The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

by Brontë, Anne; Rosengarten, Herbert; Smith, Margaret

• ISBN13: 9780192834621
• ISBN10: 0192834622
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-07-09
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Published in June 1848, less than a year before her death, Anne Bronte's second (and last) novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, is the somber account of the breakdown of a marriage in the face of alcoholism and infidelity. The novel enjoyed a modest success that led its publisher, theunscrupulous T.C. Newby, to issue a "Second Edition" less than two months later. The present edition, which completes the Clarendon Edition of the Novels of the Brontes, offers a text based on the collation of the first edition with the second. The introduction details the work's composition andearly printing history, including its first publication in America; and the text is fully annotated. Appendices record the substantive variants in the first English and American editions, and discuss the author's belief in the doctrine of universal salvation.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations used in this edition	vii	(2)
Introduction	ix	(16)
Note on the Text	xxv	(5)
Select Bibliography	xxx	(2)
A Chronology of Anne Bronte	xxxii
THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION	3	(4)
TO J. HALFORD, ESQ.	7	(2)
I. A Discovery	9	(10)
II. An Interview	19	(6)
III. A Controversy	25	(8)
IV. The Party	33	(9)
V. The Studio	42	(5)
VI. Progression	47	(8)
VII. The Excursion	55	(11)
VIII. The Present	66	(5)
IX. A Snake in the Grass	71	(12)
X. A Contract and a Quarrel	83	(5)
XI. The Vicar Again	88	(5)
XII. A Tete-a-tete and a Discovery	93	(10)
XIII. A Return to Duty	103	(5)
XIV. An Assault	108	(7)
XV. An Encounter and its Consequences	115	(8)
XVI. The Warnings of Experience	123	(12)
XVII. Further Warnings	135	(8)
XVIII. The Miniature	143	(12)
XIX. An Incident	155	(7)
XX. Persistence	162	(8)
XXI. Opinions	170	(5)
XXII. Traits of Friendship	175	(16)
XXIII. First Weeks of Matrimony	191	(6)
XXIV. First Quarrel	197	(9)
XXV. First Absence	206	(11)
XXVI. The Guests	217	(4)
XXVII. A Misdemeanour	221	(7)
XXVIII. Parental Feelings	228	(4)
XXIX. The Neighbour	232	(10)
XXX. Domestic Scenes	242	(13)
XXXI. Social Virtues	255	(15)
XXXII. Comparisons: Information Rejected	270	(14)
XXXIII. Two Evenings	284	(13)
XXXIV. Concealment	297	(5)
XXXV. Provocations	302	(6)
XXXVI. Dual Solitude	308	(5)
XXXVII. The Neighbour Again	313	(11)
XXXVIII. The Injured Man	324	(11)
XXXIX. A Scheme of Escape	335	(14)
XL. A Misadventure	349	(5)
XLI. `Hope Springs Eternal in the Human Breast'	354	(7)
XLII. A Reformation	361	(5)
XLIII. The Boundary Past	366	(7)
XLIV. The Retreat	373	(8)
XLV. Reconciliation	381	(15)
XLVI. Friendly Counsels	396	(7)
XLVII. Startling Intelligence	403	(13)
XLVIII. Further Intelligence	416	(6)
XLIX. `The Rain Descended'	422	(10)
L. Doubts and Disappointments	432	(10)
LI. An Unexpected Occurrence	442	(9)
LII. Fluctuations	451	(8)
LIII. Conclusion	459	(13)
Explanatory Notes	472