Do Teenagers Read Jane Eyre?

My favorite adaptation of JE

I've been thinking about Jane Eyre recently, which led me to ponder whether or not teenagers read it and whether or not it is promoted to them as YA.

I first read Jane Eyre when I was a teenager and wasn't that fond of it. Most people recall the madwoman in the attic or the house on fire business from Jane. I recalled Jane sitting off to the side at a party. That probably speaks volumes about my adolescence. I didn't read it again until after The Eyre Affair. Then I was very taken with it. 

How I came to read it as a teenager, I do not know. It definitely was not part of a class in either high school or college. YA was just getting started in my youth, and I barely recall being aware of it or reading it. Thus, I stumbled into things like Jane Eyre and adult thrillers. 

I recently found this article arguing that Jane Eyre is a YA novel. I think that's a very tough sell.

YA is a creation of the late 20th century, when very few people of a YA age had to make a living and life for themselves, and that's still the case. The whole coming of age cliche that's such a big deal in YA--some event in an adolescent life that marks the realization of entering adulthood-- probably comes early in Jane Eyre when Jane is left to fend for herself at school. She's well past that and is a flawed but highly principled adult woman through most of the book.

Holding out for a husband who doesn't require you to lower your standards of conduct or enslave yourself to him is not a classic YA situation. Neither is coming to terms with loving a far from perfect man. I come down on the side of Jane Eyre being an adult book that teenagers read, which is much different from being a Young Adult book. 

 

Jane Steele--A Good Jane Eyre Variation

Interesting story: I decided I needed a new Kindle. While I was working out what to buy, a family member told me I could get a Kindle app for my iPad for free. For free! And she was right! And it works just like a Kindle, except better, because the covers are in color and I can see them all instead of
just lists of book titles, which was all I had on my very old Kindle.

A great deal of my life is on my iPad now.

But that's not the interesting part of the story. The interesting part is that I was able to transfer my nearly 200 volume Kindle library to my iPad with no problem. Except that the "read" categories didn't transfer. There were just all these book titles, some of which I didn't recognize, and some of which I couldn't tell if I'd read for one reason or another. So I've been dipping into some of these unfamiliar titles, and it was clear that I couldn't remember if I'd read some of them because I hadn't liked them and probably didn't finish them. So I didn't waste any time on those and filed them away under one of the beautiful new categories I've made.

But one book I didn't recall reading was Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye. Its publisher describes it as a "reimagining of Jane Eyre as a gutsy, heroic serial killer." Reader, that is right up my alley. I love reimaginings of Jane Eyre, the most famous being Rebecca. But I couldn't remember reading this particular one. So I start reading it, and I get through the childhood and school part, with no recollection, but then I come to something I do recall reading. So I thought, Well, I must have read this far. Then I read some more, and I get to another part that's familiar. 

I go on like that through the whole book. Which I did like a great deal. Presumably I liked it the first time I read it, too, though not enough to remember it.

What Is Jane Steele?

The original Jane Eyre is a Gothic novel, in which a young woman is in some kind of danger in a moody setting with a house having a significant part in the story. I think you could argue that the danger Jane is in is from losing her independence and having to play some role defined for her by society or within marriage. She struggles to live life on her terms. Jane Steele is more of a mystery/thriller, one in which the main character has read Jane Eyre and refers to it often. In the original Jane Eyre, Jane believes that she is not a good person, probably because she doesn't have an interest in conforming to social norms. In Jane Steele Jane has no doubt that she is not a traditionally good person.

Author Lyndsay Faye's website appears to have vanished. Earlier this year, she had a neat section on research she did on the clothes Jane Steele wears. I did notice her clothes while reading the book this second time. 

The ending of the book seemed to be a set up for one of those nineteenth century historical couples mystery series. Or maybe it is just a nod to another type of book, the way Jane Steele, itself, is a nod to Jane Eyre.

You Know I Love "Jane Bear?" I Mean, "Jane Eyre."

I was intrigued when I read a review of The Cottage in the Woods by Katherine Coville and snatched the book off the shelf when I saw it at my local library. I mention this to make the point that sometimes reviews actually do get readers. Or, in this case, a reader.

