We all know that Charlotte Brontë wasn't a Janeite. However, it it has also been suggested that Anne Brontë may have read Jane Austen and liked her, and her style has been compared to hers.
The
BBC News Magazine looks into why the ranks of Jane Austen's fanbase get more crowded by the day. Let us state that we only share Charlotte's opinion so far. Her description is not necessarily wrong or untrue, but our conclusions are different. We do like Austen and enjoy reading
AustenBlog, which actually inspired BrontëBlog.
That said, we find the Austen vs Brontë debate to be unfair and tedious. They are highly different authors, even if people tend to lump them together. Why pick one in detriment of the other when you can actually savour both of them?
"There is no poverty in her novels, no corruption, ambition, wickedness or war. Yes her wit is enchanting and her human observations enduringly accurate, but the world she writes about is so tiny. I find it claustrophobic."
It's all too graceful and lacks guts, says writer Zoe Williams, who prefers those other 19th Century romantic writers - the Bronte sisters.
"I'm not crazy for Austen. The Brontes' novels are so overheated, so female, you have to look them in the eye when you read them.
"Austen's popular because everyone likes a good costume drama and with Austen you know what you're getting. You're guaranteed a manor house, daughters, dresses and weddings. You're not with authors like Gaskell and Dickens, their stories are not so pretty." (Denise Winterman)
We can't say we agree. 'So female'? We're not sure if we like that as a definition of the Brontës' works. Charlotte herself said, 'To you I am neither Man nor Woman--I come before you as an Author only--it is the sole standard by which you have a right to judge me--the sole ground on which I accept your judgement' so she might not have liked the adjective either.
And actually many of the Brontës' works include manor houses, daughters, dresses and weddings. And many of Austen's include poverty, corruption, ambition, wickedness and war.
Are they different? Of course! But the differences run deeper than dresses and manor houses.
Categories: Charlotte Brontë, In the News
"We all know that Charlotte Brontë wasn't a Janeite."
ReplyDeleteThat, I fear, may prove untrue. Upon careful inspection of JANE EYRE, at least, you will discover numerous references to PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, and EMMA (did you ever notice that governess "Jane Eyre", on marrying Mr Rochester, will become "Jane Fairfax"? -- and that's by far not the whole of it). There are ample reasons to suspect that Charlotte, when writing JANE EYRE, had not only read both Austen's books, but was inspired by EMMA.
What's unforgivable is that when G.H. Lewes held up Austen as a model before her, Charlotte, eaten up with envy, not only pretended not to have known her books, but came up with a thoroughly malicious diatribe.
If everything there is to go by is the Jane Fairfax coincidence then excuse me for not being convinced. Both Jane & Fairfax are common names and in February 1850 - years after the publication of Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë stated that she had only read Pride & Prejudiced by Jane Austen and asked William Smith Williams to forward other books by her. So it is highly unlikely - not to say impossible - that she was either influenced or inspired by Emma when writing Jane Eyre.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's nothing 'unforgivable' about not liking Jane Austen. There's nothing 'unforgivable' about opinions. I do like Austen but I don't take anyone else's negative opinion on her work as envy. Charlotte Brontë had no reason whatsoever to pretend to dislike Jane Austen, so why would she?
Oh, and I forgot: there would be no Jane Fairfax. Jane becomes Jane ROCHESTER, Fairfax being Edward's middle name.
ReplyDeleteThanks for objecting. I do indeed have to correct myself, after looking things up in the novel, once again. Charlotte Brontë was not only inspired by P&P and EMMA. Her novel is a mix-up of next to every Jane Austen novel in existence. And it's clear as can be that she absolutely had to deny having ever read Jane Austen, especially to G.H. Lewes; for the mind of a literary critic, once opening to suspicion, would make rapid progress.
