(The Bronte Sisters. Biography based on the book by Tim Vicary. The Story of the Bronte Sisters)

“Accidents do not exist - everything in this world is either a test, or a punishment, or a reward, or a harbinger”
Voltaire

The Bronte Sisters:

• Charlotte (1816-1855)
• Emily (1818-1848)
• Ann (1820-1849)

The Brontë sisters had a special talent. This talent was given to them by God. Nobody taught them how to write books. Coming into this world and creating three ingenious novel, they soon left him, apparently having fulfilled their destiny.

Sisters Bronte. Biography based on the book by Tim Vicary

Part 1. Bronte family. Moving to Haworth

A cold wind blew all day, and the sun came out for only two hours. The sheep hid behind the stone fences. Gray clouds floated over the hills to the west. And although it was only the middle of November, the smell of snow was in the air.

The small village of Haworth, consisting of several dozen gray houses, is located in the north of hilly England. Patrick Bronte, an old man of seventy-eight, lived in a house at the very top of the hill, next to the church and the cemetery.

The winter of 1855 was severe. That day he was walking through the cemetery to the church. His whole family was buried in this cemetery, and he, looking at gray stones and dancing over the graves yellow leaves thought he didn't have long left. Soon he will be lying next to his children and wife. In the meantime, in the dark evenings, listening to the howling of the wind, he recalled his life, or rather, the life of his family.

The story began in April 1820, when he and his wife Mary and six children, Elizabeth, Mary, Charlotte, son Branwell, Emily and baby Ann, arrived at Haworth, where he was appointed parish priest. That day there was snow on the grass and the wind was also blowing. He seemed to greet them with his icy breath as they walked up the path to his house, which stood at the very top of the hill.

In the evening he asked Maria if she liked it here and was surprised by her answer. Warming her chilled hands by the fire, she said that she was sure that this house would be a wonderful place for their children and him. She didn't mention herself, forgot or had a premonition that she would only live here for a year and a half. And it will be hard to die, having spent seven long months in agony. What is it for her? Being in poor health, she always seemed weary of children and domestic turmoil. But so early... She was only 38 years old when he buried her. This happened in September 1821.

Soon, Mary's sister, Elizabeth, Aunt Elizabeth, as they called her, came to help with the housework. She, who had lived all her life in Cornwall, a warm sunny place on the southwest coast of England, spent the rest of her life in the cold, windy Haworth. And this kind selfless woman hated him all her life.

Part 2. School

The girls Mary and Elizabeth went to school in 1824. Then the father gave Charlotte and Emily (one was 8 and the other 6 years old) there. At that time, church schools were the only place where you could get a good education, and the school that the Brontë sisters went to was considered one of the best, as it was the Clergy Daughters` School for the daughters of parish priests. It was led by Mr. Wilson, also a priest.

Son Branwell stayed at home and was educated at home. The father was sure that the girls were doing well at school, especially since from the letters of Maria, his eldest daughter, he learned about her successes, which he was very happy about. She wrote not often and not about everything. She did not write about the meager food and cold beds, about the fact that hungry girls, having washed themselves in the morning ice water, went to school and, having wet their feet, then sat in cold classrooms, that many were sick. Yes, Maria did not want to upset her father. Or she was afraid that her letters would be read by teachers, and then they would be punished painfully. You will find a description of this hard life in the novel Jane Eyre. Charlotte Bronte will tell her father about everything, but it will be too late ... And Jane Eyre's friend - Helen Burns, this is Maria Bronte - her sister.

Being very busy, the father did not visit his daughters. Yes, and travel through the English hills was hard. Even at Christmas the girls stayed at school. He himself, Aunt Elizabeth, Branwell, and little Anne, were, as it were, cut off from the world, there in Haworth. It was cold, and they sat at home, by the fireplace, listening to the howling of the wind and the crackling of logs. When little Ann asked why her sisters didn’t come again for Christmas, her father reassured her, saying that there was no need to worry. The girls are at school and they feel good there, because they are among their peers. He was really sure about it...

