yorkshire (England) on April 21, 1816. Charlotte was the third of six children. When the girl was five years old, her mother died and her aunt Elizabeth Branwell moved into their rectory to look after the orphaned children.

From early childhood, one of Charlotte's favorite pastimes was inventing fantastic tales and putting her thoughts and feelings into fairy-tale form. The rest of the family also took part in these activities, weaving whimsical patterns into the outline of the story conceived by Charlotte. The event that left a deep imprint on the secluded life of this strange family was the entry of the older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, into school in Cowan Bridge (1824), not far from their village of Haworth. The unfriendly school, which did not provide any food for their mental development and undermined their already poor health, was described in vivid colors by Charlotte in the novel “Jane Eyre.”

However, the sisters did not remain at school for long. A year later, the eldest, Maria, returned home sick and died, and a few months later her second sister, Elizabeth, followed her to the grave. This event made Charlotte responsible for the family, and the oldest of the remaining four children, which strengthened her personality and spirit. Left as the eldest in the house, 9-year-old Charlotte was forced to take on the responsibilities of a housewife and continue her education at home, indulging in quiet and solitude in her penchant for writing.

Forced to work as a governess, Charlotte dreamed of opening her own boarding school for girls for many years. Having saved a small amount, she and her sister Emilia went to Brussels. Having received a good education and brilliantly mastered the French language, the girls returned to England, but they failed to create their own educational institution: the lack of funds and connections doomed the boarding school idea to death. Neither the pedagogical skill of the Bronte sisters, nor their experience, nor their knowledge of the French language, nor the education they received abroad made the boarding house they opened attractive to the English aristocracy.

Charlotte Brontë's literary talent manifested itself early, but the path to recognition was long and painful for her. The belief that literature was not a woman’s business was widespread in Europe at that time (and especially in conservative England). Only in 1846 did the Brontë sisters manage to publish a collection of their poems, but it was not the poems that brought success to Charlotte, but the novel “Jane Eyre,” published in October 1849, which immediately won decisive success and was translated into many European languages, including Russian .
Few books with an unknown author's name on the title have been met with such general and unquestioned approval.

“Shirley,” Charlotte Bronte’s second novel, which aroused special interest with its masterfully drawn picture of the life of workers in the provinces, was written under extremely sad circumstances in the writer’s life - in September 1848, her brother, Branwell Bronte, a promising talented young man, died, after several years of distracted life that brought him to the grave. Emilia died in December 1848, and Anna died in May 1849. When, after the appearance of her second novel (1849), Charlotte Brontë's pseudonym was revealed, the doors of the best literary circles in London opened before Charlotte, but public attention was painful for the sickly and secluded girl, and she spent most of her time in the old church house in Haworth. In 1853, her last novel, “The Town,” appeared, which is not inferior to the first in its lively and truthful description of life in the boarding house, but is weak in terms of the harmony of the plot itself.

In 1854, despite bouts of illness that brought her sisters to the grave, Charlotte married a priest in her father's parish, Arthur Nicholls Bayle, but she died on March 31, 1855. This happened after she and her husband were caught in heavy rain while walking through their favorite heather fields. Pregnancy and a severe cold provoked an exacerbation of tuberculosis - the Bronte family disease. Charlotte Brontë died in the final stages of pregnancy.

After her death, her first literary experience, the story “Teacher,” was published. In the same 1854, Charlotte began the novel Emma, ​​which, according to critics, was to become the same sensation as Jane Eyre. The woman wrote only two chapters of this book, but due to deteriorating health she never had time to finish it. A century and a half later, Claire Boylen completed Brontë's work, and the book has recently been published.

Charlotte Bronte is considered one of the most talented representatives of the school of Thackeray, her favorite writer. Possessing an extremely nervous and impressionable temperament, she possessed to a high degree what Goethe calls the secret of genius - the ability to penetrate the individuality and subjective mood of an outsider. With a limited horizon of observations, she depicted with amazing brightness and truth everything that she had to see and feel. If sometimes the excessive brightness of the images turns into a certain coarseness of colors, and excessive melodrama in positions and sentimental conclusions weaken the artistic impression, then realism, full of life’s truth, makes these shortcomings invisible.

