I'm pretty sure everyone forgot but ONE WEEK FROM TODAY we are starting Villette by Charlotte Bronte. Signup post is here. Next Tuesday, 3/3 is our first post, and it's chapters 1-5. We're gonna knock this one out. Slowly. And lazily. But still. Knock it right out.
"What do you know about Villette, Alice?"
Well, nothing, but after having skimmed some things, I can tell you that it is CB's third novel, and if Wikipedia isn't full of shit, its main themes are "isolation, how such a condition can be borne, and the internal conflict brought about by social repression of individual desire."
SO LET'S ALL BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THOSE.
Based on some minor plot spoilers I've read, there's also possibly a parallel between the novel and that time Charlotte Bronte went to Brussels or something and fell in love with her teacher M. Heger and wrote him a series of embarrassing letters until his wife said "Cut that out right now."
This isolation and social repression thing makes total sense though if we think about the Brontes. 'Cause where'd they live? Nowheresville. So they had a certain amount of freedom to be weird (which Emily just ran with) but when they encountered society at large, and certainly I imagine when CB started hanging out in London, they had to curb that weirdness. I mean, if today we occasionally feel like Society is keeping us down, 1850s England must have been maddening.
Oh, I am looking forward to the discussion around this book.
"What do you know about Villette, Alice?"
Well, nothing, but after having skimmed some things, I can tell you that it is CB's third novel, and if Wikipedia isn't full of shit, its main themes are "isolation, how such a condition can be borne, and the internal conflict brought about by social repression of individual desire."
SO LET'S ALL BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THOSE.
Based on some minor plot spoilers I've read, there's also possibly a parallel between the novel and that time Charlotte Bronte went to Brussels or something and fell in love with her teacher M. Heger and wrote him a series of embarrassing letters until his wife said "Cut that out right now."
This isolation and social repression thing makes total sense though if we think about the Brontes. 'Cause where'd they live? Nowheresville. So they had a certain amount of freedom to be weird (which Emily just ran with) but when they encountered society at large, and certainly I imagine when CB started hanging out in London, they had to curb that weirdness. I mean, if today we occasionally feel like Society is keeping us down, 1850s England must have been maddening.
Oh, I am looking forward to the discussion around this book.
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