But in February, a letter arrived. It was not from Mary, the even female handwriting said that many children were sick at school and several had already died, and that if he did not take Mary home, she would also die. And he went on the road. Arriving at school, he found Maria in a cold bed in an unheated room. She coughed. Her three sisters were standing beside her bed. They were scared and sad. They looked sick. But the school doctor assured him that the girls were not in danger, and he took only Maria ... All the way while they were driving home through the hills, up and down, the wind blew. He held Maria's hands in his own, but he could no longer warm them: the small hands were cold as ice, and the thin fingers hardly moved.

Mary was doomed. She lay in bed for about three months, was too weak and hardly ate anything. Her deadly pale, pointed face looked like that of a child. Large dark eyes shone in a white face. “Soon I will be with my mother, and with God,” she consoled her father.

He buried Mary next to her mother, and a few months later he buried Elizabeth in the same place. She, also dying, was brought home from school. Two weeks later, my father did take Charlotte and Emily home. How many hopes he placed on his older daughters, and all in vain. Now they lay in the ground, next to their mother, and he stood at her grave and asked for forgiveness. And it seemed to him that he saw how she, hugging her daughters, smiled at him.

Part 3. Childhood. Little books

Now he has four of them left: Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Ann. They won't go to school anymore. God works in mysterious ways. He thought that God was angry with him and therefore took away his two elders. Now the girls will be educated at home, Aunt Elizabeth will teach them. Thank God they didn't get sick.

Charlotte, Emily and Ann were very capable. Grasping on the fly what their aunt taught them, they quickly learned the basics of knowledge in all subjects. But most of all they loved to write and draw. long walks over the heather fields, they spent in endless conversations. They were alone with nature, wind and birds. Such walks benefited their health, they got stronger, and a healthy blush appeared on their cheeks.

Once he gave them a set of toy soldiers. They played them for hours, and then they began to write stories about them. And once, when he entered the room, they hid something from him. They were small books. Their size was about 5-6 cm, the letters were tiny, and the drawings were miniature. The books were very beautifully designed, there were a lot of them. They are now kept in the Brontë Sisters Museum in Yorkshire. Since then, they have not stopped writing, then Charlotte was 10 years old, and Emily 8. Their first stories, which you will find in these little books, were about fictional countries. Charlotte and Branwell came up with the country of Angria, and Emily and Ann came up with the country of Gondell. They drew maps and cities, invented stories of the people living in them, wrote letters and even poems on their behalf. This was the world they lived in.

Part 4. Youth

All the children in the Bronte family were excellent at drawing. Charlotte preferred watercolor, Emily pencil, and Branwell oil paint.
When Branwell was 14 years old, he drew all the inhabitants of their small village. Residents, easily recognizing themselves on the canvases, were delighted with his talent. Everyone was sure that Branwell would become a famous artist.

At fifteen, Charlotte went back to school. This school was much better, but Charlotte still didn't like being there. But she wanted to become a governess, and so she needed to be educated. She understood that for this she had to study hard, and she studied.

Emily and Ann stayed at home and continued with their brother home schooling. Aunt Elizabeth taught them how to play the piano, and then Branwell began to play the organ in the church.
The walks of the two sisters in the hills continued. And now they had dogs! Ann had Flossie and Emily's dog was named Keeper. He was a big and strong dog and Emily almost never parted with him. She seemed to love him more than anyone else. Emily was difficult child. She was wild and did not talk to anyone except members of her family. When her father tried once more to send her to school, she screamed that she hated school, and her father sent her younger sister Ann instead.

But Branwell was not shy. Talkative and charming, he quickly won the favor of the people, and everyone in the village loved him. Father recalled how in 1835 he went to London to study as an artist at the Royal Academy. When he went down the hill with a knapsack over his shoulders, the whole village followed him with their eyes, and his father stood on the hill and was proud. Oh, vanity, damned vanity...

Branwell returned home two weeks later, all dirty with torn clothes. He locked himself in his room and did not want to see anyone. He never told anyone what happened to him.
Then his father rented a room for him in Bradford, he thought that there Branwell would paint portraits of people and thereby earn his living. It would be very easy for him. But Branwell didn't want to. Having spent all the money that his father gave him for the first time, he soon returned to his parents' house.

