N S Ford

Tag: Charlotte Brontë

  • Review of ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Brontë

    I’ve read this book so many times, it’s like an old friend. It’s difficult to know what to say about one of the most famous books ever written. A staple text of literature courses, the novel is often examined from a feminist or postcolonial perspective. It’s undoubtedly a classic and is part of the literary canon. Screen adaptations are popular, as are novels inspired by the story. It’s not easy to separate the original book from its cultural influence and look at it on its own, but I’ll try – without too many spoilers, if you’re yet to read the book.

    The novel is a fictional autobiography of Jane Eyre, who is clever and strong-willed but neither angelic nor conventionally beautiful – certainly a disadvantage for women in the 19th century. A poor orphan, her childhood is an unhappy one, abused in her relatives’ household and then sent to a dreadful school where she is isolated from society and discouraged from being an individual. Fast-forward a few years, she becomes a governess in a gothic mansion, where she falls in love with her employer, the moody Mr Rochester. But he has a terrible secret and Jane has to choose between what her heart desires and what she knows is right.

    What I enjoy most about the novel is the narrative style. Dramatic, confident and easily switching between past and present tense, it’s absolutely gripping – and there are very few novels of that era I can say that about. Jane Eyre herself is a fantastic character, likeable, witty and resourceful. Of course it’s impossible to avoid identifying her as Charlotte Brontë, with whom she shares many characteristics and experiences. It’s interesting to consider that the book was first published in 1847 under the ambiguous pseudonym Currer Bell and no one could be sure if the author was male or female. What I find amazing is that she was thirty-one when the book was published, a comparatively young age to have produced such a mature masterpiece. It’s terribly sad to realise she only lived for eight more years after this. Her last novel, Villette, is my favourite classic. Just think what more she could have achieved had she survived.

    This edition is a Penguin Classic, published in 2006, edited with an introduction and excellent notes by Dr Stevie Davies.

  • 5 classic books which should be adapted for the screen

    I’m tired of yet more film and TV adaptations of the usual suspects, such as Little Women, Emma, A Christmas Carol, Dracula, Anna Karenina… Here are some classics which would, I think, make good viewing if well-made and kept to the original settings and eras.

    Evelina by Frances Burney. As far as I can discover, this excellent novel has not been filmed. Burney’s writing influenced Jane Austen and it seems a pity that no one has adapted the adventures of Evelina yet. She ought to steal some of Austen’s limelight.

    Tono-Bungay by H G Wells. Everyone knows The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. However, Tono-Bungay deserves to be better known. It’s a fascinating study of quack medicine, social class and the entrepreneur spirit. It would make a great TV series.

    Villette by Charlotte Brontë. There has only been one screen adaptation of this book, a TV series in 1970. Villette is one of my favourite classics and I find it superior even to the famous Jane Eyre. Lucy Snowe is one of my favourite characters.

    The Last Man by Mary Shelley. I have discovered that a film of this was released in 2008, set in the present day. Sadly, going by the reviews on IMDb, it’s absolutely dreadful. The book would certainly be very challenging to adapt but maybe there will be a decent version made in the future.

    Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf. No one, as far as I can tell, has adapted Woolf’s last (and possibly strangest) novel. It would be a good challenge for a particularly arty film-maker with an interest in sounds and symbols. There would be tension despite the idyllic village setting, due to the looming Second World War.

    Which classics would you like to see adapted for the screen?

     

  • 10 writers I’d love to have coffee with – time travel edition!

    My previous post on writers I’d love to have coffee with was very popular. My blogger friend Ryan stole my idea and then he also did a time travel edition – which I’m now stealing from him. So here are 10 writers I’d want to meet, if someone invented a time machine. Since most of my favourite writers are actually from the past, this was a difficult choice to make…

    Charlotte Brontë. I’d travel to Haworth Parsonage (which I’ve visited before, but obviously not in 1847) and we’d go for a walk on the windswept moor while discussing the recent publication of Jane Eyre. Although this time was a relatively happy moment in Charlotte’s life, I would feel sad knowing what the future had in store for herself and her siblings.

