Portland Public Library

A secret sisterhood, the literary friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot & Virginia Woolf, Emily Midorikawa & Emma Claire Sweeney

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-316) and index

collective biography

platesillustrations

index present

non fiction

A secret sisterhood

bibliography

1003664991

Emily Midorikawa & Emma Claire Sweeney

the literary friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot & Virginia Woolf

"Male literary friendships are the stuff of legend; think Byron and Shelley, Fitzgerald and Hemingway. But the world's best-loved female authors are usually mythologized as solitary eccentrics or isolated geniuses. Coauthors and real-life friends Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney prove this wrong, thanks to their discovery of a wealth of surprising collaborations: the friendship between Jane Austen and one of the family servants, playwright Anne Sharp; the daring feminist author Mary Taylor, who shaped the work of Charlotte Brontë; the transatlantic friendship of the seemingly aloof George Eliot and Harriet Beecher Stowe; and Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield, most often portrayed as bitter foes, but who, in fact, enjoyed a complex friendship fired by an underlying erotic charge. Through letters and diaries that have never been published before, A Secret Sisterhood resurrects these forgotten stories of female friendships. They were sometimes scandalous and volatile, sometimes supportive and inspiring, but always--until now--tantalizingly consigned to the shadows"--, Provided by publisher"A fascinating, inspirational look at the relationships between some of our best-loved female authors and their little-known literary collaborators and friends"--, Provided by publisher

Foreword / by Margaret Atwood -- Introduction : In search of a secret sisterhood -- Jane Austen & Anne Sharp. A circle of single women -- Rebellion behind closed doors -- Closing ranks -- Charlotte Brontë & Mary Taylor. Three's a crowd -- Two adventurous spirits -- One great myth -- George Eliot & Harriet Beecher Stowe. The stuff of legend -- The specter of scandal -- An act of betrayal -- Katherine Mansfield & Virginia Woolf. Friends or foes? -- Cat-and-mouse -- Life and death -- Epilogue : A web of literary connections

Literary friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot and Virginia Woolf