Charlotte Bronte Books In Order

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: New introductions commissioned from today’s top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader’s viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences biographical, historical, and literary to enrich each reader’s understanding of these enduring works. Immediately recognized as a masterpiece when it was first published in 1847, Charlotte Bront ‘s Jane Eyre is an extraordinary coming of age story featuring one of the most independent and strong willed female protagonists in all of literature. Poor and plain, Jane Eyre begins life as a lonely orphan in the household of her hateful aunt. Despite the oppression she endures at home, and the later torture of boarding school, Jane manages to emerge with her spirit and integrity unbroken. She becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she finds herself falling in love with her employer the dark, impassioned Mr. Rochester. But an explosive secret tears apart their relationship, forcing Jane to face poverty and isolation once again.

One of the world s most beloved novels, Jane Eyre is a startlingly modern blend of passion, romance, mystery, and suspense.

Susan Ostrov Weisser is a Professor of English at Adelphi University, where she specializes in nineteenth century literature and women s studies. Her research centers on women and romantic love in nineteenth century literature, as well as on contemporary popular culture. Weisser also wrote the introduction to the Barnes & Noble Classics edition of Persuasion.

Shirley

Shirley is Charlotte Bront:e e’s only historical novel and her most topical one. Written at a time of social unrest, it is set during the period of the Napoleonic Wars, when economic hardship led to riots in the woollen district of Yorkshire. A mill owner, Robert Moore, is determined to introduce new machinery despite fierce opposition from his workers; he ignores their suffering, and puts his own life at risk . Robert sees marriage to the wealthy Shirley Keeldar as the solution to his difficulties, but he loves his cousin Caroline. She suffers misery and frustration, and Shirley has her own ideas about the man she will choose to marry. The friendship between the two women, and the contrast between their situations, is at the heart of this compelling novel, which is suffused with Bront’:’s deep yearning for an earlier time. About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World’s Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford’s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up to date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Villette

Villette, by Charlotte Bronte, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: New introductions commissioned from today’s top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader’s viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences biographical, historical, and literary to enrich each reader’s understanding of these enduring works.
Charlotte Bront ‘s last and most autobiographical novel, Villette explores the inner life of a lonely young Englishwoman, Lucy Snowe, who leaves an unhappy existence in England to become a teacher in the capital of a fictional European country. Drawn to the school s headmaster, Lucy must face the pain of unrequited love and the question of her place in society.

For Villette, Bront drew upon her own experiences ten years earlier, when she studied in Brussels and developed an unreciprocated passion for her married teacher. The novel also reflects her devastating sense of loss and isolation after the deaths of her beloved brother and sisters, and her confusion and conflicts over the fame she achieved for having written Jane Eyre. But despite Bront s heartsick inspiration for the novel, and the grief that haunts its hero*ine, Villette is a story of triumph, in which Lucy Snowe comes to understand and appreciate her own strength and value.

Celebrated by George Eliot and Virginia Woolf for its strikingly modern psychological depth and examination of women s roles, Villette is now recognized as Charlotte Bront s masterpiece, surpassing even Jane Eyre.

Laura Engel is Assistant Professor in the English Department at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, where she specializes in eighteenth century British literature and drama.

The Professor

The Professor was the first novel that Charlotte Bront completed. Rejected by the publisher who took on the work of her sisters in 1846 Anne’s Agnes Grey and Emily’s Wuthering Heights it remained unpublished until 1857, two years after Charlotte Bront ‘s death. Like Villette 1853, The Professor is based on her experiences as a language student in Brussels in 1842. Told from the point of view of William Crimsworth, the only male narrator that she used, the work formulated a new aesthetic that questioned many of the presuppositions of Victorian society. Bront ‘s hero escapes from a humiliating clerkship in a Yorkshire mill to find work as a teacher in Belgium, where he falls in love with an impoverished student teacher, who is perhaps the author’s most realistic feminist hero*ine. The Professor endures today as both a harbinger of Bront ‘s later novels and a compelling read in its own right.
‘The middle and latter portion of The Professor is as good as I can write,’ proclaimed Bront . ‘It contains more pith, more substance, more reality, in my judgment, than much of Jane Eyre.’

The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foun dation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hard bound editions of important works of liter ature and thought. For the Modern Library’s seventy fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned the series, restoring as its emblem the running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inau gurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world’s best books, at the best prices.

Emma

Emma, by Jane Austen, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: New introductions commissioned from today’s top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader’s viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences biographical, historical, and literary to enrich each reader’s understanding of these enduring works.

Emma Woodhouse is a wealthy, exquisite, and thoroughly self deluded young woman who has ‘lived in the world with very little to distress or vex her.’

Jane Austen exercises her taste for cutting social observation and her talent for investing seemingly trivial events with profound moral significance as Emma traverses a gentle satire of provincial balls and drawing rooms, along the way encountering the sweet Harriet Smith, the chatty and tedious Miss Bates, and her absurd father Mr. Woodhouse a memorable gallery of Austen’s finest personages. Thinking herself impervious to romance of any kind, Emma tries to arrange a wealthy marriage for poor Harriet, but refuses to recognize her own feelings for the gallant Mr. Knightley. What ensues is a delightful series of scheming escapades in which every social machination and bit of ‘tittle tattle’ is steeped in Austen’s delicious irony. Ultimately, Emma discovers that ‘Perfect happiness, even in memory, is not common.’

Virginia Woolf called Jane Austen ‘the most perfect artist among women,’ and Emma Woodhouse is arguably her most perfect creation. Though Austen found her hero*ine to be a person whom ‘no one but myself will much like,’ Emma is her most cleverly woven, riotously comedic, and pleasing novel of manners.

Steven Marcus is Professor of English and Comparative Literature and George Delacorte Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, and a specialist in nineteenth century literature and culture. A fellow of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Literary Studies, he has received Fulbright, American Council of Learned Societies, Guggenheim, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Rockefeller, and Mellon grants. He is the author of more than 200 publications.

The Green Dwarf

Witty and engrossing, this early work displays the precocious intelligence, lively imagination, and flair for storytelling that Charlotte Bront brought to perfection in her later fiction. Foreword by Libby Purves.

Lady Emily Charlesworth is in love with Leslie, a struggling artist. Lord Percy, a fierce, arrogant aristocrat, will do anything to lay his hands on Leslie’s chosen bride. As war breaks out between Verdopolis Bront s imaginary political state and Senegal, the lovers do battle for control of Emily s heart. With its exotic m& eacute;lange of political intrigue, amorous subterfuge, and Gothic scenery, The Green Dwarf reveals the dynamic and experimental nature of Bront s long apprenticeship in writing. Charlotte Bront 1816 1855 is best remembered for her perennially popular novel Jane Eyre.

The Spell

An ingenious, highly imaginative early novella, The Spell a remarkable tale of love and jealousy, rivalry and thwarted ambition is a testimony to Charlotte Bront ‘s craft as a writer. Foreword by Nicola Barker.

When the infant Marquis of Almeida is pronounced dead, the kingdoms of Wellingtonsland and Angria are deprived of their heir. Anxious to secure the nations’ future security, King Zamorna’s advisers entreat him to name his successor and when Zamorna himself succumbs to a mysterious, life threatening sickness, the need becomes more urgent still. Yet Zamorna remains strangely unperturbed. Confusion turns to political intrigue as those closest to him wonder exactly what it is he knows and who, precisely, are the mysterious characters surrounding him.

Tales of the Islanders

When Charlotte’s brother Branwell was given a set of 12 toy soldiers, an entire new imaginary world opened before them. The Twelves, or Young Men, became a constant source of inspiration for the Bront children, spawning tales of swashbuckling adventure, darkest intrigue, doomed romance, and malevolent spirits. The four volumes of tales collected here make delightful reading, while offering a unique insight into Bront family life and Charlotte s development as a writer.

The Foundling

Written when she was 17, The Foundling is a classic fairy tale set in the imagined kingdom of Verdopolis which will delight fans of Charlotte Bront’s later work. Abandoned as a baby, Edward Sydney finds a protector in Mr. Hasleden, a rich local landowner who declares an interest in the child and claims him as his own. The boy grows up believing Hasleden to be his father, but after his death, Edward discovers evidence of his real name and the circumstances of his birth. Full of curiosity about his true origins, he sets off on a journey to the mythical kingdom of Verdopolis. There, after several adventures, Edward meets and falls in love with the noble Lady Julia, only to find that she is betrothed to another. Charlotte Bront is best remembered for her perennially popular novel, Jane Eyre.

Tales of Angria

In 1834, Charlotte Bront , together with her brother Branwell, created the imaginary kingdom of Angria, about which she was to write prolifically for the next five years. The five ‘novelettes’ in this volume are the last of her Angrian tales. Written from the viewpoint of the cynical, gossipy Charles Townshend, they offer an ironic portrait of the intrigues, scandals, and passions of an aristocratic beau monde. With their varied cast of characters, the stories provide a fascinating glimpse into the mind and creative processes of the young writer who was to become one of the world’s greatest novelists.

The Secret

A rollicking adventure from the Bront’s imagined kingdom of Verdopolis, The Secret is a novel of intrigue, duplicity, and all conquering love. Arthur, the Marquis of Douro, his beautiful wife, Marion, and their infant son lead a happy and carefree existence in the city of Verdopolis until a chance encounter brings the youthful Marchioness childhood governess back into their lives. The meeting proves to be the catalyst for an increasingly tortuous series of events involving blackmail, imposture, and shocking revelations regarding the birth of the young Marchioness. Will the Marquis ever forgive his wife her secret? English novelist Charlotte Bront is best remembered for her perennially popular novel, Jane Eyre.

Selected Letters

Full of acute observations, pithy character sketches, and passionate convictions, the letters of Charlotte Bronte are our most direct source of information about the lives of the Brontes and our closest approach to the author of Jane Eyre. In them Charlotte writes of life at Haworth Parsonage, her experiences at a Belgian school, and her intense feelings for the Belgian schoolteacher, M. Heger. She endures the agony of the death of her siblings, and enjoys the success as a writer that brings her into contact with the London literary scene. Vivid and intimate, her letters give fresh insight into the novels, and into the development of her distinct literary style. The only available edition, this selection is derived from Margaret Smith’s three-volume edition of Bronte’s complete letters. In addition to Smith’s Editor’s Preface, the edition includes a critical introduction by Janet Gezari, who looks at the relationship between Bronte’s letters and her fiction and how the letters add to the debate about her literary persona and the split between her public and her private life.

Selected BrontA Poems

This anthology, edited by two of today’s leading authorities on the Brontes, is the first to bring together poems by the three Bronte sisters and their brother, Branwell. It contains notes designed to explain each poem and put it in its literary context. There are also gerneral biographical and literary introductions.