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EMILY
BRONTË:
THE ARTIST AS A FREE WOMAN |
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Stevie Davies's book is as good as
anything done on Emily Brontë in recent years. Its feminism
is insightful but without the uncompromising stridency of
Sandra Gilbert and Susan Guber's The Madwoman in the
Attic. (CH, Jan '80). Davies's approach to Wuthering
Heights resembles Richard Benvenuto's in Emily
Brontë (CH, Oct '82), while being more thorough
and adventuresome. Part 1 convincingly relates Brontë's
life to her writings. Part 2 introduces the themes and techniques
of her poetry. Part 3 deals with four central concerns in
Wuthering Heights: "Baby-Work" (the myth of rebirth),
"In at the Window" (rites of passage and the importance of
enclosures), "This Lamb of Yours" (the unity of the spiritual,
animal, and mineral worlds of the novel), and "The Mother
Beneath the Earth" (the interconnectedness of the generations).
This book is unusual in being a serious, scholarly work although
omitting all prefatory matter, footnotes, bibliography, or
index. Nevertheless, Davies is obviously well versed in previous
Brontë criticism, and her mastery of a complex argument
is impressively sure-handed. Everyone who reads this book
will learn from it, but it should prove especially helpful
to undergraduates both in stimulating their thinking and in
providing a model for their own criticism. For all libraries.
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Choice
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This entire presentation Copyright
©
Stevie Davies
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