The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-12-05
INTIMATE STUDY O
CHARLOTTE BR0n1E

"A review OF the characteristics u
the chief writer's of Charlotte Bronte'a
period who have any claim to be ac.
counted her rivals should suffice Ia
establish that she occupies a niche 81
her own, and cannot be classified with
any OF them. This is enough to reo.
cue her from the charge OF provincial.
ism. She Is not merely the represen.
tative of particular district. but 90.
cupies place in the great Pantheou
of English literature which but for
her would have remained unified
We may assume as generally
admitted that the predominant char.
,acteristic of Charlotte Bronte's writ-,
ings is Observation-Disclosures the passion
Of love or the passion of hate or local
or patriotic enthusiasm. or any other
by which her intense and indomitable
nature might at the time be actuated~
'Dr. Richard Garnett says In his ad-.
dress on THE Place of Charlotto
Bronte In Nineteenth Century Fic-
ton: None of her contemporaries
are open to the impressions of power
full feeling in an equal degree. and
none are so exclusively possessed by
them. Her sphere, therefore, while
it has many points of contact with
theirs, especially with George Eliot's,
is nevertheless dissimilar. This 10
to say that she is original, and indeed
II can hardly think of any writer Of
her day. except Borrow and Brown.
ing, of whom absolute originality can
be so unequivocally predicated. A
considerable affinity to Byron may be
traced. Like him she possessed
"a fonnt OF fiery life
Which served for Titanic strife
But while Byron marrea splendid
work by frequent affectation and In
sincerity, nothing Is more character
istic OF Charlotte Bronte than her
absolute truthfulness. Some Of her
pictures, especially of the schools
where she was pupil and teacher, have
been taxed with inaccuracy. This may
be the fact, but none can doubt that
she described them as they appeared
to herself She would not for the
world have debased her art to . man.
ufacture, or put pen to paper In the
absence of a definite call. Once. In
deed. she was prevailed upon to
lengthen by an episode novel which
had fallen short of the regular three
volume quantum. but the episode ID
one of the best things in the book. As
this austere conscientiousness Ii one
of her glories. so IL is correlated with
her principal shortcoming, not .
shortcoming which in any way de-
tracts from the merits OF the novels
! which she has given US. but one which
prevented her from giving US many
more. She Is deficient in invention
and creative imagination she can
only speak of what she has realized
by her personal experience. Hence
all three. novels are mainly autobio-
graphical She is indeed fully capa-
| BILE of drawing portraits of persons
external and even distasteful TO her
self with startling effect, witness the
wonderful picture of Madame Beck in
'Villette, but they must be people she
has known. and who have come within
her own sphere. She cannot create 4
character by sheer force OF imaginA-
ton. nor can she devise a set of cfr-
cuplstances out of which TO construct
a'story. The consequence was a great
limitation. In her powers of produce
ton.
"If. like George Sand. while retains
ing unimpaired the passion which
first set her pen in motion. she had
been able TO devise ain endless series
OF novel scenes and incidents, she
might have filled a prodigioua
place In our literature. As II Is. her
praise must be the reverse, to have
produced a greater effect than almost
any other novelist whose production
Is limited to three books."--Christian
Science Monitor.