Some later efforts to prove him the sole genius goaded Brontë scholars into furious denigration. His precocity died in a morass of failure while three sisters rose to fame through authorship, and their early admiration of him turned into contempt. An only son among five daughters, he alone was denied all educational facilities away from home. If the result of our joint efforts can show Branwell Brontë standing beside his sisters, as he did once in the family portrait now hanging in the National Portrait Gallery-and why his head and shoulders were painted over is an intriguing mystery among, others-then we shall not have laboured in vain.ĭAPHNE DU MAURIER. I believe that both Miss Gérin and myself can help to remedy this fact, and if we approach our subject in different ways, with possibly our views of Branwell as a boy and young man widely opposed, surely the reading public may be interested enough to buy both our books when they eventually appear? I am sure neither Miss Gérin nor myself is aware of any sense of rivalry rather we see ourselves as students both engaged in the same passionate research. Symington over the past years has confirmed my opinion that Branwell Brontë, and his work-most of it untranscribed-has been too long neglected. Wise, of the incomparable Shakespear Head edition of the Brontë Works, Lives, and Letters, and long correspondence with Mr. Alex Symington, editor and compiler, with the late T.

I am, however, the lucky possessor of the Brontë library of Mr. I realize that living at Haworth as she does, Miss Gérin is happier placed than I am, and with one Brontë biography “under her belt,” as the saying goes, it would be foolish of me to attempt to cover the identical ground. She did not ask me to “stand aside”, nor do I intend to do so, but her information was valuable nevertheless. I received, within a few days, a very nice letter from Miss Winifred Gérin, telling me that she was preparing a biography of Branwell, which would appear as a companion volume to her recent Life of Anne Brontë. I happened to mention this recently to Richard Findlater, who reported the fact in the Dispatch. Sir,-As a life member of the Brontë Society I have been tremendously interested in the Brontë family for many years, and have made many notes for a possible work on Branwell Brontë. A letter by Daphne du Maurier, published in the TLS on Jfollowed by a review by Sylva Norman of du Maurier’s The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë, published in the TLS of November 18, 1960.

The infernal world of branwell brontë