Jane Eyre
I've taken to doing more reading, using iBooks when on the go, and I'm going to rotate between classic works, sciencey works, computer works and German stuff. First up: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brönte (funny, the fancy editor here doesn't allow the standard accent composing). I've been wanting to read this one since I read the Thursday Next books, where scenes from Jane Eyre are a recurring feature (BTW, if you haven't read the Thursday Next books, and meta-humor/alternate universes are at all appealing to you, go read!).
I haven't read a lot of contemporary litterature, but I have read enough to recognize the style of writing: Elaborate descriptions of feelings and scenes running sometimes to several pages. Unlike, say, Bram Stoker's Dracula, the characters in this book are not cardboard cut-outs, but have some amounts of internal conflict, especially the main characters. It's not subtle like in today's literature, and each character has a definite and, especially towards the end, obvious role to play in what the book is meant to convey. There's also plenty of tropes, or at least what is now seen as tropes, I don't know if they were at that time: Rich uncle in America dies and leaves a lot of money, virtuous young employee is being seduced by rich employer, etc. But unlike the simpler stories, the characters are more mixed-up: The rich employer is not beautiful nor a total crook, the beautiful suitor is not a scoundrel but a fervent missionary, etc.
What makes this book special for its time, though, is how much it goes up against the existing societal norms. Children and women that stand up for themselves and have good come of it, women who set up independent lives rather than just becoming a man's wife, Christians who do repress their fellow beings in the name of God.
Curiously, the start of this one resembles the start of Harry Potter quite a bit: Parentless child taken in by relatives who hate him/her, make him/her do all the tasks with lots of abuse while spoiling their own kids. Eventually, child goes off to school and finds a better place and real friends. Mr. Brocklehurst even matches Snape well in description.
It wasn't until about the middle of the book that I could predict what was going to happen. In the first parts, things are so, well, commonplace that there's really little setup for the major changes. Once Mr. Richardson reveals that he wants to marry Jane, the next steps were reasonably foreseeable, though.
All in all a good read, though the florid descriptions could run a little long at times. It is worth the reading if nothing else because it was an important work for its time.
I haven't read a lot of contemporary litterature, but I have read enough to recognize the style of writing: Elaborate descriptions of feelings and scenes running sometimes to several pages. Unlike, say, Bram Stoker's Dracula, the characters in this book are not cardboard cut-outs, but have some amounts of internal conflict, especially the main characters. It's not subtle like in today's literature, and each character has a definite and, especially towards the end, obvious role to play in what the book is meant to convey. There's also plenty of tropes, or at least what is now seen as tropes, I don't know if they were at that time: Rich uncle in America dies and leaves a lot of money, virtuous young employee is being seduced by rich employer, etc. But unlike the simpler stories, the characters are more mixed-up: The rich employer is not beautiful nor a total crook, the beautiful suitor is not a scoundrel but a fervent missionary, etc.
What makes this book special for its time, though, is how much it goes up against the existing societal norms. Children and women that stand up for themselves and have good come of it, women who set up independent lives rather than just becoming a man's wife, Christians who do repress their fellow beings in the name of God.
Curiously, the start of this one resembles the start of Harry Potter quite a bit: Parentless child taken in by relatives who hate him/her, make him/her do all the tasks with lots of abuse while spoiling their own kids. Eventually, child goes off to school and finds a better place and real friends. Mr. Brocklehurst even matches Snape well in description.
It wasn't until about the middle of the book that I could predict what was going to happen. In the first parts, things are so, well, commonplace that there's really little setup for the major changes. Once Mr. Richardson reveals that he wants to marry Jane, the next steps were reasonably foreseeable, though.
All in all a good read, though the florid descriptions could run a little long at times. It is worth the reading if nothing else because it was an important work for its time.