Description
Set against the backdrop of industrializing England during the Napoleonic wars and Luddite revolts of 1811-12, Shirley presents two contrasting heroines whose lives embody the tensions of their era. Shy Caroline Helstone languishes in the oppressive confines of a Yorkshire rectory, her constrained existence reflecting the limited prospects of unmarried women in the nineteenth century, while the vivacious Shirley Keeldar inherits a local estate and discovers in wealth and independence a freedom to think and act on her own terms. Following the moral revolution of Jane Eyre, Brontë crafted this sweeping social chronicle to explore something "real and unromantic as Monday morning"—combining incisive social commentary with intimate psychological insight. A groundbreaking work of feminist imagination, Shirley envisions a new form of female power grounded in intellect, independence, and self-determination, making it Brontë's most radical exploration of women's potential and autonomy. This novel stands as both a product of its historical moment and a prescient forerunner of twentieth-century feminism.
Available Editions
paperback
Penguin
Published Jan 1, 2006
664 pages
ISBN: 9780141439860
paperback
Фолио
Published Jan 1, 1998
525 pages
ISBN: 9785237003581
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Details
First Published
1849
Language
eng
Content Warnings
Content and trigger warnings for Shirley by Charlotte Brontë.