Villette

by Charlotte Brontë

Overview

Read this beautiful, romantic feminist classic from the author of Jane Eyre.

When Lucy Snowe leaves England to look for a new life on the Continent she has no idea what lies in store for her. This quiet, lonely girl must learn quickly when she finds herself teaching in a foreign school, with no friends or family to rely on. However, it's not long before figures from Lucy's past appear and she becomes involved in dilemmas which inspire new and passionate feelings in her.

'I am only just returned to a sense of the real world about me, for I have been reading Villette ... There is something preternatural about its power' George Eliot

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781409077749
Publisher:	Random House
Publication date:	10/06/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	672
File size:	979 KB

About the Author

Charlotte Brontë was born on 21 April 1816. Her father was curate of Haworth, Yorkshire and her mother died when she was five years old, leaving five daughters and one son. In 1824 Charlotte, Maria, Elizabeth, and Emily were sent to Cowan Bridge, a school for clergymen's daughters, where Maria and Elizabeth both caught tuberculosis and died. The children were taught at home from this point on and together they created vivid fantasy worlds which they explored in their writing. Charlotte worked as a teacher from 1835 to 1838 and then as a governess. In 1846, along with Emily and Anne, Charlotte published Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. After this Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, Anne wrote Agnes Grey and Charlotte wrote The Professor. Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey were both published but Charlotte's novel was initially rejected. In 1847 Jane Eyre became her first published novel and met with immediate success. Between 1848 and 1849 Charlotte lost her remaining siblings: Emily, Branwell and Anne. She published Shirley in 1849, Villette in 1853 and in 1854 she married the Revd. Arthur Bell Nicholls. She died the next year, on 31 March 1855.
Charlotte Brontë was born on 21 April 1816. Her father was curate of Haworth, Yorkshire, and her mother died when she was five years old, leaving five daughters and one son. In 1824 Charlotte, Maria, Elizabeth and Emily were sent to Cowan Bridge, a school for clergymen's daughters, where Maria and Elizabeth both caught tuberculosis and died. The children were taught at home from this point on and together they created vivid fantasy worlds which they explored in their writing. Charlotte worked as a teacher from 1835 to 1838 and then as a governess. In 1846, along with Emily and Anne, Charlotte published Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell.After this Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, Anne wrote Agnes Grey and Charlotte wrote The Professor. Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey were both published but Charlotte's novel was initially rejected. In 1847 Jane Eyre became her first published novel and met with immediate success. Between 1848 and 1849 Charlotte lost her remaining siblings: Emily, Branwell and Anne. She published Shirley in 1849, Villette in 1853 and in 1854 she married the Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls. She died the next year, on 31 March 1855.

Read an Excerpt

Villette

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Charlotte Brontë: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text
Villette
Appendix A: Brontë and Brussels
1. Letter from Charlotte Brontë to Emily Brontë, 2 September 1843
2. Letter from Charlotte Brontë to Constantin Heger, 8 January 1845 (translation)
3. Letter from Charlotte Brontë to Constantin Heger, 18 November 1845 (translation)
Appendix B: Storms in the Bible
1. Mark 4: 35-41
2. Acts 27: 1, 9-16, 18-31, 39-44
Appendix C: Women and Love
1. From Sarah Stickney Ellis, The Daughters of England (1842)
2. From Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, Olive (1850)
3. From Harriet Martineau, review of Villette. Daily News (3 February 1853)
4. From William Makepeace Thackeray, letter to Lucy Baxter (11 March 1853)
Appendix D: Women and Work
1. From Sarah Stickney Ellis, The Women of England (1839)
2. From Margaret Fuller, Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845)
3. Letter from Charlotte Brontë to Ellen Nussey, 24 June 1851
4. From Harriet Taylor Mill, The Enfranchisement of Women. Westminster Review, July 1851
5. Letter from Charlotte Brontë to Elizabeth Gaskell, 20 September 1851
6. From Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, A Womans Thoughts About Women (1858)
Appendix E: Surveillance and Espionage
1. The Post Office Espionage Case, 1844-45
a. Opening Letters at the Post Office. Hansard: House of Lords, 17 June 1844
b. Alleged Post-Office Espionage, The Times, 25 June 1844
c. The Times, 7 August 1844
d. The Times, 5 June 1845
2. From Reflections Suggested by the Career of the Late Premier. Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, January 1847
3. From Charlotte Brontë, The Professor (1857)
4. From Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Aurora Floyd (1863)
Appendix F: Anti-Catholicism in England
1. From Patrick Brontë, The Maid of Killarney; or Albion and Flora: A Modern Tale; In Which Are Interwoven some Cursory Remarks on Religion and Politics (1818)
2. From Maria Monk, Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, as Exhibited in a Narrative of her Sufferings during a residence of five years as a novice, two as a black nun in the Hotel Dieu Nunnery at Montreal (1836)
3. From Thomas De Quincey, Maynooth. Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, May 1845
4. From Charles Neaves, Priests, Women and Families. Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, May 1845
5. Papal Aggression a. From Nicholas Wiseman, Archbishop of Westminster. A Pastoral Letter, From Outside the Flaminian Gate, 7 October 1850
b. The Times, 14 October 1850
Select Bibliography

