Dogs in Literature – Emily Bronté

BY AMY FERNANDEZ

Admittedly, no one picks up Wuthering Heights looking for pertinent information about their breed, but it’s a good example of the fascinating details of purebred history tucked away in unlikely places. It’s really not that strange considering how dogs have insistently wedged themselves into every strata of human life since way before anyone kept track of such things. They pop up like party crashers all over history and unexpected literary references abound. However, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte are particularly interesting in that respect because their work is primarily set in northern England where so many iconic breeds got their start. Within a decade every aspect of that traditional lifestyle would be wiped off the map by industrialization and all the sweeping social and cultural changes that came with it –including the reinvention of dog breeding.

None of that was on the radar when the Bronte family settled into the backwater Yorkshire village of Haworth in 1820. Like most of England, life was rural, rough, and uneventful, especially for women. The Bronte sisters never ventured far from home. It was hard to do otherwise. Lacking economic appeal, their marriage prospects were nil and their professional options were no better. Haworth didn’t offer much in the way of opportunities or diversions. They filled their time documenting life in their little corner of the world and it wasn’t too cheerful.

Their mother died in 1821 after a long horrific battle with cancer (during which she gave birth to Emily and Anne, the youngest of six siblings). In 1825 the oldest Bronte sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, then ten and eleven, joined her after contracting typhoid, one of many deadly contagious pathogens that regularly made the rounds during that time in history.

From a modern perspective, it’s perfectly understandable that the remaining Bronte children, then ranging in age from three to seven, would seek consolation and comfort from the family dogs. It also directly contradicted prevailing social attitudes about animals back in those unsentimental days of the Age of Reason. Animals had value, which was entirely dependant on their contribution either as workers or status symbols. Of course, that had more or less been the story for Mastiffs throughout their long, brutal history, and according to most experts, it was winding down to oblivion by 1838 when Keeper arrived on the scene.

Short URL: https://caninechronicle.com/?p=123150

Posted by Alex on Apr 17 2017. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.