(no subject)
I have just finished reading Villette. I must admit that I can't quite see the appeal of M. Paul. (I am the same age as Lucy Snowe. If my suitor told me not to look at certain paintings because they were improper for a young lady, and sat me down in a corner to look at pious works instead, I would not take it very well.) And the pacing of the ending is really abrupt and odd.
Sign of how things have changed in 160 years: I cannot imagine a current novelist describing a couple who had lost a child as experiencing "no excessive suffering" in their lives and claiming that they were "blessed, like that of Jacob's favoured son, with "blessings of Heaven above; blessings of the deep that lies under"". That was jarring. (Also, other people find Paulina deeply irritating, right? More so as a child than an adult, but still.)
Sign of how things have changed in 160 years: I cannot imagine a current novelist describing a couple who had lost a child as experiencing "no excessive suffering" in their lives and claiming that they were "blessed, like that of Jacob's favoured son, with "blessings of Heaven above; blessings of the deep that lies under"". That was jarring. (Also, other people find Paulina deeply irritating, right? More so as a child than an adult, but still.)