In 1857, at the request of Charlotte's father, her friend Elizabeth Gaskell collected all the letters that were addressed to Brontë's friend Ellen Nussey. Based on these letters, Elizabeth wrote a biography, The Life of Charlotte Brontë, which is still considered one of the great biographies in the world. The girls met in 1850 and remained friends until Charlotte's death.

The complete works of Charlotte and her sisters were published in 1875 with a biography of Charlotte. Gaskell, "Life of Charlotte W." (department in 2 volumes, edition 1857); G. Lewes, "Life of Charlotte B." (1850).

Do you know that

Charlotte Bronte was short, frail, wore glasses to correct myopia, and considered herself ugly. She was a political conservative, strict, intelligent and ambitious. She had high moral principles, and despite her modest behavior in society, she was always ready to defend her point of view.

The surname Bronte has Irish roots and was originally pronounced as Brunty, and later received a new reading - Bronte, and then Bronte, in which it reached the current generation of readers.

Bronte's father was an Anglican clergyman.

Charlotte's mother died when Charlotte was just 5 years old.

Charlotte's father was a village priest.

The writer's creative heritage consists of four major novels, poems and two large volumes of correspondence.

When Charlotte entered school at the age of 8, the governess gave the girl the following description: “Writes illegibly. He counts a little and sews carefully. Knows nothing about grammar, geography, history or etiquette. In general, he is smarter than his age, but he does not know anything systematically.”

Internet resources:

Makarenko, Svetlana. Charlotte Bronte/ S. Makarenko [Electronic resource] // People: biographies of famous people. – Access mode: http://www.peoples.ru/art/literature/prose/roman/bronte/

Bronte Charlotte[Electronic resource] //LitMir: electronic library. – Access mode: http://www.litmir.co/a/?id=117

All books by the author Charlotte Bronte[Electronic resource] // Read books online: electronic library – Access mode: http://www.bookol.ru/author.php?author

Brontë Charlotte, Emily and Anne(Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Anne Bronte) [Electronic resource] // To remember: bibliographic resource. – Access mode: http://chtoby-pomnili.com/page.php?id=568

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre/ S. Bronte [Electronic resource] // E-LIBRA.RU: electronic library. - Access mode: http://e-libra.ru/read/252679-dzhejn-yejr.html

Aphorisms and quotes

It is in vain that a person should be content with a quiet life: he needs an active life; and he creates it if it is not given to him by fate.

Respect yourself enough not to give all the strength of your soul and heart to someone who doesn’t need it and in whom it would only cause disdain.

Life is too short, and you shouldn’t waste it nursing hostility or remembering grievances.

And so, sitting with a book on my lap, I was happy; in her own way, but happy. I was afraid of only one thing - that they would interfere with me...

Be afraid of regrets. Regrets poison life.

Love forgives everything except baseness.

Pangs of conscience can poison life.

Life deceives us so often.

Sincerity cannot be ridiculous and always deserves respect.

To prolong ignorance was to prolong hope...

Charlotte's mother died of uterine cancer on September 15, 1821, leaving five daughters and a son to be raised by her husband Patrick.

Education

Cowan Bridge

In August 1824, her father sent Charlotte to Cowan Bridge School for the Daughters of the Clergy (her two older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, were sent there in July 1824, and her youngest, Emily, in November). Upon admission, the following entry was made in the school journal about the knowledge of eight-year-old Charlotte:

School project

Announcement of the establishment of Miss Brontë's boarding school, 1844.

Returning home on January 1, 1844, Charlotte again decides to take up the project of founding her own school in order to provide herself and her sisters with income. However, the circumstances that developed in 1844 were less favorable to such plans than were the case in 1841.

Charlotte's aunt, Mrs. Branwell, is deceased; Mr. Brontë's health and eyesight weakened. The Brontë sisters were no longer able to leave Hoerth to rent a school building in a more attractive area. Charlotte decides to found a boarding house right in the Hoerth parsonage; but their family home, located in a cemetery in a rather wild area, scared off the parents of potential students, despite the monetary discounts Charlotte made.

