Victorians! discussion

As part of our coming celebrations of the birth of Charlotte Brontë, we will be having a side-read of the biography written by her close friend, the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell.

I have divided the biography into four parts (the two volumes divide very neatly into 7 chapters each) and, unusually for us, I will be opening all four threads simultaneously on Monday 21st March. My Penguin edition has about 420 pages, so about 100 pages a week if we aim to complete the read by Charlotte's birthday on April 21st. However, the idea is for the threads to remain in a prominent position - either in this folder, or in a separate Brontë 200 folder which is in progress - for several months, so new readers will be welcome to join in at any time.

Since we will have a lot of Brontë background information coming up soon in the Brontë 200 folder, perhaps we could use this thread for useful information directly relating to this biography. I hope that makes sense - if anyone desperately wants a separate thread, just let me know and I'll get on to it!

So that you can organise yourselves, if you are of an organising disposition, here is how I will divide the biography:

Section 1: Volume I Chapters 1-7
Description of Haworth, society, family, early years and Juvenilia.

Section 2: Volume I Chapters 8-14
Teaching, Belgium, poems by the "Bell brothers"

Section 3: Volume II Chapters 1-7
The novels, deaths of Emily, Anne and Branwell

Section 4: Volume II Chapters 8-14
Later years, relationship with other writers, marriage, death

Looking forward to sharing impressions with you all!

The threads for The Life of Charlotte Brontë can now be found in the folder for Biographies and Non-Fiction.