Agnes grey

Abstract

The novels of the Bront€es are so rich that new readers are able to find connections and points of relatability over 170 years after their initial publication. Agnes Grey in particular has a very modern voice and style. Robin L. Inboden’s new edition, published by Broadview Press, treats Anne Bront€e’s first novel with the care and attention that it deserves; the text of the novel is presented with an excellent introduction and carefully chosen contextual material. Agnes Grey was first published in 1848 and made up the final volume of a threevolume set, of which Emily Bront€e’s Wuthering Heights made up the first two. Most reviewers at the time were so shocked by Wuthering Heights that Agnes Grey rarely received acknowledgement. Some critics wrote that Agnes Grey was ‘more acceptable’ in its subject matter and tone, but it was commonly described as ‘less powerful’ than Wuthering Heights (p. 225). It has also suffered a legacy of being compared to Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, with one contemporary reviewer writing in Douglas Jerrold’s Weekly Newspaper that ‘The heroine is a sort of younger sister to Jane Eyre, but inferior to her in every way’ (p. 226). As such, Agnes Grey has become the neglected novel of the neglected Bront€e sister – Mrs. Humphry Ward ignored it completely when writing her groundbreaking and influential introductory essays for the Haworth edition of The Life and Works of Charlotte Bront€e and her Sisters, published in 1901. Inboden, however, argues that Agnes Grey was perhaps the most radical governess novel of its time. It avoids the temptation of the ‘fantasy of social transformation through marriage to someone of a superior class’ (p. 27), and instead focuses on Agnes’s very real and very relatable daily struggles. We see Agnes coping with the loneliness and isolation of her governess job, while also developing her teaching strategies and navigating her family’s financial problems. The section of the Introduction titled ‘The Victorian Governess in Life and Fiction’ (p. 23) provides historical context about the liminality of the role, along with commentary on the very limited options available to women of that social class and time. In writing about the romanticisation of governesses in fiction, Inboden concludes that ‘Agnes Grey’s greatest contribution to the governess novel may be a dose of reality’ (p. 27). Broadview Press aim to make their titles as accessible to as wide a range of readers as possible, and Inboden definitely achieves that with this edition. Not only does the Introduction put Agnes Grey into context as a governess novel, but it also discusses the importance of animal rights, and Anne Bront€e’s criticisms of society (particularly in terms of morals, religion, and ideas about masculinity). The Introduction gives a brief overview of Anne Bront€e’s life, including an important discussion about the temptation to read Agnes Grey as entirely autobiographical. There are also four excellent appendices. These include a selection of writings by and about Anne Bront€e, contemporary and early reviews of Agnes Grey, and two appendices that provide a snapshot of contemporary attitudes to governesses and animal welfare. Inboden’s careful choice of material nicely highlights the