Episode 319: “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte, Intro and Ch. 1-5

Listen to The Literary Life:

Welcome to The Literary Life Podcast with Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks. This week we begin our much-anticipated series on Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë! After sharing their commonplace quotes, Angelina and Thomas set the stage for this book by covering some of Charlotte Brontë’s personal and literary background. Angelina points out some symbolic things that we will be looking for in this book, as well as the important fact that it is a journey story. They also discuss the history and characteristics of the Gothic novel.

In discussing the first five chapters of Jane Eyre, Angelina again highlights repeated scenes that will show Jane’s spiritual development throughout the story, while Thomas makes some comparisons of this book to other stories such as Mansfield Park and Pamela.

You can check out all the latest offerings of mini-classes and webinars, both upcoming and recorded in the past, at HouseofHumaneLetters.com.

Click here to find the episodes we published covering Anne Brontë’s book Agnes Grey. You can also listen to our series on Mansfield Park here.

Commonplace Quotes:

Thin you, if Laura had been Petrarch’s wife,/ He would have written sonnets all his life?

Lord Byron

Shirley is a well known and highly respected novel, but it is not and probably never will be as popular as Jane Eyre. Popularity may have an idealogical link, like Uncle Tom’s Cabin, but this is rarely primary: the usual reason for popularity is mythological, the unobscured revealing of archetypes.

Northrop Frye

Books and Links:

Falling Inward by Dr. Jason Baxter

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg

The Tower and the Ruin by Dr. Michael Drout

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richards

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Surprised by Sin by Stanley Fish

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

The Vision

by William Sharp

In a fair place
Of whin and grass,
I heard feet pass
Where no one was.

I saw a face
Bloom like a flower–
Nay, as the rainbow-shower
Of a tempestuous hour.

It was not man, or woman:
It was not human:
But, beautiful and wild,
Terribly undefiled,
I knew an unborn child.

Support The Literary Life:

Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support!

Connect with Us:

You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/

Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

Subscribe to The Lit Life: