English writer Charlotte Bronte: biography, creativity and personal life. Charlotte Brontë's books The beginning of literary activity

Green dwarf

What story will retired officer John Bud tell an old friend? What will he remember?

About the war between the tribes and Verdopolis? Or Lady Emily Charlesworth's love for the freelance artist Leslie? Or about the unbridled passion and jealousy of Colonel Percy, capable of committing a crime to achieve his goals?

But old friends have a lot of time, and sometimes you can squeeze your whole life into one story.

Ashworth

Who knows, maybe it is you who will complete the story that began in 1841 ...

Jane Eyre

This novel contains everything that makes a woman's heart sink: the first timid feeling, loyal friends, broken hopes, the bitterness of parting with a loved one, pride and true love.

Victorian English, dignified, mannered, reserved. And a young orphan named Jane Eyre, who got a job as governess in Thornfield.

After spending eight years in a boarding house, life on the estate may seem like happiness ...

Read also:

Shirley

Before you is the most action-packed novel by Charlotte Brontë.

Here, detective and "gothic" motives are surprisingly intertwined. But the captivating plot is just a frame for the story of a complex relationship between a man and two women.

A banal classic triangle? No. A sharp conflict between generations, social strata, sexes and an unexpected decision from the writer.

Town

Lucy Snow lost her father and mother early. Loneliness, poverty, hypocrisy, injustice ... How many trials fell to the lot of the girl!

First love - and first disappointment, frustration of hopes and loss of illusion. Childhood friends and heartfelt conversations are somewhere in the past, ahead is work in a boarding house.

But, perhaps, love for Paul Emanuel will change the girl's life?

Teacher

A story about the amazing love of a young, purposeful teacher for his young colleague.

Their relationship was not easy, sometimes painful. Too many people have tried to thwart nascent feeling by creating barriers to happiness. But if a man and a woman are connected by spiritual closeness, if lovers are ready to become faithful companions, then everything can be overcome ...

One of the best novels by the great Charlotte Bronte.

Emma

Emma Brown, a little girl who had to experience the horror of poverty and a homeless life. She worked hard to buy her own food in the evening. She slept on the grass because she couldn't afford to pay for the night.

Sometimes it seems that Emma is doomed to wander the streets of London until the last days of her life.

But the girl does not despair: she will certainly remember the truth about her past and find her mother ...

Charlotte Bronte

In recent years a great many junior priests have emerged in the north of England; especially fortunate in our mountainous terrain: now almost every parish priest has one assistant, or even more. We must assume that they will do a lot of good, for they are young and energetic. But we are not going to tell the story of the last years, we turn to the beginning of our century; the last years have been covered with a gray bloom, scorched by the sun and barren; let us forget about the sultry midday, plunge into a sweet oblivion, into a light doze and see the dawn in dreams.

Reader, if from this introduction you assume that a romantic story will unfold before you, you are mistaken. Are you waiting for poetry and lyrical meditation? Melodramas, ardent feelings and strong passions? Don't expect to see so much, you'll have to settle for something more modest. You will see a simple everyday life in all its unvarnished truth, something as far from romance as Monday, when a worker wakes up with the thought that he needs to get up and get to work as soon as possible. Perhaps in the middle or at the end of dinner you will be served something tasty, but the first course will be so lean that a Catholic - and even an Anglo-Catholic - would not have sinned by eating it on Good Friday: cold lentils with vinegar without oil, unleavened bread with bitter herbs and not a piece of roast lamb.

So, in recent years the north of England has been flooded with junior priests, but in eighteen hundred and eleven or twelve, there was no such influx: there were few junior priests; there was still no parish relief fund, no charities capable of caring for decrepit parish priests and providing them with the opportunity to hire a young, active fellow who had just graduated from Oxford or Cambridge. The present successors of the apostles, disciples of Dr. Pusey, and members of the college of missionaries, were still nursed in those days under warm blankets and were subjected to the life-giving rite of washing in a wash basin by the nannies. Having seen them then, you would not have thought that the starched, fluffy frill of the cap frames the forehead of the future bearer of the spiritual dignity, the foreordained successor of St. Paul, St. Peter or St. John. And you, of course, would not have discerned in the folds of their children's nightgowns a white surplice, in which they would later severely instruct their parishioners and plunge the old-fashioned priest into complete amazement - this surplice was now so violently swaying over the pulpit, whereas before he was only stirring slightly below.

