For many, Jane Eyre is part of the reading undertaken during their education. For some it is read in high school, for others college, but for me it never joined the reading lists of my various courses. In fact, until several years ago when I read Agnes Grey I had read nothing at all by any of the Brontes. It is however fully in the milieu of a reader’s culture; I understood it enough to get the jokes in Texts from Jane Eyre and Hark! […]
You Solo’ed Me?!
Do you ever finish a book and just KNOW you’re about to get thrown into a book rut? For me, it happens when I unexpectedly end up reading the perfect book at the perfect time. I rush to finish it, even though I fear nearing the end because it means it’ll all be over soon, and this world I’ve been living in, these characters I’ve become friends with, will soon be gone. As soon as I close the book, I wish I could start it […]
Victorian Moralizing and Some Sisterly Snark
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is Anne Bronte’s novel about the depredations of alcohol. It is essentially a primer for the temperance movement, and yet it’s also wildly feminist for it’s time and rather snarky in some places. I wouldn’t say I loved the novel, but I enjoyed it. The novel is two stories, one about Gilbert Markham and one (the far more interesting, and lengthy story) about Helen Huntingdon. Gilbert is a young wealthy farmer, going about his wealthy farmer business when a young widow moves […]