Barker, Juliet – The Bell Bookshop

The Brontes

Emma — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

The story of the tragic Bronte family is familiar to everyone: we all know about the half-mad, repressive father, the drunken, drug-addicted wastrel of a brother, wild romantic Emily, unrequited Anne and ‘poor Charlotte’. Or do we? These stereotypes of the popular imagination are precisely that – imaginary – created by amateur biographers from Mrs Gaskell onwards who were primarily novelists, and were attracted by the tale of an apparently doomed family of genius.

Juliet Barker’s landmark book was the first definitive history of the Brontes. It demolishes myths, yet provides startling new information that is just as compelling – but true. Based on first-hand research among all the Bronte manuscripts, many so tiny they can only be read by magnifying glass, and among contemporary historical documents never before used by Bronte biographers, this book is both scholarly and compulsively readable. THE BRONTES is a revolutionary picture of the world’s favourite literary family.

‘As a work of scholarship it is briliant . . . For those with a passion for the Brontes, or for Victoriana, or for sheer wealth of historical minutiae, it is a stupendous read’ INDPENDENT ON SUNDAY

Wordsworth A Life In Letters

Emma — Thu, 07 Nov 2002 00:00:00 +0000

William Wordsworth is usually remembered as the quintessential Victorian Poet Laureate: a dull, worthy establishment figure, with impeccable middle-class, Tory, Anglican credentials, whose moralistic poetry has been required reading for generations of school children. Yet there is more to Wordsworth than “Daffodils” and “The Prelude”.;This selection of letters and autobiographical fragments introduces us to the real Wordsworth: the rebellious schoolboy, who vandalized his family portraits, became a supporter of the French Revolution and fathered an illegitimate daughter in France; the radical poet whose flouting of the conventions of the day attracted the ridicule of reviewers and forced him to endure 30 years of rejection, obscurity and financial hardship before achieving belated critical and popular success; the devoted brother, husband and father who could still write passionate love letters to his wife after ten years of marriage and the birth of five children; and finally, the revered patriarch whose poetry influenced a generation, whose opinions were sought by writers, politicians, churchmen and educationalists throughout the English-speaking world, but who thought nothing of vaulting walls, skating on the Lakes or climbing Helvellyn even in his 70s.

Wordsworth A Life

Emma — Mon, 16 Oct 2000 00:00:00 +0000

Orphaned young, a rebellious teenager who was later reviled for his revolutionary politics and his experimental poetry, William Wordsworth transformed his reputation to become the most influential philosopher-poet of his day.;In an increasingly industrial age, Wordsworth's belief in the importance of imagination and feeling touched a chord with the nation. Juliet Barker's balanced and meticulously researched biography, which draws on previously unpublished sources, recreates the intimacy of Wordsworth's domestic circle. Far from being the cold, solitary figure of legend, Wordsworth emerges from this portrait as a passionate, vibrant man who lived for his family, his poetry and his beloved Lakeland. His legacy remains with us to this day.