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| Re-reading after many years. |
When I read Wuthering Heights, I became bewitched by the moors, Heathcliff, the ghostly presence of Catherine, yet most of the content went over my head which was a good thing because from the beginning the book steams with intrigue and pulls the reader into a wild world of cruel dysfunction and passionate obsession.
Recently, I watched the 2009 TV production Of Wuthering Heights with actors Charlotte Riely as Cathy and Tom Hardy as Heathcliff. Tom Hardy draws the viewer into the black hole of the Heathcliff's volatile, repellant yet magnetizing psychopathic personality swiftly; he's definitely the wild man of the moors. What an outstanding performance!
Jane Eyre...Not as tumultuous as Wuthering Heights but it's another wild excursion fraught with passionate characters. Consider Jane with her carefully constructed stoicism that ripples through still waters that run deep, and, of course, Rochester contorted by betrayal, fired by anger and smoldering with need. Rochester could be defined as {a}"man who broods over his life like night above a lamp." (A wonderful line snipped from the Collected Poems In English by Joseph Brodsky.)
In the Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Helen is brave and insular woman who can't speak the unspeakable, but whose shocking story is read: conveyed to the reader via a diary. A framing device that creates distance, but also serves to pump up the suspense.Emily, Charlotte, and Anne were courageous writers. They ventured into the darkness to spread light on the things that people, then and now, are shocked and haunted by and still tend to hide.
And what of the father, Patrick Bronte? I cannot understand why he dropped his daughters off at Cowan school and drove away without so much as a peek inside.
Charlotte's depiction of the school in Jane Eyre must have caused him great pain when he read her novel. And it's naive to assume that the clergy are insulated individuals. Long before Patrick's daughters were grown women, he had probably seen and heard it all.
And what were people in the village saying about his daughters and about their books? Could they afford to buy the books? What was the literacy rate in the village? Did Patrick read Emily's and Anne's books as well? Obviously, Patrick recognized his daughters' genius, but just how progressive and open minded was he? Maybe his daughters' novels tell that tale.
At this time, since I can't visit the parsonage or haunt the moors, (I'd love to visit) I'm off to search for biographies about Patrick Bronte.
(Interesting to note and something I recently read stated that Bronte ( the surname name chosen by Patrick ) was a Greek God whose name means thunder. (Fitting because the sisters used storms to foreshadow moods or events, and because they are still taking the world by storm.)
5 comments:
I am a fan of the Bronte's works as well. I do always wonder what the books would have been like if, let's say, Charlotte had lived 20 more years and write several others in that time. I think there are some very interesting bios out there on the family members!
Very interesting. I, of course, read these books as a teenager, but have never studied anything about the authors. So all this stuff comes as interesting news to me. I was always too anxious to move to the next book! Thanks for visiting my blog Dixie.
Yes, I agree. I wonder what they might have written had they lived. I watched an ITV Perspective that suggested that Charlotte destroyed Emily's last novel, or what of it had been written to protect Emily. If so, that's beyond tragic.
I've read two bios about the sisters, but I'd love to read Charlotte's letters, although it seems somewhat intrusive, even at this distance. But I definitely want to read Charlotte's bio by Elizabeth Gaskell.
Glad you enjoyed the post and thanks, too, for stopping by...
You have wonderful blog cramped packed great ideas. I'll be visiting again soon!
Wonderful writers those Bronte girls!
D.
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