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Tuesday, December 08, 2009

"Readable" Jane Eyre

Tuesday, December 08, 2009 12:03 am by M. in ,    4 comments
A Jane Eyre retold for lazy readers... sorry, for modern readers which find the arcane English of Charlotte Brontë utterly incomprehensible (sic).

A rather similar operation to that where Alfred Hithcock's Psycho was cloned by Gus Van Sant in 1998. Readable Classics clons Charlotte Brontë's work with modern syntax and vocabulary.
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Bronte (Author), Wayne Josephson (Adaptation)
  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Readable Classics (October 19, 2009)
  • ISBN-10: 0615324444
  • ISBN-13: 978-0615324449
Causing an uproar among literary purists, Readable Classics announces the release of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Wayne Josephson, the debut publication in a series of rewritten works of great literature. Sample chapters of Jane Eyre, The Scarlet Letter, and Moby-Dick, available at www.ReadableClassics.com, reveal that these works are not contemporary retellings, but rather gentle edits of the originals that retain their essence and spirit, updating arcane language to make them more appealing to modern readers.

“Great literature is incomprehensible to most people without a Masters degree in English,” says Wayne Josephson, publisher of Readable Classics. “Yet the classics are absolutely spellbinding, if you can just decipher them. That is our goal--to make them more approachable and less ponderous, so that the rest of us mortals can finally enjoy them.”

Jane Eyre is a novel of stunning power, romance and suspense. She was the first heroine in the history of English literature--the astonishing journey of a poor orphan girl who overcomes cruelty, loneliness, starvation, and heartbreak on her quest for independence. It is the story of every woman who struggles for equality and dignity in a society that wants to deny her those rights--as true in Victorian England as it is today. The novel was an instant bestseller in England in 1847, and yet Charlotte Bronte had to publish under a male pseudonym.
Wuthering Heights is also on their agenda for next year.

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4 comments:

  1. Chrisbookarama12/08/2009 04:58:00 am

    "“Great literature is incomprehensible to most people without a Masters degree in English,” " What?!

    Yeah, me no go in for that fancy book lernin'.

    I think I'll stay away from a butchered Jane Eyre.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gabriela12/08/2009 12:08:00 pm

    I'm a Spanish speaking person and I can understand perfectly Brontë's magnificent writing in English. I must admit I'm not a teenager but I would like to know if English speaking 'modern' readers need a translation whose fault it is? It's alarming, don't you think?
    Besides,books without the original words are not the same books. It's a pity!

    ReplyDelete
  3. ksotikoula12/08/2009 02:50:00 pm

    Gabriela beat me on that. I was also going to say that I am not a native speaker but despite the occasional unknown words I didn't have any difficulty in understanding Jane Eyre. In fact this is a book that made me love the English language which compared to my native language, Greek, I previously thought - grammatically at least - poor. But there are sentences by Charlotte Bronte that lose so much in translation due to her incredibly good use of language and her suggestive style. I don't think that it is the story that makes Jane Eyre a classic, but the unique mode of expression.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cristina12/09/2009 12:21:00 pm

    Glad to hear all your opinions! A book - most books, actually - is not just a story.

    ReplyDelete

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