This book argues for the significance of contagious disease in critical and biographical assessment of Charlotte Brontë's work. Waugh argues that contagion, infection, and quarantining strategies are central themes in Jane Eyre (1847), Shirley (1849), and Villette (1853). This book establishes the ways in which Charlotte Brontë was closely engaged with the political and social contexts in which she wrote, extending this to the representation and metaphorical import of illness in Brontë's novels. Waugh also posits that although miasmatic theories are often assumed to have been entirely in the ascendant in the late 1840s, the relationship between miasma and contagion was a complex one and contagion in fact remained a crucial way for Charlotte Brontë to represent disease itself, as well as to explore the relationships between the individual and social, political, and cultural contexts. Contagion and its metaphors are central to Charlotte Brontë's construction of subjectivity and of the responsibilities of the individual and the group.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Front Matter
- 1. Introduction: Charlotte Brontë and Contagion
- 2. Modern Medical Knowledge: Brontë Biography and the Deaths of the Authors
- 3. “One of the Most Insidious, and Fatal Diseases Incident to Humanity”: Fearing The “Flattering Malady”
- 4. Typhus and “Common Brotherhood”: Jane Eyre (1847), Contagion, Community, and Leadership
- 5. Ferment, Frenzy, Boundaries, and Barriers: Rabies in Shirley (1849)
- 6. “Living Barometers,” “Dreary Fellowship,” “Petulant People,” and “Silly Fancies”: Weather, Equilibrium, and Health in Elizabeth Gaskell’s The Life of Charlotte Brontë (1857) and Charlotte Brontë’s Villette (1853)
- 7. Epilogue and Conclusion: “Jane Eyre Fever,” Virality, Endemicity, and Contagion
- Back Matter
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Yes, you can access Charlotte Brontë and Contagion by Jo Waugh in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & European Literary Criticism. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.