As children, the Bronte sisters collaboratively created a rich imaginary world, and thus began, in their earliest years, their grand experimentations in fiction. As adults, each pursued her own course, producing highly original novels and poems, but the three sisters also often read or listened to each other's work. This tutorial will compare the mature writings of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte, exploring both their similar and distinctive qualities. Students will write on such topics as the following: the Brontes' revolutionary fictive choices and artistic evolution; their approaches to character and point of view; their treatment of nature, colonialism, and the "Woman Question;' their use of the supernatural, the gothic, and the Byronic. Readings will include Charlotte's first and last novels, Jane Eyre and Villette, Anne Bronte's Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and Emily's Wuthering Heights, as well as selected poems. Some historical and critical readings will also be required. Format: tutorial, with occasional group meetings. Mostly, however, students will meet weekly with a tutorial partner and the instructor to discuss one student's paper and the other student's response. Five 5-page arguments and five 2-page critiques are required. Prerequisites: a 100-level English course, except 150. Enrollment limit: 10 (expected 10); preference to sophomores considering the English major. (1700-1900)

Hour: S. GRAVER