 Title page of the first edition, 1847. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë took up the first two volumes of the edition. | |
| Author | Anne Brontë |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Romance novel |
| Set in | Northern England, mid-19th century |
| Publisher | Thomas Cautley Newby |
Publication date | 24 November 1847[1] |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print: hardback octavo |
| 823.8 | |
| LC Class | PR4162 .A54 |
| Followed by | The Tenant of Wildfell Hall |
Agnes Grey, A Novel is the first novel by English author Anne Brontë (writing under the pen name of "Acton Bell"), first published in December 1847, and republished in a second edition in 1850.[2] The novel follows Agnes Grey, a governess, as she works within families of the English gentry. Scholarship and comments by Anne's sister Charlotte Brontë suggest the novel is largely based on Anne Brontë's own experiences as a governess for five years. Like her sister Charlotte's 1847 novel Jane Eyre, it addresses what the precarious position of governess entailed and how it affected a young woman.
The choice of central character allows Anne to deal with issues of oppression, abuse of women and governesses, isolation, and ideas of empathy. An additional theme is the fair treatment of animals. Agnes Grey also mimics some of the stylistic approaches of a bildungsroman, employing ideas of personal growth and coming of age.
The Irish novelist George Moore praised Agnes Grey as "the most perfect prose narrative in English letters,"[3] and went so far as to compare Anne's prose to that of Jane Austen. Modern critics have made more subdued claims admiring Agnes Grey with a less overt praise of Brontë's work than Moore.
- ^ "New Novels, Published by Mr. Newby, in 3 vols, this day, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey, by Acton and Ellis Bell, Esqrs". The Morning Post. 24 November 1847. p. 1 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ Thomsan, Patricia (August 1990). "Review:Agnes Grey". The Review of English Studies. New Series. 41 (163). Oxford University Press: 441–442. JSTOR 515755.
- ^ "The Literary Prowess of Anne Brontë (Derek Stanford)". Mick-armitage.staff.shef.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 14 August 2018. Retrieved 3 June 2014.