Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is one of the most famous novels in the world; its heroine's spirited response to hardship and temptation has engaged an eager readership since its publication in 1847. Jane Eyre, however, was not Charlotte Bronte's only novel, and Patsy Stoneman's book traces the development of her work from her exuberant early writing to her disturbing last work, Villette. A final chapter considers Charlotte Bronte's shifting popular and academic reputation and the various adaptations and imitations of her work. Reading the novels in the context of Charlotte Bronte's life and times, Stoneman emphasises her persistent engagement with power relations - within families, between classes and between men and women - and the changing narrative strategies with which she explores them. While keeping close to the words of the page, the book is informed by the critical perspectives of feminism, cultural materialism and postcolonialism.

About the Author
Patsy Stoneman is the Emeritus Reader in English, University of Hull and President of the Bronte Society. She has published widely including Jane Eyre on Stage, 1848-1898: An Illustrated Edition of Eight Plays with Contextual Notes (Ashgate Press, 2007), Elizabeth Gaskell (MUP, 2006) and Bronte Transformations: the Cultural Dissemination of 'Jane Eyre' and 'Wuthering Heights' (Prentice Hall 1996)


Book Information
ISBN 9780746308561
Author Dr. Patsy Stoneman
Format Paperback
Page Count 127
Imprint Liverpool University Press
Publisher Liverpool University Press