The Cottage in the Woods has been described as Jane Eyre meets Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It certainly is. Jane Eyre fans can have a fantastic time picking out the connections. A young, powerless, single female enters a large house as the employee of a wealthy man. This is a wealthy, married man with a family, which is one of the ways this book is different from Jane Eyre. But he's also a bear, as is the young female, Ursula. (Relating to ursine, I'm guessing.) Ursula is there to act as a governess to the bear's son, Teddy. (Oh, my gosh. Teddy Bear!!! No, actually his last name is Vaughn.) Ursula has a love interest, and, shades of Mr. Rochester, he's not free to love her. There is a mystery in this house, as there is in Jane Eyre. And it's related to a female, as is the mystery in Jane Eyre. This female, though, is young, with golden hair.

However, there is a whole nonJane plot involving human bigotry toward enchanted animals like Ursula and the Vaughns. I've read that some reviewers found that aspect of the book didactic. To me it was distracting, because it wasn't part of the Jane Eyre/Three Bears premise. It seemed unnecessary. What was going on with Goldilocks was so clever and unique that I would have liked a plot sticking much closer to that, which could have been closer to the Jane Eyre source material.

But, then, I know Jane Eyre. Readers who don't could feel differently. Since this is a middle grade novel, there will be many readers who don't know Jane.

While reading this, I wondered what Ms. Yingling would think of it. Sure enough, she read The Cottage in the Woods and weighs in on the subject. I agree that while I enjoyed it, it may have trouble finding an audience. 

Come On. No One Else Gets A "Jane Eyre" Vibe Here?

When I was a teenager, I was a big fan of historical romance. In college, I would read Georgette Heyer during exam weeks to relax. As an adolescent, I really liked that "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, Well, maybe you're not so bad" storyline in a historical setting. So I picked Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge off the Cybils Young Adult Speculative Fiction nomination list for one reason and one reason only: The main character has been raised to marry and murder a demon who has had control of her country since before she was born but falls for him before she can complete her task. Okay, it was paranormal and not historical, but I was dealing with a speculative fiction list, after all.

Now, though I seem to read a lot of fantasy, it's mainly because a lot of children's and YA books are fantasy. It's not because I'm so fond of it. I don't get excited about fantasy elements, as a general rule.  I'm not crazy about houses that are always changing, for instance, as the one in Cruel Beauty does. I was kind of mystified about who the Kindly Ones were in this book, especially since there seems to be an alternative Greek mythology thing going on here and where do the Kindly Ones fit in? But that didn't matter because the demon was very witty and clever and our protagonist wasn't a particularly nice person, which I like in a heroine.

Yes, Teen Gail would have loved this thing. Cruel Beauty should be on a list of teen vacation reading that is totally inappropriate for school papers. 

But If You Want To Write A School Paper On It, Try Talking About Jane Eyre

However, if someone really wants to sell this as a subject for a high school paper, I think they might be able to do a Jane Eyre comparison. Cruel Beauty is being marketed as a Beauty and the Beast meets Greek mythology tale, but I kept thinking of Jane Eyre.

Jane Eyre was not assigned reading for me when I was a teenager. I read it on my own, as I read a great many things back then. I did not find it particularly memorable, except for the scene where poor Jane sits on the sidelines during an evening event at Mr. Rochester's house. That probably speaks volumes about my adolescence. I didn't become a fan of Jane's until I re-read it in 2003 after reading The Eyre Affair. The Good Reading Fairy had hit it, and I've become a bit of a Jane Eyre groupy, looking for and reading retellings. Cruel Beauty may not be an intentional retelling, but I still think an enterprising student could make a case that would convince a teacher to at least accept a Beauty/Jane Eyre paper.

Jane Eyre is about a prickly young woman who doesn't inspire affection in traditional relationships, such as the one with her aunt. In the course of acquiring what is by the standards of her time a good education, she is not treated very well. She enters a wealthy (wealth is power) man's home as a governess. Said wealthy man is unhappy and bitter over the life he has been forced to live. These two damaged, unromantic people find something in each other.

Cruel Beauty is about a bitter, angry young woman, her father's least favorite child, the one he bartered away to a demon. He provides her with what is by the standards of her world a good education so she can kill the demon he's marrying her off to. The plan will mean her death as well, explaining her bitterness and anger. She enters a powerful male's home as his wife. Said powerful male is amusing and attractive but resigned to a fate he brought upon himself, one we're not aware of for a while. These two damaged, I can't say unromantic because I'm sure we're supposed to think they are, people recognize something in each other.

In Jane Eyre, there's a madwoman in the attic. In Cruel Beauty, there's a little something in one of the house's many rooms.   