Times were hard, and to top it all off, a letter from the school came saying that Ann was ill. Fortunately, her father immediately went after her and managed to pick her up from school, and along with Charlotte. Ann got better. Now they were together again in their little house: the old father, Aunt Elizabeth, Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell. Everything was fine, but only ... I had to live on something.

Part 5. Finding yourself

Initially, Charlotte and Ann began to work as governesses. They taught rich kids in big beautiful houses. But this work did not please them. At home, they were always cheerful and talkative, but outside the house they became quiet and sad. Branwell wanted to be a writer, but, in the end, he found himself a job selling railway tickets at the station and ... left his parents' house. Now he was often seen in the village pub, he sat at a table and talked.

But then one day the sisters had an idea. And what if we organize a school for girls. Oh, they understood what it should be good school. Since they did not have the money to rent a room, they decided that the training would take place in one of the rooms of their own house. But first, I had to learn French. After all, they were supposed to be the best teachers. Otherwise, who will send children to the unremarkable Haworth.

Aunt Elisabeth gave the girls her last savings so that Charlotte and Emily could go to Brussels to learn French. Everything went well at first. Letters came from Brussels, and the father was again pleased with the success of his daughters. But suddenly Aunt Elizabeth died. Since Ann continued to work as a governess, there was no one to run the household. Emily stated that she was ready to return, that she did not like Brussels, and that she would rather help around the house and look after her sick old father than go to school. And she returned.

Still, she was a strange girl, Emily. She was the tallest among the sisters and the strongest. To the company of people, she preferred lonely walks in the hills with Keeper. She often talked to herself or sang or wrote something while locked in her room.
Charlotte returned from Brussels a year later, sad. She often wrote letters to someone in French, but there were no letters in response. Charlotte Brontë would later write her own novel "Teacher" , which tells about what happened to her in Belgium.

But it was necessary to act, because they were already ready. Charlotte advertised in several newspapers that a boarding school for young ladies was opening in Haworth. The lesson schedule included the following subjects: writing, arithmetic, history, geography, French, German, Latin, music, drawing, embroidery, learning to play the piano. Also, invitation announcements were sent to all friends and acquaintances. They began to wait for their first students. But nobody came...

Charlotte advertised several more times, but all in vain. And they began to lose hope. Branwell began to drink even more. In addition, he had an unhappy love, and he turned more and more into an animal. Then he blacked out himself in a family portrait.

Part 6. Success

Then strange parcels addressed to Carrer Bell began to arrive at the house. The father sent them back each time, telling the postman that it was a mistake. One day, Charlotte opened the door to the postman, she took the package, saying that it was her friend.

And it soon turned out that Carrer Bell is Charlotte's pseudonym and that she ... writes books. She sent them to publishers, but they came back, but then one evening Charlotte came into her father's room, all glowing with happiness. She held a book in her hands. “Here, read it, papa,” she said to her father. “I didn't pay money to publish this book. The publishers themselves paid me, but this is what they write about her in magazines. And she handed him several well-known magazines, in which were written long commendable articles about book "Jane Eyre" by Carrer Bell.

My father read all night this book about a little girl Jane, about a terrible school, about her friend who died and so reminded him of his eldest daughter Maria. And there were tears in his eyes. It was a wonderful book.

Ann and Emily also wrote books. Their pseudonyms were Acton Bell and Ellis Bell, and the publishers were already more favorable to the "brothers" of the writer who wrote Jane Eyre. The books were published in the same year. The book that Ann Brontë wrote was called " Agyness Gray". It told about the fate of the governess girl and, after reading it, the father found out how unhappy his youngest daughter was. And Emily's book, which was called "Wuthering Heights" , was about love ... about passionate and wild love. About love that could not be happy from the beginning, because the children in whose hearts it was born were already marked by a special metaphor. And they were doomed to unite only in heaven.

Part 7. Death

Branwell died first. This happened in September 1848. Blood came out of his throat and he fell to the floor.

All members of the Bronte family suffered from a hereditary disease - tuberculosis, which was apparently transmitted to them through the maternal line and was aggravated by living in marshy Yorkshire.

