There are a few very notable difference in imaginative quality separates the novels of Charlotte (1816-55) and Emily (1818-55) Bronte from those of the other great English novelists of the nineteenth century, even from themselves. The difference seems to be one of emotional intensity, the product of a unique concentration upon fundamental human passion in a state approaching essential purity. Whether this concentration is compatible with the nature of the novel as generally conceived - and there has been a tendency to regard the Bronte's as something of a 'sport', a remarkable oddity in li…
