Anne Bronte

"And none can hear my secret call / Or see the silent tears I weep!" These words from Anne Bronte's poem "The Doubter's Prayer" address the dual function of secrecy and silence, two of several key ideas explored in Bronte's prose and poetry. Secrecy, silence, isolation, and exile are all interrelated notions that her characters, like Bronte herself, not only struggled with but embraced.
Like her fictional and poetic characters, Anne Bronte contended with the impact of physical and psychological confinement on one's identity, even describing herself in one of her last letters as a "silent invalid stranger." Her self-assessment was echoed by others who knew her, among them her sister Charlotte, who once described her as woman who "covered her mind, and especially her feelings, with a sort of nun-like veil."
Anne Bronte, a new book in the Twayne English Authors Series, challenges the assumption that such labels point to artistic or personal weaknesses on Bronte's part. Rather, Maria Frawley, the author of previous studies of Victorian women writers, relates them to Bronte's life experiences and to her ongoing interest in self-understanding, self-representation, and social identity. Within Bronte's writings, Frawley examines a distinction between the characters' private and public selves and analyzes Bronte's understanding of the social construction of identities.
Unique in Bronte family studies, this book acknowledges Anne's relationship to her more famous sisters but focuses on her individual artistic and intellectual achievements.

Maria Frawley is Assistant Professor at Elizabethtown College.