They buried him in the cemetery in the same grave where his mother and two older sisters rested. That evening was cold and rainy, a piercing wind blew again and the fallen leaves rustled plaintively on the floor with their feet. After the cemetery, Emily did not go home with everyone, she wandered for a long time in the rain with her dog and returned all soaked through. A few days later she became seriously ill. She refused to call a doctor or take any medication. Symptoms of the disease were similar to those of Branwell's disease. It was hard for her to breathe, she coughed heavily and there was blood on her handkerchief. She died in 1848 a few months after her brother's death. For many weeks, Keeper lay near her room and howled lingeringly ...

But trouble does not come alone. Ann soon fell ill, but unlike Emily, she was sensible, took her medication and did whatever her doctors told her to do. But nothing helped. It was becoming increasingly difficult for her to breathe, and there was blood on her handkerchief. Spring came and she said that she really wants to go to the sea, because it is so warm there in spring. Doctors advised against going, but in May Charlotte took Ann to York. Seeing the majestic York Minster, Ann was amazed: "If people could build such a temple on earth, then what is the house of God in heaven."

Soon a letter came to my father from Charlotte of Scarburg: “On the twenty-sixth of May, Ann was riding a donkey on the beach. She was very happy. We went to church, and then sat for a long time on the seashore, enjoying the warm evening, and looked at the water.” On the twenty-eighth of May Ann Brontë became worse and at two o'clock in the afternoon she died. She was buried in St. Mary's cemetery overlooking the sea. Ann was only twenty-nine years old. Shortly before her death, she wrote another The Stranger from Whitehall book, about a woman who left her abusive husband. She did not want to die, there were still so many ideas in her head, so many more books she could write ...

Part 8. While alive

When Charlotte returned home, the dogs barked happily. Perhaps they expected both Emily and Ann to follow along as well. But Charlotte was alone, the smallest, ordinary, not at all strong, not beautiful, and not even strange, she returned home, his last daughter, and she was to be the most famous.

Charlotte wrote two more books: shirley novel, about strong spirit a woman who looks like her sister Emily, and "Town", about the love between a student and her teacher. But her book Jane Eyre was the most famous, everyone in England was talking about her, everyone wanted to read her. Now Charlotte often traveled to London and met with famous writers but she never stayed there for long. The quiet house in Haworth was her favorite place.

And she found happiness there. She married Arthur Nichols and was preparing to become a mother when she suddenly fell ill. It was Christmas 1854. Her loving husband cared for her tenderly, but she grew worse and worse, and on March 31, 1855, Charlotte Brontë died. Her last words were, “God, I won't die. Please don't take me away from Arthur now, we are so happy together."

Afterword

Such was the life of the Bronte sisters. Their books are autobiographical, so read them and you'll learn a lot more about their lives than this article inspired by Tim Vicary's The Bronte Sisters.

Do you think that a person who lives in extreme seclusion, has no education in prestigious universities, is very sickly and did not live long, can change the history of literature? And what if this is also a woman who lives in the 19th century in patriarchal England, where a woman's creativity usually did not go beyond singing a few songs at home with guests or embroidering in long evenings?

It turns out it can. But I will surprise you even more: there are situations when there are not even one, but three such women, and they live under the same roof. Three brilliant writers, sisters, residents of the English wilderness - that's what we'll talk about today.

Meet Charlotte, Emily and Ann Bronte

You have probably read their works or seen their novels - today, however, they may seem at times naive, and at times sugary, but for mid-nineteenth century it was something unheard of - so new and fresh was their approach! What did they create? Charlotte Brontë was famous for her Jane Eyre and Emma, ​​Emily wrote the mystical novel Wuthering Heights, and Anne wrote Agnes Gray and The Stranger of Wildfell Hall.

Three sisters were born in the family of the priest of the Anglican Church Patrick Bronte and his wife Mary (nee Branwell). Most of his life the family lived in the village of Hoert (West Yorkshire, UK). Today the area has become a tourist center thanks to three brilliant writer sisters, and in those days it was a typical remote English village. Here the father of the family was appointed to the position of vicar, and all the children grew up right there - and there were six of them in the family. We will turn our attention to the three sisters.

The eldest of the future was Charlotte (1816-1855), the middle - Emily (1818-1848) and the youngest (not only among the three writers, but in general in the family) Ann (1820-1849).

