Heavily influenced by her Wesleyan Aunt Branwell, Anne Brontë remained deeply religious throughout her life. She was governess to the Ingham family at Blake Hall in 1839, and then to the Robinsons in York from 1841 to 1845. These experiences provided the material for her novel Agnes Grey (1847). Her second novel was The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848).
Left to the care of her aunt at the age of five, Charlotte, like her sisters, had an imaginative and inquisitive childhood. Charlotte spent her fifteenth year at Miss Wooler's school at Roe Head, to which she returned as a teacher between 1835 and 1838. After two stints as a governess, in 1842 she went to Brussels with Emily to study languages. Her first publication was a collection of her own poetry as well as that of her sisters, entitled Poems, by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell (1846). Charlotte's first novel, The Professor, was not published, but her next, Jane Eyre (1847), was well received. Another novel, Shirley, appeared in 1849. After the death of her aunt and two sisters, she formed a friendship with Elizabeth Gaskell, who later became her biographer. Brontë's other important works are Villette (1853) and the fragment «Emma» (1860). -992-
For a short time Emily Brontë was schooled at Cowan Bridge with her sister Charlotte, but most of her education was carried out at home. Emily was a governess at Law Hill, but only briefly. Afterward she went to Brussels with Charlotte to study languages. Most of her remaining years were spent at Haworth. In 1846, Emily's poems were published as a joint publication between her, Anne, and Charlotte, under the title, Poems, by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Her best-known work, Wuthering Heights, was published in 1847.
Brooke spent most of her life in London, though she spent a significant part of her early life in Quebec with her husband. Her popular and important History of Lady Julia Mandeville (1763) followed a period that saw her produce The Old Maid (1755–1756), Letters from Juliet Lady Catesby (1760), and various translations of Riccoboni. Her later works include the novels The History of Emily Montague (1769), The Excursion (1777), a tragedy, the Siege of Sinope (1781), and the musical play Rosina (1783).
Born in London to German parents, Brookner was educated at King's College, University of London, and in Paris. She is currently a Fellow of New Hall, Cambridge, where she is a well-respected art historian specializing in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French art. She is the author of six novels: The Debut (1981), Providence (1982), Look at Me (1983), Hotel du Lac (1984), Family and Friends (1985), and A Misalliance (1986).
Born and educated in Manchester, Burgess spent six years as an education officer in Malaya and Borneo with the colonial service. From this experience came the Malayan Trilogy (1972), consisting of the novels, Time for a Tiger (1956), The Enemy in the Blanket (1958), and Beds in the East (1959). His most famous work, A Clockwork Orange (1962), a harrowing story of fascism and youth culture, was made into the cult film classic by Stanley Kubrick in 1971. Other notable novels include Inside Mr. Enderby (1963), Enderby Outside (1968), The Clockwork Testament (1974), and Earthly Powers (1980).
Having grown up among the elite of London's literary society, Burney soon became an important figure in her own right. The publication of her first novel, Evelina (1778), brought her wide acclaim, and it was followed by
Byatt was born in Sheffield and attended Newnham College, Cambridge. From Shadow of a Sun (1964) through The Game(1967), The
Carroll came from an unusually literary and creative family that was fond of producing magazines filled with word games and puzzles. After graduating from Christ Church, Oxford, he became a lecturer there in mathematics in 1855. He is best known for his children's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1871). His other works include Phantasmagoria and Other Poems (1869), The Hunting of the Snark (1876), and Sylvie and Bruno (1889; vol. 2, 1893).
Born in Sussex and educated at the University of Bristol, Carter spent much of her life in academia as a writer-in-residence. Her novels, particularly Heroes and Villains (1969) and
Born in Londonderry and educated at Clifton College, Oxford, Cary went on to study art in Edinburgh and Paris. After serving in the Balkan War, he fought with the Nigerian regiment in the Cameroons campaign. When he returned to England in 1920 he began his career as a writer. His most acclaimed works are his novelistic trilogies: Herself Surprised (1941), To Be a Pilgrim (1942), and The Horse's Mouth (1944); and Prisoner of Grace (1952), Except the Lord (1953), and Not Honour More (1955).
Collins was the son of a landscape painter and was educated at several London private schools. His major formative experience came during a two-year tour of Italy taken with his family from 1836 to 1838. His first book was a biography of his father; it was followed by numerous pieces written for Dickens's periodicals as well as other journals. His first novel, Antonina (1850), is about he fall of Rome. Collins made his lasting reputation, however, within the -994- genre of mystery and suspense novels. He is regarded as a pioneer of the form. Basil (1852) was his first such 'novel of sensation,' followed by The Woman in White (1860), No Name (1862), Armadale (1866), and The Moonstone (1868).
Born in the Ukraine of Polish parents, Conrad grew up in Poland and in Russia. He first went to sea in 1874 on a French ship and eventually became a Master in the English Merchant Marine service as well as a naturalized British subject. After twenty years at sea, he determined to become a writer in England. His first novel was Almayer's Folly (1895), which was followed by An Outcast of the Islands (1896), The Nigger of the Narcissus (1897), Lord Jim (1900), Typhoon (1902), Heart of Darkness (1902), Nostromo (1904), The Secret Agent (1907), Under Western Eyes (1911), Chance (1913), and Victory (1915). One of the greatest prose stylists in his adopted language, Conrad is a master of atmosphere and symbolism whose novels depict the cultural collisions peculiar to late-nineteenth-century European imperialism and the loneliness and anxiety of modern Western consciousness.
The London-born son of a butcher, Defoe spent his early life as a traveling hosiery merchant and as the owner of a brick and tile factory. His first booklength work, An Essay on Projects (1697), reveals an energetic and original mind, an inquiring, visionary intelligence that soon turned to political writing such as the enormously popular poem The True-Born Englishman (1701), and the satirical pamphlet The Shortest Way with the Dissenters (1702), for which he was briefly imprisoned and made to stand in the pillory. Financial difficulties led to several bankruptcies, and Defoe became a prolific professional author and secret political operative for successive Tory and Whig governments. From 1704 to 1713, he single-handedly produced The Review, a thrice-weekly political periodical, along with innumerable pamphlets and book-length works on politics, history, morality, and commerce. He is best known for the series of narratives he produced after the spectacular success of
The son of a feckless government clerk, Dickens was born in Portsmouth but came when he was ten to live in London with his family. When his father was imprisoned for debt two years later, Dickens was forced to work in a blacking (shoe polish) warehouse. He later worked as an office boy and then a secretary, eventually finding work as
