The Brontës and Education

Marianne Thormahlen is Professor of English Literature at Lund University, Sweden.

• Introduction; Part I. Education and Society: 1. The education of the people; 2. The improvement of the mind; Part II. Home and School: 3. Household education versus school training; 4. Parents and children; 5. Professional educators in the home; 6. Schools and schooling; Part III. Subjects and Skills: 7. A sound English education; 8. Religion and education; 9. The accomplishments; 10. Male and female education; 11. Beyond the schoolroom: reading and the Brontës; Part IV. Strategies and Methods: 12. Pedagogical purposes and principles; 13. Schoolroom practices; Part V. Originality and Freedom: 14. Docility and originality; 15. Liberty and responsibility; Select bibliography; Index.

Review of the hardback: '… a valuable … addition to our understanding of the Brontë family's life and works … The strength of Thormählen's approach is her assured assembling of developments and theories that were the educational landscape against and in which the members of the family lived their lives and wove their fictional spells … Her strengths lie in the crisp, objective and lively review she undertakes in her studies, backed up by telling and generous notes that seduce one into further research … Thormählen triumphs in the light she shines on the educational world in which the family lived … This book is an exciting helpmate in the struggle to secure a firm understanding of factors that fed the Brontë sisters' imaginative development …' Brontë Studies