The girls' mother died very early, and the father was not very inclined to sentimentality: the girls were left to themselves, and there was no question of hugging their daughters and staying with them longer - Patrick was very closed and gloomy. The house where the sisters grew up was as dull and cold as the country where he stood, always gray and depressing Yorkshire moors, which were called dead. What were the girls doing here? They lived in their own world - they invented islands and countries, their inhabitants, wrote poems, completely immersed in fantasies. Of course, there was also study in their lives - first at a boarding school (where the pupils were so poorly taken care of that many died right within its walls), and then at home.

In their personal lives, none of the sisters had a chance to know happiness: Emily and Ann died of tuberculosis at the age of 30 and 29, respectively, without being married. Charlotte was a little more fortunate: she often received offers, but always refused applicants, agreeing only at the age of 38. But the happiness was short-lived: having celebrated the wedding in June 1854, already in January 1855 her health deteriorated sharply. The doctor who examined her confirmed the pregnancy, but ... already in March of that year, Charlotte died. Historians are still arguing about the cause of death: either it was tuberculosis, which mowed down other family members, or the cause was severe toxicosis and exhaustion on this basis ...

But let's pay attention to the work of the sisters - after all, despite the fact that the sisters grew up together, the style of their novels is different - and sometimes strikingly!

Charlotte Bronte

Being the most active of the three sisters, it was she who invited them to publish, she also negotiated with the publishing house, and also maintained correspondence with the poet of that time, Robert Southey.

Relate to prominent representatives era of realism and ... romanticism. Yes, her novels do combine these two seemingly very different genres. Charlotte, despite the isolation of life (but not of character), was able to literally read human characters and with light strokes surprisingly accurately describe the most diverse qualities of her characters. She, with her characteristic melodrama, nervousness, and sometimes exaltation, puts into the mouths of her heroes (at least Jane Eyre) reflections on the place of a woman, her oppression and the equality of people.

Emily Bronte

Emily Brontë, unlike her sister, was very reserved in character - she had no close friends, she could practically not communicate with anyone for weeks, preferring to write poetry and walk in nature alone. The character of the girl was characterized by mysticism - and this, as well as elements of Gothic, she puts into her novel Wuthering Heights. Readers confessed that they felt a shiver of horror while flipping through its pages... Yes, and Sister Charlotte wrote about the "terrifying, great gloominess" that the novel is full of. And he, interestingly, is about love. But love is mystical, demonic, stormy, going hand in hand with revenge, hatred, meanness...

Ann Bronte

But Ann, despite the fact that she was the youngest in the family, on the contrary, was surprisingly realistic: in her novels (and in her character) there is neither Charlotte's exaltation, nor Emily's mysticism - she writes sensibly, realistically, showing the sides of reality, oh which were usually kept silent (at least in England at that time) - for example, about drunkenness and what a drunk person is capable of; about the divorce and departure of his wife from her tyrant husband ("The Stranger from Wildfell Hall").

Three inconspicuous women from the wilderness who died so early ... Why is the world still talking about them? How do they stand out against the background of dozens of slightly similar, but in fact completely different,? By the fact that they dared to speak - about the place of a woman, about her right to choose a chosen one and her right to speak, reason, create, take a place in society, and they also conveyed with amazing depth the psychology of men and women and, in general, the essence of the era in which lived - after all, it included not only beautiful balls and dresses, but also numerous problems that they allowed themselves to be honest about.

BRONTE SISTERS

They said: "Our office." There, the sisters inquisitively studied everything in the world: masterpieces English Literature, each other's behavior and even the inclement climate of the surrounding swamps. And they wove everything they learned into their poems and novels, which were supposed to glorify them in the future.

Their house, surrounded on three sides by a cemetery, was extremely dull and uninviting in appearance. One of the visitors spoke of it as "a gloomy, very gloomy place, literally propped up by tombstones that have darkened from the rains." Little Charlotte, Emily and Ann loved their home - here is the first sign that they were not normal English schoolgirls.

Their father, a poor Irish farmer and later Anglican priest named Patrick Brunty, changed his surname in imitation of the naval hero Lord Nelson, who bore the title Duke of Brontë. Patrick thought it sounded nobler that way. Frankly, old Bronte was a little out of his mind. And after the death of his wife in 1821, he became even more eccentric. He constantly locked himself in his office, where he read and worked on sermons, and his six children were left to fend for themselves.

