This class will introduce you to the greatest literary family of the nineteenth century and to some of the greatest novels written in English, not to mention some very complicated and dramatic personal history. We will read novels by three of the Brontë sisters, as well as some of the siblings’ poetry and writings from childhood. We will also learn about the creation and dismantling of the so-called Brontë myth, and about the current critical assessment of each of the sisters. Along the way, we will investigate Victorian literature, culture, and the history of women’s writing in nineteenth-century Britain more generally. Texts to be read will include Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and Villette.