However, even in those lean times, assistants to the priests still existed, but only in some places, as rare plants. However, one blessed county in Yorkshire county boasted three of Aaron's wands, which blossomed in lush bloom in a small area some twenty square miles. You will see them now, reader. Enter a cozy house on the outskirts of Winbury and look into a small room, here they are having lunch. Let me introduce them to you: Mr. Donne, assistant priest from Winbury; Mr Malone, Brierfield Priest's Assistant; Mr. Sweeting, assistant priest from Nunnley. The owner of this house is a certain John Gale, a poor cloth maker, with whom Mr. Donne lives, who has kindly invited his fellows to dine with him today. Let's sit down to them and we, look at them, listen to their conversation. They are now consumed with dinner; and in the meantime we'll gossip.

These gentlemen are in the prime of their youth; they breathe with the strength of this happy age, the strength that the sad old priests try to channel on the path of Christian duty, urging their young assistants to visit the sick more often and to diligently supervise the parish schools. But young Levites do not like such boring things: they prefer to waste their ebullient energy in special activities, which would seem to be as tediously monotonous as the work of a weaver, but which gives them a lot of joy, many pleasant minutes. I mean their continuous visit to each other, some kind of vicious circle, or rather a triangle of visits, at any time of the year: in winter, and in spring, and in summer, and in autumn. In any weather, fearing neither snow, nor hail, nor wind, nor rain, nor slush, nor dust, they go one to another with incomprehensible zeal, now to have lunch, now to drink tea, then to have supper. What attracts them to each other is difficult to say; in any case, not friendly feelings - their meetings usually end in a quarrel; not a religion - they never talk about it; questions of theology still occasionally occupy their minds, but they never touch on piety; and not gluttony - each of them and at home could have eaten an equally kind piece of meat, the same pudding, equally crispy croutons, and drink an equally strong tea. According to Mrs. Gale, Mrs. Hogue and Mrs. Whipp - landlords - "this is done only to give people more trouble." By "people" these ladies mean, of course, themselves, and one cannot but agree that constant invasions of guests cause a lot of trouble.

As already mentioned, Mr. Donne and his guests are sitting at dinner; Mrs. Gale serves them, but her eyes sparkle with the glow of the hot kitchen fire. She finds that lately her tenant has been abusing his right to invite friends to the table without additional payment, which was an agreement when renting an apartment. Today it is still only Thursday, but on Monday Mr. Malone, the assistant priest from Brierfield, showed up for breakfast and stayed for dinner. On Tuesday the same Mr. Malone, along with Mr. Sweeting from Nunnley, dropped in for a cup of tea, then stayed for supper and slept in the spare beds, and on Wednesday morning they deigned to have breakfast; and now on Thursday both of them are right there again! They dine and probably also spend the whole evening. "C" en est trop, "she would say if she spoke French.

Mr. Sweeting cuts the roast beef finely and complains that it is as tough as a sole; Mr. Donne complains about the weak beer. This is the worst! If they were courteous, the hostess would not have been so offended; if her treat had been to their taste, she would have forgiven them a lot, but “the young priests are too carried away and look down on everyone; they let her know that she is no match for them, ”and allow themselves to be insolent to her only because she does not keep a servant and runs the household herself, following the example of her deceased mother; in addition, they constantly scold Yorkshire customs and Yorkshire people, and this, in Mrs. Gale's opinion, suggests that they are not real gentlemen, at least not of noble birth. “Can you compare these youths with the old priests! They know how to behave and are equally courteous with people of all ranks. "

"Of bread!" - shouted Mr. Malone, and his reprimand, although he uttered only a two-syllable word, immediately betrayed a native of the land of shamrocks and potatoes. This priest is especially unpleasant for the mistress, but he inspires her with awe - he is so tall and wide in bone! Throughout his appearance, it is immediately obvious that this is a true Irishman, although not of the "Milesian" type, like Daniel O "Connell; his cheekbones, like a North American Indian, is characteristic only of a certain layer of small-scale Irish nobles, whose faces froze arrogantly - a contemptuous expression more befitting of slaveholders than landlords dealing with free peasants.Malone's father considered himself a gentleman; almost beggar, in debt, and haughty enough; so was his offspring.

Mrs. Gale put the bread on the table.

Slice it, woman, the guest ordered.

And the "woman" obeyed. If she had given herself free rein at this moment, it seems that at the same time she would have cut off the priest's head; such an imperious tone angered the proud native of Yorkshire.

