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Article: Yours insincerely, Charlotte Bronte
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- July 22, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1995 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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The Letters of Charlotte Bronte
Vol 1: 1829-1847
Edited by Margaret Smith
Oxford, pounds 55
"I cannot be formal in a letter," Charlotte Bronte apologised to
an impossibly conventional ex-suitor, Henry Nussey. "If I write at
all, I must write as I think." At that time, in 1841, a governess
to the White family in Rawdon, Yorkshire, she confides her
discontent with indulged children to this dull clergyman who, she
knew, understood her not at all. It is this incaution, this need to
explain herself against the odds, that makes her a great writer of
letters. She seems to invite condemnation ("I am dwelling too much
on my own concerns and feelings. . . I repent having written it")
so that a ...