Beginning of a literary career

In May 1846, Charlotte, Emily and Anne published a joint collection of poetry at their own expense under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Despite the fact that only two copies of the collection were sold, the sisters continued to write, with subsequent publication in mind. In the summer of 1846, Charlotte began searching for publishers for the novels of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell: these were, respectively, The Teacher, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Gray.

Having published her first book with family funds, Charlotte later wanted not to spend money on publication, but, on the contrary, to have the opportunity to earn money through literary work. However, her younger sisters were ready to take another risk. Therefore, Emily and Anne accepted the offer of the London publisher Thomas Newby, who asked for 50 pounds as a guarantee for the publication of Wuthering Heights and Agnes Gray, promising to return this money if he managed to sell 250 copies out of 350 (book circulation). Newby did not return this money, despite the fact that the entire edition was sold out in the wake of the success of Charlotte's novel “Jane Eyre” at the end of 1847.

Charlotte herself refused Newby's proposal. She continued to correspond with London firms, trying to interest them in her novel "Teacher". All publishers rejected it, however, the literary consultant of Smith, Elder and Company sent a letter to Currer Bell, in which he kindly explained the reasons for the refusal: the novel lacked the fascination that would allow the book to sell well. In the same month (August 1847), Charlotte sent the manuscript of Jane Eyre to Smith, Elder and Company. The novel was accepted and published in record time.

Deaths of Branwell, Emily and Anne Brontë

Along with literary success, trouble came to the Brontë family. Charlotte's brother and only son, Branwell, died in September 1848 from chronic bronchitis or tuberculosis. His brother’s serious condition was aggravated by drunkenness and drug addiction (Branwell took opium). Emily and Anne died of pulmonary tuberculosis in December 1848 and May 1849, respectively.

Now Charlotte and her father are alone. Between 1848 and 1854 Charlotte led an active literary life. She became close to Harriet Martineau, Elizabeth Gaskell, William Thackeray and George Henry Lewes.

Charlotte met her future husband in the spring of 1844, when Arthur Bell Nicholls arrived in Howherth. Charlotte's first impression of her father's assistant was not at all flattering. She wrote to Ellen Nussey in October 1844:

Similar reviews are found in Charlotte's letters in later years, but over time they disappear.

Charlotte married in June 1854. In January 1855, her health condition deteriorated sharply. In February, a doctor who examined the writer came to the conclusion that the symptoms of illness indicated the beginning of pregnancy and did not pose a threat to life.

Charlotte suffered from constant nausea, lack of appetite, and extreme weakness, which led to rapid exhaustion. However, according to Nicholls, it was only in the last week of March that it became clear that Charlotte was dying. The cause of death was never established [ ] .

Charlotte died on March 31, 1855, aged 38. Her death certificate listed the cause as tuberculosis, however, as many of Charlotte's biographers suggest, she could have died from dehydration and exhaustion caused by severe toxicosis. It can also be assumed that Charlotte died of typhus, which could have been infected by her old servant Tabitha Aykroyd, who died shortly before Charlotte's death.

The writer was buried in the family crypt in St. Michael's Church, located in Howerth, West Yorkshire, England.

Early creativity

Charlotte Brontë began to write early: her first surviving manuscript ( ) dates from approximately 1826 (author 10 years old). In 1827-1829, the Bronte children came up with several large and small games, which served as the basis for their further creativity. In her children's autobiographical note, "The Story of the Year" (12 March 1829), Charlotte described the origins of the game "Young People", from which the "African" saga would develop in the coming years:

Charlotte and Branwell Brontë. A fragment of the group “Portrait with a Gun” (the painting itself was destroyed; only its photograph, a copy and a fragment with the image of Emily have survived). Work by Branwell Brontë, circa 1834-5.

Children's and youth works (Juvenilia)

The following list of Charlotte Brontë's juveniles is incomplete(the full list is too extensive).

First page of Charlotte Brontë's manuscript, The Secret, 1833.

The names written in square brackets are given by the researchers.