The priests, with a fair appetite, ate a fair amount of "tough as a sole" roast and ate a lot of "weak" beer; the Yorkshire pudding and two bowls of vegetables were destroyed instantly, like foliage hit by locusts; the cheese was also paid tribute, and the sweet cake disappeared without a trace, like a vision! And only in the kitchen was the waste song sung to him by Abraham, the son and heir of Mrs. Gale, a toddler of six; he hoped that he would get something too, and at the sight of an empty dish in his mother's hands he roared desperately.

Meanwhile, the priests were sipping wine, albeit without much pleasure, for it was not of high quality. Needless to say, Malone simply would have preferred whiskey, but Donn, as a true Englishman, did not keep such a drink. Sipping port, they argued; they were not arguing about politics, not about philosophy, not about literature - these topics never interested them - and not even about theology, practical or dogmatic; no, they discussed insignificant details of the church charter, little things that would seem to everyone but themselves as empty as soap bubbles. Mr. Malone contrived to drain two glasses, while his friends drank one at a time, and his mood rose noticeably: he cheered up in his own way - began to behave defiantly, spoke insolence in an arrogant tone and rolled with laughter from his own wit.

Autograph Media files at Wikimedia Commons Quotes on Wikiquote

Charlotte's mother died of uterine cancer on September 15, 1821, leaving five daughters and a son to be raised by her husband Patrick.

Education

Cowan Bridge

In August 1824, her father sent Charlotte to the Cowan Bridge School for the Daughters of the Clergy (her two older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, were sent there in July 1824, and the youngest, Emily, in November). Upon entering the school journal, the following entry was made about the knowledge of eight-year-old Charlotte:

School project

Announcement of the establishment of Miss Brontë's boarding school, 1844.

Returning home on January 1, 1844, Charlotte again decides to start the project of founding her own school in order to provide herself and her sisters with a living. However, the circumstances prevailing in 1844 were less favorable to such plans than they were in 1841.

Charlotte's aunt, Mrs Branwell, is dead; Mr. Bronte's health and eyesight were weakened. The Bronte sisters were no longer able to leave Hoert to rent a school building in a more attractive location. Charlotte decides to set up a boarding house right in Hoert Parsonage; but their family home, located in a graveyard in a rather wilderness, scared off the parents of would-be students, despite Charlotte's cash discounts.

The beginning of a literary career

In May 1846, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne published a joint collection of poetry at their own expense under the pseudonyms Carrer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Despite the fact that only two copies of the collection were sold, the sisters continued to write, with a view to subsequent publication. In the summer of 1846, Charlotte began searching for publishers for Carrer, Ellis, and Acton Bell's novels, respectively, The Master, Wuthering Heights, and Agnes Gray.

Having published the first book on family funds, Charlotte later wanted not to spend money on publication, but, on the contrary, to get the opportunity to earn money through literary work. However, her younger sisters were ready to take another risk. So Emily and Anne accepted an offer from London publisher Thomas Newby, who asked for £ 50 as a guarantee for Wuthering Heights and Agnes Gray, promising to return the money if he managed to sell 250 out of 350 copies of the books. This money Newby did not return, despite the fact that the entire circulation was sold out in the wake of the success of Charlotte's "Jane Eyre" in late 1847.

Charlotte herself turned down Newby's offer. She continued her correspondence with London firms, trying to interest them in her novel The Teacher. All publishers rejected it, however, a literary consultant for Smith, Elder & Company sent Carrer Bell a letter in which he sympathetically explained the reasons for the rejection: the novel lacks the fun that would allow the book to sell well. That same month (August 1847) Charlotte sent the Jane Eyre manuscript to Smith, Elder, and Company. The novel was accepted and published in record time.

Death of Branwell, Emily and Anne Brontë

Along with literary success, trouble came to the Brontë family. Charlotte's brother and the only son in the Branwell family died in September 1848 from chronic bronchitis or tuberculosis. The grave condition of his brother was aggravated by drunkenness, as well as drug addiction (Branwell took opium). Emily and Ann died of pulmonary tuberculosis in December 1848 and May 1849, respectively.

Now Charlotte and her father were alone. Between 1848 and 1854 Charlotte led an active literary life. She became close friends with Harriet Martineau, Elizabeth Gaskell, William Thackeray and George Henry Lewis.

Charlotte met her husband-to-be in the spring of 1844 when Arthur Bell Nicholls arrived in Hoert. Charlotte's first impression of her father's assistant was by no means flattering. She wrote to Ellen Nussey in October 1844:

Similar reviews are found in Charlotte's letters in later years, but over time they disappear.

