The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
By Anne Brontë
- Release Date: 1848-01-01
- Genre: Fiction & Literature
Description
While I acknowledge the success of the present work to have been greater than I anticipated, and the praises it has elicited from a few kind critics to have been greater than it deserved, I must also admit that from some other quarters it has been censured with an asperity which I was as little prepared to expect, and which my judgment, as well as my feelings, assures me is more bitter than just.
Reviews
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
4By Jbgray11Brilliant description of Helen and Gilbert’s thoughts and feelings;I have at times felt each and every one of these feelings; it makes me feel I am not alone.Wonderful!!
5By PierresFamilyThough Anne's second book was actually even more popular than her sister Charlotte's "Jane Eyre" at the time of its first publication, but Charlotte refused to support it; she felt that the character of Anne's husband Arthur was based on a relative who had an opium addiction. Regardless, it is a wonderful novel, encompassing so many facets of literature - a love story, the story of a woman's growing into her own person, the community mores and life of an English village in the 1800s and a book about friendship. The female protagonist, Helen, ignores social boundaries when she becomes close friends with her servant. The remarkable thing about this is that this is NOT a book written later about those times; rather, it was written during the 1800s and yet Anne Bronte wrote it that way. The book goes back and forth between Helen's perspective and that of Gilbert, a friend who loves her from afar for many years. Helen depended on her faith in God to get her through her husband's affair with a family friend, and she admirably maintains her moral compass throughout the book. This was so refreshing when we live in a time when "Situationla Ethics" too often reigns supreme. Through it all, she also maintains her chaste relationship with Gilbert. Will Gilbert and Helen ever surmount their obstacles and be able to enjoy the rest of their lives together? I will not give away spoilers. Suffice it to say that this is a very moving book, and my favorite of all the Bronte sisters' works.Not Quite Emily or Charlotte
3By Cdizzle88The novel itself is interesting enough: the plot mostly related in the form of letters from the protagonist, the latter half made of his lover's diary. But the prose is awkward and stilted, the protagonist too effeminate and easy to hate. Were she not a Brontë sister I doubt anyone would know of this or Agnes Gray - as the introduction points out. One review said her "perfect prose" is as good as Austen's! No, not remotely, but fans of the other sisters and this period of literature will like it, or at least labor through to find out what happens to Gilbert and Helen, without feeling they've wasted too much timeThe Tenant of Wildfell Hall
5By Absolutely Stupendous!This book is absolutely amazing. A must-read for any lover of the Bronte sisters or English literature.
