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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.8
EAN: 9780486424491
ISBN: 0486424499
Label: Dover Publications
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 448
Publication Date: January 16, 2003
Publisher: Dover Publications
Studio: Dover Publications
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Charlotte Brontë characterized the eponymous heroine of her 1847 novel as being "as poor and plain as myself." Presenting a heroine with neither great beauty nor entrancing charm was an unprecendented maneuver, but Brontë's instincts proved correct, for readers of her era and ever after have taken Jane Eyre into their hearts. The author drew upon her own experience to depict Jane's struggles at Lowood, an oppressive boarding school, and her troubled career as a governess. Unlike Jane, Brontë had the advantage of a warm family circle that shared and encouraged her literary pursuits. She found immediate success with this saga of an orphan girl forced to make her way alone in the world, from Lowood School to Thornfield, the estate of the majestically moody Mr. Rochester, and beyond. Unabridged republication of a standard edition.
Book Description:
Cambridge Literature is a series of literary texts edited for study by students aged 14-18 in English-speaking classrooms. It will include novels, poetry, short stories, essays, travel-writing and other non-fiction.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Had to read this book for lit class..for me it was too much information..it talks about all of her life(child-adult) in too much detail..okay yes her stay with her aunt and her time at school was important but goodness get on with the story..a summary of that time would've been nice..the book is still good and this is a good copy to get
Rating:  -
On October 16th, of 1847, "Jane Eyre: An Autobiography", edited by Currier Bell (pseudonym of Charlotte Brontë) was published. It created some controversy at the time, as many believed it was written by a man. The novel was very popular when published, but critical reaction to it varied. Today, it is clearly a classic, the development of a young woman, who does not fit into the stereotype of a nineteenth century woman. She is not submissive, and she struggles to avoid being dependent on others. The original publication was in three volumes, but this Penguin Classics edition is based on the third edition of Jane Eyre, and it is the last edition which Charlotte Brontë edited and corrected.
The story covers Jane's life from her childhood until her marriage. The childhood chapters can be split into two sections, those where Jane, an orphan, was being raised by her Uncle's family, but her uncle has passed away and her aunt does not like her, but was forced to promise to take care of her. The key parts of this section are Jane's being rejected by the closest thing she has to a family, her morality, and her independence, i.e. her refusal to conform. The second part of her childhood is when she is sent to attend a charity school, called Lowood, where the pupils have to make do with substandard food and clothing. Here Jane finds one teacher who treats her, and the other students, well, Miss Maria Temple. One of the key things in this section is the difference between religion and morality, symbolized by Mr. Brocklehurst a clergyman who is mostly responsible for the appalling conditions at Lowood, and Jane and Miss Temple on the side of morality. Also key is Jane's witnessing her friend, Helen Burns, dying from a typhus epidemic, in spite of her goodness and her submission to the standards imposed by Mr. Brocklehurst and Miss Scatcherd, a teacher as cruel as Miss Temple is kind.
The story then picks up many years later, with Jane in position as a teacher at Lowood, but looking to move on. She advertises for a position as a governess and is hired by Mrs. Fairfax. She is to take care of Adèle Varens, a girl who is being taken care of by Mr. Rochester, the master of Thornfield Manor where Mrs. Fairfax is the housekeeper. This section has a lot to do with class, as well as morality. There is the difficulty of Jane falling in love with someone of a different class. There is also the looking down on Jane as being of a lower class, by Mr. Rochester's peers. The morality questions are here to, in the comparison of the higher classes verses that of the lower class. Even Mr. Rochester's behavior is in question, in the events leading up to Jane leaving. Jane also finds out that she does have family left, and when it appears that she is to have everything, she sends a letter to her father's brother. It is this attempt to reconnect with family that causes her to lose nearly everything as it destroys what she thought she was about to have.
The next section details Jane's life after leaving Thornfield Manor. Here she loses almost everything, and is on death's door when she is on the doorstep of Moor House. The Rivers, St. John, Diana, and Mary. It is from this state of having nothing from which she recovers almost everything she could want. Here she recovers her health, she is employed again and regains much of her independence. St. John is in love with a woman, but he will not ask her because he is driven to devote his life to religion. He does find out Jane's true identity though, and this results in Jane learning she has family, and wealth that she didn't know she had. She is pressured by St. John to marry him and join him in his missionary life, but she knows that he doesn't love her. She rejects St. John, and instead goes to find her one love, Mr. Rochester. She now has wealth and family, and she learns that tragedies in Mr. Rochester's life have made what was once impossible possible.