    H G Wells. The master of science fiction was noted for predicting the future. I love musing upon the future so I think we’d click. We’d meet at the turn of the 20th century and I’d tell him that The Time Machine is one of my favourite books. However, I wouldn’t tell him what a mess the BBC made of The War of the Worlds.

    Stella Gibbons. We’d meet in the late 1940s for a cup of tea and a bun in a cheap and cheerful café, like so many of her female characters do. I too have a sharp sense of humour so I think we’d have some laughs together. I’d tell her how much I like her post-Cold Comfort Farm novels and that after their reissues, many readers are delighted to discover them.

    Virginia Woolf. I’d be intimidated by the prospect of meeting one of the greatest modern writers but I think she’d be fascinating to talk to. We’d have a smart lunch somewhere in London in the 1920s. I probably wouldn’t admit to her that I’ve touched (and, er, sniffed) a leather travel bag which belonged to her and which now sits in the Penguin Random House archive.

    Mary Shelley. A super-intelligent and fascinating writer, Shelley would be an amazing person to meet, in between her writing, romantic journeys and tragic life events. I think it would be best to meet in Italy, where she spent a lot of her time. We could have proper Italian coffee and discuss the now legendary circumstances in which she wrote Frankenstein.

    Jane Austen. It would be fantastic to see what Jane was really like, both in appearance and behaviour. We’d have a civilised tea at Chawton, Hampshire and talk about books. I’d try not to make some grave error in manners. It would be tempting to tell her how famous her name will become and also that what most people remember about Pride and Prejudice is Mr Darcy’s wet shirt scene.

    Harper Lee. A very private person with a reputation as a recluse, merely because she didn’t grant interviews, Harper Lee might be a little reserved about meeting up. If we did, however, we would go to an anonymous New York coffee shop in 1961, the year that To Kill A Mockingbird won the Pulitzer Prize. I’d be tempted to suggest never to publish Go Set A Watchman…

    George Orwell. Meeting Eric Arthur Blair would be fascinating, I’m sure. I think we’d have strong coffee someplace full of cigarette smoke. Or perhaps we would have a pint in a poverty-stricken northern town while he researches his book The Road to Wigan Pier. While I really admire Nineteen Eighty-Four, I would be too sad to meet him during the writing of it, as he was very ill.

    H P Lovecraft. He has a reputation as weird and lonely with a far-out imagination, so I think we’d get on well. We’d meet in 1930s New England in some sinister old town haunted by eldritch beings older than the universe. Knowing he was to have a relatively short life dominated by poverty and tragedy, I’d also want to tell him how influential his work will be and maybe give him a hug.

    Thomas Hardy. Dorset in the 1880s would be the obvious location to meet the author of favourite classics such as Tess of the D’Urbervilles and The Mayor of Casterbridge. We would have afternoon tea at Max Gate, the house he designed. I feel that he would be easier to get on with than some other Victorian writers as he seems unconventional and sympathetic.

    Which writers from the past would you like to meet? Do you wish someone would hurry up and invent time travel?

  • Film of the book: ‘Jane Eyre’ (2011)

    When I first saw this film at the cinema, I was confused. It begins halfway through the story, with an anguished Jane running away from Thornfield Hall and on to the moor, where she is taken in by the curate St John Rivers and his sisters. The first half of the plot then takes the form of a flashback to Jane’s childhood and her time as a governess. I thought this was an interesting angle on the story because it emphasises the effect that Jane’s past has on her present state of mind. It also gives St John more presence, bringing to centre stage Jane’s conflict between her passion for the flawed Mr Rochester and her brotherly affection for the earnest St John.

    I’m guessing you probably have an idea of what Jane Eyre is about, even if you haven’t read the book. In one sense it’s a coming of age story, in another sense it’s a romance, and in yet another sense it’s a criticism of society’s treatment of women. A screen adaptation will tend to focus on the romantic tension between Jane and her employer Mr Rochester.

    Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga with a screenplay by Moira Buffini, this film perfectly encapsulates the spirit of Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel. Dare I say, it’s even better than the 2006 BBC TV series. The only noticeable omission from the book is the servant Grace Poole. In the film, she is mentioned in passing and has no significance, whereas in the book she is a frightening figure whom Jane thinks is responsible for some creepy goings-on, when actually Grace is guarding… you know who. I also find that the latter’s back-story is skimmed over.

