Kind of punk rock for the new generation of goth girls

A new review of the recently published Jane Eyre illustrated by DameDarcy appears in Slate. The reviewers, Ann Hulbert in this case, seems a little bit obsessed with the cover (do you remember this?):

Judged by its cover, the Viking Studio/Penguin Group's new The Illustrated Jane Eyre might well make a grown-up reader bridle: What is this, a great book decked out for the Goth-teen crowd? A hefty paperback with flaps, its demure spine is done up to look just like a scuffed leather-bound first edition, while the campy cover was drawn by underground comic-book artist Dame Darcy, whose neo-Victorian, funky, Addams-family-style creations have won her a cult following. Aiming to make the novel look "really kind of punk rock for the new generation of goth girls," she picked "the scene where Jane Eyre is freaking out while the giant mansion is burning behind," Darcy explained to an interviewer.

It's an interesting review, not only of DameDarcy illustrations but also of Charlotte Brontë's narration.

In an era when everybody—from the Girl Scouts to guidance counselors to the Gossip Girl series—peddles the "you-go-girl" message, Jane Eyre is a book that
evokes the struggle for self-definition as a truly harrowing one. This isn't a coming-of-age story about absorbing the counsel of wise mentors, overcoming temptation, and thus learning to "be yourself." As Edward Mendelson astutely observes of the novel in The Things That Matter, Jane sets about doing something much lonelier and harder. She insists on finding "her beliefs by herself," in her own way, as she weathers exile after exile, first from her past (a hellish home and school) and then from a future that seems, fleetingly, to await her with Rochester. She doesn't come to accept others' values as her own, as the protagonist of the traditional novel of education does. Instead, "[w]hat Jane learns," Mendelson writes, "is not how to act, but how to believe."

DameDarcy is touring the US presenting her take on Jane Eyre (among other activities). If you want a book signed by her, check the following dates:

Oct 15 Dark Delicacies Sunday
4213 W. Burbank Blvd. LA CA
2:00 PM
Dame Darcy reads from and signs The Illustrated Jane Eyre.
Oct. 27th Friday
Philly PA
Fat Jacks
Comic book signing and Dame Darcy reads from and signs The Illustrated Jane Eyre
Oct 28th Sat
NYC 7:00 KGB Bar (East Village)
Dame Darcy reads from and signs The Illustrated Jane Eyre
Oct 30th Monday
Barnes + Noble Bookstore (Greenwich Village) 396 8th
St. NY NY 10011
7:30 Comic book signing and Dame Darcy reads from and signs
The Illustrated Jane Eyre
Nov 3rd Fri
SFCA
Barnes + Noble 2550 Taylor St. San Francisco CA 94133
Comic book signing and Dame
Darcy reads from and signs The Illustrated Jane Eyre
Nov 11th
Seattle WA Bailey /Coy books 3:00 pm
Comic book signing
and Dame Darcy reads from and signs The Illustrated Jane Eyre
Nov 16th Thurs
Los Angeles CA
WACKO LACA 9:00-the witching hour!
Dame Darcy reads from and signs The Illustrated Jane Eyre

Categories: In_the_News, Books, Comics, Jane_Eyre, Charlotte_Brontë