Will someone PLEASE explain to me the vast appeal of Jane Eyre? I tried to read it, I tried to have it "read" to me ( book on CD) Nope. I hated Jane. Didn't care. Maybe because all of the characters are now somewhat cliche. I suppose Brontè INVENTED those cliches. I also suppose I hate it because to me, it's the ultimate Regency Romance and no offense to those who love them, but I HATE Regency Romances. Just not for me.
My latest foray into Jane-land came as a result of my reading (on CD) a collection of stories based on the line "Reader, I married him". It was interesting, some of the stories were awful but some were quite entertaining and I wondered, again, why so many people who are well read seem to love Jane Eyre. I loved the Jasper Ffode book "The Eyre Affair" which begins the "Thursday Next" series. The book I am reading now "The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend" also has the heroine wax rhapsodic about the book. She is seen weeping openly in her shop window, clutching the book after she finishes it. The male protagonist doesn't get why she is weeping. I'm with him.
In Readers of Broken Wheel, the author makes a point, though, about "Classic" novels and the fact that the enforced reading of them makes them a chore rather than a pleasure. As an English major, I was taught to look for themes and recurring images as if I were solving some sort of puzzle, rather than reading for the pleasure of the story and the use of language. "Having" to read something rather than "wanting" to read something takes the fun out of it. Now, I'm not saying I am going to go back and re-read Moby Dick ( those whaling chapters aren't any less boring in pleasure reading.) I remember trying to read "The Princess Bride" at some point in my life. It starts out with a man buying the book that he was read as a child, only to discover that his - father ... grandfather... whoever had read it to him had edited it down when he was reading it to him so he got the "good parts version" I suppose that's what really GOOD film-making is, the "good parts version" although sometimes they leave out MY favorite parts. I don't know if I would actually sit through an complete version of Lord of the Rings ( Maybe if they just skimmed over "The Two Towers" and did everything in " Return of the King". hmmmm)
Still I ponder Jane Eyre. I am not much of a fan of that period in Literature anyway. I struggled through most of the novels I was forced to read. Maybe I will try to revisit them with an eye to actually enjoying the story and NOT trying to write a paper about it. I'm NOT reading Jane Eyre OR Moby Dick however. Any suggestions?
Well, I love Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and not just the Lord of the Rings but ALL things Tolkien, don't even get me started on The Silmarillion!!! I started to read at four and it been the greatest joy of my life. I was also an English major and loved being exposed to everything on the reading lists or anything a teacher recommended. As for the Brontes, maybe you're giving it too much 20th century perspective. Women were not supposed to have thoughts of their own, let alone write them down in that time period. The fact that they were brave enough to flaunt convention was always more than enough for me. Plus, Jane is a heroine who's unwanted, unloved, making her way alone in a world she's not quite sure of - a universal theme, don't you think? Yes, marriage ends up as the happy ending, but that's the way it was then. You had no identity if you had no husband. Thankfully, things have changed!
ReplyDeleteActually, Jane Eyre is a gothic, not a regency. I'm not usually fond of Gothics, myself, but I did like Jane Eyre when I read it in a couple of classes in college. For pretty much the reasons Pauline says in the comment above. I HATED Wuthering Heights, though.
ReplyDeleteI did know that, somewhere in the back of my brain. I think I was trying to compare it to the current "Regency Romance" novels. I have no objection to them, just don't enjoy them. The Jane worship escapes me. There is a genre for each of us, this one ISN'T Mine.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think of the "other" Jane, Robyn? She has legions of adoring fans, and what could almost be a cult, or even a cottage industry. I like her a lot, myself, and certainly more than the Brontes. ALTHOUGH, I confess, I do wish to go to Yorkshire, and out onto the moors ("Heathcliff, fill my arms with heather!")(Or was that just Merle Oberon?)
ReplyDeleteRemember than Heath Ledger and his sister were named for those characters? AND Kate Bush did that songm, way back in the early 80's. Tom