Book Description
The Bronte sisters have little resemblance to any writers prior to their publication. They are viewed as self-generated, an autonomous myth in their lives and in their work. This title offers an extensive biography, along with critical examinations of their novels as a group, Withering Heights, Agnes Grey, Villette, and more. This series is edited by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University; Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Professor of English, New York University Graduate School; preeminent literary critic of our time. The lives of the greatest writers of the world are explored in the new series Bloom’s BioCritiques. In addition to a lengthy biography, each book includes an extensive critical analysis of the writer’s work, as well as critical views by important literary critics throughout history. These volumes are the perfect introduction to critical study of the important authors currently read and discussed in high schools, colleges, and graduate schools.
The Bronte Sisters FROM THE CRITICS
VOYA
Currently, twenty-four volumes comprise this ongoing "Bloom's BioCritiques" series of comprehensive biographies and critical analyses about single authors. All volumes include an author-specific introduction written by Bloom, and each volume opens with Bloom's article, The Work in the Writer. Also common to each text is an extensive biography that includes events and accomplishments of the author being discussed. A critique unique to each author covers not only the literary significance of particular pieces but also their historical and cultural consequence. Although the opening biographies of these two texts about the Brontﾽ sisters and Robert Frost are flawed by typos, they appear factually sound and are easily accessible to readers. Both volumes contain interesting personal as well as professional information about the authors, and teen readers will find themselves engaged with the style and content, if troubled by the poor proofreading efforts. Authors outside the core scholarship write the introductory critiques of both texts, but the critical essays are written by such notables as Seamus Heaney and Malcolm Cowley for Frost and Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar and W. A. Craik for The Brontﾽ Sisters. Students can be confident that they are using authoritative sources when they reference the critics found in any of the volumes. Each text contains a brief chronology of the author's life, a bibliography of published works, and a fairly extensive guide to other critical works of importance. In addition, there are three critical essays, although this reviewer takes issue as to their overall usefulness to student research. For example, in the volume on the Brontﾽ sisters, there is one essayon Wuthering Heights, one on Agnes Grey, and one on Villette. It is clear which of these articles will be of most use to teen researchers. The Frost essays tackle complex issues that require broader reading of an author than students generally do in high school and that use more scholarly vocabulary and understandings of literature. It appears that the needs of the intended audience of these texts were not considered as closely as they should have been, which is unfortunate considering that these authors are ones that high school students are most likely to study. Other authors covered by this series include Geoffrey Chaucer, Joseph Conrad, and Langston Hughes. The extensive biographies will prove more useful to these researchers, as will the Web sites and chronologies. Nevertheless, librarians might decide that the texts contain enough comprehensive useful information to be of help to their youthful patrons. Index. Biblio. Chronology. VOYA Codes: 3Q 2P S A/YA (Readable without serious defects; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2002, Chelsea House, 112p., PLB O'Quinn
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