Christine de Pizan

Christine de Pizan
The Writer Christine de Pizan at Her Desk

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Emily Brontë and Mothers of the Novel

Emily Brontë (born 30 July 1818)


Born on 30 July 1818, Emily Brontë published her only novel, Wuthering Heights, under the pen name of "Ellis Bell."
Emily Brontë, as painted by her
brother

I've already posted about her elder sister, Charlotte, and her younger, Anne. Together the three novelists make a formidable grouping of "mothers of the novel," though they are much more familiar to contemporary readers than some of the other women novelists we have seen to this point in our year of daily postings on women's history.

Her earliest work was in creating the fictional world of Gondal with her sister, Anne. Wuthering Heights was published in London in 1847. Her publisher believed she had begun another novel; if so, it was never completed. Emily Brontë died on 19 December 1848. 


Update, 4 November 2017: If you're in the mood for a podcast, you will enjoy this episode of the BBC Radio 4 In Our Times--it's a discussion of Wuthering Heights. The episode was broadcast at the end of September--I'm a bit behind in listening!