Brief Lives

Charlotte Brontë is one of the world's best-loved writers. Her extraordinary literary talent manifested itself at an early age when she penned a series of imaginative and entertaining tales. Before her untimely death at the age of 38 she produced the masterpieces Jane Eyre, Shirley, and Vilette. Superb and meticulously researched, Jessica Cox's biography provides a beautifully drawn portrait of the creator of some of the world's most remarkable novels.

Born to Jewish parents in mid-19th-century Austria, Sigmund Freud is a controversial figure needing no introduction, yet his reputation owes as much to myth as to the facts of his life and his work. Here, David Carter uncovers the man buried beneath the mythology, tracing the life of this inimitable figure from his origins as the gifted first born of eight children, through his stellar academic career and his relationships and rifts with famous figures such as Josef Breuer. Also explored is why, despite his groundbreaking work on psychoanalytic theories-including the functioning of the subconscious, the repression of trauma, and the psychological import of dreams-Freud has frequently been the subject of derision and ridicule.

Author of the first detective novel in English, Wilkie Collins was one of the most popular authors in Victorian England. In this illuminating biography, Melisa Klimaszewski situates the writer within his own milieu and demonstrates how his work sparks new understandings of Victorian life and letters. A close friend and collaborator of Charles Dickens, Collins secured his own fame with sensational novels that feature intricate legal plots, mistaken identities, and complex crimes. Boldly challenging the mores of Victorian society by maintaining two families and shunning the institution of marriage, Collins was also one of the most unconventional public figures of his day. His life story, succinctly told in this elegant biography, promises to instruct and to entertain.

As explicit in his prose as he was in his private life, the Marquis de Sade remains one of the most controversial writers of all time. This new biography, by the acclaimed translator and author David Carter, promises to shock as much as it informs. Arrested many times for sexual misdemeanors, the Marquis de Sade was imprisoned in the Bastille, where he was writing 120 Days of Sodom and The Misfortunes of Virtue at the time that it was stormed in 1789. After the French Revolution he was again imprisoned and sent to an asylum, where he wrote diaries and plays. This concise biography offers a fresh look at a relentlessly compelling figure with a fascinating life of scandal and imprisonment.

Henry James is famed for the psychological depth of his characters and his remarkable ability to penetrate the inner life, yet the story of his own inner life remains curiously obscure- until now The best known facts about James- his illustrious, wealthy family and famous siblings; his prolific literary output with its numerous quirky female heroines; his long-term bachelorhood and the rumors that accompanied it; and his flamboyant adoption of British citizenship in 1915- have created a certain mythology surrounding the author. In this succinct new biography, Hazel Hutchison examines the man behind the writing. Exploring the author's life, works, and critical heritage, this fresh take on one of the central figures in the English canon is perfect for both the general reader as well as the James enthusiast.