The only attempt to give children a school education ended in tragedy. The two older girls, Maria and Elisabeth, were sent to a nearby boarding school, where there was terrible unsanitary conditions, and there the girls soon died of tuberculosis. Heartbroken, Mr. Brontë immediately brought his other two daughters, Charlotte and Emily, home. There they lived for the next six years, educating themselves and inventing all sorts of games and stories for entertainment.

They had no imagination. Three sisters and their brother Branwell split into two teams and began to invent fantasy kingdoms. Emily and Anne named their country Gondap, while Charlotte and Branwell named Angria.

For ten years they described the adventures of the inhabitants of these fabulous lands in homemade books sewn from scraps of paper and cardboard boxes out of sugar. The game helped them pass the time and developed Creative skills, because the girls had to look for a suitable craft for themselves, unless, of course, some rich people appeared on the threshold and offered them a hand and a heart.

Unfortunately, no rich people ever appeared, so the sisters took up teaching and educational work, began to look after other people's children. Charlotte lived for some time in Brussels, where she fell in love with a married man, and Emily began to secretly write poetry. The sisters decided to open a private school at home, but the students did not want to go to the gloomy marshy Haworth.

Once Charlotte, the eternal ringleader in all endeavors, came up with the idea: each of the sisters should write a novel and try to publish it. Charlotte herself wrote two. The first, The Teacher, was rejected by all publishers. But the second attempt, "Jane Eyre", like the novels of her sisters "Wuthering Heights" (Emily) and "Agnes Gray" (Anne), was destined to see the light of day. The publisher told the girls that books with unknown female names the covers will not be sold out, so the sisters took pseudonyms for themselves: Carrer, Ellis and Acton Bell. The book "Jane Eyre" enjoyed particular success with critics and the public.

Sadly, what could have been a brilliant start was the beginning of the end. In 1848, just a few months after the novels were published, Branwell drank himself and died. Emily did not think of anything better than to go to the funeral barefoot in memory of him - meanwhile, a thunderstorm was raging outside ... She fell ill with tuberculosis. With the eccentricity characteristic of the entire Bronte family, Emily refused medical attention, food, and even care. In less than three months, she completely withered and died. Before her death, she was terribly thin. Her coffin was only forty centimeters wide - never before had a local undertaker had to make such a narrow one for an adult.

coffin. To complete the tragedy, Ann also contracted tuberculosis. She tried to hide the disease for a long time, and when everything was discovered, it was already too late to be treated. A few months later, she followed her sister to the grave.

Charlotte was completely alone. She devoted herself to editing the sisters' books and occasionally scolded them in the press. (Charlotte called Anne's second novel, The Stranger of Wildfell Hall, a mistake and struck it out of the sisters' official literary heritage.) She became friends with many writers during this period, including Elizabeth Gaskell and William Makepeace Thackeray. Charlotte rarely left the house and cared for her aging disabled father. In 1854, against the will of her father, she married, but the marriage was short-lived. Charlotte became pregnant and died before giving birth. Possible reasons deaths were called typhus, tuberculosis (a real family curse) and indomitable vomiting of pregnant women (a rare complication during pregnancy, accompanied by constant severe vomiting). According to local legend, Charlotte's funeral was watched by a black-clothed figure from the swamps. Many contemporaries believed that it was the ghost of Emily. If so, this would be a fitting dark and mysterious ending to the Brontë family saga.

APPEARANCE IS NOT EVERYTHING

Of the three Brontë sisters, Emily was undeniably the most beautiful. Her height was 170 centimeters, that is, for a woman of her era, she was unusually tall. With a seductive figure and beautiful features, she was always surrounded by an atmosphere of mystery - men found this intriguing. Ann also had a very pleasant appearance.

But Charlotte was much less fortunate. Small (only 147 cm tall) and looking like a sparrow, due to her severe myopia, she wore glasses and dressed quite simply. And this is still the mildest assessment, others were not so merciful to her. “Tonight I met Miss Brontë. And here's what I want to say: to be considered nondescript, she would have to become twice as beautiful as she really is, ”one young man remarked when confronted by Charlotte at a party. To her credit, it should be noted that if Charlotte had any complexes about her appearance, she coped with them with the help of her literary gift. She wrote off her best brainchild, the clumsy governess Jane Eyre, from herself.