• Two romantic stories: “The Twelve Adventurers” and “The Adventure in Ireland” (1829) The last work is, in fact, not a story, but a story.
• Young People's Magazine (1829-1830)
• The Search for Happiness (1829)
• Characters of the Eminent Men of Our Time (1829)
• Stories about the islanders. In 4 volumes (1829-1830)
• Evening Walk, poem by the Marquis of Duero (1830)
• Translation into English verses of the First Book of Voltaire's Henriad (1830)
• Albion and Marina (1830). Charlotte's first "love" story, written under the influence of Byron; Marina's character corresponds to the character of Hayde from the poem "Don Juan". Charlotte's story is somewhat mystical in nature.
• The Adventures of Ernest Alembert. Tale (1830)
• The Violet and Other Poems of the Marquis of Duero (1830)
• Wedding (1832)(poem and story)
• Arthuriana, or Scraps and Remains (1833)
• Something About Arthur (1833)
• Two stories: "Secret" And "Lily Hart" (1833)
• Visits at Verdopolis (1833)
• Green Dwarf (1833)
• Foundling (1833)
• Richard the Lionheart and Blondel (1833), poem
• Leaf from an Unopened Volume (1834)
• "Spell" And "High Life in Verdopolis" (1834)
• The Dump Book (1834)
• Snack Dishes (1834)
• My Angria and the Angrians (1834)
• "We Weaved a Net in Childhood" [Retrospective] (1835), one of Charlotte Brontë's most famous poems
• Current Events (1836)
• [Exile of Zamorna] (1836), a poem in two songs, “The Green Dwarf”, the poem “The Expulsion of Zamorna”, the story “Mina Laurie”, the youth novel “Caroline Vernon” and “Farewell to Angria” - a prose fragment whose genre is difficult to determine.
• "Charlotte Bronte. Five little novels" (1977, edited by U. Zherin). This book includes the novellas A Current Event, Julia, and Mina Laurie, as well as the young adult novels Captain Henry Hastings and Caroline Vernon.
• Tales of Angria (2006, edited by Heather Glen). This book includes the stories "Mina Laurie" and "Stancliffe Hotel", a short novel in letters "The Duke of Zamorna", the novels "Henry Hastings" and "Caroline Vernon", as well as diary fragments that Charlotte Brontë wrote while she was a teacher at the Row -Hede.

Mature creativity

Novels 1846-1853

In 1846, Charlotte Brontë completely completed a novel specially written for publication, “The Teacher.” Under the pseudonym Currer Bell, she offered it to several publishers. Everyone rejected the manuscript, but the literary consultant at Smith, Elder and Company, William Williams, saw the potential of the aspiring author and wrote a letter to Currer Bell, explaining that the book had to be attractive to the public and, therefore, sellable. Two or three weeks after receiving this letter, Charlotte sent the manuscript of the novel Jane Eyre (written between August 1846 and August 1847) to Smith, Elder and Company.

In her Life of Charlotte Brontë, E. Gaskell described the reaction that the new novel caused:

Charlotte sent Jane Eyre to publishers on August 24, 1847, and the book was published on October 16 of the same year. Charlotte was pleasantly surprised when she received her fee. By modern standards it was small: the author was paid 500 pounds.

In 1848-1849 Charlotte Brontë wrote the second of her published novels, Shirley. The external circumstances of her life, however, were not conducive to creativity: at the beginning of 1848, a scandal concerning the authorship of her sisters’ novels (“Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë and both Anne’s books, “Agnes Gray” and “The Stranger of Wildfell Hall” were attributed to Currer Bell ), forced Charlotte to come to London and reveal her pseudonym. During the latter part of this year her brother Branwell and sister Emily died. It was also obvious that Charlotte's youngest sister, Anne, would not live long; and indeed, she died in May 1849. Two months after that, in August, Charlotte graduated from Shirley. On October 26, the book was published.

