#cbrontë

[fuckyeahbrontes]

“A classic that (hopefully!) will never go away, Jane Eyre is still a total emotional ride, and one that never leaves me dry-eyed. I always get a pounding in my heart, especially now when I’m older and begin to realize quite how horrible some of the things Jane goes through are. Reading the book start to finish… well, yes, it’s long, but deal with it, because you’re going to feel a whole bunch of things.”

- 11 Emotional Stages of Reading Jane Eyre

[fuckyeahbrontes]

A sketch drawn by author Charlotte Brontë has been bought by the Brontë Parsonage Museum for more than £13,000.

The drawing of a fisherman sheltering from the rain was drawn by the then 13-year-old Charlotte in 1829.

Brontë copied the work from a popular guidebook of British birds.

The drawing will be placed on public display in early 2015 and will be available to view in the Parsonage's exhibition in Haworth.

Ann Dinsdale, collections manager at the Brontë Parsonage, said "We're thrilled to be able to bring this drawing home to Haworth to sit with the rest of the collection of the Brontë family.

"This sketch represents the start of Charlotte's creative genius and is a rare insight into one of Britain's great literary minds."

[fuckyeahbrontes]

Fuck Yeah! The Brontës turned one year old today! We're celebrating with a shiny new layout. Thanks for sticking with us!

[fuckyeahbrontes]

Happy book birthday to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre!

First published in 1847 on October 16th in three volumes under the name Currer Bell, the novel took society by storm, and soon everybody was clamoring about it. Before its publication, Smith, Elder & Co. had repeatedly turned it down for publication. Charlotte repeatedly crossed out their return mark on the package and sent the manuscript back to them until they accepted it. "[W]e had a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice; we had noticed how critics sometimes use for their chastisement the weapon of personality, and for their reward, a flattery, which is not true praise." It has since spawned multiple film adaptations and retellings and is considered one of the greatest pieces of British literature.

[fuckyeahbrontes]

Did you know?

Gothic literature is largely considered a women's genre, including Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley and the Brontë sisters. They often offered a mental escape from confinement.

[fuckyeahbrontes]

Jane Eyre and the West Indies:

Jane Eyre and the West Indies:In the early Victorian period, there was a mass departure of freed slaves from plantations, but sugar was the product of the growing British empire. Sugar came from Jamaica and the West Indies, where slaves were imported from the Gold Coast in Africa. Racism ran rampant. For every white person in Jamaica, there were ten people of color; for every white person in the West Indies, there were 60 people of color. Because of this, the idea of miscegenation was very prevalent among the culture. Miscegenation supposedly occurs when a "half-breed" is born; they're considered an "unnatural mongrel," physically and mentally weak and corrupted. The "white" blood would be "corrupted" by the "black" blood. A person born to mixed races was considered the worst kind of person. (We know this to be blatantly racist and not-true now.) For obvious reasons, this is relevant to Jane Eyre; Bertha Mason comes from a Creole (which, at the time, meant a second-generation white born in the colonies) mother and a white father and went mad four years after marrying Rochester. Was this because of miscegenation? Was that was Charlotte Brontë was trying to portray? Where do you think her sympathies lie? What do you think?

[fuckyeahbrontes]

Did you know?

Jane Eyre can be interpreted as having three narratives: the Brontë biography aspect (regarding life as a governess), Jane Eyre's life, and the stories told within the story to and by Jane.

[fuckyeahbrontes]

Have you read the fairytales "Bluebeard" or "The Robber Bridge"? The classic stories help frame chapters ten through twenty of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and bring out the fairytale element of the story.