A WINDOW TO THE INNER WORLD

Of the three sisters, Emily was the most eccentric. It is known that she could stand silently for hours at the window, immersed in thought. What was she thinking? Probably about shutters, cornices and the like. One day Charlotte caught her at the window and at first thought that her sister was staring at the swamps. Imagine her astonishment when it turned out that the shutters on the window were closed. A strange teenage girl looked at the most ordinary white shutters for six hours in a row!

COLLECTION OF REJECTIONS

Charlotte Bronte did not immediately penetrate into all the subtleties of the publishing kitchen. Her first novel, The Teacher, was rejected by publishers. Each time she received a manuscript back, she sent it to the next publisher without deleting the rejection letter. Soon, the novel was already circulating between publishers with a collection of rejection notes, which served as not the best advertisement for it. Not surprisingly, The Teacher was published only after the death of the writer.

BRENWELL, THE FORGOTTEN BROTHER OF THE BRONTE SISERS

The Bronte family had six children. Two did not live to adulthood. Three became literary stars. There is still Branwell. The fourth child and only boy, he was perhaps even more talented than the rest. Branwell was gifted in three areas at once: poetry, painting, and pedagogy (although his manner of playing tricks on the mothers of students on at least one occasion brought him problems). Branwell's poems were praised by Samuel Taylor Coleridge himself, and the portraits of the sisters made by his brother were strikingly similar to the originals. Young Branwell was clearly on his way to immortality.

Unfortunately, among his other weaknesses was an addiction to alcohol and tincture of opium, a powerful drug that in the 19th century was prescribed for almost all diseases. Flying out of one job, then another and suffering from delirium tremens, not yet thirty years old Branwell slid down and down. In the end, he contracted tuberculosis, fatal to the Bronte family (and to many others). writers of the 19th century) by illness, and died at the age of thirty-one. According to rumors, Branwell died standing up, leaning against the mantel, just to prove that such a thing is possible.

THE BRONTE Sisters (LEFT TO RIGHT: EMILIE, CHARLOTTE, ANNE) GROWED UP IN A HOUSE SURROUNDED ON THREE SIDES BY A CEMETERY.

THE ROBINSONS AND THE VIPER

Of the three Bronte sisters, Ann was considered the best governess (the absent-minded Emily was generally ill-suited for this job, and the strict Charlotte drilled the children like little slaves). Her specialization was the re-education of naughty children - this talent brought her many thanks from her parents brought to the handle. One couple, the Rev. Edmund and Lydia Robinson, had such confidence and respect in Anne that they asked her to recommend a tutor for their son. Ann made the mistake of hiring her drug addict brother Branwell. And he soon started an affair with Mrs. Robinson, who was seventeen years older than him. The novel lasted two and a half years. Having learned about everything, the furious husband kicked out not only Branwell, but also Ann - because she "forced their family to warm this viper on their chests."

LONG-SUFFERING JANE

Charlotte Brontë published Jane Eyre under a pseudonym, but she never really tried to hide her true identity. When sending the manuscript to publishers, Charlotte advised in a cover letter: “If you want to contact Mr. Carrer Bell, then write better to the name of Miss Bronte, Haworth, Bradford, Yorkshire. I am afraid that letters sent to another name will not reach me. She also did not bother to pay the shipping costs, promising to send the stamps later. Not surprisingly, the novel was rejected five times before it finally made its way to London's Smith, Elder & Co. Initial reviews were not very enthusiastic. Critics called "Carrera Bella" a lady devoid of any signs of sex, who "encroaches on the foundations laid down by our fathers and grandfathers." One of the first influential figures who supported the writer was William Makepeace Thackeray. The heartbreaking saga of Charlotte moved him so much that, according to biographers, he burst into tears right in front of his own butler.

