[fantasyfan]

The New Leaf Book Club has been reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, the least well-known of the Brontë sisters.

I found it more mixed in quality than Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre but still very arresting at times. It does have some annoying problems. For me a major difficulty was the very unlikable character of Gilbert—the ostensible hero. He is the narrator of the first and third sections of the novel. From the beginning, his faults are manifold including jealousy, impulsivity and a general unbelievable stupidity. Moreover his actions are at one point absolutely criminal.

He does rise a bit above the gossip about Helen, the mysterious tenant—for a while. He also seems to have a genuine affection for little Arthur and apparently can appreciate the superior quality of Helen—but why she should be drawn to him is difficult to understand. What saves the first section is Helen. She is well-drawn as a strong, intelligent creative person.

Helen is the narrator of the second and longest section of the novel which is a flashback to her back-story. I thought this part of the book much finer than the first. It introduces Arthur Huntingdon whose character was evidently based on Anne’s brother, Brandon. We see young Helen as an intelligent but rather naive girl swept off her feet by Huntingdon. She erroneously thinks to “reform” her husband and at least one chapter is little more than a sermon.

But the novel deepens as reality bites. Her girlish love transforms into a bitter cynicism. She struggles to raise her young son, Arthur, in an atmosphere which endangers any opportunity for him to develop into a decent person. She experiences betrayal and unfaithfulness from her husband. Finally, Helen finds herself effectually a prisoner rather than mistress in the family home. Throughout this part of the novel Anne highlights the situation of married women who may be regarded as slaves rather than partners. Section two ends with some excitement as we return to the present and Gilbert’s point of view.

Section 3 is a disappointment. It is essentially a tidying up of the various relationships. It has some interesting twists but nothing of much thematic substance. Gilbert is a little less obnoxious but Helen less interesting.

Anne was the youngest of the Brontë sisters and died at the age of 29. This particular novel was very popular but Charlotte, much the most conservative of the three sisters, would not allow a second edition of it to be published after Anne’s death. Evidently Charlotte felt it was too coarse with an improper “choice of subject matter”. I feel that the central section of the novel is remarkable and that had Anne lived we might well have had even greater treasures.

I listened to an Audible dramatic reading to supplement my reading. The voice actors were Ben Lindsey-Clark, Amanda Friday, and Craig Franklin in the main parts. It is unabridged (over 16 hours) and the quality was excellent. I believe that this performance from 1948 may be in the public domain.