#wildfell weekly

[wildfellweekly]

New Book Club for Autumn 2023!

Announcing Wildfell Weekly, a substack read-a-long for Anne Brontë's novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall!

You must go back with me to the autumn of 1827.

A new tenant has taken up residence in old Wildfell Hall and Mr. Gilbert Markham finds himself very intrigued. But the widow Mrs. Helen Graham is more than what she seems, and as rumors about her start to fly, she reveals to a doubting Gilbert the truth about the disastrous marriage she left behind.

Anne Brontë differed from her sisters Charlotte (Jane Eyre) and Emily (Wuthering Heights) in favoring a Realist rather than Romantic approach to her writing. In Tenant she explored themes of domestic violence, alcoholism and addiction, gender relations, motherhood and marriage, and the ability of women to define their own lives with an unflinching desire to depict what she saw to be true. While now considered among the first feminist novels, critics of Anne's day were shocked by a book they found coarse, brutal, and overly graphic.

So starting October 26, 2023 and until June 10, 2024, let's read together a story one nineteenth century critic called "utterly unfit to be put in the hands of girls"!

Find More Information about the Project and Subscribe Here!

#anne brontë #the tenant of wildfell hall #british literature #tumblr book club #nineteenth century literature #classic literature #historical literature #book stubstacks #dracula daily #whale weekly #letters from watson #les mis letters #wildfell weekly #brontë sisters

[red-umbrella-811]

“All novels are, or should be, written for both men and women to read, and I am at a loss to conceive how a man should permit himself to write anything that would be really disgraceful to a woman, or why a woman should be censured for writing anything that would be proper and becoming for a man.”

— Anne Brontë

#Anne Brontë #the tenant of wildfell hall #wildfell weekly #brontë sisters #classic lit

[mzannthropy]

#meme #gilbert markham #gilbert blythe #anne of green gables #anne bronte #the tenant of wildfell hall #wildfell weekly #l.m. montgomery #books #literature #classic lit #anne x gilbert #shirbert #helen x gilbert #anne shirley #helen graham

[burningvelvet]

Forever mourning the fact that most editions of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall are based on the edited 1854 Hodgson text and not the original 1848 Newby text (accessible via Internet Archive) and therefore most editions leave out the majority of the iconic 28th chapter. Aside from the opening letter of the novel, this is the other most important alteration of the text, and the other biggest section of the text to be omitted.

I believe the full original chapter gives us some of the best insight into Arthur’s thoughts as well as his relationship with Helen before it totally imploded. We can see her trying to bargain and rationalize her feelings for both Arthurs. Helen later says that the only reason she leaves Arthur is in order to protect their son, and in a way, this moment from the original chapter 28 is the catalyst of this decision, as no where else in the novel does Arthur blatantly explain his lack of paternal feeling. The last lines are especially brutal:

"If you were less selfish yourself, Arthur, you would not regard it in that light."

"Possibly not, love; but so it is; there's no help for it."

But the chapter isn’t only brutal. The crux of it is that it shows how at this point, Helen is still able to rationalize her feelings and her decision to remain with her abuser. She has not totally come to hate him yet. She still believes that his “jokes” are truly jokes, and he still cares enough to placate her into believing so. In a way, his awkwardness with their child is almost comical, but as the moment continues, it becomes more apparent that he’s exhibiting the traditional paternal behavior now known as “weaponized incompetence.” He isn’t a good father because he simply doesn’t want to be. He isn’t a good person because he doesn’t want to be. It is his own self-belief, it is his own self-will which guides him on this path.

This is why Helen’s belief in universal salvation, a huge theme of the novel, is so powerful. When Arthur is on his death bed and pleads with Helen: “Pray for me, Helen!” she replies, “I do pray for you, every hour and every minute, Arthur; but you must pray for yourself." We cannot save other people. She began her diary by declaring several times that she would “save him,” as we see in the following statement:

“I have such confidence in him, aunt, notwithstanding all you say, that I would willingly risk my happiness for the chance of securing his. I will leave better men to those who only consider their own advantage. If he has done amiss, I shall consider my life well spent in saving him from the consequences of his early errors, and striving to recall him to the path of virtue. God grant me success!"

