The Brontës and Education

A 2007 exploration of how the Brontës' fiction engages with the intense debates on education in the nineteenth century.

Marianne Thormählen (Author)

9780521155618, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 21 July 2011

318 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.47 kg

Review of the hardback: '… writes with considerable panache and vigor. In this reviewer's experience the book makes a very enjoyable read not only for a scholar public but for a general audience as well.' www.bronteblog.blogspot.com

All the seven Brontë novels are concerned with education in both senses, that of upbringing as well as that of learning. The Brontë sisters all worked as teachers before they became published novelists. In spite of the prevalence of education in the sisters' lives and fiction, however, this was the first full-length book on the subject when it was published in 2007. Marianne Thormählen explores how their representations of fictional teachers and schools engage with the intense debates on education in the nineteenth century, drawing on a wealth of documentary evidence about educational theory and practice in the lifetime of the Brontës. This study offers much information both about the Brontës and their books and about the most urgent issue in early nineteenth-century British social politics: the education of the people, of all classes and both sexes.

Introduction
Part I. Education and Society: 1. The education of the people
2. The improvement of the mind
Part II. Home and School: 3. Household education versus school training
4. Parents and children
5. Professional educators in the home
6. Schools and schooling
Part III. Subjects and Skills: 7. A sound English education
8. Religion and education
9. The accomplishments
10. Male and female education
11. Beyond the schoolroom: reading and the Brontës
Part IV. Strategies and Methods: 12. Pedagogical purposes and principles
13. Schoolroom practices
Part V. Originality and Freedom: 14. Docility and originality
15. Liberty and responsibility
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Gender studies: women [JFSJ1], Literature: history & criticism [DS]