I just cannot get enough of Nadia May’s version. I’ve listened to it twice now. I’ll have to give Newton’s a try but May’s has a special place in my heart of being the first to tell me the story of Jane Eyre ❤️
My favorite literature professor used to say "There are two kinds of people in the world: the Wuthering Heights people and the Jane Eyre people." I am afraid, after reading Wuthering Heights multiple times, that I enjoy it better than Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre, however, is what made me study literature in college. That story was riveting and sorrowful.
@@carokat1111Sorry you didn’t much like WH. What gets to me about WH is that women say they don’t like, say, men like Heathcliff, but actually many fall for such brutally cunning and manipulative men … time and time again. It’s one of the few books I’ve read more than twice.
@@csbenzo I read it in high school and was fascinated by it but didn't enjoy the experience at all. Decided to try again age 40 and I think I liked it even less! I don't think I will try for third time lucky.
@@carokat1111 You have a point in unlikeable characters in WH. My interest is in Heathcliff, is in that many years ago I had my “Heathcliff moment”. Overnight I went from quiet law-abiding nerdy chess player with minimal social life to major suspect in a kidnap murder, purely by bizarre circumstantial associations. I featured in the news, too. I was mortified and thought this is the end of what little social life I have. Couldn’t have been more wrong. I was to discover that women of all ages, married or single, love celebrity, even alleged criminal celebrity. They like the thrill of danger. The edgy. Being able to tell their friends they survived the night with a major suspect. Not all women, of course, but an inordinate number. My social life improved quite dramatically. It was then that I realised Emily Brontë was on to something. Secretly and not so secretly, woman want Heathcliff. And this is why the book is so popular.
I read Jane Eyre in Spanish when I was around 15 years old and I loved it so much that I had to read it again a couple years later, now that I’m 26 and a lot more fluent in English I must read it in it’s original language so that I can enjoy it in all of its glory :)
Jane Eyre is one of my favourite comfort novels and has helped me through high school, college, illnesses and loneliness. It's also distracted me from my disability as do other things. I first read Jane Eyre aged 11 and fell in love with both Jane and everything about the novel. I remember not liking Mr Rochester very much as he deceives Jane but after many readings of the novel, I began to sympathise with him as he's not had an easy life with Bertha. It's a beautiful and romantic book and I've loved it for 23 years. Thanks for the video and giving me an opportunity to talk about novels Ben. X
Thank you so much for sharing such a beautiful appreciation of this masterpiece, Kate. I love how special Jane Eyre is to you. Great literature truly has a life-saving power and our favourite writers end up becoming our close friends. I don't know where I would personally be without writers like Charlotte Brontë :) x
@BenjaminMcEvoy Thank you for your lovely message, Ben. I learnt about The Brontes on a school trip to Haworth in October 1999, aged 10. I visited The Bronte Museum and fell in love with the family. I read Jane Eyre in the autumn of 2000 just as I started high school which wasn't the easiest time for me so Jane Eyre helped me. The novel still continues to comfort me through dark times. I own two editions of the book. My aunt bought me a 1930s copy in 2011 and my parents gave me the Folio Society edition for my birthday a few years ago. It's beautifully illustrated. I've read Wuthering Heights but I find the book dark and disturbing. I really like The Tenant of Wildfell Hall too. I wish Anne got more credit for her novel. I love Juliet Stephenson's narration of Jane Eyre which I own on Audible. I want to listen to it again. I think books do help us and comfort us through life. Ben, thank you very much again for allowing the opportunity to discuss my beloved Jane Eyre. 😊 x
This book had a profoundly therapeutic effect on me when I read it at 13. I so related to feeling misunderstood and dismissed like young Jane. Her strength strengthened me through the years.
jane eyre was one of the first novels that made me fall in love with reading. prior, i didn’t read much, but i always enjoyed the classics i had to read for school. i remember picking up a three dollar copy of jane eyre and it collected dust for two years before i finally decided to read it; and wow- i’m lucky i did. not only did it introduce my own volition and soul into the world of literature, but it truly changed my perspective on the world. to the brontë sisters!
