Charlotte Bronte and Victorian Psychology - Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture 7

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Eliana

Groundbreaking study positioning Charlotte Brontë firmly within Victorian psychological debates rather than an ahistorical isolation. Drawing on extensive local research, including texts from local newspapers to medical tomes in Reverend Patrick Brontë’s library, it examines how economic, social, and psychological discourse intersected in the early to mid nineteenth century. The analysis tracks how Brontë’s fiction engages contradictory discursive frameworks, especially through Victorian constructions of sexuality, insanity, and medical or psychological surveillance.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages306

Reading Time7 h 51 min

AccessFree to download

Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture

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CHARLOTTE BRONTEANDVICTORIANPSYCHOLOGYSALLYSHUTTLEWORTH more information-www.cambridge.org/9780521551496 This page intentionally left blank This ground-breaking study successfully challenges the traditionaltendency to regard Charlotte Bronte as having existed in ahistorical vacuum,by setting her work firmly within the contextof Victorian psychological debate.Based on extensive localresearch,using texts ranging from local newspaper copy to themedical tomes in the Reverend Patrick Bronte's library,SallyShuttleworth explores the interpenetration of economic,socialand psychological discourse in the early and mid nineteenthcentury,and traces the ways in which Charlotte Bronte's textsoperate in relation to this complex,often contradictory,discursiveframework.Shuttleworth offers a detailed analysis of Bronte'sfiction,informed by a new understanding of Victorian construc-tions of sexuality and insanity,and the operations of medical andpsychological surveillance. # CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN NINETEENTH-CENTURYLITERATURE AND CULTURE 7 CHARLOTTE BRONTEAND VICTORIANPSYCHOLOGY # CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN NINETEENTH-CENTURYLITERATURE AND CULTURE General editors Gillian Beer,University of CambridgeCatherine Gallagher,University of California,Berkeley Editorial board Isobel Armstrong,Birkbeck College,LondonTerry Eagleton,University of OxfordLeonore Davidoff,University of Essex D.A.Miller,Harvard University J.Hillis Miller,University of California,IrvineMary Poovey,The Johns Hopkins UniversityElaine Showalter,Princeton University Nineteenth-century British literature and culture have been rich fields forinterdisciplinary studies.Since the turn of the twentieth century,scholarsand critics have tracked the intersections and tensions between Victorianliterature and the visual arts,politics,social organization,economic life,technical innovations,scientific thought-in short,culture in its broadestsense.In recent years,theoretical challenges and historiographical shiftshave unsettled the assumptions of previous scholarly syntheses and calledinto question the terms of older debates.Whereas the tendency in muchpast literary critical interpretation was to use the metaphor of culture asbackground’,feminist,Foucauldian,and other analyses have employedmore dynamic models that raise questions of power and of circulation.Suchdevelopments have re-animated the field. This new series aims to accomodate and promote the most interestingwork being undertaken on the frontiers of the fields of nineteenth-centuryliterary studies:work which intersects fruitfully with other fields of studysuch as history,or literary theory,or the history of science.Comparative aswell as interdisciplinary approaches are welcomed. A complete list of titles published will be found at the end of the book. Charlotte Brontě,Study of eyes,1831.Reproduced from The art of the Brontes,editedby Christine Alexander and Jane Sellars(Cambridge University Press,I995),catalogue no.42. # CHARLOTTE BRONTEAND VICTORIANPSYCHOLOGY SALLY SHUTTLEWORTH Professor of Modern Literature,University of Shefield PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building,Trumpington Street,Cambridge,United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building,Cambridge CB22RU,UK40 West 20th Street,New York NY 10011-4211,USA477 Williamstown Road,Port Melbourne,VIC 3207,AustraliaRuiz de Alarcón 13,28014 Madrid,SpainDock House,The Waterfront,Cape Town 8001,South Africa http://www.cambridge.org ◎ Cambridge University Press 1996 This book is in copyright.Subject to statutory exceptionand to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,no reproduction of any part may take place wthoutthe written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1996First paperback edition 2004 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress cataloguing in publication dataShuttleworth,Sally,1952- Charlot

FAQs

How does the book reinterpret Charlotte Brontë’s place in history?

It challenges the tendency to treat Brontë as if she existed in an ahistorical vacuum, instead embedding her work in Victorian psychological debate.

What sources does the study use to build its argument?

It relies on extensive local research, drawing on materials from local newspaper copies to medical tomes from Reverend Patrick Brontë’s library.

Which themes in Brontë’s fiction does the study focus on?

The analysis emphasizes Victorian constructions of sexuality and insanity, and the mechanisms of medical and psychological surveillance.

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Eliana