The devotion of Charlotte Brontë to Thackeray, or rather to Thackeray’s genius, is a pleasant episode in literary history. In 1848 he sent Miss Brontë, as we have seen, a copy of Vanity Fair. In 1852 he sent her a copy of Esmond, with the more cordial inscription which came of friendship.
TO W. S. WILLIAMS ‘Haworth, October 28th, 1847.
‘Dear Sir,—Your last letter was very pleasant to me to read, and is very cheering to reflect on. I feel honoured in being approved by Mr. Thackeray, because I approve Mr. Thackeray. This may sound presumptuous perhaps, but I mean that I have long recognised in his writings genuine talent, such as I admired, such as I wondered at and delighted in. No author seems to distinguish so exquisitely as he does dross from ore, the real from the counterfeit. I believed too he had deep and true feelings under his seeming sternness. Now I am sure he has. One good word from such a man is worth pages of praise from ordinary judges.
TO W. S. WILLIAMS
‘December 11th, 1847.
There are moments when I can hardly credit that anything I have done should be found worthy to give even transitory pleasure to such men as Mr. Thackeray, Sir John Herschel, Mr. Fonblanque, Leigh Hunt, and Mr. Lewes—that my humble efforts should have had such a result is a noble reward.
‘I was glad and proud to get the bank bill Mr. Smith sent me yesterday, but I hardly ever felt delight equal to that which cheered me when I received your letter containing an extract from a note by Mr. Thackeray, in which he expressed himself gratified with the perusal of Jane Eyre. Mr. Thackeray is a keen ruthless satirist. I had never perused his writings but with blended feelings of admiration and indignation. Critics, it appears to me, do not know what an intellectual boa-constrictor he is. They call him “humorous,” “brilliant”—his is a most scalping humour, a most deadly brilliancy: he does not play with his prey, he coils round it and crushes it in his rings. He seems terribly in earnest in his war against the falsehood and follies of “the world.” I often wonder what that “world” thinks of him. I should think the faults of such a man would be distrust of anything good in human nature—galling suspicion of bad motives lurking behind good actions. Are these his failings?
They are, at any rate, the failings of his written sentiments, for he cannot find in his heart to represent either man or woman as at once good and wise. Does he not too much confound benevolence with weakness and wisdom with mere craft?
‘But I must not intrude on your time by too long a letter.—Believe me, yours respectfully,
‘C. Bell.
I was glad and proud to get the bank bill Mr. Smith sent me yesterday, but I hardly ever felt delight equal to that which cheered me when I received your letter containing an extract from a note by Mr. Thackeray, in which he expressed himself gratified with the perusal of Jane Eyre
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThis is a very characteristic passage imo
As I say the Bronte girls valued a pound as much as anyone. But money would never be Charlotte's main motivation. It was always personal relations that moved her ...as she said such was " the most precious gem life can give"
As a governess/teacher it seems to me she would take the job with a lower wage if personal relations were involved ( like the position at Miss Woolers, in Brussels etc )
When her publisher George Smith sent a mere 500 pounds for Villtte without a note, it was the lack of a note that stung and upset Charlotte , not the lessor amount of payment .That disappointment worried her on her father's behalf. Charlotte herself said "500 pounds is not to be despised"
I believe this was one of the things that estranged her from Branwell as he sat at Hawrorth awaiting for Mr. Robinson's death with undisguised anticipation . Because it was Thorpe Green itself as much as his Lydia he was longing for
I believe if Branwell was full of just as foolish plans about Mrs. R and he running off together , if it was just the lady herself he wanted, Charlotte might of have had more sympathy for him.
But the wealth as a motivator, as a goal, that was base to her and it degraded him . The former twin souls differed on a core level in that regard
and now a word about the post topic! lol
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThere is a deeply mistrustful , cynical side to Charlotte( that every idealistic person has ) that delights in Thackeray's brilliant ability to skewer the false ...and in a way so artfully, they are not fully aware of it!
But here is the balancing act Charlotte herself is engaged in
for he cannot find in his heart to represent either man or woman as at once good and wise. Does he not too much confound benevolence with weakness and wisdom with mere craft?
She did not want herself to tip too far to the cynical side