Dear @Ben I know its not in this year’s syllabus, but reading Wide Sargasso Sea just after reading Jane Eyre would be such a mind blowing experience… I love Jane Eyre, but after reading WSS, it radically changes your whole perspective on the novel and the characters… once you read it you’ll never see Jane Eyre with the same eyes again… it’s Such a great example of conversations happening through literature… ❤
Jane’s personal strength is what makes this my all time favorite book. I first read it in 2018 and read it a second February/March of this year. I too actively thought about the story when I had put the book down even after finishing it as well. Prior to reading Jane Eyre, I had read Villette, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Agnes Grey, Wuthering Heights, and all of Jane Austen’s books. As for my choice of male leads, definitely Mr. Rochester. He drew Jane out of the corner so she was able to participate in the evening’s discussions and challenged her intellectually, while Heathcliff’s highly emotional nature of jealousy, anger, and violence were not appealing to me. I very much enjoyed watching this video and it is making me want to pick up my copy of Jane Eyre again!
jane eyre, one of the first classics that i read and fell in love with. fascinating book and easily accessible , highly recommended classic for beginners
Would you describe it as an easy read in terms of style and vocabulary? I am a non-native speaker and I am hesitant to start reading it. I get so annoyed when I start reading a book and get bored when the vocabulary is too complicated then end up throwing it away.
@@KawtarElAzouki yes i would describe it as a relatively easy book for beginners the plot and style is straightforward especially for a classic, you might encounter a few words or phrases that you dont understand but that is a positive and good learning opportunity. and i am also a non native English speaker and i enjoyed it thouroughly
Subbed, because yours is one of the very few commentaries I’ve ever happened upon that nails, in every point, Charlotte, the woman, and her creation of Jane Eyre. Well done sir ❤
Hi Benjamin, I just found you on You Tube. I am a prolific Victorian reader, but your You Tube on Marcel Proust really intrigued me. I bought all 7 volumes of In Search of Lost Time and soon will begin a deep reading of In Search of Lost Time. I will soon be turning 70 years of age. I have lost much time in my life, some of the time quite frivolous but now that I am reaching 7 decades I think the best gift I can give myself is read "In Search of Lost Time." I have prepare myself by purchasing a lovely journal to have beside me while I read and then write my inner thoughts and experience of what I read and perhaps connect what I write from my past experience, or even what I would love to experience henceforth. I believe this is the perfect time to read Marcel Proust and will adhere to all your suggestions in the video. Thank you for finding a treasure in your channel.
This book was a great distraction to me during India’s particularly brutal second wave of Covid. Hearing the name “Jane Eyre” is enough to take me back to that time.
i can relate. i hated how scared all of us were of the 2nd wave. constantly feeling terrified, so many people dying everyday. im happy that you could find comfort in this book. for me, i could not get myself to read any book during that time.
Jane Eyre is my favourite out of the Brontës. It's very complex and personal, and as a woman I can relate to her. This discussion is very insightful and I agree with you, it is a somewhat rebellious book in their time. It is such a treat rereading it! Hope you can discuss more of the Brontë Sisters. Wuthering Height is so poetic and dark but I think Anne Brontë is least talked about. Tenant of Wildfell Hall is my favourite in her works.
I read Jane Eyre after reading Agnes Grey and loved both books in different ways for the different reading experiences with them. Jane Eyre truly a deeply moving book that captivates the reader with the passion conveyed between the lines.
Hi Benjamin. Congratulations on 100k subscribers! Your channel is what got me into reading classic literature. I have always enjoyed reading but I never really even considered reading the classics until I saw how interesting you made them all sound. I’ve now read and enjoyed Crime and Punishment, The Illiad, and I have about 150 pages left of War and Peace lol.
I just wanna say I absolutely love your Channel Benjamin! I only discovered it very recently but I can't get enough of your videos. You are amazing at talking about the books you focus on. I started getting into reading more in the last few years after ignoring that passion for a long time but I think that passion has always been hiding inside me. I just needed my first attempts at reading some great novels that have that alluring aura around them in order to truly ignite that burning flame of passion. Greetings from Germany
Yay! Thank you for the great content Benjamin. You make these works available to so many people with your knowledge, enthusiasm and love for these books. Your work is love made visible as you always say. Keep it up
Team Rochester here. 😍Great discussion of my favorite novel. You've inspired me to read deeper and wider all of the Bronte sisters' works (I've only read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights) and the biographies. Thank you!