Charlotte married in June 1854. In January 1855, her health deteriorated sharply. In February, the doctor who examined the writer came to the conclusion that the symptoms of malaise indicate the beginning of pregnancy and do not pose a danger to life.

Charlotte was tormented by constant nausea, lack of appetite, extreme weakness, which led to rapid exhaustion. However, according to Nicholls, it was only in the last week of March that it became clear that Charlotte was dying. The cause of death was never established [ ] .

Charlotte died on March 31, 1855 at the age of 38. On her death certificate, the cause was tuberculosis, however, as many of Charlotte's biographers suggest, she could have died of dehydration and exhaustion caused by severe toxicosis. It can also be assumed that Charlotte died of typhus, which she could have been infected by the old maid Tabitha Aykroyd, who died shortly before Charlotte's death.

The writer was buried in the family crypt at St Michael's Church, located in Hoarth, West Yorkshire, England.

Early creativity

Charlotte Brontë began writing early: her first extant manuscript ( ) dates from about 1826 (the author is 10 years old). In the years 1827-1829, the Bronte children came up with several large and small games, which served as the basis for their further creativity. In her children's autobiographical note "History of the Year" (March 12, 1829), Charlotte described the emergence of the game "Young People", from which the "African" saga would develop in the coming years:

Charlotte and Branwell Brontë. Fragment of the group "Portrait with a Gun" (the painting itself was destroyed; only its photograph, a copy and a fragment with the image of Emily have survived). The work of Branwell Brontë, circa 1834-5

Dad bought some soldiers in Leeds for Branwell. When Dad got home it was night and we were in bed, so the next morning Branwell came to our door with a box of soldiers. Emily and I jumped out of bed and I grabbed one and exclaimed, “This is the Duke of Wellington! Let it be mine! " When I said that, Emily also took one and said, let it be hers. When Ann came downstairs and she took one.

Works for children and youth (Juvenilia)

The following list of Charlotte Bronte's juveniles is incomplete. (the full list is too extensive).

The first folio of Charlotte Brontë's manuscript, The Mystery, 1833

The names in square brackets are from the researchers.

  • Two romantic stories: "Twelve Adventurers" and "Adventure in Ireland" (1829) The latter work is not really a story, but a story.
  • Young People Magazine (1829-1830)
  • The Search for Happiness (1829)
  • The characters of the prominent people of our time (1829)
  • Stories about the islanders. In 4 volumes (1829-1830)
  • Evening Walk, poem by the Marquis Douro (1830)
  • Translation in English verses of Voltaire's First Book of Henriad (1830)
  • Albion and Marina (1830)... Charlotte's first "love story", written under the influence of Byron; Marina's character corresponds to Gaide's character from the poem "Don Juan". Charlotte's tale is somewhat mystical.
  • The Adventures of Ernest Alembert. Fairy Tale (1830)
  • Violet and other verses of the Marquis Duero (1830)
  • The Wedding (1832) (poem and story)
  • Arturiana, or Scraps and Remains (1833)
  • Something About Arthur (1833)
  • Two stories: "Secret" and Lily Hart (1833)
  • Visits to Verdopolis (1833)
  • Green Dwarf (1833)
  • Found (1833)
  • Richard the Lionheart and Blondel (1833), poem
  • Sheet from an unopened volume (1834)
  • "Spell" and "High life in Verdopolis" (1834)
  • The Junk Book (1834)
  • Snack Dishes (1834)
  • My Angria and the Angrians (1834)
  • “We Weaved a Net in Childhood” [Retrospective] (1835), one of the most famous poems by Charlotte Bronte
  • Current events (1836)
  • [The Expulsion of Zamorna] (1836), a poem in two songs The Green Dwarf ", the poem" The Expulsion of Zamorny ", the story" Mina Laurie ", the youthful novel" Caroline Vernon "and" Farewell to Angria "- a prose fragment whose genre is difficult to define.
  • "Charlotte Bronte. Five Little Novels ”(1977, edited by W. Gerain). This book includes the novels Current Events, Julia and Mina Laurie, as well as the youthful novels Captain Henry Hastings and Caroline Vernon.
  • Tales of Angria (2006, edited by Heather Glen). This book includes the stories Mina Laurie and the Stancliffe Hotel, the short letter novel The Duke of Zamorne, the novels Henry Hastings and Caroline Vernon, and the diary fragments that Charlotte Brontë wrote as a teacher in Row -Hede.

