CRITICISM

Anonymous review of “Currer Bell's Professor.” In Dublin University Magazine 50, No. 295, (July 1857): 88-100.

Discusses Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Brontë, followed by excerpts from that work pertaining to Brontë's attempts to publish The Professor and a plot summary of the novel.

Betsinger, Sue Ann. “Charlotte Brontë's Archetypal Heroine.” Brontë Society Transaction 19 (1989): 301-09.

Suggests that William Crimsworth, The Professor's narrator, is not the book's character of primary interest, but that Frances Henri is the novel's heroine and becomes the model for the heroines of Brontë's later novels.

Brown, Kate E. “Beloved Objects: Mourning, Materiality, and Charlotte Brontë's ‘Never-Ending Story’.” ELH [Journal of English Literary History] 65, No. 2 (Summer 1998): 395-421.

Examines the role and influence of Brontë's juvenilia in composing The Professor.

Bruce, Donald Williams. “Charlotte Brontë in Brussels: The Professor and Villette.” Contemporary Review 254, No. 1481 (June 1989): 321-28.

Maintains that the plot of The Professor, based on Brontë's experience as a student and teacher in Brussels, was reworked with greater success in the later novel Villette.

Butler, Janet. “Charlotte Brontë's Professor.” Explicator 44, No. 3 (Spring 1986): 35-37.

Provides a brief discussion of the depression Crimsworth suffers in The Professor and contends that the “spectral woman” identified as “hypochondria,” or depression, is representative of sexuality that is never experienced.

McIntyre, Elizabeth. “Charlotte Brontë's New Corinne: Re-Reading The Professor.” Victorian Newsletter, No. 85 (Spring 1994): 34-39.

Argues that The Professor is based more on Brontë's reading of Madame de Staël's Corinne (1807) than on Brontë's own life experiences in Brussels.

Morphet, Fiona. “Playing with The Professor.” College Language Association Journal 37, No. 3 (March 1994): 348-57.

Maintains that The Professor creates “playful energies of exploration and discovery” and inspires students to develop critical evaluation skills rather than simply identifying with the story in a naïve manner or revering the well-respected author.

Additional coverage of Brontë's life and career is contained in the following sources published by the Gale Group: Authors & Artists for Young Adults, Vol. 17; Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography, 1832-1890; Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vols. 21, 159, and 199; DISCovering Authors, Vol. 3; DISCovering Authors: British; DISCovering Authors: Canadian; DISCovering Authors Modules: Most-Studied Authors, Novelists, and Poets; Poetry Criticism, Vol. 8; and World Literature Criticism, 1500-Present.