But by the time she decides to leave Arthur, and perhaps more than ever on his death bed, she realizes one of the most important lessons in life there is to learn. We cannot save anyone but ourselves. To a lesser extent, we may also save our children when they are young, as she does by steering her young child away from his father and onto a healthier path in life. But eventually, they must learn to save themselves. In Anne’s discourse, saving one’s self entails a quite literal Christian salvation granted by God. However, I believe that many secular, humanist readings can be drawn from this rhetoric, even despite the implications of Arthur’s lack of faith (if not blatant atheism) contributing to his infectious degradation and death.

#the tenant of wildfell hall #anne brontë #literature #my analysis #my writing #english literature #romanticism #the bronte sisters #helen graham #arthur huntingdon #analysis #character analysis #books #classics #wildfell weekly

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Happy “a man is described as voluptuous” day to anyone who follows both Dracula Daily and Wildfell Weekly!

The bright, blue eyes regarded the spectator with a kind of lurking drollery - you almost expected to see them wink; the lips - a little too voluptuously full - seemed ready to break into a smile; the warmly tinted cheeks were embellished with a luxuriant growth of reddish whiskers; while the bright chestnut hair, clustering in abundant, wavy curls, trespassed too much upon the forehead, and seemed to intimate that the owner thereof was prouder of his beauty than his intellect - as perhaps he had reason to be; - and yet he looked no fool.

#the tenant of wildfell hall #anne bronte #wildfell weekly #dracula daily

[fangirlinglikeabus]

*arthur huntingdon voice* helen why are you paying more attention to a newborn baby who can't do anything for himself yet than me

#helen don't you know that you have to treat your husband like he's the most important thing in the universe helen #laura talks books #the tenant of wildfell hall #bronte blogging #wildfell weekly

[penig]

So the question is: Did Anne Bronte deliberately start The Tenant of Wildfell Hall like Pride and Prejudice, or not?

Not note-for-note, obviously; but Rose is clearly pushing to marry off her brother and bursting with news about Wildfell Hall being leased, similar high-concept situation but with lots of flipping in class and economics. Could be an accident. Could be deliberate.

Pride and Prejudice was published 1813, Tenant in 1848; Charlotte was not an Austen fan (no passion? Why bother?) but we don't know what Anne thought about...well, about most things, honestly.

#wildfell weekly #the tenant of wildfell hall #literature #non sims

[excentricat1]

Marmion-I recognize that title. That’s Mina’s book from her Whitby days.

#wildfell weekly #dracula daily

[immediatebreakfast]

God damn this chapter was intense.

Anne Brontë really has a tight control over continuous scenes, and building tension because I FELT like I was present in that tea party with Mrs. Graham as Gilbert was fighting for his life while Eliza and Miss Wilson were slandering left and right.

Literally this while reading how Eliza and Miss Wilson plainly "implied" that Arthur was Mr. Lawrence's son.

#Damn who the fuck pissed in their tea #Gilbert was so confused and so angry this chapter #My autistic ass would never survive in this environment because I would go “No I don't understand please explain” until I snap #wildfell weekly #the tenant of wildfell hall #gilbert markham #helen graham #eliza millward #gif

[thoumpingground]

I love the unintentional absurd humour of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Here's some of my favourite moments (will add as I go):

Gilbert running after Lawrence's pony, and trying to put his wet, muddied, broken hat back on his head, after he WHIPS HIM IN THE FACE.

"So she gave me her diary and begged me on my honour as a man not to share it. Anyway I'm gonna mail it to you" - Gilbert, unsurprisingly.

Huntingdon leaving the miniature burning scene through the window.

Huntingdon blaming his faithlessness on his concave head.

#the tenant of wildfell hall #anne brontë #wildfell weekly

[maniacalshen]

Helen today: Oh thank goodness, Gilbert isn't a gossip-monger after all. He's just an idiot!

#wildfell weekly #the tenant of wildfell hall

[hwestil]

I love Fergus. He absolutely understands the assignment of a youngest sibling is Annoy and Amuse

#wildfell weekly

[red-umbrella-811]

Guys! There is more substack literature.

