The Bronte Sisters: Jane Eyre / Wuthering Heights / The Tenant of Wildfell Hall / Villette

Jane Eyre | Wuthering Heights | The Tenant of Wildfell Hall | Villette

作者簡介

白朗特三姊妹

　　夏綠蒂（Charlotte Bronte, 1816-1855）、艾蜜莉（Emily Bronte, 1818-1848）和安（Anne Bronte, 1820-1849）三姊妹生於英國北部約克郡的牧師家庭，童年時代即失去親愛的母親，過著貧苦日子，但卻展現出過人的文學天賦，互相陶冶激勵。姊妹三人 先後離家上寄宿學校，並擔任家庭教師以彌補家中經濟。1847年，夏綠蒂的《簡愛》（Jane Eyre）、艾蜜莉的《咆哮山莊》（Wuthering Heights）與么妹安的《艾格妮絲．格雷》（Agnes Grey）約同時問世，留下三部經典永饗世人。

　　Charlotte Brontë was born in Yorkshire in 1816. As a child, she was sent to boarding school, where two of her sisters died; she was subsequently educated at home with her younger siblings, Emily, Branwell and Anne. As an adult, Charlotte worked as a governess and taught in a school in Brussels. Jane Eyre was first published in 1847 under the pen-name Currer Bell, and was followed by Shirley (1848), Villette (1853) and The Professor (posthumously published in 1857). In 1854 Charlotte married her father’s curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls. She died in March of the following year.

　　Emily Brontë (1818-1848) published only one novel, Wuthering Heights (1847), but that single work has its place among the masterpieces of English literature. Some of her lyrics are also rated with the best in English poetry.

　　Anne Brontë was born in 1820, the youngest of the Brontë family. She was educated at home in the Yorkshire village of Howarth, and later held two positions as a governess, difficult experiences which inspired her first novel, Agnes Grey, in 1847. This was followed by The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 1848. Anne died of tuberculosis in 1849, aged twenty-nine.