(no subject)

[meganbmoore]

"That it had faults of execution, faults of art, was obvious, but faults of intention of feeling could be suspected by none who knew the writer. For my part, I consider the subject unfortunately chosen - it was one the author was not qualified to handle at once vigorously and truthfully. The simple and natural - quiet description and simple pathos - are, I think Acton Bell's forte. I liked Agnes Grey better than the present work." 

The above is an excerpt of a letter from Charlotte Bronte to W S Williams regarding Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall ("Acton Bell" is the pseudonym Anne Bronte wrote under), which I stumbled across earlier this week, as one does (I was actually looking for information about Agnes Grey). Tenant was both very popular and extremely controversial, and a year after Anne's death, it was due to be republished, but Charlotte prevented this, and did her best to keep it out of print until her own death several years later.

 

Say what you will about Charlotte Bronte's works, but she actively suppressed her own sister's work, labeling her "unqualified" to write about the issues that concerned her.

Comments

[shiegra]

....dang, what an asshole.

[meganbmoore]

The "realistic" bit is what gets to me. Especially given her own most famous work.

[shiegra]

It's just so reminiscent in tone (or rather, an early example) of the patronizing kind of criticism that's not even criticism so much as a dismissal, leaving no room for objection or dissenting opinion. You kind of get the sense if you did present a differing opinion you'd just be ignored, or at best get a condescending smile or shake of the head. Like, the words of the criticism themselves (in my experience) aren't even important or pointed so much as for their silencing purpose. It drives me up the wall in real life.