In 1850-1852, Charlotte wrote her last (and perhaps best) book, “Villette” (The name “Town” is a misnomer, since Villette is the name of the capital of Labascourt: place names are not translated). The novel is distinguished by a very heavy atmosphere - a consequence of the grief experienced by the author. The writer puts the main character in dead-end situations: the death of loved ones, the loss of friends, longing for a destroyed home. Lucy Snow, according to the author, is doomed from the very beginning to failure, troubles and hopeless loneliness. She is an outcast from earthly happiness and can only hope for the Kingdom of Heaven. In a way, you can say that Charlotte took out her own pain from the loss of her family on her heroine. The book is distinguished by intimacy and exceptional psychological persuasiveness.

"Villette" was published on January 28, 1853 and became the last work that Charlotte managed to finish.

Unfinished fragments

After Charlotte Brontë's death, several unfinished manuscripts remained. One of them, containing two chapters under the title "Emma", was published shortly after the author's death (Claire Boylan finished the book in 2003, calling it "Emma Brown").

There are two more fragments: "John Henry" (circa 1852) and "Willie Allyn" (May-June 1853).

Meaning

Charlotte Bronte is one of the most talented representatives of English romanticism and realism. Possessing an extremely nervous and impressionable temperament, she possessed to a high degree what Goethe calls the secret of genius - the ability to penetrate the individuality and subjective mood of an outsider. With a limited range of observations, she depicted with amazing brightness and truth everything that she had to see and feel. If sometimes the excessive brightness of the images turns into a certain coarseness of colors, and excessive melodrama in positions and sentimental conclusions weaken the artistic impression, then realism, full of life’s truth, makes these shortcomings invisible.

Elizabeth Gaskell's posthumous biography of Charlotte Brontë, The Life of Charlotte Brontë, was the first of many biographies of the writer to be published. E. Gaskell's book is not always reliable, but its main drawback is that it almost completely ignores the early literary work of Charlotte Brontë.

Constance Savery

Biographies

• "The Life of Charlotte Brontë" - Elizabeth Gaskell, 1857.

British novelist.

In the short biography of Charlotte Brontë, which you will find below, we tried to outline the main milestones in the life and work of the writer. Read Akhmatova's biography to give your own assessment of her work.

Charlotte Bronte began to engage in creativity in her early years. The future writer was the third child of her parents. Patrick and Mary had four more daughters and a son. When the youngest daughter Anne was born, her mother became seriously ill. Doctors discovered she had an end-stage malignant tumor of the uterus. Mary's death was very painful. She passed away at the age of 38. The children remained in the care of their father. Soon Aunt Branwell came to see them. She supported her nephews morally and financially.

Studies

The biography of Charlotte Brontë is entertaining and arouses admiration for Brontë's nature. When the future writer was 8 years old, her dad sent her to study at Cowan Bridge. The older sisters were already there. Their names were Maria and Elizabeth. After some time, Patrick brought Emily there, who was 6 years old. You could say Cowan Bridge was the worst place for the younger generation. Boarders spent whole days in rooms that were poorly heated. Almost every day they were forced to eat rotten food. However, the girls did not express their indignation. If they committed any mistake, even the most insignificant, they were punished with rods.

A short period of time after arriving at school, the future writer’s older sisters were diagnosed with tuberculosis. When dad found out about this, he immediately came and took Mary and Elizabeth. But this did not save them. Soon after arriving home, the sisters died. They were buried with their mother. Charlotte remembered Cowan Bridge for the rest of her life. Many years later, she captured the image of this hated “educational institution” in her work “Jane Eyre.”

The writer's debut and other events in the biography of Charlotte Brontë

Returning to their father's house, the children began to draw knowledge from the home library and write their first works. Thus they had a chronicle of the kingdom of Angria. When the writer gained popularity, her children's works also began to be published. Many people literally read “Legends of Angria”. When Charlotte turned 15, dad sent her to a good paid boarding school. This gave her the opportunity to teach. The future writer gave almost all her money to educate her sisters. A few years later, Charlotte and Emily went to a Brussels boarding house. Their goal was to master the French language. Since the girls were unable to pay for their studies, they began teaching English to the younger boarders.