Jane and Mr. Rochester's story in Jane Eyre is framed with a beginning piece about Jane's rough youth with her family and boarding school and an ending bit about her suffering after she leaves Rochester. Nyx and Ignifex's story in Cruel Beauty is framed with a beginning piece about Nyx's rough youth with her family and an ending bit about her suffering after she and Ignifex are separated. Some have argued that Mr. Rochester's blindness is a punishment for what he planned for himself and Jane, a punishment that was alleviated when Jane returned to him. A clever high school student could argue that Ignifex was punished for all he had done, a punishment that was alleviated when Nyx returned to him.
 
There you've got it, folks, the beginning of a Cruel Beauty/Jane Eyre English paper.

Wait! There's more! It's kind of a stretch, but if enterprising students wanted to, they could claim there's a bit of a torn-between-two-lovers thing going on in Jane Eyre what with Jane being proposed to by both Mr. Rochester and that creepy minister named St. John. The author of Cruel Beauty does something interesting with the torn-between-two-lovers cliche.

Okay, lads and lasses. You're welcome to this material, but put it into your own words.

Heathcliff, Anne Shirley, And Hound Dog

I am sure many of you recall that I recently read Withering Tights by Louise Rennison because I just wrote about it two days ago. Remember how I said that I found this book about Tallulah Casey a little deeper than Rennison's books about Georgia Nicholson? One of the ways you can tell if a book is deep is if it raises questions in your mind, questions that you keep asking yourself even after you have read the final sentence and closed the cover forever. 

Questions I asked myself after reading Wither Tights:

1. Do folks in Yorkshire use still use "thee" for "you" as in "Are thee daft?" "Daft" is a great word, in and of itself, but it becomes even better when preceded by "thee."

2. Is it common for young people to be so familiar with Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights that they can make jokes about the characters? For instance, if they notice a house on fire in Yorkshire and someone on the roof of said house, would they automatically start talking about daft Mrs. Rochester?

3. Yorkshire is home to the Bronte sisters. Well, it was home to the Bronte sisters. Are the Brontes a big deal there the way Lucy Maud Montgomery is a big deal on Prince Edward Island?  Do tourists flock to Yorkshire to be near the sites of Heathcliff's and Jane Eyre's stories the way they flock to Prince Edward Island to be near the site of Anne of Green Gables' stories?  

 

These could easily have ended up being eternal questions. However, I am not without resources. I have a family member who knows an honest-to-God Yorkshireman and his wife. (I've met them, so I have at least met an honest-to-God Yorkshireman.) Okay. So...where was I going with this?...Got it. Through the wonders of e-mail, said family member contacted the honest-to-God Yorkshireman's wife, and now I know:

 

1. Yes, indeed! Yorkshire folk do use "thee." It's fairly common, making Yorkshire one of the cooler places on Earth.

2. My source has never heard any young people making Bronte-related jokes, herself, but she would expect Britain's young to study the Bronte's fiction in school. Bronte humor might turn up on television in sketch shows. Classic literary humor--who might do that in this country? I am at a loss. Is there anyone on American TV doing Huck Finn jokes? I am sure I've heard Moby Dick jokes, but probably not on TV.

 

3. And, finally, Haworth, the town in Yorkshire where the Brontes grew up and wrote in a somewhat depressing looking parsonage next to a cemetery, is a tourist draw for book people.

 

As with so many answers, these led to more questions. Or, to be honest, one. "Do we have any writers in this country who have such fans that their homes draw crowds years after they've turned to dust, the way the way Anne of Green Gables Land and the Brontes home do?" 

 

I asked this question out loud to a dinner companion this evening, and I was about to answer it, myself, with, "I'm thinking maybe Orchard House," when he jumped in with, "Elvis's place."

 

Well, I suppose. 

All Jane

A new version of Jane Eyre will be hitting movie screens soon. Don't think for a minute that I wasn't aware of it just because I hadn't mentioned it.

Slate carries a run-down of Jane Eyre adaptations. I totally agree with the author about the splendors of the 2006 version.

Why are there so many film treatments of Jane Eyre? This is a question made far more interesting to me because I am one of those who believe Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is a Jane Eyre variation, and that thing gets a film remake in England very regularly.

Yeah, what's that about?

Not Everyone Gets Jane

Laura Miller defends Jane Eyre over at Salon.

