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Claire Harman on Charlotte Bronte, Governess

Charlotte Bronte's biographer, Claire Harman, discusses the writer's experience as a governess, as seen in her letters.

Charlotte Bronte's true identity revealed through her powerful and poignant letters.

1.Bronte's biographer, Claire Harman, on her experience as a governess.

Among the 900 surviving letters of Charlotte Bronte, the ones written while she was a governess most vivdly reveal her characteristic blend, as a young woman, of unhappiness and frustration mingled with hope and ambition.

Claire Harman sets out the drab, demeaning details of Bronte's career as a governess, and her passionate longing for a more fulfilling life. In her letter to her old school-friend, Ellen Nussey, Bronte writes enviously of another friend who has been travelling in Belgium: "I hardly know what swelled to my throat as I read her letter - such a vehement impatience of restraint and steady work - such a strong wish for wings - wings such as wealth can furnish - such an urgent thirst to see - to know - to learn - something internal seemed to expand boldly for a minute - I was tantalised with the consciousness of faculties unexercised.....".

Producer: Beaty Rubens.

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15 minutes

Last on

Mon 10 Apr 2017 22:45

Broadcasts

  • Mon 22 Feb 2016 22:45
  • Mon 10 Apr 2017 22:45

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