When the sisters returned home, they decided to open their own boarding house. However, they didn't succeed. What parent would want to send their child to a poor house located almost in a cemetery? Therefore, after some time, the sisters were left without any money and were forced to give up the dream of their own enterprise. They had no choice but to start working as governesses again. Charlotte could not like the current state of affairs. First, she persuaded Emily and Anne to publish a collection of poems. And then she insisted on resolving the issue of publishing the novels. The three of them already had a “masterpiece”. Anne wrote Agnes Gray, Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, and Charlotte wrote The Teacher. The first two works were accepted, but the third was rejected. However, Charlotte did not lose the desire to be creative. Soon the girl wrote the novel “Jane Eyre”.

It is worth noting that Charlotte was not a beauty, but, as you might guess, appearance was not the key factor in the biography of Charlotte Brontë. For example, representatives of the stronger sex admired her intelligence. She often received marriage proposals. The novel "Jane Eyre" gained great popularity, and is still read with pleasure by millions of readers. The novel was also successfully filmed in modern times (read more about film adaptations in the article About film adaptations in general). This gave the writer financial independence. She was freed from the need to earn a living by teaching. Charlotte Brontë would most likely have written even more works. However, tragic events occurred every now and then in her life. First, her beloved brother died of tuberculosis. A short time later, Anne and Emily passed away. They got infected from their brother when they were caring for him. Dad began to rapidly lose his sight. Charlotte looked after him constantly.

Brief happiness of the writer

And now the writer turned 37 years old. She created wonderful stories about sublime feelings, but she never managed to meet her soul mate. Then she was proposed to by Arthur Bell Nicholls, who played such an important role in the biography of Charlotte Bronte. This young man served for many years in the parish of Charlotte's father, Patrick, but the father really did not want his daughter to get married, because he was afraid of losing her. However, the girl inspired him that after the wedding she would stay in his house. Then her father allowed her to get married.

Charlotte Brontë found her happiness in marriage, but it was short-lived. The writer passed away a year after the wedding. Pregnancy took all her strength. She was buried with her relatives.

If you have read the biography of Charlotte Brontë, you can rate this writer at the top of the page.

In addition, in addition to the biography of Charlotte Brontë, we suggest you visit the Biographies section to read about other popular writers.

The famous novelist and English poet Charlotte Bronte, who published under the pseudonym Carrel Bell, was born on April 21, 1816 in Great Britain.

Childhood and youth

The biography of Charlotte Bronte is filled with difficult events. The early death of her mother left a significant imprint on the life of the girl and her five sisters, who were left to their own devices. Charlotte's father, Patrick Bronte, loved to retire and did not raise his children, preferring religion.

A year after the death of their mother, Charlotte Brontë's older sisters were sent to Cowan Bridge School, where Charlotte herself went some time later. This educational institution served as the prototype for the Lowood boarding house in the future novel by Charlotte Brontë. Due to the terrible conditions in which the little girls lived, the health of the older sisters was undermined - one of them fell ill with tuberculosis, and the second with consumption. Both sisters died suddenly. After the absurd deaths of two girls, the father takes his daughters and settles them in the Roe Head school, after which the future writer begins her career as a teacher there.

When the girls returned home, they began to write. All three sisters: Charlotte, will become famous writers in the future, but all the glory will go to Charlotte. Charlotte Brontë began writing books at a fairly early age; she wrote her first work at the age of 10. The works of the young writer were filled with Byronic stories about non-existent English colonies in Africa. Charlotte was best at poetry in her youth.

After graduating from school, Charlotte remained to work there as a teacher. And in 1838, due to the impossibility of creative development, she left her place of work and moved home, receiving a new position as a governess. And then Charlotte's aunt Miss Elizabeth Branwell decided to provide financial support to the girls so that they could open their own school. But Charlotte decided to change her aunt’s plans, and with the money she received to open her school, she and her sister went to Brussels to improve their French. The money was supposed to be enough only for one semester, but the sisters were determined. After the first semester, they received an offer from the director to work at the school, thus paying for their further education.

First failures

Their aunt died suddenly. This was the reason the Brontë sisters returned home, leaving school in Brussels. However, in 1843, Charlotte did return there as an English teacher, but she was too lonely there. Creative inspiration did not overtake Charlotte. So after almost a year, she returns home. Later, the writer will embody her teaching experience in Brussels in novels and.

