It's a piece of Bronte juvenilia and it shows - everywhere the marks and illusions of the fictive worlds the Bronte siblings, and specifically in The Green Dwarf Branwell and Charlotte - created and inhabited in their youth.
It's kinda clunky in bits and the courtroom scene at the end is just odd, just as the resolution of the plot is definitely a bit deus ex machina-tastic, but the rawness of it is very engaging and I found myself entirely drawn in by the action and the romance-suspense-war narrative arc triumvirate. It was great to read this having already experienced the mature literary mastery of Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre, as in this so-early work I could really feel the full effect of her playfulness, charm and wit unencumbered by the writerly techniques and skills she developed later. I don't mean that to sound snotty or patronising - Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre are unquestionably brilliant and I love them hugely but there is definitely something very refreshing and not a little bit endearing in engaging with the cavalier and romantic world of a Bronte's comparatively happy childhood. Plus The Green Dwarf is hilarious and so ridiculous it's the least boring kind of Romanticism there is.
Not much more to say about this one except to recommend it highly if you want to experience a lot of Bronte in-jokes, some chivalry, some dastardliness, some mysterious cloaked strangers of varying heights, some stabbings, some smooching and some fun old times.
***^/***** (Three and a half stars)
No comments:
Post a Comment