Clare Boylan (1948–2006)

I started this book with trepidation. Often, works based off of unfinished manuscripts are horrible. The worst of the genre being those that just recycle characters and plot points from other works by the same author.

Thus, I was pleasantly surprised by how Boylan took 20 pages of a manuscript from Charlotte Bronte and wrote a story that was all her own and highly entertaining in its own right. The first chapter from Boylan was a bit of an abrupt transition. As the story gained in momentum though, Boylan found her own rhythm and voice that was reminiscent of Bronte without being derivative or fake.

All in all, I really enjoyed this and would have been quite happy to read it even without the Bronte connection.… (more)

When Charlotte Brontë died, she left 20 pages of a novel behind. Clare Boylan decided to finish it. A little girl is enrolled in a private girls' academy. She is shy and reclusive, but the headmistresses make much of her because it's obvious that her benefactor has money. Trouble arises when her benefactor can't be found and the girl can't--or won't--tell anyone anything about herself.

I have to say that this novel stayed true to the whole Gothic, melodramatic feel that I associate with the Brontës. There were all kinds of improbable twists, turns, loops, and coincidences. Boylan was much more explicit than Charlotte Brontë could have been. Not that she was explicit, it just seems that some things weren't referred to, even obliquely, in those times. I did pick out where Charlotte left off and Boylan took over, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well it did all fit together.

There were a lot of chapters covering the back stories of the supporting characters. They were absolutely necessary, but since I didn't know that until the end, I was mostly frustrated and wishing I could get on with the "real" story.

I would have rated this a little higher if I could have liked Emma a little better. But I really, really didn't like her. She was all "Woe is me!" and "All is ashes." She kept going though, through all her troubles, so I had to admire her for that, but would a smile really have killed her? And her world view was stark black and white. She did not see or acknowledge any shade of gray. She was very unforgiving and intolerant. If this character had been written in Jane Eyre's place, she would never have forgiven Mr. Rochester for lying about his marriage and that would have been the end of that.

But I did like Isabel Chalfont. Her life was never easy either, but she made the best of it, learned what she could, found happiness where she could, and tried not to dwell too much on things she couldn't change.

I think fans of the Brontës, who have read all their work and wish they could read more, will actually like this. Just don't expect anything other than doom and gloom from Emma.… (more)

Clare Boylan's Book 'The Agony and Ego' could be happily read alongside my other Bible' 'Becomnig a Writer' by Dorothea Brand. It is basically an edited Compilation that theoretically could be re done in cycle, every now and then by a well known Author who has contacts with the great and the good of the Literary World. The Author selection is of impeccable pedigree: Marina Warner, Patricia Highsmith, Malcolm Bradbury, Marilyn French, Graham Swift, Fay Weldon 'and many others' to qoute the cover.

Some Authors namely Marina Warner will have one, once again needing to go backwards in reading Authors redolent of a Classical Education: Homer, Virgil, Marcus Aurelius etc.

Backwards Reading should therefore BE ASSUMED as necessary and desirable in order to access the full panopoly of an Authors Reading.

Although we can assume that the other Authors cited are well read. It is Marina Warner that amplifies the absolute need for meaning to be gained from reading these texts. (Admin has Homer's Odydessy book, Illiad Plain Vanilla, Marcus Aurelius Meditations on MP3 on Desktop just as an wayward example of the Reading that needs to happen as a result of encountering such Authors on the innocuous looking pages)

Reading wise this was yet another additon which was read alongside 'Sources of the Self' Charles Taylor (with a few heavyweight Philosophy volumes to come) and now Naomi Klein's 'The Shock Doctrine' Five is a bit of a maximum for me so I have had to priortise Taylor and Klein with only 200 pages to read of each. So one needs books of known qaulity and authority.

The length 257 pages which took me longer to read than is usaul ( I still have not got reading habit under my belt despite being a lifelong Reader in a Family of devoted Library Lovers).


Because of the Authorial pedigrees, the Articles are authorative, reliable, helpful, teaching, imparting which is just what you want if you wish to circumnavigate this World called 'Creative Writing' preferably with it's Companion Lots of Literature; so one has the broadest possible basis for ones attempts at fluency in all types of genre as and when, and according to one's inclination (Dorothea Brand 'How to become a Writer'). So as a result I thoroughly commend this volume and I am glad I went through all the aggro to get my little mits on one.A mass of ideas to use as a Reference book alongside Dorothea Brands classic.


Length 257 pages

428 words

Tags 2000 Book Reading Programme, 2009 Reading List,… (more)