The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

by Anne Bronte

This volume completes the acclaimed Clarendon Edition of the Novels of the Brontes. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte's second (and last) novel, was published in June 1848, less than a year before her death. It is the sombre account of the breakdown of a marriage in the face of alcoholism and infidelity. Writing with a power not usually associated with the youngest of the Bronte sisters, Anne portrays the decline of an aristocratic
husband whose drunken excesses and domestic violence force his loving wife into a reluctant rebellion.

The novel enjoyed a modest success that led its publisher, the unscrupulous T. C. Newby, to issue a `Second Edition' less than two months later. The present volume offers a text based on the collation of the first edition with the second (really a re-issue of the first, with a few corrections). The introduction details the work's composition and early printing history, including its first publication in America; and the text is fully annotated. Appendices record the substantive variants in the
first English and American editions, and discuss the author's belief in the doctrine of universal salvation.

• ISBN10: 0140260188
• ISBN13: 9780140260182
• Publish Date: 1 October 1996 (first published 1 January 1920)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 12 February 1999
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd
• Edition: Film & TV Tie-in ed
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

When people discuss their favorite novels by the Brontë sisters, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall rarely comes up (unless you’re my co-blogger, who explains why The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is her favorite Brontë novel here), and perhaps that is because the novel is not as romantic as Jane Eyre and, yes, even Wuthering Heights are considered. It’s not a love story, after all, but rather a story about a woman caught in a loveless and abusive marriage that she never imagined. The remarkable insight that Anne Brontë offers into protagonist Helen Graham’s psyche, however, as well as the unflinching portrayals of men giving into different temptations and debaucheries to the suffering of the women around them make The Tenant of Wildfell Hall a masterpiece I am sorry I did not read soon.

The novel does have a frame narrative, which is always something I’m conflicted about because so often I get absorbed in the frame only to be broken away to hear a story from the past, and it was no different for me here. Readers are introduced to Helen Graham, the titular tenant of Wildfell Hall, who is clearly trying to walk a line between being private but not so reclusive that neighbors think she’s weird…and failing, based on the mystery and gossip that begin to surround her. I was caught up in the mystery myself, even though the footnotes gave me more hints than I cared for about why Helen was at Wildfell Hall; I would have liked to know if I would have figured out her story based on the foreshadowing if the editor hadn’t kept telling me the plot.

However, the main story, the story of Helen’s courting and then marriage and its subsequent decline is incredibly compelling, more so than the frame narrative I had become so invested in. It’s a penetrating look into abusive marriages–how a young Helen, idealistic and certain she had found true love–fell into an ultimately loveless marriage with a man addicted to drinking and other women. It also gives a harsh reality check to those who think they might be able to reform bad men if they just do/say the right things or are good enough themselves. And, finally, it’s a compassionate look at why women in abusive relationships so often stay. (Yes, Helen had fewer options for leaving her husband due to the time period than she would today, but the psychological aspects of why she stays for so long seem timeless.)

I also enjoyed (if that’s the right word), the portrayals of Helen’s husbands friends–all of whom are heavy drinkers and generally terrible people, just in different ways. That is, Brontë doesn’t have a cardboard cutout “type” of a man who abuses his wife or just the people around him; she shows a whole range. Some drink more. Some drink less. Some get angry. Some lay hands on their wives, while some do not. One even tries his best to abstain from addictions like drinking and gambling but never has the strength to separate himself from his bad friends. Each is characterized with care, but the overall picture is not bleak because, rest assured, there are actually good men in the book, as well.

If you want a story about a strong woman or a story concerned with the inner lives of women and how they deal with bad relationships, check this out.

[celinenyx]

I applaud Anne Brontë for writing this honest, brave book. She does not shy away from subjects that were rarely brought into the open in the nineteenth century. Even now, I think her descriptions of a woman being married to a brute of a man will resonate with readers. Though women now have more options to escape a bad marriage, emotional abuse and the pressure to "make things work" have remained relatively unchanged.

Though I appreciate The Tenant of Wildfell Hall for its merits, it was not a book I particularly enjoyed. The main reason for this is the character of Helen. Truly, she is a bright angel of morality in a pit of terrible people - and that is why I could not connect with her. She is too good, too rational, too uprightly moral, too pious. I understand that Brontë needed Helen to be this way to survive her situation, but she lost some of her humanity in the process. People have faults, and Helen has too few of them. Her coldness and determination often alienated me, even though I have sympathy for her plight.

[sarahjay]

There are so many amazing things about this book and I would never be able to give anything Bronte lower than 3 stars. But Gilbert just... sucked. I wish Helen had been the narrator through the whole thing.

I can definitely recognize and understand why this was a revolutionary book when it came out. The debate Helen and Gilbert had towards the beginning about how parents raised boys vs. how they raised girls was on point (and unfortunately still relevant 168 years later).

[brokentune]

Review posted at

http://brokentune.booklikes.com/post/676367/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

I thought I would read Anne Brontë before reading Charlotte Brontë; Why? Because I didn’t want to go with the most popular of the three; before exploring Anne and Emily. I loved Wuthering Heights for its unexpected story, with The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, I was secretly hoping from more of that. But instead I was presented with a book that while it with very much a Victorian novel; it did push topics, like Divorce, Abuse, Alcoholism, Feminism, Adultery and many more issues to do with morels.

I’ve heard this to be one of the better books on Marriage, Love, Social Realism, Piety, Alcoholism, Status and identity of its time and while I do agree. I sometimes felt as if the story dragged on more than it really had to. I know many books in the 1800’s like to go off in many directions without moving the story forward, and I’m fine with that; if the story was interesting and the plot wasn’t predictable. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was a beautifully written book and I highly recommend it to everyone, I just think predictability stopped me from loving this book.