But, from an artistic and literary point of view, Shirley is much the better story. In many respects, it is a much more finished and artistic production than Jane Eyre and is free from many of the crudities and absurdities that are in that first book of “Currer Bell’s.” Of course, Jane Eyre will always exceed Shirley in popularity. While it was hardly as popular as Jane Eyre, it was a success from the date of its appearance and has long remained a favorite. Shirley was Charlotte Brontë’s second novel.
A lengthy plot summary of Shirley by Charlotte Brontëįrom the original article in the Boston Globe, March 13, 1910: In the early 1900s, interest in the Brontë sisters was still going strong on both sides of the Atlantic, evidenced by the frequency with which their life stories and analyses of their novels showed up in newspapers.
Like Shirley, Emily was always accompanied by a “rather large, strong, and fierce-looking dog, very ugly, being of a breed between a mastiff and a bulldog.”įollowing is a lengthy plot summary of Shirley by Charlotte Brontë from 1910, befitting a very long and detailed novel. Shirley: A Tale, as it was originally titled, is considered an example of the mid-19th century “social novel.” The social novels that emerged from that period were works of fiction dealing with themes like labor injustice, bias against women, and poverty.Ĭharlotte supposedly told Elizabeth Gaskell (who, not long after the former’s death would become her first biographer) that the character of Shirley was how she imagined Emily might have turned out if she’d had the benefits of wealth and privilege. Set in Charlotte’s native Yorkshire, it takes place against the background of the textile industry’s Luddite uprisings of 18. The lengthy novel has two female protagonists - the eponymous Shirley Keeldar, as well as Caroline Helstone. The first to go was her troubled brother Branwell, followed by sisters Emily and Anne, who would also come to be celebrated for their literary accomplishments. While Charlotte was at work on this book, her remaining siblings died. Published in 1849 under the pseudonym Currer Bell, the author had already become famous with the success of Jane Eyre(1847). Shirley was the second published novel by Charlotte Brontë.
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