ABSTRACT
The novel has progressed from an initial fascination with adventure in far-off lands and a portrayal of other cultures to sexual and social formations within the domestic setting. The Brontë writings partake of this trajectory, and traverse the same area as the novel. More crucially, they employ the primary narrative technique that is associated with the genre, that is, the use of a narrative voice, sometimes in the third and sometimes in the first person, weaving the representational form together. As such, the question of subjectivity remains central. Written by a woman, ‘about’ women, Charlotte Brontë’s writings bring to the forefront issues concerned with the construction of a female subjectivity. These novels, while concerned with the independence and autonomy of their heroines, reveal areas of dis juncture and dis location that such an establishment entails.
