Halloween Countdown, Day 19

[eldritchhobbit]

On this day in 1847, according to Charlotte Brontë's letters, she received her author's copies of her newly-published work, one of the greatest of Gothic novels, Jane Eyre (credited to Brontë's pseudonym, Currer Bell). Secrets and disguises, fire and death, a sadistic boarding school and a madwoman in the attic: what could be more appropriate for

Comments

[cookiefleck]

I read Jane Eyre as a young child and it made a big impression on me at the time, although I have never read it since. Probably should rectify that. I wouldn't mind spending time in that red room... the polished, dark mahogany and the solitude sound a bit inviting, for when I am in the mood to hide away. Would also need a good book to read while sequestered.

[eldritchhobbit]

It's one of my favorites. I've found that it never disappoints, despite my high expectations, every time I revisit it. And it's about time again, as I'll be teaching it next semester in my graduate Gothic course.

I'm with you re: the red room! I'm not put off by a death in the place, and it does sound like a marvelous and properly atmospheric place for some quiet "alone time."

Would also need a good book to read while sequestered.

Yes! :D This!

[asahifirsa]

I've read it a young teen, maybe 12 or 13 and only recently re-read it. It's still a great book, maybe even more so as I'd like to think that some of it might have been lost for my young mind :D

[cookiefleck]

It's always interesting to come back to a book many years (decades) later. I recently re-read Death of a Salesman, which has been sitting on my bookshelf for years. And I was just telling a friend the other day how when I re-read Slouching Towards Bethlehem a few years ago, I was struck by finding ideas that I thought originated in my head but in actuality had their genesis in Joan Didion's writings.

[asahifirsa]

On that topic: I was really disappointed when I re-read The Neverending story as an adult. Turns out my favourite parts were only half a page long (worst case). It was very unsatisfying.

[cookiefleck]

That must have been very frustrating! I have a couple of old E.R. Burroughs Martian paperbacks on my shelf, and tried to re-read one some time ago only to wonder what on Earth made me keep them all these years. :) For the most part, though, luckily, my childhood favorites still enthrall me.