ReplyDeleteHowever, since it would bring along a whole dissertation to show that without Jane Austen, there would be no Jane Eyre, and that CB was just another one of those Darcy lovers bent on bringing the proud man to her MarySue's feet in as subdued a condition as possible, I shall abstain from detailing anything here about
how Mr Darcy became Mr Rochester (embellished with some Henry Tilney teasing, some Colonel Brandon biography, Mr. Knightley's age, and a bit of Willoughby roughishness),
how Miss Bingley became Miss Ingram (though, when describing Blanche Ingram, Jane Eyre sounds a lot like Miss Bingley describing Eliza Bennet)
how Miss Taylor became Miss Temple
how Jane Eyre transforms in rapid succession from Fanny Price to Harriet Smith to Jane Fairfax
how, all things considered, even the wife stowed away in the attic might be traced back to NORTHANGER ABBEY -- where Catherine Morland made a fool of herself by suspecting there was one; while Jane Eyre seems foolish never to have suspected such a thing.
and and and. There's plenty to discover for anyone who's acquainted with those novels, and not in complete denial.
Let me just reply to your rebuttals.
"Oh, and I forgot: there would be no Jane Fairfax. Jane becomes Jane ROCHESTER, Fairfax being Edward's middle name."
So what? She'll be Mrs Edward Fairfax Rochester.
"...in February 1850 - years after the publication of Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë stated that she had only read Pride & Prejudiced by Jane Austen and asked William Smith Williams to forward other books by her. So it is highly unlikely - not to say impossible - that she was either influenced or inspired by Emma when writing Jane Eyre"
If this is proof, it depends entirely on Charlotte Brontë's word ... for what it is worth. If she lied, she was no doubt eager to bolster her lie with facts.
"And there's nothing 'unforgivable' about not liking Jane Austen".
This is not what I said. It's unforgivable to bite the hand that has fed you, to denigrate, out of envy, and fear of detection, what has impressed you to the point of inspiring your own literary production, to take items out of another one's domain, making them your own, and then claiming you never went near that other one, and would never dream of doing so, out of disgust. Well, I suppose, there must be at least one Judas in every flock of apostles.
"If everything there is to go by is the Jane Fairfax coincidence..."
I said: "-- and that's by far not the whole of it". And I meant it. Misrepresenting arguments for better being able to refute them is not what I should call a fair way of discussing things. So I've made this as brief as possible, for fear of more misrepresentation, and hereby take my leave.
Have a nice week!
Pia
As I said in the main post, I tend to dislike this kind of discussion. I find it rather pointless. I'm sorry you didn't like my arguments.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to believe that Charlotte Brontë lied about not having read Jane Austen before, then be my guest.
Rochester existed in Charlotte Brontë's juvenilia by many other names, mainly Zamorna. Now it's up to anyone to decide whether this character came out of Charlotte Brontë's imagination or whether she needed to read Austen - all of her novels - to create it.
Perhaps you need to think that Charlotte Brontë borrowed from Austen in order to appreciate Austen better.
Mrs Edward Fairfax Rochester doesn't equal Jane Fairfax. Again, Jane would be either Mrs Edward Fairfax Rochester or Mrs Rochester or Jane Rochester, no Fairfax, since it's a middle name, not a surname.
And I don't find Charlotte's opinion denigrating in the least. I also said in the main post that while I agree with her description of Austen's style I do not agree with her conclusions. But in my opinion what she said is pretty accurate. You are completely entitled not to agree as you do but that doesn't make Charlotte's opinion any less valid. Since the fact that she borrowed from Austen remains to be proved I think it's only fair to consider her innocent until proven otherwise.
Oh, pardon, I forgot to mention the most important thing:
ReplyDeleteThere is proof -- positive proof --, in the novel, that "Fairfax" is not a coincidence.
Upon everything else, I leave you the last word. It's your blog, and I apologize for intruding.
Pia
It's not an intrusion and I don't need to have the last word because it's my blog.
ReplyDeleteCan you please show the positive proof?