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The Brontės and Religion
by Marianne Thormählen
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Cambridge University Press, 1999
Hardback. ISBN: 0521661552
This is the first full-length study of religion in the fiction of the Brontės. Drawing on extensive knowledge of the Anglican church in the nineteenth century, Marianne Thormählen shows how the Brontės' familiarity with the contemporary debates on doctrinal, ethical and ecclesiastical issues informs their novels. Divided into four parts, the book examines denominations, doctrines, ethics and clerics in the work of the Brontės. The analyses of the novels clarify the constant interplay of human and Divine love in the development of the novels. While demonstrating that the Brontės' fiction usually reflects the basic tenets of Evangelical Anglicanism, the book emphasises the characteristic spiritual freedom and audacity of the Brontės. Lucid and vigorously written, it will open up new perspectives for Brontė specialists and enthusiasts alike on a fundamental aspect of the novels greatly neglected in recent decades.
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