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The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

New Edition

Anne Brontë
Edited by Herbert Rosengarten and with an Introduction by Josephine McDonagh

Oxford World's Classics

A new edition of Anne Brontë's compelling novel about the destructive consequences of alcoholism on a marriage, featuring a wide-ranging new introduction, and up-to-date editorial material.
New, wide-ranging introduction by Josephine McDonagh examines the intellectual and cultural context of the novel, its complex narrative structure and the contemporary moral and medical debates about alcohol and the body with which the novel engages.
Reprints the authoritative Clarendon text in improved typesetting.
Improved chronology
Up-to-date bibliography
Additional notes draw attention to the novel's use of contemporary medical publications on the effects of alcohol, on the study of physiognomy and phrenology and on the author's wide range of reading.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

New Edition

Anne Brontë
Edited by Herbert Rosengarten and with an Introduction by Josephine McDonagh

Description

Combining a sensational story of a man's physical and moral decline through alcohol, a study of marital breakdown, a disquisition on the care and upbringing of children, and a hard-hitting critique of the position of women in Victorian society, this passionate tale of betrayal is set within a stern moral framework tempered by Anne Brontë's optimistic belief in universal redemption. It tells the story of the estranged wife of a dissolute rake, desperate to protect her son from his destructive influence, in full flight from a shocking world of debauchery and cruelty. Drawing on her first-hand experiences with her brother Branwell, Brontë's novel scandalized contemporary readers and still retains its power to shock today. The new introduction by Josephine McDonagh sheds light on the intellectual and cultural context of the novel, its complex narrative structure, and the contemporary moral and medical debates about alcohol and the body with which the novel engages. Based on the authoritative Clarendon text, the book has an improved chronology, an up-to-date bibliography, and many informative notes.

About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

New Edition

Anne Brontë
Edited by Herbert Rosengarten and with an Introduction by Josephine McDonagh

Oxford World's Classics

Author Information

Herbert Rosengarten is Chair of the Department of English at the University of British Columbia.
Josephine McDonagh is Professor of Victorian Literature at Oxford University.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

New Edition

Anne Brontë
Edited by Herbert Rosengarten and with an Introduction by Josephine McDonagh

Oxford World's Classics

Audio Guide

The mysterious new tenant of Wildfell Hall has a dark secret. But as the captivated Gilbert Markham will discover, it is not the story circulating among local gossips.

Living under an assumed name, 'Helen Graham' is the estranged wife of a dissolute rake, desperate to protect her son from his destructive influence. Her diary entries reveal the shocking world of debauchery and cruelty from which she has fled.

Combining a sensational story of a man's physical and moral decline through alcohol, a study of marital breakdown, a disquisition on the care and upbringing of children, and a hard-hitting critique of the position of women in Victorian society, this passionate tale of betrayal is set within a stern moral framework tempered by Anne Brontë's optimistic belief in universal redemption.

Drawing on her first-hand experiences with her brother Branwell, Brontë's novel scandalized contemporary readers. It still retains its power to shock.

Click on the links below to hear Josephine McDonagh, who has written a new introduction to the Oxford World's Classics edition of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, introduce the novel.

Introducing the "Cinderella Brontë"

Anne Brontë died of TB aged 26 shortly after the publication of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

Anne's life and the imaginative world she and her siblings - Emily, Charlotte, and Branwell - inhabited [2:41]
Anne inscribed the words "Sick of mankind and their disgusting ways" at the back of her prayer book.

Was Anne disappointed in love? [1:49]

Approaching the novel

What will readers familiar with Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights make of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall?

Learn how Anne approached the themes of marriage, the role of women and masculinity which also preoccupied her sisters [3:03]
Josephine McDonagh also discusses the ways in which Anne's brother, Branwell, provided a model for the character of the charming but dissipated Arthur Huntingdon in the novel

Understand how Anne Brontë structures her narrative and why the book has been called "the longest letter in English literature" [2:51]
The moral and physical education of Helen's young son is a central preoccupation of the novel, drawing in as it does the themes of the dangers of alcoholism (to which both Helen's father and husband had succumbed)

What it means to be a man in the novel [3:16]

"Vulgar, coarse, and brutal"

Some contemporary critics condemned the novel for its frank treatment of shocking themes: adultery, alcoholism and marital violence. Even Anne's sister were less than enthusiastic in their praise for the book, yet many readers found it a thrilling read.

How the book has been received [4:03]

Connect with OUP

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Anne Brontë
Edited by Herbert Rosengarten and with an Introduction by Josephine McDonagh

Oxford World's Classics

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Anne Brontë
Edited by Herbert Rosengarten and with an Introduction by Josephine McDonagh

Oxford World's Classics

Description

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Anne Brontë
Edited by Herbert Rosengarten and with an Introduction by Josephine McDonagh

Oxford World's Classics

Author Information

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Anne Brontë
Edited by Herbert Rosengarten and with an Introduction by Josephine McDonagh

Oxford World's Classics

Audio Guide

Introducing the "Cinderella Brontë"

Approaching the novel

"Vulgar, coarse, and brutal"

Also of Interest

Agnes Grey

Poetry of the First World War

The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde

Against the Event

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

The Way We Live Now

Complete Poems of William Barnes

In a Strange Room

Daniel Deronda

Reading Constellations

George Orwell

The Conquest of Plassans

Dickens and the Workhouse

Don Paterson

Elegies

William and Dorothy Wordsworth

Related Categories

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Anne Brontë Edited by Herbert Rosengarten and with an Introduction by Josephine McDonagh

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Anne Brontë Edited by Herbert Rosengarten and with an Introduction by Josephine McDonagh

Description

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Anne Brontë Edited by Herbert Rosengarten and with an Introduction by Josephine McDonagh

Author Information

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Anne Brontë Edited by Herbert Rosengarten and with an Introduction by Josephine McDonagh

Audio Guide

Introducing the "Cinderella Brontë"

Approaching the novel

"Vulgar, coarse, and brutal"

Also of Interest

Related Categories

Anne Brontë
Edited by Herbert Rosengarten and with an Introduction by Josephine McDonagh

Anne Brontë
Edited by Herbert Rosengarten and with an Introduction by Josephine McDonagh

Anne Brontë
Edited by Herbert Rosengarten and with an Introduction by Josephine McDonagh

Anne Brontë
Edited by Herbert Rosengarten and with an Introduction by Josephine McDonagh