Abstract
Neo-Victorian young adult biofictions like The Glass Town Game (2017) by Catherynne Valente and Worlds of Ink and Shadow (2016) by Lena Coakley explore the fascinating Brontë family in fiction that collapses the space between their actual lives in Howarth and their imaginative lives in their juvenilia worlds. Two recent graphic novels—Charlotte Brontë Before Jane Eyre (2009) by Glynnis Fawkes and Glass Town: The Imaginary World of the Brontës by Isabel Greenberg (2020)—further explore the conflation of juvenilian narratives with biographical suppositions. These biofictions enact a double perspective wherein the representation of the Brontës and their worlds inspires the young adult reader to consider their contemporary environment and the drive to create worlds that provide escape.
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Notes
- 1.
The Brontës are a family of writers who lived at the Parsonage in Haworth during the children’s young adulthood. Maria (née Branwell) and Patrick Brontë had six children—Maria (April 23, 1814–May 6, 1825), Elizabeth (February 8, 1815–June 15, 1825), Charlotte (April 21, 1816–March 31, 1855), Patrick Branwell (June 26, 1817–September 24, 1848), Emily Jane (July 30, 1818–December 19, 1848), and Anne (January 17, 1820–May 28, 1849)—of whom one four survived into adulthood.
- 2.
One should also note the propensity of Victorians for illustrated books. See Catherine Golden’s excellent work, Serials to Graphic Novels: The Evolution of the Victorian Illustrated Book (2017).
- 3.
In Charlotte’s letter it states: “Papa bought Branwell some soldiers from Leeds. When Papa came home it was night and we were in bed, so next morning Branwell came to our door with a box of soldiers. Emily and I jumped out of bed and I snatched up one and exclaimed, ‘This is the Duke of Wellington! It shall be mine!’ When I said this, Emily likewise took one and said it should be hers. When Anne came down she took one also. Mine was the prettiest of the whole and perfect in every part. Emily’s was a grave-looking fellow. We called him ‘Gravey’. Anne’s was a queer little thing, very much like herself. He was called ‘Waiting Boy’. Branwell chose ‘Bonaparte’” (Brontë 1987, I:5).
- 4.
For the purposes of this discussion, the reference will be to Glass Town, although there were several disagreements between Branwell and Charlotte over whether this was one word or two; most likely, it was more of an argument regarding who was in control.
- 5.
Charlotte Brontë married Arthur Bell Nichols (January 6, 1819–December 2, 1906), her father’s curate, June 19, 1854; she died nine months later from extreme morning sickness during her pregnancy. She was thirty-eight years old.
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Maier, S.E. (2024). Illustrative Genii: The Brontës’ Genius. In: Neo-Victorian Young Adult Narratives . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47295-4_4
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