Jessica Brinton writes in
The Sunday Times about girl on girl crushes and Emily Brontë is chosen to appear as an example of a thinking, brilliant, enigmatic kind of woman:
The thinking woman’s crumpet is much more compelling than just crumpet: Dorothy Parker, Emily Brontë, Zelda Fitzgerald, Colette, Sylvia Plath – these women were as unfathomable and brilliant as we sometimes like to think we are. And because they were clever, they were also out of reach – even in their lifetimes. Enigma is a critical crush ingredient.
The Times is suffering from a strong case of put-a-Brontë-in-your-article mania. Look how the journalist describes Pantelleria, summer retreat of Giorgio Armani:
There’s a danger, a cruelty even, about the craggy shoreline, that brings to mind the Cornish coast of Daphne du Maurier or Emily Brontë’s Yorkshire moors. (Bethan Cole)
Or
this "description" of Ottawa by Jeremy Clarkson:
Anyway, Ottawa is the capital and it’s really lovely. Lovely, lovely, lovely. More lovely than a pressed wild flower in a copy of Jane Eyre.
The Pittsburg Post-Gazette finds Jane Eyre echoes in the latest book by Ruth Rendell
The Water's Lovely:
The characters are sharply drawn, modern-day Dickensian types. The situations are larger than life, and as in Victorian novels, far-fetched coincidences figure crucially in the plot. There's "Jane Eyre" as well. (Robert Croan)
slayground interviews Melissa Lion, author of Swollen. We have a new Brontëite:
What are your ten favorite novels of all time?
(....)Wuthering Heights -- Emily Bronte
The Brussels Brontë Group has created a reading group specialised in 19th Century Literature. More information here.
And finally, a Brontë-hater. This one is particularly hilarious because mistakes her presumptive irreverence with plain ignorance. Check her comments on Charlotte Brontë's feminism and, above all, the Wuthering Heights-Harlequin comparison if you want to laugh out loud a little bit.
Categories: Brontëites, Jane Eyre, References, Wuthering Heights
Neither presumption nor ignorance simply great disdain for works I found unremarkable over the course of my education. I'm guessing by the title of your blog you disagree, I could be wrong but you might be a fan.
ReplyDeleteFreedom in thought and opinion remains a beautiful thing to me and I respect the delight these works bring you. You along with many of my friends take great pleasure in the writings of these three sisters, I do not, in fact, I find each reading a bit more painful than the last, save Wuthering Heights, which is in my opinion deliciously overwritten.
You hardly know the basis for my decrying the notion of Jane Eyre as a work of feminist literature because I did not bother to expound. I could have gone on to say that while there may have been aspects of feminism during the time of its publication, it does not stand the test of time, but why, that blog was neither the time nor the place, besides, the bottom line is I hate, yes, hate Jane Eyre.
I would enjoy the good sport of hearing your side and I in return would happily give you a bit more of mine.
Enjoy your Sunday.
I forgot . . . I noted along the side a mention of the Eyre Affair a book I find delightful.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteWe would never go as far as trying to impose a liking for the Brontës in people. As you say, freedom is a good, positive thing, and much as we may like the Brontës, we understand - and are even friends with - people who aren't fans.
What we most diagreed with was with the feminism in Jane Eyre. You won't probably see it this way, but feminism is only one more reading of the many-layered novel that is Jane Eyre. The fact that many people make of this the main feature of the novel has nothing to do with the novel itself. If it doesn't look feminist to you, then that's alright, but remember there's more to Jane Eyre than just that. Or at least there is for us.
Thank you for your comment anyway. We like to hearing other people's opinions.
PS. And we think that if there's a novel that is the complete antithesis of an Harlequin one then that's Wuthering Heights. At least the WH that Emily Brontë wrote.