This volume attempts to engage one aspect of an amorphous and mysterious topic: what does it mean for women to "create "within particular literary and cultural contexts? How is the female body written on textuality? In short, how is the female body analogous to the geographical space of land? How have women inhabited their bodies as people have lived in nation-states?

This volume addresses one aspect of a challenging topic: what does it mean for women to create within particular literary and cultural contexts? How is the female body written on textuality? In short, how is the female body analogous to the geographical space of land? How have women inhabited their bodies as people have lived in nation-states?

A Companion to the Brontes brings the latest literary research and theory to bear on the life, work, and legacy of the Bronte family. * Includes sections on literary and critical contexts, individual texts, historical and cultural contexts, reception studies, and the family s continuing influence * Features in-depth articles written by well-known and emerging scholars from around the world * Addresses topics such as the Gothic tradition, film and dramatic adaptation, psychoanalytic approaches, the influence of religion, and political and legal questions of the day from divorce and female disinheritance, to worker reform * Incorporates recent work in Marxist, feminist, post-colonial, and race and gender studies