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Three sisters In that war year, when Russia came to the defense of Bulgaria, the three Goncharov sisters, Natalie's nieces, still lived with their parents in Yaropolets: after all, the eldest of them, Ekaterina, turned fifteen, the middle one, Natasha, thirteen, the youngest, Nadezhda, passed

I think many people know the movie "Jane Eyre". Most of them even know that the author of this screened novel is a young Englishwoman, Charlotte Brontë. But few people guess in what conditions and with what efforts this work was written. After all, women authors were treated with disdain. The business of a woman in the 18th century was simple: to get married, to be meek and pious. But in the Bronte family three sisters challenged the established way of life.

The sisters were born in Yoshora, and initially there were five of them (yes, fertility was valued at that time), but two older sisters died in school age. Charlotte remained for the eldest, then 2 years younger than her - Emily, and the youngest (after another 2 years) - Ann.

Few people know, but the sisters had an equally talented brother who also wrote stories, and was also engaged in drawing. It was he who painted the portrait of the sisters drawn above.

The sisters, of course, were all gifted with the gift of writing, each of them had a published work that was hotly discussed in society:
- Charlotte's was "Jane Eyre"
- Emily Wuthering Heights
- Anne "Agnes Grey"
Only the sisters published under pseudonyms - Karrer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Now this is puzzling, but at that time no one would publish novels from women.

The most famous, of course, is the older sister - Charlotte Bronte. Her works are known to many, but without even delving into the details, it becomes clear that she drew inspiration from her own bleak life. All sisters did this. After all, imagine what awaits the gifted girls of the middle class at that time? They need to either successfully marry, or earn their own bread. Charlotte worked as a teacher, provided for her sisters and outlived them.

If Charlotte is the most famous of the sisters, then Emily Bronte has always been the most talented of the three sisters for me. I still re-read her "Wuthering Heights" with pleasure. How much secret wisdom, unrequited passion and unspent love lived in this young girl! All this can be clearly seen in her poems, which are a pleasure to read. For example, here is my favorite:

No curiosity, no longing
In no one called my lot.
Nobody gave me a hand
Nobody looked in the eyes.

World of secret dreams and secret troubles
Didn't bother anyone.
Eighteen years have passed
From my birthday.

It happened: forgetting arrogance,
The soul prayed for one thing -
So that a loving soul is here,
Here on earth, find your home.

It was a time of passionate dreams
But the feeling did not reach its zenith.
And after long evenings
The fire of the dawn is almost forgotten.

Exhausted fantasies wondrous ardor,
Hope turned to dust
And further experience revealed to me,
That there is no truth in people's hearts.

Oh life - how terrible it was in it
See hypocrisy, falsehood, debauchery:
Run into yourself and - what's worse -
Find all this hell in yourself.

How clearly Emily draws before the readers her "world of secret dreams", which, alas, are not destined to come true. She died at the age of 30, contracting tuberculosis at her brother's funeral.

And the youngest of the sisters - gentle, quiet and pleasant in appearance - Ann Bronte, turned out to be more successful than her sisters as a result, although Anne's work cannot compete with my favorite Wuthering Heights. But just think! - Ann turned out to be a real careerist! She, like her sisters, was forced to go to work as a governess, and was just as burdened by her work, which did not leave time for creativity, and was morally difficult. But, unlike Charlotte and Emily, Ann was able to overcome herself and, as a result, perfectly coped with all the difficulties of her profession: she kept the discipline of her students under control, and debugged the learning process at a high level.

Anne's novel "The Stranger of Wildfell Hall" shows the author as someone who is not afraid to challenge the public. This does not fit in so well with the painted fragile portrait of a girl! But it was her bold, sometimes ironic views that became the reason for quarrels with her older sister. It is not for nothing that contemporaries and admirers of her talent call Anne Bronte the next Jane Austen, because both writers show the same common features: firmness, integrity and openness. And at the time it was difficult. It was hard to be a woman back then.

Ann died at the age of 29, also from tuberculosis, following Emily.

These three women - three authors - forever left an indelible mark on my soul not only with their works, but also with their lives. They show how strong family ties and at the same time how difficult it is to be a "strong" weaker sex. Reading their poems, one cannot but look involuntarily into a piece of their lonely hearts: their hearts burned with passion only on the pages of their books.

Of all the sisters, only the younger Ann had an idea of ​​​​passion - she was in love with a young man, but not mutually. It is so sad, especially when you know that the life of the sisters will not only be bright, but also long.