What People are Saying About This

EBOOK COMMENTARY

I am only just returned to a sense of real wonder about me, for I have been reading Villette... (George Eliot)"

Reading Group Guide

1. Discuss the character of Lucy Snowe. Do you find her to be an admirable heroine? What qualities do you like in her, or dislike? How do you think you would behave in her circumstances?

2. Writing to her publisher, Charlotte Bronte had this to say about Vilette's protagonist: 'I consider that [Lucy Snowe] is both morbid and weak at times; her character sets up no pretensions to unmixed strength, and anybody living her life would necessarily become morbid.' What do you think of this appraisal? Do her 'unheroic' qualities make her more sympathetic or less?

3. Virginia Woolf felt that Villette was Bronte's 'finest novel, ' and speaking about Bronte, wrote that "All her force, and it is the more tremendous for being constricted, goes into the assertion, 'I love, I hate, I suffer.'" What do you think Woolf means? Do you find this observation interesting, appealing, or moving?

4. Why do you think Bronte sets the narrative of Villette in a foreign country?

5. Explore the theme of education in Villette: What is the role of education in Lucy Snowe's own life?

6. The conclusion of Villette is famously ambiguous (it was made purposefully so by Bronte). Do you find it a happy ending? A sad one? Discuss.

Editorial Reviews

Brontë’s finest novel.

EBOOK COMMENTARY

Brontë’s finest novel.

Virginia Woolf

"Brontë’s finest novel."—Virginia Woolf

From the Publisher

Villette is an amazing book. Written before psychoanalysis came into being, Villette is nevertheless a psychoanalytic work—a psychosexual study of its heroine, Lucy Snowe. Written before the philosophy of existentialism was formulated, the novel’s view of the world can only be described as existential...Today it is read and discussed more intensely than Charlotte Brontë’s other novels, and many critics now believe it to be a true master-piece, a work of genius that more than fulfilled the promise of Jane Eyre.”

bestselling novelist Susan Fromberg Schaeffer

[McCaddon] convincingly portrays the many moods and complex character of Charlotte Brontë’s heroine…Her many voices, with subtle timing, sweep us at a quick clip through a narrative of psychological insight and vividly rendered places, people and landscapes.”

AudioFile

Villette! Villette! Have you read it? It is a still more wonderful book than Jane Eyre. There is something almost preternatural in its power.”

George Eliot

Brontë's lengthy account of Lucy Snowe's teaching career in a French school for girls is the perfect vehicle for Karen Cass. She shows the full range of her talents in vocalizing French and English speakers of all ages. She delivers French dialogue with ease and is convincing in both female and male roles. Her most touching vocalization is that of a motherless child who enters Lucy's life. Cass paints an endearing portrait of the frightened and fragile little girl, who resurfaces later to play a pivotal role in Lucy's chances for marital bliss. Cass’s delightful portrayals of key events and characters help the listener peek into the world of VILLETTE. J.J.B. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

OCT/NOV 06 - AudioFile