Bronte vs. Bronte

[elettaria]

eye_of_a_cat is posting an Austen vs. Bronte poll, which completely fails to take account of the fact that people seem to be very divided on Jane Eyre vs. Wuthering Heights, rather than just happily loving all the Brontes. At least, so popular opinion has it. The time has come to discover the truth, and as in all good polls I'm refusing to accept the existence of a middle ground.

[Poll #1282245]

Comments

[eye-of-a-cat.livejournal.com]

I see your defiance and raise you a middle ground. HA!

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

Actually, by "middle ground" I meant the "well I'd give Jane Eyre 8/10, but The Professor only gets 4/10, and I've never been able to get that involved with Wuthering Heights so I don't really know what I'd give that..." sort of thing.

Do you think we dare put up a poll about the fanciability of various characters? I'm not sure I could bear it if people on my f-list were salivating over Heathcliff.

[eye-of-a-cat.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm totally going to put up that poll :D Heathcliff, well... I see how that kind of intense willing-to-rip-the-world-apart-for-someone passion is attractive in its way, but he's really not my type. (However, I think WH earns major points by presenting him as fucked-up and destructive, and showing explicitly via Isabella Linton that assuming he's actually a tragic Byronic hero who just needs wuv will only lead to sorrow and pain and bleakness.)

OTOH, I think Rochester's hot, but one of my most disturbing teaching moments was when my students got into a virtual slap-fight over Wide Sargasso Sea. "That is NOT Rochester! Rochester is NOT that much of a bastard!" Um, were we reading the same Jane Eyre?

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

I think he manages to be hot in WSS, but he's just too bloody annoying in JE. He manipulates everyone in sight in a distinctly unsexy manner, is horribly twee with all the elves-and-fairies stuff, is frankly pompous in the way the charade scene is All About Him, gets the colour of Jane's eyes wrong during a Romantic Moment, and cross-dresses in a fashion that varies from dodgy to laughable but does not include attractive. (Unlike Ms Snowe when she's playing Ginevra Fanshawe's lover.)

Oi, angevin2, add eye_of_a_cat to your friends list so that you can rejoice and despair over student delights together. You'll get on, I promise.

[leenah.livejournal.com]

oh, i love The Professor!

sigh. Brontes. it's my thing.



and it is TOO LATE for me, as i have had *litigation* class and red wine.

:)


(and, fyi, NO salivating over heathcliff. not here.)

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

GOOD. Anyone who salivates over Heathcliff immediately gets put on the At Risk register as far as relationships are concerned.

[eye-of-a-cat.livejournal.com]

I remember back when I was teaching Wide Sargasso Sea and the students were getting all 'how dare she say that about Rochester the main is a saint' that me and J joked about setting up an Isabella Linton Intervention Centre for anyone a little too willing to overlook the flaws of various literary characters...

[doseybat.livejournal.com]

It is probably just because I read Jane Eyre when I was all ickle. And then I reread it. I remember large stretches of it and even quotes which is completely unlike me with books.
*blushes*

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

More accurately, I love Jane Eyre and moderately dislike Wuthering Heights. My true loathing is reserved for Dickens.

[leenah.livejournal.com]

yay loathing dickens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


sorry. i just, it's so exciting to find someone else who loathes dickens!!


jane eyre - ok. no dislike, just, it's okay.

wuthering heights - LOVE.

heathcliffe? ASShole. cathy? whackjob.

and i LOVE IT. LOVE the crazy.

it's not me. i don't hafta live this. i can read about it, and that's fun.

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

I'm wishing I'd added a "Quite randomly, do you hate Dickens too? In which case you have my undying devotion" question to the poll.

I wonder if all the crazy in WH is the reason why people tend to be fairly passionate about either loving or hating it? It's so extreme that it doesn't really allow you a middle ground: either you adore the whole thing, or it irritates the buggery out of you. I really did try last time I read it. I was a grown-up, I'd studied Eng Lit for years, I knew more about how to read something and work past the factors that may bore or irritate at first (Richardson's a good lesson in that), and I still couldn't stand it. You end up wanting to shoot them all just to stop all the angsting.

[leenah.livejournal.com]

i think that's it, exactly.

the crazy is the point.

it's been a while since i've read either of them, but i'm gonna natter on anyway.

jane eyre, maybe it's that the crazy is locked away. the characters get to deal with it, but it's not THEM.

wuthering heights, the crazy is everywhere, the characters are the crazy, but each in different amounts/types. so they become *interesting* - how does this interact with that? what about that? what if you toss that into the mix - oooh! explosion!

and, the crazy is NOT me. it's not even anyone i could realistically IMAGINE being. so, it doesn't touch me. i get to watch.

and, something that intrigues me, HOW did she come up with these INSANE yet functioning people? they WORK - i can see them living in their time. that's part of the appeal for me. if they were modern, i doubt i'd care as much. i can find modern crazies easily - i've been friends with a few. i might count as one in the right circumstances.

did i tell you, a job a few years back, i was BORED, so i spent my days reading wuthering heights. sat at my desk in a research lab and read wuthering heights on my computer (it's available at project gutenberg).

how do you feel about madame bovary? i loathe that book. stupid woman. i was shocked at what an idiot she was, and that so many people call it literature. i threw away my copy of it, i hated it so.

[altglas.livejournal.com]

hahah me too.

disliked both jane eyre and wuthering heights, but that may be because my english was rubbish when I read jane eyre and wuthering heights was spoiled by too many lectures on it

[mirabehn.livejournal.com]

Actually it would be more accurate to say that I love "Jane Eyre" (despite the fact that it's a *complete* Mary Sue and I suspect I would have disliked Charlotte Bronte quite a lot) and oscillate on "Wuthering Heights". WH is fun. It does however have one of the most annoying selections of characters in any novel that was ever written ever.

[mirrorshard.livejournal.com]

I did Jane Eyre at A-level and disliked it enough that I've never re-read it and have hardly been able to bring myself to read any other Bronte books.

(Saying that, though, I rather liked Villette - only one so far.)

[sweetrush.livejournal.com]

I disliked both, because they were like being hit in the head with a sign saying 'YOU SHOULD FANCY [MAIN MALE CHARACTER]' and in fact I found both Rochester and Heathcliff incredibly annoying and not in the least hot.

The only Dickens I've enjoyed was Hard Times. I would rather pull out a fingernail than read David Copperfield cover to cover again.

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

I utterly loathed Hard Times, and this loathing was increased by having to study it at A-Level and again in Honours. It's not a good one for forcing down people's throats.

I'm not so sure the Brontes actually intend you to fancy the male leads, although many misguided souls do. How annoying you find them contributes to how much you can empathise with not only them, but the unfortunate women who love them, too.

[sweetrush.livejournal.com]

Hah yes, which in my case is kind of 'not at all'. I know I know, heart of stone.

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

Not really, they're annoying gits. I can tolerate Rochester enough that he doesn't spoil the novel for me, and I really like Jane and can get fascinated by the other characters, whereas Heathcliff and co just drive me up the wall.