Richard J. Dunn (1)

I've been wanting to read all of the Brontës' books this year because they've been on my mind after I wrote a short story about them, so I started with this one, one that I was assigned in freshman English and loved then but had forgotten quite a lot of in the 19 years since.

Well, on this re-read I was happy to find that the book is every bit as marvelous as I remembered. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit more on this reading, for two reasons. One of them is that my feminist identity is fully-formed now, whereas when I was 14 it was still in its nascent stage, so that let me be a lot more receptive to those elements of the book. And then the other reason is that this time I was reading the Norton Critical Edition, and I always love those so much!… (más)

Classics are books which, the more we think we know them through hearsay, the more original, unexpected, and innovative we find them when we actually read them. - Italo Calvino, Why Read the Classics?

This is my fourth time reading Jane Eyre. Although the story is known to me, I still find myself overwhelmed with emotions when reading this novel. At times anxious, at times laughing with delight, at times weeping softly. Jane is a very human superwoman. Her understanding, observations, fortitude, and wisdom are for the ages. For me, she is the ultimate heroine.… (más)