'Free from Soil': The Curation of Anne Bronte

Famously described by her sister Charlotte as 'long-suffering, self-denying, reflective, and intelligent, a constitutional reserve and taciturnity placed and kept her in the shade', Anne Bronte has been consistently filtered through her eldest sister.This article suggests the notion of Anne Bronte as a figure of curation, in acknowledging the possibility of Charlotte Bronte's personal agenda in the writing of the 1850 'Biographical notice of Ellis and Acton Bell'. With the intention of softening and feminising her sisters' reputations, Charlotte's (re)writing of Anne has been long accepted into Bronte lore. This article explores the consequences of the 'Notice' and its significance in the posthumous reception of Anne's work as mainly autobiographical. This paper suggests that Anne Bronte's enduring image as the meek, mild, moralist is a result of Charlotte's careful and conscious curation, and explores the influence of this image on her literary legacy.