Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë
I first read Jane Eyre as a high school student, more than once, I believe. I have entered the year 1970 as the date of my first reading -- I would have been 14, which is probably accurate enough. It was one of my favorite books. I recently read The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, and that prompted me to find out how well Jane Eyre holds up after 50 years.
It was like reading a different book, but I can still see what I loved in it. It is still, warts and all, great literature. The first nine chapters, which cover Jane's life up to the age of ten, are perfect -- utterly gripping. Beginning with chapter X, however, they require more labor. Jane Eyre would have benefitted from some editing, however, it seems unlikely that Charlotte Brontë could have been persuaded to listen to an editor. (The preface and Author's Note that precede the novel make it clear that she was a prickly personality, inflexibly certain of her own notions of right and wrong, much like Jane Eyre herself.) The novel is largely made of up long exaggeratedly pious speeches. Many of these occur in dialog. There are few actual conversations in Jane Eyre, rather, the characters alternate in giving speeches to each other. In fact, if someone spoke to me that way in real life I would probably respond, "You've been practicing that speech, haven't you?" The long speeches are not restricted to dialog, however, Jane, who tells the story in first-person, often makes such speeches to herself (and thus, inevitably, to her reader). One wonders if this is a true glimpse of the inside of Brontë's head. Of course I don't know, but I suspect it is.
Brontë has a sense of humor, but unlike her near-contemporary Jane Austen (of whom she had a low opinion), Brontë seldom allows her laughter to be heard. For the most part you hear it only when Jane is happy, which is, alas, a minority of the book.
So, that all sounds pretty awful. What, according to me, makes Jane Eyre great literature? It is Jane. She is a splendid character, whom I greatly admire.
The plot is essentially Cinderella, with a gothic subplot grafted on near the end. And, of course, a romance. Indeed, if you google "classic romance novels", you will find Jane Eyre near the top of the list. That is probably how I saw it in 1970, at the age of 14. Rereading it in 2023 at the age of 67, I see something quite different, but equally powerful. The second half of Jane Eyre is the story of a young woman who, through extraordinary strength of character, resists the pressure of two psychologically abusive men.
Now, I suspect that this description will dissuade more readers than it persuades. That's fine with me -- I'm not in the business of selling books, especially not to readers who will not enjoy them. But I remain firm in my love of Jane Eyre.