    I loved the actors in this film, especially Mia Wasikowska as Jane, Michael Fassbender as Mr Rochester, Judi Dench as the housekeeper Mrs Fairfax and Jamie Bell as St John Rivers. The music by Dario Marianelli is beautiful.

    I think the author would have been most impressed.

    Image taken from BBC iPlayer.

  • Character of the month: Lucy Snowe

    Welcome to a new series on the blog! I’m going to feature my favourite fictional characters, starting this month with… Lucy Snowe from Villette.

    ‘I had feelings: passive as I lived, little as I spoke, cold as I looked, when I thought of past days, I could feel. About the present, it was better to be stoical; about the future – such a future as mine – to be dead.’

    If you haven’t heard of Lucy Snowe before, I’ll forgive you. She’s eclipsed by Charlotte Brontë’s most famous protagonist, Jane Eyre. To my knowledge, Lucy has never been portrayed in a film adaptation, a format that would otherwise have brought her character into the public consciousness. There are some similarities between Jane and Lucy. They are both from disadvantaged backgrounds, have education-related jobs, are hiding secret romantic desires and have strong principles. I find that Lucy, as befits her name, is more of an ice queen than Jane.

    Lucy has a vivid inner life, which she rarely lets other characters see. She appears sensible, stoic, unromantic. This is emphasised when she travels from England to Belgium and finds herself among overtly passionate and superstitious foreigners. Among these is the schoolmaster Monsieur Paul Emanuel, whom Lucy falls in love with. The pair are opposites yet they have an entertaining chemistry which is fascinating to follow. Paul is based on a married man whom Charlotte Brontë was in love with at the school where she taught. This suggests that Lucy is based on Charlotte herself.

    One of my favourite characters, from one of my favourite books.

     

  • Review of ‘Aunt Branwell and the Brontë Legacy’ by Nick Holland

    Are you a Brontë fan? Do you already know a little about them and want to find out more? Then Nick Holland’s book about their Aunt Branwell, published by Pen and Sword, is definitely worth a read. In this short but informative exploration of Elizabeth Branwell’s life and connections, we learn about her influence upon the lives of her sister’s children: Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell.

    Having read several Brontë novels, studied them at university, visited Haworth and read a biography of Charlotte, I couldn’t fail to be interested in this new angle on Brontë history. To be honest, I’d never given Elizabeth much thought, but this book demonstrated what a strong, supportive woman she was. If she hadn’t stepped into the lives of her nieces and nephew after their mother’s death, it’s likely we wouldn’t have heard of them today. The book is mainly chronological (I say mainly, because sometimes references are made to later events), starting with the Branwell family history and putting together a picture of Elizabeth’s youth in Penzance, Cornwall. We then move hundreds of miles north with her as she becomes part of Parsonage life. Later, her legacy is explored and her descendants are traced. I learned many new things, which is always my aim when reading non-fiction.

    While I really enjoyed the content of this book, I thought that the sentences could have been better constructed. It’s the kind of thing I notice, unfortunately. There were many points in the writing where I thought, ‘this needs to be rephrased’ or ‘when you say ‘she’, which of the two women are you referring to?’ or ‘you’ve used ‘also’ twice in this sentence’. This was my first ARC requested from NetGalley, so I’m not sure whether copies have already gone through proofreading before they are provided for reviewers – can anyone let me know in the comments please? I couldn’t help noticing the misplaced apostrophes which kept turning up – if you’re talking about something belonging to the Brontës as a plural, the apostrophe has to be after the ‘s’. Sorry to sound like the grammar police, but I expect published writers (or at least their editors or proofreaders) to know how to use apostrophes.

    Anyway, that aside, I did like this book and I would recommend it if you want to gain more insight into this famous literary family. It’s worth noting that Elizabeth Branwell left no letters or diaries behind, so Nick Holland does an excellent job of pulling other sources together to create a portrait of her.

    E-book provided by Pen and Sword via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Publication date: 30th September 2018.