Mature creativity

Novels 1846-1853

In 1846, Charlotte Brontë completed a novel specially written for publication, The Teacher. Under the pseudonym Carrer Bell, she offered it to several publishers. Everyone rejected the manuscript, but a literary consultant for Smith, Elder & Company, William Williams, saw the potential of an aspiring author and wrote Carrer Bell a letter in which he explained that the book should be attractive to the public and thus marketable. Two or three weeks after receiving this letter, Charlotte sent the manuscript of Jane Eyre (written between August 1846 and August 1847) to Smith, Elder, and Company.

In her Life of Charlotte Brontë, E. Gaskell described the reaction to the new novel:

When the Jane Eyre manuscript reached the future publishers of this remarkable novel, it fell to the lot of a gentleman associated with the firm to read it first. He was so greatly impressed by the character of the book that he expressed his impressions in very emotional terms to Mr. Smith, who seemed extremely amused by this excited admiration. “You seem so enchanted that I don’t know if I can believe you,” he said, laughing. But when the second reader, a sober-minded Scotsman who was not subject to enthusiasm, took the manuscript home in the evening and became so deeply interested in the story that he sat half the night until he finished reading it, Mr. Smith's curiosity was excited enough that he wanted to read the novel himself, and, great there were praises lavished upon him, he found that they had not sinned against the truth.

Charlotte sent the Jane Eyre novel to the publishers on August 24, 1847, and the book was published on October 16 of that year. Charlotte was pleasantly surprised when she received her royalties. It was small by modern standards: the author was paid £ 500.

In 1848-1849. Charlotte Brontë wrote the second of her published novels, Shirley. The external circumstances of her life, however, did not favor her creativity: at the beginning of 1848, a scandal concerning the authorship of her sisters' novels (Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights and both Ann's books, Agnes Gray and The Stranger from Wildfell Hall were attributed to Carrer Bell ), forced Charlotte to come to London and reveal her pseudonym. In the second half of this year, her brother Branwell and sister Emily died. It was also obvious that Charlotte's youngest sister, Anne, would not live long; and indeed she passed away in May 1849. Two months after that, in August, Charlotte graduated from Shirley. On October 26, the book went out of print.

In the years 1850-1852, Charlotte wrote her last (and possibly the best) book - "Willette" (The name "Town" is erroneous, since Willette is the name of the capital of Labaskur: place names are not translated). The novel is distinguished by a very heavy atmosphere - a consequence of the grief experienced by the author. The writer puts the main character in a dead end: the death of loved ones, the loss of friends, longing for a destroyed house. Lucy Snow, as conceived by the author, from the very beginning is doomed to failures, troubles and hopeless loneliness. She is rejected from earthly happiness and can only hope for the Kingdom of Heaven. In a sense, we can say that Charlotte took out on her heroine her own pain from the loss of her family. The book is distinguished by its intimacy and exceptional psychological persuasiveness.

Willett came out of print on January 28, 1853 and was the last work that Charlotte managed to finish.

Unfinished fragments

After the death of Charlotte Brontë there were several unfinished manuscripts left. One of them, containing two chapters under the title "Emma", was published shortly after the death of the author (Claire Boylan finished the book in 2003, titled "Emma Brown").

There are two more fragments: John Henry (circa 1852) and Willie Ellen (May-June 1853).

Value

Charlotte Brontë is one of the most talented representatives of English romanticism and realism. Possessing an extremely nervous and impressionable temperament, she had a high degree of possession of what Goethe calls the secret of genius - the ability to imbue with the individuality and subjective mood of an outsider. With a limited circle of observations, she portrayed everything that she had to see and feel with amazing brightness and truth. If sometimes the excessive brightness of the images turns into a certain coarseness of colors, and the excessive melodramatism in the positions and the sentimental conclusion weaken the artistic impression, then the realism full of vital truth makes these shortcomings invisible.

The posthumous biography of Charlotte Bronte, written by Elizabeth Gaskell, "The Life of Charlotte Bronte", was published as the first among the numerous biographies of the writer. The book by E. Gaskell is not always reliable, but its main drawback is that it almost completely ignores the early literary work of Charlotte Brontë.

Constance Severy

  • "Poems by Charlotte Bronte" (ed. by Tom Winnifrit, 1984)

    • Biographies

    • The Life of Charlotte Bronte - Elizabeth Gaskell, 1857

    Charlotte Bronte (pseudonym - Carrer Bell, English Currer Bell) - English poet and novelist - was born April 21, 1816 in West Yorkshire and was the third child (and there were six of them - Mary, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Patrick Branwell, Emily and Anne) in the family of the clergyman of the Church of England Patrick Bronte (originally from Ireland) and his wife Mary, nee Branwell.