While caring for Mr. Bronte, the girl was not able to leave the family estate of Haworth. So Charlotte decided to start a boarding house right in the family home. But, unfortunately, the building, located in a cemetery in a rather wild area, did not attract the parents of future students.

The year 1846 was decisive in the biography of Charlotte Brontë. After unsuccessful attempts to sell a collection of poetry, printed at her own expense, Charlotte continues to write, while simultaneously negotiating with publishers for the publication of the novels “Teacher”, and. London publisher Thomas Newby decided to publish the sisters' novels Wuthering Heights and Agnes Gray, taking 50 pounds as insurance.

But Charlotte did not accept Newby’s offer and continued to search for a publisher for her novel “Teacher,” constantly receiving refusals. Everything changed after a literary consultant told the writer that her novel lacked fascination. After this remark, Charlotte decided to abandon the idea of ​​publishing “The Teacher” and began promoting “Jane Eyre.” The novel was accepted and published immediately! It was a success.

Marriage and death

The joy did not last long... Trouble came to the Bronte house. First, Charlotte's brother died of tuberculosis, and then her two sisters. The deaths of loved ones significantly affected my attitude towards life. She and her father were left alone. Charlotte avoided marriage all her life, preferring to devote all her energy to writing. But in 1854, she still decided to marry the priest Arthur Bell Nicholls. After the wedding, Charlotte began to feel unwell, she was constantly vomiting, and lost her appetite. The doctor examined her and informed her that she was pregnant. Due to poor health, Charlotte decided to temporarily stop writing the novel Emma, ​​which she began writing before the wedding. However, it soon became clear that Charlotte was dying; she was completely exhausted. Only two chapters were written.

On March 31, 1855, she died, she was only 38 years old. The cause of death has never been established. The death certificate states that it was tuberculosis. Charlotte Brontë was buried in the family crypt in St. Michael's Church. Charlotte Bronte's novels are famous throughout the world, they are remembered, loved and read in every corner of our planet.

Memory

In 1857, at the request of Charlotte's father, her friend collected all the letters that were addressed to Bronte's friend Ellen Nussey. Based on these letters, Elizabeth wrote a biography, which is still considered one of the great biographies in the world. The girls met in 1850 and remained friends until Charlotte's death.

A century and a half has passed, and the Irish writer Claire Boylen decided to finish the novel begun by Charlotte Bronte in 1854. The book was published in 2003 under the title.

Years of life: from 06/21/1816 to 03/31/1855

An outstanding English writer, better known by her pseudonym Currer-Bell, poet and novelist.

Charlotte was the third of six children. When the girl was five years old, her mother died and her aunt Elizabeth Branwell moved into their rectory to look after the orphaned children. Sick children did not know either the cheerful company of children or the games and activities characteristic of their age; their spiritual and mental powers developed and strengthened with an abnormally accelerated speed in a special closed world, woven from images and their dreams of a non-childish fantasy. The harsh swampy terrain that surrounded them, devoid of variety and warm colors, the gloomy picture of the cemetery, the inhospitability and rudeness of the few inhabitants that the children had to encounter - this was the bleak reality that prompted the children to go even deeper into their inner ideal world, in which nothing was similar. to the surroundings.

From early childhood, one of Charlotte's favorite pastimes was inventing fantastic tales and putting her thoughts and feelings into fairy-tale form. The rest of the family also took part in these activities, weaving whimsical patterns into the outline of the story conceived by Charlotte. The event that left a deep imprint on the secluded life of this strange family was the entry of the older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, into school at Cowan Bridge (1824), not far from their village of Haworth. The unfriendly school, which did not provide any food for their mental development and undermined their already poor health, was described in vivid colors by Charlotte in the novel “Jane Eyre.” However, the sisters did not remain at school for long. A year later, the eldest, Maria, returned home sick and died, and a few months later her second sister, Elizabeth, followed her to the grave. Left as the eldest in the house, 9-year-old Charlotte was forced to take on the responsibilities of a housewife and continue her education at home, indulging in quiet and solitude in her penchant for writing.

