'I may have gone too far': Reappraising Coarseness in Anne Bronte's Preface to the Second Edition of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

This article presents a close reading of Anne Bronte's 'Preface to the second edition' of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) written on 22 July 1848, focusing on Anne's use of biblical references and rhetorical constructions to defend her novel against accusations of unnecessary coarseness. Casting herself as an unpopular prophet, Anne followed tropes that Charlotte introduced in her own preface to the second edition of Jane Eyre (1847). Unlike Charlotte, who lambasted the 'carping few' and rejected their hypocrisy in criticizing her novel, Anne presents herself as duly 'censured'. Anne's preface contains a careful examination of her own motives in representing 'vice and vicious characters'. Drawing on Foucault's concept of the 'confession', this article explores the confessional and testimonial aspects of Anne's preface as she articulates her literary principles. Underlying her writing is the conviction that faithful description, however 'coarse', was both instructive and morally necessary.