    In 1820 the family moved to Hoert, where Patrick was promoted to vicar. Charlotte's mother passed away September 15, 1821, leaving five daughters and a son to be raised by her husband Patrick.

    In August 1824 her father sent Charlotte to Cowan Bridge School for the daughters of the clergy (her two older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, were sent there in July 1824, and the youngest, Emily, in November).

    Cowan Bridge School was the inspiration for Lowood boarding school in Jane Eyre. Poor conditions undermined the already poor health of Mary (born 1814) and Elizabeth (born 1815) Bronte. In February 1825, Mr. Bronte took Mary, who was ill with tuberculosis, from school; in May of that year, the second sister, Elizabeth, was sent home completely ill from consumption. Soon after returning to Hoert, Charlotte's sisters died. Mr. Bronte took the two younger girls home immediately ( June 1, 1825).

    At home at Hoert Parsonage, Charlotte and the other surviving children Branwell, Emily and Anne set to work chronicling the lives and struggles of the inhabitants of their imaginary kingdoms. Charlotte and Branwell wrote Byronic stories of fictional English colonies in Africa centered on the magnificent capital, Glass Town (Glass Town, later Verdopolis), while Emily and Anne wrote books and poems about Gondal. Their complex and intricate sagas, rooted in the childhood and early youth of women writers, defined their literary vocation.

    In 1831-1832 Charlotte continued her education at Row Head School (Myrfield), headed by Miss Wooler. With Margaret Wooler, Charlotte maintained good relations until the end of her life, although there were frictions between them. In Row Head, Charlotte met her peers Ellen Nussie and Mary Taylor, with whom she made friends and subsequently corresponded.

    After graduating, Charlotte in 1835-1838 worked as a teacher in Roe Head. By decision of the family, Charlotte brought Emily with her to school: she paid for the education of her younger sister from her salary. However, Emily's inability to live in a new place among strangers changed her original plans: Emily had to be sent home, and Anne took her place.

    In 1838 Charlotte and Anne left Miss Wooler on the pretext that the school's move to Dewsbury Moore was bad for their health. Dewsbury Moore was indeed a rather unhealthy area, but the main reason for Charlotte's departure was obviously tiredness from an unloved work and an inability to write (works 1835-1838 years created in fits and starts in the brief weeks of school holidays).

    Starting to write early, Charlotte also realized her calling and talent early on. The first known attempt of a future writer to enter the literary world refers to by 1836. December 29th Charlotte sent a letter and poems to the famous poet Robert Southey, asking him for his opinion. This letter has not reached us, and therefore it is not known exactly which poems Southey read. Southey's letter had a beneficial effect on Charlotte.

    In 1840 she sends the first chapters of her novel "Ashworth" to Hartley Coleridge (the son of the famous poet). Coleridge apparently made a number of comments, the essence of which was that the novel would not be accepted by publishers. Charlotte's appeal was apparently prompted by the advice of her brother, Branwell, who saw Coleridge about his translations of Horace's Aude.

    June 1839 Charlotte got her first job as governess in the Sidgwick family (from where she quickly left due to mistreatment), and in 1841 - the second, in the family of Mr. and Mrs. White.

    In the same year, Charlotte's aunt, Miss Elizabeth Branwell, agreed to provide the nieces with money so that they could start their own school. However, Charlotte suddenly changed her plans, deciding to preliminarily improve her French. To this end, she intended to go to one of the Belgian boarding schools. Since the money borrowed by her aunts was only enough for one semester, Charlotte planned to find work abroad.

    In 1842 Charlotte and Emily traveled to Brussels to attend a boarding school run by Constantine Héger (1809-1896) and his wife Claire-Zoë Héger (1814-1891). After studying for one semester, the girls received an offer to stay there to work, paying for the opportunity to continue their studies with their labor. The sisters' stay at the boarding house ended in october 1842when their aunt died, Elizabeth Branwell, who took care of the girls after their mother died.

    January 1843 Charlotte returned to Brussels to teach English. However, now her time at school was not happy: the girl was lonely, homesick and, obviously, felt that studying literature with Monsieur Eger would not help her start a literary career. The feeling of the passing time and the fear of wasting one's abilities in vain will soon become a constant leitmotif of Charlotte's letters. Perhaps she was frightened by the example of her brother, whose once brilliant prospects were steadily fading.

    Finally, in December 1843 Charlotte decides to return to Hoert, despite not seeing any literary opportunities for herself at home.

