Charlotte Brontë's Art of Sensation

Abstract

Abstract This article explores what are seen as the sensory and affective dimensions of Charlotte Brontë's fiction, both in terms of the ways in which she organizes the scenes and plots of her novels, and in terms of the effects of her language. The discussion surveys passages from The Professor, Villette, Jane Eyre, and Shirley in relation to these physical and passional concerns. The article draws on the work of Gilles Deleuze in describing the unconscious as a power of embodied intelligence and sympathy.