Charlotte Brontë, Autobiography, and the Image of the Hero
Abstract Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was one of the many real-life heroes, probably the pre-eminent one, in Charlotte Brontë's life and works. He was a masculine type that attracted her, as both woman and writer, from a very early age; but she was not alone in her admiration of what Carlyle called 'the great ones of the earth'. The paper argues that Charlotte's response to historical characters like the Duke of Wellington is not only part of a cultural dynamic of hero-worship that provided a ready context for 'veneration' but is also part of the complex self-fashioning that we all experience in the process of identity formation. Wellington and his various mutations can be traced in her writing from the juvenilia to Shirley in particular, and can be seen as an evolving critique on the hero. They also reflect an important element of Charlotte Brontë's personal narrative and indicate the way hero-worship helped to mould her ambition, her love of politics and her idea of integrity.
‘I fear you will burn my present letter on recognising the handwriting’:1 The Self-Fashioning of Patrick Branwell Brontë in his Epistolary Writing
During the period 1845–48 Patrick Branwell Brontë can be seen using his skills as a writer to fashion multiple personas which enabled him to disguise the coarse nature of his reality, and deny responsibility for his numerous failures. Branwell adopted this method of self-presentation in his epistolary writing, and manipulated the form in order to present the personas which assisted in his denial. The coarseness of Branwell’s life broke forth into his correspondence and, in his state of desperation, he adopted the alter egos of Henry Hastings and Northangerland, the fictitious representations of his coarseness. The letters of Branwell are a greatly overlooked source. Yet, he clearly adopted the creative techniques he honed in his juvenilia and poetry for his epistolary writing. The consideration of Branwell’s letters is essential in assisting our understanding of him as a writer.
The Legacy of Art in Plastic Surgery
Summary The consistent relationship between surgery and art has been very well documented since 2000 BC. The close relationship between plastic surgery and art is historical and is still expected by the public and our patients. This article emphasizes the many links plastic surgery has with art, and presents a few practical examples of its reverberation in aesthetic and reconstructive plastic surgery procedures. Based on his surgical and actual sculpting activities in the realm of contemporary art, the author elaborates on 7 contributions art education affords the plastic surgery praxis, as an incentive and a reflection of its value to the plastic surgeon’s life.