Comments on: Charlotte Bronté« and the eccentricity of genius

By: Christy

Christy — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:59:23 +0000

I’m afraid my exposure to either Austen or Bronte comes not from their works (which, try though I might, I just can’t get into) but from the send-up series by Michael Thomas Ford that starts with “Jane Bites Back,” (see the website link) wherein Jane Austen was turned into a vampire and has spent the last couple of centuries in hiding and currently runs a bookshop in New England. I love the series and every time I read it I try (once again) to pick up works by Austen or her contemporaries.

Sadly, the Bronte sisters, especially Charlotte, are portrayed in a less than flattering light, but more in the “comic relief and pseudo-arch-nemesis” style of defamation rather than any serious commentary on her works.

By: Lee

Lee — Fri, 13 May 2016 14:27:22 +0000

I loved the children’s book about the toy soldiers — I loved it; it stuck with me for a very long time.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:55:16 +0000

Count me in as a fan of the Brontes and Jane Austen as well. Austen was not dramatic, but she was capable of very sly, subtle but stinging satire. I would recommend her book Persuasion to someone who thinks they don’t like her. It’s more mature and the characters are wonderful.
As for the Brontes, it is remarkable that genius ran rampant in the entire family. I have read that Elizabeth and Maria, the two who died young showed promise while they were at school, and they might have been writers like their sisters. So might Branwell, but he drank himself to death.
I loved the version of Jane Eyre with Toby Stephens as Rochester and Ruth Wilson as Jane.

By: blert

blert — Fri, 13 May 2016 07:49:11 +0000

Those kids ought to be credited with inventing microfiche — a century early.

For that’s what they achieved — data below the level of detection.

Astonishing — right there.

By: The Other Chuck

The Other Chuck — Fri, 13 May 2016 04:25:50 +0000

I've never completed reading a book by a Bronte or by Jane Austen. However, I've watched Emma Thompson's version of Sense & Sensability repeatedly even though the story is melodramatic, the suppressed characters are weak as knees, and the acting is sometimes theatrical. But the production as a whole is spectacular, almost making you want to read this arch type of a romance novel. It is so good that you are transported back in time to that era. Ang Lee is a master. There are scenes that need stop motion to allow you to fully enjoy the Vermeer like beauty. The score matches the graphics.

By: Grumpy

Grumpy — Fri, 13 May 2016 03:54:25 +0000

There’s a children’s book about the Toy Soldiers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_and_the_Genii

By: Janet

Janet — Fri, 13 May 2016 00:14:06 +0000

neo, if i didn’t feel like we were separated by birth already (curly hair, political migration and a love of ballet among other things) this post would do it. I also read Jane Eyre when I was 11 or 12 and probably re-read it a dozen times. Wuthering Heights came a bit later when I was 14. I related to Jane Eyre on many levels as a child who definitely felt like an outsider. And I don’t think I’ve ever read another book that comes close to depicting passion like Wuthering Heights. On the other hand…Jane Austen? I tried reading Emma probably six times and never got past the third page. Yes, it’s the things she writes about. They just do not engage me. I can’t even watch the movies. Didn’t these people have better things to do?

When I think about the books I and my friends were reading at that age, it makes me sad to see the offerings for Young Adult reading today. Why is the Young Adult genre even necessary given the vast canon of literature available, a lot of it online? Never mind, that’s a rhetorical question.

By: Mac

Mac — Thu, 12 May 2016 23:31:38 +0000

Yes, they are very different in that way–the Brontes are much more intense. But they have in common with Austen a focus on relationships, particularly but not only romantic relationships, and that seems to interest women to a degree that it typically doesn’t interest men. In fact I think of the three of them (Austen, Charlotte and Emily B) as having more or less invented the romance novel, though obviously executing it at a much higher level than the genre that it became. It’s not surprising to me that you prefer the Brontes, but that you don’t care for Austen at all. I really can’t think of another woman I know who doesn’t like Austen, and most of them seem to like her a lot.

For the record, I like all three, but they are not my favorites.

By: neo-neocon

neo-neocon — Thu, 12 May 2016 21:49:48 +0000

Mac:

Austen bores me to tears. The things she writes about don’t engage me emotionally. They seem shallow. The Brontes are very intense. Jane Eyre begins with VERY intense and difficult childhood experiences. Its emotional hook is very different. The narrator speaks of things that are very deep, almost primal. She is searingly honest. She is in society but not of it. To me, the two authors are as different as day and night.

By: Mac

Mac — Thu, 12 May 2016 21:36:55 +0000

Not exactly on topic, but this reminds me: Neo, how is it that you don’t like Jane Austen? I thought that was kind of odd–as in you’re probably the only woman I know who doesn’t–when you mentioned it recently, and it’s even more so now that I know you like the Brontes. Not that they aren’t fairly different from Austen, but I would think there’s enough similarity that you would enjoy Austen, even if you weren’t one of her really devoted fans.