    Charlotte's Brussels experience was reflected in the novels The Teacher and Willette (The Town).

    returning home January 1, 1844, Charlotte again decides to start the project of founding her own school in order to provide herself and her sisters with an income. However, the circumstances prevailing in 1844were less favorable to this kind of plan than was the case in 1841.

    Charlotte's aunt, Mrs Branwell, is dead; Mr. Bronte's health and eyesight were weakened. The Bronte sisters were no longer able to leave Hoert to rent a school building in a more attractive location. Charlotte decides to set up a boarding house right in Hoert Parsonage; but their family home, located in a graveyard in a rather wilderness, scared off the parents of would-be students, despite Charlotte's cash discounts.

    May 1846 Charlotte, Emily and Ann published a joint collection of poetry at their own expense under the pseudonyms Carrer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Despite the fact that only two copies of the collection were sold, the sisters continued to write, with a view to subsequent publication. In the summer of 1846 Charlotte began searching for publishers for Carrer, Ellis, and Acton Bell's novels, respectively, The Teacher, Wuthering Heights, and Agnes Gray.

    Having published the first book with family funds, Charlotte later wanted not to spend money on publication, but, on the contrary, to get the opportunity to earn money through literary work. However, her younger sisters were willing to take another risk. So Emily and Anne accepted an offer from London-based publisher Thomas Newby, who asked for £ 50 for Wuthering Heights and Agnes Gray, promising to return the money if he could sell 250 out of 350 copies of the books. This money Newby did not return, despite the fact that the entire circulation was sold out in the wake of the success of Charlotte's novel "Jane Eyre" late 1847.

    Charlotte herself turned down Newby's offer. She continued her correspondence with London firms, trying to interest them in her novel The Teacher. All publishers rejected it, however, a literary consultant for Smith, Elder & Company sent Carrer Bell a letter in which he sympathetically explained the reasons for the rejection: the novel lacks the fun that would allow the book to sell well. In the same month ( august 1847) Charlotte sent the Jane Eyre manuscript to Smith, Elder & Company. The novel was accepted and published in record time.

    Along with literary success, trouble came to the Brontë family. Charlotte's brother and Branwell's only son has passed away in September 1848 from chronic bronchitis or tuberculosis. The serious condition of his brother was aggravated by drunkenness, as well as drug addiction (Branwell took opium). Emily and Ann died of pulmonary tuberculosis december 1848 and May 1849 respectively.

    Now Charlotte and her father were alone. During between 1848 and 1854... Charlotte led an active literary life. She became close friends with Harriet Martineau, Elizabeth Gaskell, William Thackeray, and George Henry Lewis.

    Bronte's book spawned a feminist movement in literature. The main character of the novel, Jane Eyre, is as strong a girl as the author. Nevertheless, Charlotte tried not to leave Hoerth for more than a few weeks, as she did not want to leave her aging father.

    During her life, Charlotte repeatedly refused marriage, sometimes taking marriage proposals seriously, sometimes treating them with humor. However, she chose to accept the offer of her father's assistant, Priest Arthur Bell Nicholls.

    Charlotte met her future husband in the spring of 1844when Arthur Bell Nicholls arrived at Hoert. Charlotte got married in June 1854. January 1855 her health deteriorated sharply. In February the doctor who examined the writer came to the conclusion that the symptoms of malaise indicate the beginning of pregnancy and do not pose a danger to life.

    Charlotte suffered from constant nausea, lack of appetite, extreme weakness, which led to rapid exhaustion. However, according to Nicholls, it was only in the last week of March that it became clear that Charlotte was dying. The cause of death was never established.

    Charlotte Brontë is dead March 31, 1855 at the age of 38. On her death certificate, the cause was tuberculosis, however, as many of Charlotte's biographers suggest, she could die from dehydration and exhaustion caused by severe toxicosis. It can also be assumed that Charlotte died of typhus, which she could have been infected by the old maid Tabitha Aykroyd, who died shortly before Charlotte's death.

    The writer was buried in the family crypt at St Michael's Church, located in Hoarth, West Yorkshire, England.

    Juvenilia Charlotte Brontë (incomplete list; complete list is too extensive).

    Names in square brackets are from researchers.

