No Soft Nonsense: Presenting the Bold Anne Brontë

Join Christine Nelson, Drue Heinz Curator of Literary and Historical Manuscripts, for a fresh look at Anne Brontë (1820–1849), bold author and truth-teller, through the artifacts she left behind. After Brontë published a pseudonymous novel featuring graphic depictions of addiction and domestic abuse, one reviewer accused the author of harboring “a morbid love for the coarse, not to say the brutal.” She issued a written retort: “If I can gain the public ear at all, I would rather whisper a few wholesome truths therein than much soft nonsense.” With highlights from the Morgan’s collection of Brontëana, one of the finest in the world, this presentation complements the current bicentenary installation in the Rotunda of J. Pierpont Morgan’s Library.

Held Monday, November 23, 2020.