Just finished it today and I must say it is one of my favorite books now. When a book makes you sad, happy, and provokes thoughtful meditation, you know it's a great book.
I just found a few classics at the thrift store, including Jane Eyre, Barnes & Noble classics edition. I have always wanted to read it, and I am a bit late to the party (I'm54). I definitely want this to be "life changing," and I want to love it so much that I want to keep going and read all of the Brontë sisters' works. I think you would make an excellent narrator as well. 📖
Hello Benjamin. I do enjoy your videos. Amazing!!! Charlotte Bronte and her protagonist Jane Eyre have each touched me in so many ways. Sheltered, with hardly any experience in the ways of relationships and yet understanding so well the depths of passion and romantic love, being solid in her feminine strength even at a time of repression and being so deeply in touch with her inner truth, makes this amazing author so ahead of her times. I love the other Bronte’s as well for these qualities. Thank you for your introspective insights. ❤️🙏🏾
I'm so excited for this one too, Jenny! I love how much affection there is for Jane Eyre. It's definitely going to be a very special reading experience :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Also, let me give you another big THANK YOU for recommending the book, "The Secret History of Jane Eyre." I'm reading that now and you are correct, it is definitely a fascinating read (and anyone who loves Jane Eyre will learn something new by reading it.).
Dude, you are simply awesome. I enjoy literature but find myself studying the writers and the back stories more and more as time goes by. You do such a great job at explaining the back stories, keep up the great work.
Thank you so much, my friend. That is so kind of you to say. You have completely made my day. I appreciate you being here and enjoying these great books with me! :)
I am currently studying this book for my British Literature class, this video comes out at the perfect time ! This book is new to me and I like it so far !
In the early 90s I read Jane Eyre for the first time as part of A level English. It was by far the best thing to come out of that course and it’s been my favourite novel ever since. I still cry at all the same parts every time I read it!
20:49 I just found a copy of this used on World Of Books. I'm so curious to see her personal letters, I wonder how much of her is actually in Jane Eyre.
I’ve re read Jane Eyre more than any other book. I loved taking time out every summer to read it but that was a few years ago. I’ve been thinking about joining the Hardcore Literature Book Club. This video has persuaded me absolutely. I’ve leant so much from it. Thank you Ben.😊
Thank you so much, Sarah :) I'm so happy you enjoyed the video so much! I'm thrilled that you're joining the discussion at the book club. I can't wait to hear your insights as we read through this masterpiece. I can definitely understand why you have reread this book so much. Truly such an astonishing novel! 😊
Never clicked this fast! Another banger by sir Ben! Jane Eyre is actually on my list and I can't wait to read it after my current novel which is Wuthering Heights. Thank you for this amazing content sir!
Thank you so much, my friend! I really appreciate that :) I love that you're going to read Jane Eyre right after Wuthering Heights! I would be very keen to know which one resonates with you the most!
I hope you read it if you have not yet it is the first classic I read and still my favorite glad there are no spoilers as this is one you should experience as it happens
Hello Benjamin. I like your podcast and You Tube channel. I have always liked the idea of 'living' the books I read. The characters becoming real people. I do not know of many who feel this way, so it was truly refreshing to hear you say that. May there be many more discussions to come. Take care. From the divided states.
I finished Jane Eyre, for the first time, two days ago. I was so moved by this novel! At times I read too quickly because I wanted the story to go in a different direction and I was so upset with Miss Bronte! I miss it already, and now that I can relax into the plot, I want to start it again and savor what I blew past. I feel so connected to Jane. I don't think I've ever rooted harder for a main character.
I have a strong desire to join the Hardcore Literature Club and hope to do so sooner rather than later. I have read Jane Eyre about 3 or 4 times but right now I just started re-reading Villette for the second time. While Jane Eyre is undoubtedly the more popular and is considered her masterpiece, my personal favorite is Villette. Other than all the French in it, which being an American I'm woefully ignorant of, I just love it. Your suggestions on how to read Jane Eyre I think will help me read Villette in a way I didn't the first time. Thank you for all you do and for your generosity. It is much appreciated.