In 1835, Charlotte took a position as a governess, but poor health and the unattractiveness of living in someone else's house forced her to abandon these occupations. Charlotte decided to open a school with her younger sisters, and in order to prepare for this task, she and her sister Emilia decided to expand their knowledge of French language and literature on the continent. With the financial support of an old aunt, they spent two years in Brussels (1842-44), and a new world opened up before the nervous, impressionable Charlotte, which enriched and expanded her horizons with a stock of observations of a different nature, unfamiliar types and characters of people, private and public life alien to her.

In 1846, Charlotte convinced her sisters to publish a collection of poems under the male pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell - it was a commercial failure.

This failure did not discourage the sister writers, and they took up writing stories in prose with the same passion: Charlotte wrote the story “The Professor”, Emily - “Wuthering Heights”, and Anne - “Agnes Gray” ( Agnes Gray). The last two stories found a publisher, but “Teacher” was rejected by everyone. Despite this, Charlotte continued her literary activity with her characteristic ardor and passion.

In October 1849, her new novel “Jane Eyre” appeared, which immediately won decisive success and was translated into many European languages, including Russian (St. Petersburg, 1857). Few books with an unknown author's name on the title have been met with such general and unquestioned approval.

Shirley, Charlotte Brontë's second novel, which aroused particular interest with its masterfully drawn picture of the life of workers in the provinces, was written under extremely sad circumstances in the writer's life; in September 1848, her brother, Branwell Bronte, a promising and talented young man, died, after several years of an absent-minded life that brought him to his grave. Emilia died in December 1848, and Anna died in May 1849. When, after the appearance of her second novel (1849), Charlotte Brontë's pseudonym was revealed, the doors of the best literary circles in London opened before Charlotte, but public attention was painful for the sickly and secluded girl, and she spent most of her time in the old church house in Haworth. In 1853, her last novel, “The Town” (Villette), appeared, which in its lively and truthful description of life in the boarding house is not inferior to the first, but is weak in terms of the harmony of the plot itself.

In 1854, despite bouts of illness that brought her sisters to the grave, Charlotte married a priest in her father's parish, Arthur Bell Nicholls, but she died on March 31, 1855. This happened after she and her husband were caught in heavy rain while walking through their favorite heather fields. Pregnancy and a severe cold provoked an exacerbation of tuberculosis - the Bronte family disease. After her death, her first literary experience, the novel “Teacher,” was published.

Also in 1854, Charlotte began the novel Emma, ​​which, according to critics, was to become the same sensation as Jane Eyre. Charlotte wrote only two chapters of this book, but due to deteriorating health she never had time to finish it. A century and a half later, Claire Boylen completed Brontë's work, and the book was published under the title Emma Brown.

A crater on Mercury is named after Charlotte Bronte.

Information about the works:

Bibliography

Novels
The Green Dwarf (1833)
Legends of Angria (with brother Branwell Brontë) (1834)
Ashworth (1841) (unfinished novel)
(1847)
(1849)
(another title "") (1853)
(1857)
(Unfinished; the novel was completed, taking care of the legacy of Charlotte Brontë, by the writer Constance Savery, who published the novel “Emma” under the following co-authorship: Charlotte Brontë and Another Lady. In addition, Charlotte’s novel was completed in another version by Claire Boylen, and called it “ ")

Poems
"The Poems of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell" (1846)
Selected Poems of the Brontë Sisters (1997)

Letters, diaries, essays
In addition to novels and short stories, Charlotte and her sisters wrote numerous diaries, letters to friends and acquaintances, and essays. However, only a few of these creations have survived to this day. This is valuable material for studying the Bronte family phenomenon.

Film adaptations of works, theatrical performances

The first film adaptations of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre appeared in silent films (in 1910, two films in 1914, and also in 1915, 1918, 1921).

Jane Eyre
1934 - The first sound version is released, directed by Christy Cobain and starring Virginia Bruce and Colin Clive).
1944 – film adaptation directed by Robert Stevenson.
1970 – film adaptation by American director Delbert Mann.
1994 - Jane Eyre, Italian director Franco Zeffirelli.