The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

Brontė, Anne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140434747 ISBN 13: 9780140434743

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 1996

Synopsis

One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'

The groundbreaking story of a woman's valiant struggle for independence from her abusive husband

Gilbert Markham is deeply intrigued by Helen Graham, a beautiful and secretive young woman who has moved into nearby Wildfell Hall with her young son. He is quick to offer Helen his friendship, but when her reclusive behaviour becomes the subject of local gossip and speculation, Gilbert begins to wonder whether his trust in her has been misplaced. It is only when she allows Gilbert to read her diary that the truth is revealed and the shocking details of the disastrous marriage she has left behind emerge. Told with great immediacy, combined with wit and irony, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a powerful depiction of a woman's fight for domestic independence and creative freedom.

In her introduction Stevie Davies discusses The Tenant of Wildfell Hall as feminist testament, inspired by Anne Brontė's experiences as a governess and by the death of her brother Branwell Brontė, and examines the novel's language, biblical references and narrative styles.
Edited with an introduction and notes by Stevie Davis

About this title

Review:

'This is the seventh and final volume of the Clarendon Edition of the Novels of the Brontes ... not only have they all been edited with scrupulous scholarship but great care has obviosuly been taken to make them handsome in binding, layout and typography'Douglas Hewitt, Pembroke College, Oxford, Notes and Queries, March 1993

It is particularly gratifying to have a definitive library edition of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. (reveiw of English Studies)

It is obvious to the careful reader that a massive amount of textual evidence has been compressed into this Clarendon volume. The Introduction to the Clarendon edition ... is a model of its type ... Rosengarten unequivocally introduces the text, providing the reader with a context for the composition and publication of the novel. Nowhere in Brontė scholarship is it possible to find such a complete and valuable compilation of the publication history ... One can only admire the grasp Rosengarten has of the myriad typographical and substantive errors that mar the variant versions of the early editions and the lucid way in which he presents and explains such complex data ... a book well worth having: it is scholarly, handsomely produced and easy to read ... provides a fitting conclusion to the Clarendon series and, as such, represents a milestone in Brontė scholarship. (Peter L. Shillingsburg, Mississippi State University, TEXT, Volume 9, 1997)

Book Description:

Completing the Clarendon Edition of the Brontės

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0140434747
• ISBN 13: 9780140434743
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 576
• Editor: Davies Stevie