11. June 2026 20:00
Andrew Stodolny
Venue
Volkshochschule Münster
Aegidiimarkt 70
48143
Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë form a remarkable English literary family. Daughters of a Yorkshire country parson, they overcame significant odds to become published authors. Building on the extraordinary talent they had developed as children, they seized control of their own destiny at a time when most women faced restricted lives predetermined by patriarchal societal expectations and lack of financial agency.
In 1837 the Poet Laureate, Robert Southey, told Charlotte that “literature can never be the business of a woman”. All three of them defied this forecast and left behind a remarkable cultural legacy. Charlotte’s Jane Eyre was an overnight sensation when it was published in 1847 and remains much loved by readers today. Emily’s Wuthering Heights (1847) is one of the most iconic novels in English literature; it shocked contemporary critics and remains controversial to this day. In her later novels, Charlotte perceptively addressed the treatment and status of women in Shirley (1849), while in Villette (1853) she provided a window into inner consciousness, seen by some as a precursor to James Joyce’s Ulysses.
Anne’s Agnes Grey (1847) gives social historians a valuable insight into the experiences of a governess; her second novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, is considered by many critics to be the first sustained feminist novel. All three composed poetry, Emily being truly brilliant, drawing significant inspiration for her work from German literature. This lecture will examine how the Brontës’ lives, personalities and experiences influenced their works, and the significance of where they lived and wrote, the village of Haworth, on the edge of the West Yorkshire Moors.
11. June 2026 20:00
Andrew Stodolny
Venue
Volkshochschule Münster
Aegidiimarkt 70
48143
Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë form a remarkable English literary family. Daughters of a Yorkshire country parson, they overcame significant odds to become published authors. Building on the extraordinary talent they had developed as children, they seized control of their own destiny at a time when most women faced restricted lives predetermined by patriarchal societal expectations and lack of financial agency.
In 1837 the Poet Laureate, Robert Southey, told Charlotte that “literature can never be the business of a woman”. All three of them defied this forecast and left behind a remarkable cultural legacy. Charlotte’s Jane Eyre was an overnight sensation when it was published in 1847 and remains much loved by readers today. Emily’s Wuthering Heights (1847) is one of the most iconic novels in English literature; it shocked contemporary critics and remains controversial to this day. In her later novels, Charlotte perceptively addressed the treatment and status of women in Shirley (1849), while in Villette (1853) she provided a window into inner consciousness, seen by some as a precursor to James Joyce’s Ulysses.
Anne’s Agnes Grey (1847) gives social historians a valuable insight into the experiences of a governess; her second novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, is considered by many critics to be the first sustained feminist novel. All three composed poetry, Emily being truly brilliant, drawing significant inspiration for her work from German literature. This lecture will examine how the Brontës’ lives, personalities and experiences influenced their works, and the significance of where they lived and wrote, the village of Haworth, on the edge of the West Yorkshire Moors.