The Forgotten Brontë: Searching for Branwell

One of the defining images of the Brontë family, displayed on the cover of Juliet Barker’s epic biography The Brontës, is Patrick Branwell Brontë’s group portrait of his sisters. This is marred by a mysterious white pillar painted between Emily and Charlotte where the artist painted himself … Continue reading →

“Jam and Idleness”: Jam, Play and the Socialisation of Girls in ‘The Mill on the Floss’

The idea that eating fruit can somehow be connected to (im)proper notions of behaviour for women is neither new nor revolutionary; we need only look to the Bible to find this concept’s influence on women’s lives. But what happens when the fruit is cooked? What happens when the women are … Continue reading →

George Eliot: The Female Shakespeare

George Eliot’s Middlemarch was ranked number one in the BBC’s 2015 list of the greatest British novels.[1] Six in the top ten were novels by women, which is pleasing to note this week of International Women’s Day, but George Eliot sits atop the throne as the greatest female author to come out … Continue reading →

Culturised

An online arts publication providing both practical information and thought provoking pieces about contemporary culture

Tagged with Victorian

The Forgotten Brontë: Searching for Branwell

“Jam and Idleness”: Jam, Play and the Socialisation of Girls in ‘The Mill on the Floss’

George Eliot: The Female Shakespeare