Brontë, Charlotte "The Professor" - 1857
This novel has been on my wishlist for quite a while. It was recommended to me by another blogger who, like me, has also lived in Brussels and from her I learned that they have a Brontë society there now. Unfortunately, I knew nothing about that when I lived there but they might have started this after my time.
Anyway, if you have not read anything by Charlotte Brontë, you definitely must have heard of Jane Eyre, her most popular book, probably the most popular one of all the books by any of the Brontë sisters.
I have yet to find a book by any of them that I don't like at all, they are all fascinating and gripping. Just as this one. I must admit, I might like it even more because it takes place in Brussels but it would have been just as interesting had the protagonist lived elsewhere.
What makes this book as interesting as her others, you have the feeling you are in the midst of the story, even though it took place almost two centuries ago. It is so lively. You can feel the problems of the protagonists, you understand how difficult it was for women in former times and how much as changed and how much hasn't.
Unfortunately, like Jane Austen, the Brontës all died far too early.
From the back cover:
"Charlotte Bronte's first novel, The Professor, is narrated from the viewpoint of an ambitious and self-made man.
Rejecting his aristocratic inheritance William Crimsworth goes to Brussels to find his fortune. He takes a job teaching at a boarding school for young ladies, where he begins a flirtation with Zoraide Reuter, who, out of jealousy, attempts to frustrate his courtship of Frances Henri, an attractive young woman determined to make her way in the world.
In The Professor Charlotte Bronte holds up to scrutiny the Victorian ideals of self-help and individualism. The result is an unusual love story, and a novel profoundly critical of a society in which the relationships between men and women are reduced to power struggles."
Cool! I have a copy of this in one of my Classics stacks.
ReplyDeleteOoooh, nice, Kitten. I hope you like it as much as I did.
DeleteThey did all die too early! That fact always makes me a little sad; they all had such talent.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Lark. It's always a mystery what they still would have written had they reached a ripe old age.
DeleteI read this some years ago. It did not get published until she was already famous, but I sort of like it. Maybe the descriptions of Brussels, since I lived there while reading it. However, although her first try it is typical Charlotte Brontë
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more, Lisbeth. On all accounts. Of course, I read it years after living in Brussels but it took me back. And, of course, I still visit frequently.
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