    Magazine "Young People" ( 1829-1830 )
    Search for happiness ( 1829 )
    The characters of the outstanding people of our time ( 1829 )
    Stories about the islanders. In 4 volumes ( 1829-1830 )
    Evening walk, poem by the Marquis Duero ( 1830 )
    Translation in English verses of the First Book of "Henriad" by Voltaire ( 1830 )
    Albion and Marina ( 1830 ).
    The Adventures of Ernest Alembert. Fairy tale ( 1830 )
    Violet and other verses of the Marquis Duero ( 1830 )
    Wedding ( 1832 ) (poem and story)
    Arturiana, or Scraps and Remains ( 1833 )
    Something about Arthur ( 1833 )
    Two stories: "Mystery" and "Lily Hart" ( 1833 )
    Visits to Verdopolis ( 1833 )
    Green dwarf ( 1833 )
    Found ( 1833 )
    Richard the Lionheart and Blondel ( 1833 ), poem
    Sheet from an unopened volume ( 1834 )
    "Spell" and "High life in Verdopolis" ( 1834 )
    Dump book ( 1834 )
    Snack dishes ( 1834 )
    My Angria and Angrians ( 1834 )
    "We weaved the net in childhood" [Retrospective] ( 1835 ), one of the most famous poems by Charlotte Bronte
    Current events ( 1836 )
    [Exile Zamorna] ( 1836 ), a poem in two songs
    [Return of Zamorna] ( 1836-1837 )
    [Julia] ( 1837 )
    [Lord Duero] ( 1837 )
    [Mina Lori] ( 1838 )
    [Stancliff Hotel] ( 1838 )
    [Duke of Zamorna] ( 1838 )
    [Captain Henry Hastings] ( 1839 )
    [Caroline Vernon] ( 1839 )
    Farewell to Angria ( 1839 )
    Ashworth ( 1840 ) the first draft of the novel for printing. Ashworth is a kind of pseudonym for Alexander Percy.

    Charlotte was the third of six children. When the girl was five years old, her mother passed away and her aunt Elizabeth Branwell moved into their parish priest's home to look after the orphaned children. When Charlotte was eight years old, her two older sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, died of consumption. This event made Charlotte in charge of the family, and the oldest of the remaining four children, which strengthened her personality and spirit.

    Charlotte Bronte was short, frail, wore glasses to correct her myopia, and considered herself ugly. She was a political conservative, strict, intelligent and ambitious. She possessed high moral principles, and, despite her modest behavior in society, she was always ready to defend her point of view.

    The writer spent eight months in 1824 at the Clergy Daughters School in Cowan Bridge, which was the inspiration for the Lowood School in Jane Eyre. She then attended Roe Head School in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire for two years, and worked as a teacher there for another three years. It was at Roe Head that she made two loyal friends - Ellen Nassi and Mary Taylor. Then, in 1842-1843, she was in Madame Eger's boarding house (Brussels), where she fell in love with her own teacher, Constantin Eger. Between 1824-1831 she and her brother and sisters were homeschooled by her father and Aunt Branwell. Charlotte was a great painter, needlewoman, and, of course, a writer.

    Mrs Brontë wanted her daughters to become governess. Charlotte changed two jobs - for three months (in 1839) she lived with the Sidwick family in Stonegate, in the Lutherdale area. Then she spent six months with the White family at the Upperwood House in Rawdon. Charlotte did not like her job, and invited the three sisters - Emily and Anne to open their own school in Haworth. Aunt Branwell wanted to arrange the material side of the matter, but these plans never materialized.

    What Charlotte really wanted was to be a writer. From a very young age, she and her brother Branwell practiced writing poems and stories, relying on their rich imagination and the fictional world of Angria. As Charlotte herself claimed, her mind was so prolific that before the age of thirteen she wrote much more than after.

    In 1846, Charlotte persuaded her sisters to publish a collection of poems under the male pseudonyms Currer, Ellis, Acton Bell - a commercial failure. However, by the end of 1847, the debut novels of all three sisters had been published, and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre was an incredible success.

    After the publication of the book "Shirley" in 1849, rumors spread that a simple teacher was hiding under the male pseudonym Carrer Bell. Charlotte became a celebrity in literary circles, and the publication of Willett in 1853 only strengthened her reputation.

    In December 1852, Charlotte received a marriage proposal from the vicar (second priest of the parish) of her father, Arthur Bell Nicholls. Charlotte's father was against this union, in part because he considered his daughter too painful to bear the child and give birth to him without dire consequences, and, in order not to upset her father, Charlotte refused Arthur. Despite this, Bell Nicholls did not give up, and continued to courtship, and the couple eventually married on June 29, 1854. The marriage was happy, but very short. Charlotte Brontë died in her last pregnancy on March 31, 1855.