Jane Eyre love
Sep. 8th, 2009 11:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieIf I had to pick my favorite 19th-century novel, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre would win with almost no competition (the other two contenders would be Charles Dickens' Our Mutual Friend and Mrs. Gaskell's North & South, but they would lose). I have never cared for Jane Austen (blasphemy, I know, but her books, technically perfect as they are, fail to emotionally move me). But I adore Charlotte Bronte - JE, The Professor, Vilette, Shirley (my second favorite of hers. Mmmmmm, Robert/Caroline are SUCH an otp of mine).
I have first read JE when I was eight and it was a slightly tattered book in my grandmother's house. The Russian translation was excellent (I still remember the page layout and the illustrations) and an enduring love was born. I have lost count of how many times I have reread it since (both in Russian and its original English) and I love it more than ever. I chose it as a topic for my AP essay, I have dragged a version of it on countless trips. I own more than one edition, "just in case." If you don't like JE, what can I say? You might have excellent taste in literature but on some basic level, our literature tastes are incompatible.
Because I adore it so, I am very picky about my adaptations. I have seen a number (and stayed away from even more of them) but there is only one which really captured my heart. It's the 1970s BBC adaptation with Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton. Oh God, how do I love it! It's very faithful to both the letter and spirit and wonderfully cast - Zelah Clarke is Jane - plain, tiny, and steely. And Dalton has that unconventional look Rochester is supposed to possess. Their chemistry burns.
I first saw this version when I was in elementary school. It was dubbed and our teacher told us if we finished our work early, we could watch it on tv. Needless to say, we all finished up. I gobbled this. I remember being sick some time later (and missing a concert I normally would have loved to go to) and not minding because it meant I could watch JE on tv, again :)
I have seen it since and it held up excellently.
And I discovered people even make mvs for it :) Glad I am not the only one :)
I have first read JE when I was eight and it was a slightly tattered book in my grandmother's house. The Russian translation was excellent (I still remember the page layout and the illustrations) and an enduring love was born. I have lost count of how many times I have reread it since (both in Russian and its original English) and I love it more than ever. I chose it as a topic for my AP essay, I have dragged a version of it on countless trips. I own more than one edition, "just in case." If you don't like JE, what can I say? You might have excellent taste in literature but on some basic level, our literature tastes are incompatible.
Because I adore it so, I am very picky about my adaptations. I have seen a number (and stayed away from even more of them) but there is only one which really captured my heart. It's the 1970s BBC adaptation with Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton. Oh God, how do I love it! It's very faithful to both the letter and spirit and wonderfully cast - Zelah Clarke is Jane - plain, tiny, and steely. And Dalton has that unconventional look Rochester is supposed to possess. Their chemistry burns.
I first saw this version when I was in elementary school. It was dubbed and our teacher told us if we finished our work early, we could watch it on tv. Needless to say, we all finished up. I gobbled this. I remember being sick some time later (and missing a concert I normally would have loved to go to) and not minding because it meant I could watch JE on tv, again :)
I have seen it since and it held up excellently.
And I discovered people even make mvs for it :) Glad I am not the only one :)
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no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 03:39 am (UTC)I really like the BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre starring Toby Stephens. Although, admittedly, Toby Stephens is way too good-looking to play Rochester.
By the by, I've watched the North & South BBC miniseries and my, was it swoon-worthy. Richard Armitage makes such a great Thornton and Daniela Denby Ashe is a perfect Margaret. Probably my favourite BBC drama in ages.
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Date: 2009-09-09 03:30 pm (UTC)N&S is amazing!
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Date: 2009-09-09 09:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 03:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 12:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 12:52 pm (UTC)I've never seen this version. Is it s long version or a cut version?
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Date: 2009-09-09 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 03:37 pm (UTC)I love love love that adaptation too - I watched it for the first time when I was 14 and it sealed my love for historical dramas and shaped many of my preferences.
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Date: 2009-09-09 08:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 04:05 pm (UTC)But getting back to JE, nothing beats the book, IMO. Not just the romance & passion, but also the gothic mystery. I read an abridged version(?!) fairly young (in Korean), and I remember being up at night terrified & excited over the attic mystery. Though the plot is now so well-known, it'd be difficult for any first-time readers not to guess/know the secret...
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Date: 2009-09-09 08:34 pm (UTC)Yes, when I read JE, I also didn't know the plot and was mesmerized.
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Date: 2009-09-09 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-09 08:25 pm (UTC)