The issue at hand is an article at The Telegraph in which this guy says that Jane Eyre is a heroine because she's all about getting a man whereas Becky Sharpe in Vanity Fair (which I read a lifetime ago) has other fish to fry and is thus a hero.

I agree with Miller that Jane Eyre is not a romance and that the significant issue in the book is not that (spoiler!) Jane gets Rochester in the end, but that she rejects him earlier for principle. Keep in mind also that Rochester isn't a traditional romantic lead who wins his lover back. He is left physically impaired at the end of the book (some have suggested that this is his punishment for his earlier behavior) and Jane returns to him out of a belief that he needs her. As, indeed, he does. He needs her care now, not just her love.

Not a typical happy romantic ending to a book all about a woman getting her man.

How Much Do You Love Jane Austen?

By this time of year, I am looking forward to my favorite month, January. Oh, the splendors of that quiet, winter month filled with quality nothing time! I can't say enough good things about it.

This January has its own special pleasures to offer. On Sunday, January 13, PBS will begin broadcasting The Complete Jane Austen. Every Sunday until the first week in April, you can find something Austeny on your TV.

And look! Scully will be our host! Can January get any better?

Why, yes, it can.

On December 30 and January 6 PBS is rerunning an excellent version of Jane Eyre. I loved it the first time it was on.

Do Teenagers Still Read Rebecca?

A great article in The Scotsman called Manderley Revisited deals with Daphne du Maurier, whose one hundredth birthday is coming up on May 13. The article suggests in a couple of places that Rebecca is a twist on Jane Eyre. I can see that. (Spoilers coming. You've been warned.) In Rebecca the unnamed Jane figure actually marries the Rochester figure and learns the secret of the first wife later. There's a fire, and the Jane figure becomes caretaker to the Rochester figure.

Now that it's been pointed out to me, I can see the parallels.

The writer of the article talks about reading Rebecca as a teenager. (At the time, I liked it more than I liked Jane Eyre.) These days, while I often read about Jane Eyre, I don't hear a lot about Rebecca. Unless, of course, the BBC has done a new production that is scooped up by Masterpiece Theatre.

I don't see the second Mrs. de Winter as being as powerful a figure as Jane Eyre, myself. But for teenage girls of a certain generation (or two or three) that was probably her attraction. We were not powerful figures and were delighted to see someone weak and meek like ourselves get the fellow and come out on top in the end. Though I do remember not envying the second Mrs. de Winter her ending. She seemed to be facing a lot of work to me. I have, I guess, always had a lazy streak.

I wonder if today's girls who are reading things like The Gossip Girl or Kiki Strike need to identify with a heroine so bland she doesn't have a name.

Thanks to Blog of a Bookslut for the link.

My Favorite Jane To Date

I just finished watching the first episode of the new Jane Eyre that's running right now on Masterpiece Theatre. I only became a Jane fan a few years ago when I reread the book after reading The Eyre Affair. Since then I've been making a hobby of watching film versions of Jane. I think this is the third, but I have to admit they can run together after a bit.

This version, though, is a standout. Other productions I've seen were pretty much just actors walking through parts. In this one, though, we see a little more about what's going on with the characters--not through dialogue, but just through the way the actors behave. You can see Jane falling in love with Rochester. You can see Rochester repulsed by the carryings on of Blanche Ingram and her family. You can see Rochester and Jane laughing at one another's jokes, enjoying one another's company.

The first part of Jane Eyre isn't my favorite part of the book. (Is it anyone's?) In fact, it almost seems to be a different story. But this television production links it to the romance at the core of the novel. When the Ingram family is carrying on about how awful governesses are, Jane flashes back to her evil aunt and the types of things she used to say to the young Jane. The Ingram abuse is nothing new to her.

Another thing--Jane draws, and in the book she draws sea scenes. This struck me as odd, because she had never been to the ocean. At the time we see her doing her drawings, she had never been away from the boarding school she attended. This film version takes care of that little drawback but, again, not with dialogue. We simply see Jane looking at illustrations in books. That's where she gets her knowledge of scenery she's never been near herself.

The weird gypsy scene from the book is revised here to make more sense. I know there are those who would say you shouldn't mess with a classic, but I do think this is an improvement on the original.

Rochester is probably too young and good looking in this production, but I'm definitely not going to complain about having to watch a youngish, good-looking guy.

I'm definitely looking forward to part two.