I watched with great interest your analysis on my favourite book of all time, Jane Eyre and i absolutely loved it! I've read this masterpiece many times throughout my life and each time there is something new to discover. Through Charlotte, i met Emily and Anne. Emily had a wild imagination and Heathcliff is way darker than Charlotte's mr Rochester. Rochester may be abrupt at times and moody but these are the results of his tortured past. Heathcliff, had a very rough upbringing, he becomes wilder and wilder as he grows old. There is no pity, kindness or remorse concerning him but undoubtedly he is capable to love Catherine with all his might, even though he can hurt her and be hurt by her at the same time. Heathcliff and Catherine's love is toxic. They are so desparate about each other and yet can be venomous and suffocating in their expression of love. Mr Rochester loves Jane truly, passionately, absolutely, despite his dark secret. He does not lie intentionally but out of fear of losing her. He can be caring and loving when he has the woman he loves around him. He goes wild only when he fears that he will be separated from Jane. Mr R is no angel, he is a flawed, broken man but he can be transformed by love, whereas Heathcliff, can not. He is almost described as the devil in Wuthering Heights. However, there are slight similarities between mr R. and H. Their language of expression is wild, passionate and fierce. Only that because they are quite different individuals. I have always loved mr Rochester, who is my favourite fictional character of all time. So to answer your question, mr Rochester or Heathcliff, my answer would be mr R, though i can feel for Heathcliff, who's behaviour and way of living is also the result of abuse and ill-treatment from back when he was a teenager. I can't get enough of the Brontes and can talk non stop about them!
Benjamin, when listening to you, I’m always trying to understand your intelligence that allows you to speak without interruption, showing a complete immersion into the literature. Also, Wuthering Heights has always been my favorite novel. Heathcliff had to overcome so much from an early age.
Benjamin McEvoy, you are a wealth of knowledge! You have a special gift to get one's interested on "Hardcore Literature", pun intended. English is my second language, and I have been trying to immerse myself onto the classics of English literature. I read Jane Eyre last year and found it fantastic. Back in 2001, I started my journey into the USA life, at the same time, I read Wuthering Heights. As for your question regarding Mr. Rochester versus Heathcliff characters' traits, I find Mr. Rochester less evil, less cunning, more likeable, yet, as a rebel woman, I feel more "attracted" to Heathcliff, always going for the dangerous type (insert laugh!). I am currently reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, and your video on the book that turned Dorian evil it's masterful too. Thank you for your talks and videos. You are a fountain of literature inspiration!
This book is my favorite,im currently reading it and enjoying the plot. The other book i was reading was Wuthering by her sister Emily. I'm planning to read Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Agnes Grey as well Charlotte's three books The Professor, Villete and Shirley
I’m excited that you made an in depth video on this one. I’m reading this right now. I’m 4 chapters in and loving every page. I did a month of the Proust tier last month and I listen to the podcast as well. Been following for a while Ben. I love your perspectives on everything. Your passion is infectious. - Tony
Thank you so much, Tony. That means the absolute world to me :) I am so grateful to have you watching and reading along with me. I'm thrilled that you're loving Jane Eyre so much. It really is such a masterpiece. I would love to hear what you make of the rest of it because it keeps getting better and better throughout!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy when she cries out “Deceit is not my fault!” I nearly cried the scene is so powerful. I felt elation for Jane in that moment, and was blown away how Brontë was able to connect me to her character so deeply in only a few chapters, but I knew I was in love when I read her description of sitting by the window pane and looking out at the damp November day, before the first incident with John Reed. That’s when I knew I was all in.
Incredible video. Incredible passion. I will start Jane Eyre for the first time soon. I'm sure now it will be very inspiring - you're doing fantastic work!
Bravo to you man, for explaining the joy of reading this (and other) book! The way you go about it reminds me very much of my English teacher back in the day. I am very glad I found your channel here! I love the 19th century classics, A specially the English and Russian classics in this century!
This is so well researched and informative! When I had first read Jane Eyre, I read it as an interesting story which I had enjoyed. But now whenever I will re read it, I will see Charlotte Brontë in it.
