Overview
- Examines the Brontës’ work in a fresh historical and thematic context
- Introduces Branwell Brontë’s work, and the Brontë juvenilia more broadly, into the critical literary canon
- Provides an interdisciplinary analysis of late-eighteenth and early nineteenth-century military in a political, social and cultural context. Including discussions of the periodical press, celebrity, colonial/civil/Napoleonic warfare, and trauma
- Discusses an often overlooked period of history (1815-1830) that provides important foundations for the emergent Victorian period
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About this book
This book explores the representations of militarisim and masculinity in Charlotte and Branwell Brontë’s youthful writings. It offers insight into how the siblings understood and reimagined conflict (both local and overseas) and its emotional legacies whilst growing up in early-nineteenth-century Britain. Their writings shed new light on a period little discussed by social and military historians, providing not only a new approach to Brontë Studies, but also acting as a familial case study for how the media captivated and enticed the public imagination.
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Keywords
Table of contents (7 chapters)
Reviews
“The strengths of The Brontës and War are Butcher’s clear exposition of the historical war and military milieu within which Charlotte and Branwell wrote … . she has engaged in admirably wide-ranging and nuanced research around war and military cultures and valuably opened up a field for further study.” (Sue Thomas, Victorian Studies, Vol. 63 (4), 2021)
“Butcher’s contribution to the history of childhood in the early nineteenth century is significant, adding depth to the existing study of material culture in post-Napoleonic-War Britain … .” (Vic Clarke, BAVS Newsletter, Vol. 21 (3), 2021)
“Butcher’s contribution to the history of childhood in the early nineteenth century is significant, adding depth to the existing study of material culture in post-Napoleonic-War Britain … .” (Vic Clarke, BAVS Newsletter, Vol. 21 (3), 2021)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Emma Butcher is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in English Literature at the University of Leicester, UK. Her research focuses on childhood, literature and war in the nineteenth century. In 2017, Emma was named as one of the BBC/AHRC’s New Generation Thinkers and she is a regular contributor to BBC Radio, as well as various public history platforms. She has worked closely with the Brontë Parsonage for a number of years, co-curating their 2015 exhibition, ‘The Brontës and War’. This is her first book.
Agent: Kirsty McLachlan, David Godwin Associates.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Brontës and War
Book Subtitle: Fantasy and Conflict in Charlotte and Branwell Brontë’s Youthful Writings
Authors: Emma Butcher
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95636-7
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-95635-0Published: 13 December 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-95636-7Published: 03 December 2019
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIII, 216
Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations, 6 illustrations in colour
Topics: Nineteenth-Century Literature, History of Military, Cultural History