Anne Brontë’s Radical Vision: Structures of Consciousness by Elizabeth Hollis Berry

Abstract

for analogies appropriate to the main theme. Repetition is a (perhaps in­ evitable) hallmark of the study; a number of analytical tropes are rung often. As Heble’s subject is never ambiguous, its signposts are waved vigorously. Even if there is a natural difficulty in creating synonymous terms, Heble manages, with little twisting, to maintain a considerable variety of, and variation on, his core terms throughout. There is an impressive plethora of analogical words and phrases: dislocation, provisional, uncertainty, prob­ lematic, replacement, mystery, deferral of meaning, supposition, withheld, discontinuous, process of inquiry — all this, and so much more. Heble’s emphasis on Munro’s collections varies considerably. Each of the stories in Lives of Girls and Women is discussed, with greater attention to “The Flats Road” and “Heirs of the Living Body” ; eight of the twelve in Who Do You Think You Are? are covered, especially “Royal Beatings.” The same proportion obtains for The Moons of Jupiter, with the title story emphasized; less than half of Something I ’ve Been Meaning to Tell You is represented, with, again, the title story receiving a thorough and convincing examination. Five of eleven fictions from The Progress of Love, especially “White Dump” and “The Moons of Jupiter,” are considered; the proportion is three of ten in Friend of My Youth, including the title story, “Meneseteung,” and “Pictures of the Ice.” Three of fifteen from Munro’s first book, Dance of the Happy Shades, are discussed— “Walker Brothers Cowboy” at length, as well as “Boys and Girls” and “Images.” The point is that Heble’s representation of Munro’s work is fair, because it does not attempt to be comprehensive. When he can comment effectively, he does not hesitate. Nor has he forced the entirety of Munro’s work into his thesis but rather those stories that are appropriate, where his case is undeniable. This shows a selectivity and a discrimination and a discretion that are commendable. Because his presentation is strong, he does not need any gestures towards total inclusiveness and comprehensiveness. He has not had to distort the facts of Munro’s fictions, an achievement that makes The Tumble of Reason an estimable addition to the literature. l o u i s k . MacKENDRiCK / University of Windsor Elizabeth Hollis Berry, Anne Brontë’s Radical Vision: Structures of Con­ sciousness (Victoria: English Literary Studies Monograph Series, 1994). 122. $10.50 paper. Elizabeth Hollis Berry’s close reading of the work of Anne Bronte is, sur­ prisingly, one of the earliest attempts to retrieve and reevaluate this hugely underestimated author. Astonishingly, there are only a handful of studies of 483 the work of Anne Bronte, who was the most explicitly feminist of the three sisters, and whose work (in my opinion anyway) is as politically engaged as Charlotte’s and as technically complex as Emily’s.1 Berry blames the ne­ glect of Anne largely on Charlotte, who compared the “quiet description” of Anne’s novels to the “vigorous” originality of Emily’s (16). Believing that the entire subject of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was a mistake, Charlotte vetoed its re-issue, saying that it was “hardly ... desirable to preserve” (17). Berry is right when she says that Anne Bronte’s literary reputation would have been better served had she remained under the guise of “the brutal Acton and had never emerged as the gentle Anne” : when the novels were thought to be by Acton Bell, critics praised their forceful style (15). Berry’s work, simply by being a close reading and formal analysis of Anne Bronte’s poetry and two novels, Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, fills an important place in Bronte criticism. It also reveals the dilemma facing a critic who retrieves an underestimated author: how to emphasize her similarities to more highly valued authors, without subtly undermining the original achievement. Berry opts for minimizing the com­ parisons, but the result is a formalistic analysis that does little to recommend Anne Bronte to present-day readers interested in political and historical con­ texts or new approaches to literary texts. The title of the work promises a psycho-sociological analysis, but the terms “radical vision” and “structures of consciousness...