It is a long and winding road which Jane travels in this novel. Probably best classified as a gothic romance, it deals with numerous issues and the strength of Jane's character serves as a good role model for young women, and for that matter anyone. The Penguin Classics edition is filled with supporting documentation as always. There is a wonderful introduction by Stevie Davies, along with a Chronology, suggestions for further reading, notes on the text, opinions of the press, and wonderful textual notes which enhance the reading experience and understanding of the reader.
Rating: -
I cringe as I read the reviews here that were written by children who were forced to read this in school. I can imagine feeling similarly if I had to trudge through this very long, mature novel with its outdated language and flowery descriptions as a teenager. However, as an adult, I loved the book. I do think it is overly long and could have done without some of the passages that describe the scenery. The best parts of this book are in Jane's elaborate, vivid thoughts and her interactions with the various people she meets. In a book that is less good, I would've taken away a star for the excessive scenic descriptions, but the best things about this book make up for that.
Since there are already hundreds of reviews up here that go into what the story is about, I won't bother. What I will say is I am not generally a sentimental nor easily moved person, but I found this story very moving. I don't know if I'd recommend it to many men, and I'd probably not recommend it to anyone under 24. As an adult woman who spends much of her time lost in thought and doesn't always follow the most obvious path, I found it to be an excellent, engaging, and emotional read and am very glad I stuck with it until the end.
Rating: -
Never being a great fan of the Victorian period of English literature, I have always steered clear of the sisters Bronte, Jane Austin, and others of their ilk. It is amazing how much we miss when blinded by prejudice. I not only liked Jane Eyre immensely, but was very impressed by the literary abilities of Charlotte Bronte and regretted that I had not read the novel sooner. Although Bronte did not have the formal education and did not share the literary traditions enjoyed by some of her male colleagues, she grew up in a household in which storytelling was prominent and understood that the first task of any writer is the ability to tell a good story. Jane Eyre is a wonderful creation, a story that keeps the reader's interest from the first, and one in which Bronte introduces to the reading public one of the first truly modern heroines.
Charlotte Bronte's novel is a complex and structured work and contains within it elements of romance, picaresque wanderings and a preoccupation for the Gothic themes of mystery and the supernatural. But to describe the work simply as a very good Gothic novel would be to ignore the remarkable characterization that Bronte achieves in the creation of the character of Jane Eyre. Bronte's character is quite unique when compared to other female heroines of the era. Jane is not beautiful and does not enjoy any of the privileges of wealth or social position, and it is clear from the beginning that if Jane is to make her way in the world she will have to do it with a combination of hard work and intelligence, and not be afraid to question accepted social conventions. The decision of Bronte to narrate the tale through the eyes of Jane bonds the reader and the main character together creating an intimacy that is first rate. We share all her hardships and experiences from Gateshead to the final reunion with Mr. Rochester, and sympathize with her moral dilemmas and her indignant stand against religious hypocrisy (a feeling strong enough to have her expound more fully in the preface to the second edition of her novel: "[The world] may hate him who dares to scrutinise and expose - to rase the gilding, and show base metal under it - to penetrate the sepulchre, and reveal charnel relics: but, hate as it will, it is indebted to him").
Although the creation of the character of Jane is Bronte's greatest achievement, she is possessed with the talent to write a story that is exciting, mysterious and ultimately rewarding - in other words, a pure classic. Bronte may not possess in full the literary style of some of her contemporaries, but she writes with assurance and surprises the reader with some extraordinary passages, beautiful examples that combine nostalgia, religious mysticism and poetic rhythm into a wonderful prose. The influence of the book is still alive over a century later. Jean Rhys uses the novel as the point of departure for her Wide Sargasso Sea, and groups as divergent as Marxists, feminists, and Horatio Alger types all use the book as part of their lexicon.
Rating: -
Speedy delivery. The seller said it had some highlighting and marks but i see only one sentence highlighted! Amazing condition. 5 stars.
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