Jane Walks With Men

The Miami Herald reviews Ann Beattie's latest novel Walks with Men (Scribner) and finds many similarities to Jane Eyre:

``Reader, I married him.'' Four simple words, but they represent a torrent of joy at long last for Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. The four big words in Ann Beattie's new book are ``She was Neil's wife.'' They have an entirely different effect.
At barely more than 100 pages, Walks With Men is as succinct as a text novel and better written by far. Beattie kicks away all the scaffolding of psychobabble and pathography and lets the story tell itself.
Like Ms. Eyre, her protagonist is named Jane, but she is no orphaned, demure governess. Instead, Beattie's Jane draws a bit upon the author herself. She is fresh out of Harvard, having graduated top in her class, new to New York and already on the literary rise. Nothing can stop her -- except, alas, a man, the sort who should come with his own warning device.
Like Mr. Rochester, Neil is twice Jane's age and is hiding the fact he's married. He's a college professor and a writer considered an arbiter of the cultural zeitgeist. He and Jane are introduced by an editor, and Neil immediately sets about trying to impress her by buying her a designer jacket and dealing out dicta for living, giving pronouncements such as, ``Wear only raincoats made in England.'' (...)
``You see through this,'' Jane tells the reader. ``Understand I was too naive.''
Beattie, who lives part-time in Key West, takes her title not from Brontë but as an allusion from Proverbs, ``He who walks with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools will be harmed.'' Is Walks With Men as enduring as Jane Eyre? No, but it's tart, taut, as haunting as Neil, and much funnier besides. (Ellen Kanner)

Juliet Gael's Romancing Miss Brontë is reviewed in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star:

ALTHOUGH the story is fictionalized, first- time novelist Juliet Gael captures the essence of 19th-century England and the lives of Charlotte Brontë and her family. (...)
Lovers of 19th-century literature will find this book an engrossing story. Juliet Gael provides a realistic portrait of the times and of one of that century's most celebrated authors. After reading this book, you will want to read both "Jane Eyre" and "Villette" again, or for the first time. (Kathy Habel)

In The Straits Times (Singapore) they have

recreated moments from famous novels using the latest [fashion] pre-fall offerings.

This is their Jane Eyre 'moment':

The titular governess of this novel is one of the famous plain-Janes-made-good of all time. Pre-fall's minimalist shapes and muted hues would suit her austere taste to a T, and would look pretty good on her moody paramour Mr Rochester as well. (Rohaizatul Azhar)

If you are interested you can check out what they are wearing here.

On Reading and Writing has read (and hated) Wuthering Heights. Baranonamae's Blog, There is no other appetite and Now We Turn don't agree with him/her. What Was I Reading? briefly posts about Brian James's The Heights. Sarah Says reviews very positively Agnes Grey. Finally Thomas Enqvist has upload two new YouTube videos of the the 2009 Brontë Society Conference: a speech by Gyles Brandreth and the Conference Dinner in Vanbrugh College.

Categories: Agnes Grey, Fiction, Jane Eyre, References, Wuthering Heights