Joyce Carol Oates recently blogged about Jane
Eyre, the classic book that has remained a
favourite novel after its first publication in October of 1847. The story of a
plain, poor, female orphan revolutionized the novel: the reminiscences of its
narrator as she progressed through childhood to adulthood, chronicling her deep
emotions and spiritual dilemmas were considered shocking but engrossing. Here's an excerpt from Ms. Oates' blog.
Even after nearly seventeen decades of
its first publication, Jane Eyre remains adored all around the world.
The fictional autobiography and love story was published in 1847 and adapted
into numerous film, television and theatre versions. It is as enjoyable and
engrossing as holiday reading and as layered as a school/college textbook. The
novel that secured Charlotte Brontë (or Currer Bell, the name she adopted to
author this) a spot in the revered canon of English literature is noted for its
memorable titular character and her stirring life story, the passionate love
between Jane and the mysterious-and-attractive Mr Rochester, its intellectual
and religious debates, and the dark, Gothic undertones.
Jane Eyre is a heartrending, haunting read that seems oddly
familiar even though it is set in an unfamiliar era. One of the first to
explore the human consciousness to this extent, Brontë is sometimes considered
the literary ancestor of Modernists like James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, who
later perfected this art. Jane’s dilemmas and troubles, and her struggle to
strike a balance between religious duty and passion, ring very close to the
reader’s heart. Moreover, her determination to find acceptability, equality and
unfettered freedom amongst the men who try to restrain or subordinate her in a
world that only seems to value rich and/or beautiful women, suggest the
beginnings of literary feminism. The other characters too, especially the
Byronic Mr Rochester, the quiet and stoic St John, and the angelic Helen Burns,
stay with one forever.
The book is an antecedent to many
modern individual-centric, coming-of-age and romance novels, and is a must-read
classic even today.