The Textual Shelleys: The Brontës as Readers

In this Chapter my work defines the position of the Brontës as readers. Offering a detailed examination of the reading material accessible to the family in Haworth which contained reference to either the Shelleys’ work or lives, I demonstrate which works are evidenced to have been in the parsonage along with which publications were accessible to Brontës. As potential source texts to the juvenilia, this second chapter demonstrates the Shelleyan narrative available to the siblings in their childhood whilst defining the various accounts which circulated. By presenting these various narratives, including publications which offered material edited by Mary Shelley, I show the published presence of the textual Shelleys as available to the Brontës in Haworth.