Introduction: Youth Writing War

Abstract

This chapter builds the main argument: that the early writings of Charlotte and Branwell Bronte act as an important literary source in the history of war; the youthful siblings are useful war writers and historians. More broadly, it considers children and teenagers to have insightful agency and opinions when discussing conflict, and that their voices are important when considering its impact on society. The first section of the Introduction addresses the history of scholarship surrounding the Bronte juvenilia (youthful writings), questions of authorship and how to navigate the stylistic and structural problems of the writings. In addition, it discusses the role of the child writer, who is both playful and perceptive, yet challenging and imitative. The second section of the Introduction introduces the Brontes’ relationship with war, beginning by explaining the originality and aims of the book before continuing with the necessary contextual information for the study, including the post-war climate the Bronte siblings grew up in, details of the soldiers that lived in their village, Haworth, and where the Brontes accessed their reading materials on war. The Introduction finishes with a linear timeline of the wars in the Glass Town and Angrian saga, followed by chapter summaries.