Jeeves and Wooster Stories. Situational comedy at its best. Starts February 14.

https://lettersfromwatson.substack.com/

Sherlock Holmes stories. Mysteries. This is ongoing but they’re short stories you can just start now.

https://monthlymarches.substack.com/?utm_campaign=pub

Little Women. Pastoral. Starts December 1st.

Please add more!

#dracula daily #classics #classic lit #literary substacks #letters from watson #monthly marches #letters regarding jeeves #kidnapped weekly #wildfell weekly

[mzannthropy]

My youth is wasting away; my prospects are darkened; my life is a desolate blank; I have no rest day or night; I am become a burden to myself and others

Holy existential crisis, Hargrave.

#wildfell weekly #the tenant of wildfell hall #anne bronte #mypost

[pedanther]

Hi! Just wanted to tell you that I checked and The Cristo Account is running again this year in case you're interested :) I always looked forward to your posts when the email came!

Also, on that subject - you seem like a very literary person (from what I can tell from your blog, at any rate). I was wondering if there were any newsletters à la Dracula Daily/LOTR newsletter/The Cristo Account/Whale Weekly that you know of (even if they're finished now)? I'm trying to compile a list for one of my teachers, and you seem to know about so many works that I thought it might be worth a try :)

Have a great day!

Thank you! I'm probably not going to be actively following The Cristo Account when it runs again the way I did the first time, because it's a big commitment and I'm likely to have other things occupying my attention while it's on.

I've been getting a lot of my news about newsletters from @hell-site-book-club, though it hasn't been updated in a while and doesn't include more recent announcements. Some of the upcoming projects I'm keeping an eye on include @wildfellweekly (Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, starts later this month), @lettersfrombunny (EW Hornung's Raffles series, starts March), and @lettersregardingjeeves (PG Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster series, starts February).

#asked and answered #the cristo account #wildfell weekly #letters from bunny #letters regarding jeeves

[warrioreowynofrohan]

A note for readers of Wildfell Weekly (as well as others): the book that Gilbert buys for Helen Graham, Marmion by Sir Walter Scott, appears to have been extremely popular in its time; it is mentioned by characters in several other famous novels of the 1800s.

St. John Rivers buys it for Jane in Jane Eyre:

“I have brought you a book for evening solace,” and he laid on the table a new publication—a poem: one of those genuine productions so often vouchsafed to the fortunate public of those days—the golden age of modern literature.  Alas! the readers of our era are less favoured.”

…While I was eagerly glancing at the bright pages of “Marmion” (for “Marmion” it was)…

…I had closed my shutter, laid a mat to the door to prevent the snow from blowing in under it, trimmed my fire, and after sitting nearly an hour on the hearth listening to the muffled fury of the tempest, I lit a candle, took down “Marmion,” and beginning—

“Day set on Norham’s castled steep,

And Tweed’s fair river broad and deep,

   And Cheviot’s mountains lone;

The massive towers, the donjon keep,

The flanking walls that round them sweep,

   In yellow lustre shone”—

I soon forgot storm in music.

It is also mentioned by Mina in Dracula (though she, or Stoker, makes a small error - the scene mentioned involves characters from Whitby Abbey, but occurs in Lindisfarne, a tidal island that was also, long ago, the home of the illuminated Lindisfarne Gospels):

Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the scene of part of “Marmion,” where the girl was built up in the wall.

The book is a poetic epic set at the time of the Battle of Flodden Field (1513); I like the poetry a great deal, and the plot is nicely dramatic and Romantic, despite values dissonance (I do not find the title character as sympathetic as Scott does).

All this is to say - would people be interested in reading this story beloved by so many of our favourite characters? I could put it together as a Substack newsletter and email it out a little a day (probably for a few months total) starting in the new year. It’s not long (about 150 pages), it’s a good read with excellent poetic cadences and lots of high drama and imagery, and it gives a sense of what was popular among people who enjoyed the Gothic and Romantic.

#wildfell weekly #jane eyre #dracula #dracula daily #mina murray #the tenant of wildfell hall #marmion #sir walter scott