Top drawer, as usual. Your videos are an oasis, an escape from the mundane. I'm obsessed with the Brontes at the moment, and surprise surprise, along came your video. Thanks, guv'nor. 🙏🏽
Thank you so much Benjamin for this video full of great information on Charlotte's life and the Gothic form. Your passion for the great books is absolutely contagious. I love it! You made me pick up and appreciate Moby Dick!! I read Jane Eyre in French many years ago and I absolutely fell in love with it. She shows us the way to resilience, inner strength and love. What a model of fortitude! My goal is to read it in English. I'm sure it will be a different reading experience.
Yay, one of my favorites! 👏🏻Looking forward to a fourth read with Hardcore Literature Bookclub and hearing your in depth, thought provoking lectures along the way! Thank~you, Benjamin.
Thank you so much, Suzanne :) I can't wait to hear your thoughts from your fourth reading of this masterpiece! I can feel that this is going to be a very special reading experience!
Ben you might not need a dictionary by your side when you read Jane Eyre. I very definitely do. I bought them at the same time and the dictionary has fallen apart first.
Yes! English is my second language and I kept referring to the dictionary every paragraph 😂 definitely not an easy read for me, but loved every bit of it.
In Charlotte's passionate letter, I see more of Mr. Rochester than Jane Eyre. I still feared for him on a recent re-reading of the original - even having read the russian translation a decade ago. Jane has Faith and Reason to ground her, and years of experience compartmentalizing her past to keep functioning. Mr. Rochester's emotional immaturity is captured well in Wide Sargasso Sea, the prequel by Jean Rhys.
I read for the first when I was 11 years old, and have reread many times! Next time I visit England I want to visit the Brontë museum and homestead. My partner and I had plans to do so. He was a retired literature teacher and would have enjoyed it so much. Sadly, he passed away before it happened. But what a marvellous read! Hmmm.. Rochester or Heathcliff? Both. My younger, dark passionate and curious self claims one while my current self prefers the heroic Rochester.
Thanks for the video. Last year you encouraged me to read Tolstoy's Anna Karenenina. Now I am going to go for Bronte's Jane Eyre. Soon I will be joining your book club. Thanks a lot ❤❤😊
You're so welcome. Thank you so much for watching, Cecilia. I am so happy to hear that you read Tolstoy's great novel. I can't wait to hear what you make of Charlotte Brontë's masterpiece! ❤️🙏
Thank you, Benjamin, for another brilliant video. Definitely team Rochester. Heathcliff is too brutish, violent, and cruel, though he did have a difficult childhood. My first reading of Jane Eyre when I was in my teens in university. That was after reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. You can imagine the shock. It was like experiencing day and subsequently night. Jane Eyre and Charlotte Bronte are just so modern and the message of equality is still relevant today. For me, in my teens, I was not able to appreciate the wit of Jane Austen and quite tired of reading about having teas and ball dance again and again. Jane is plain so unlike the conventional heroine in those days and more relatable and you can see her growth as a person in the novel. Wuthering Heights is indeed a standalone, and I love it too. The gothic atmosphere evoked is so enveloping and seeps into your veins. Also read Anna Karenina and love it. Jane Eyre and Tess of the D'urbervilles were my favorites in my teens and still have a special place in my heart some 40 years later. I have read them many, many times. Thinking of joining the book club. Want to read Jane Eyre again.
I just finished Jane Eyre and it’s a book I find to be very good in some parts and boring in other parts. But it hooked me and kept me thinking about it after reading, so that’s something. I love this video, gives me more insight about things surrounding the book.
Congratulations on finishing Jane Eyre! It sounds like you gave it a very deep reading. It's definitely a sign of a profound work when you continue to think about it after you've finished! :)
Excellent essay. I'd like to see more top hundreds but of all types short stories, with maybe one divided into genres, too. It's a great way to encourage readers into the reading habit.
I just read it for the first time recently and it blew me away! Not since Dickens have I come across an author who utilizes first-person narration in such a memorable and engaging way. When I read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte a couple of years ago, it became one of my favorite novels ever. Jane Eyre is also now one of my favorites. So much so, that I have already put other novels aside and started reading Villette. At this rate, when I develop my own top 10 list in the future, it's likely going to be primarily made up of books by Dickens and the Bronte sisters. It's too soon to make any definitive statements because I have not yet read even a tenth of the literature of the great 19th-century novelists. That being said, in my (limited) reading experience so far, Victorian literature is the GOAT!
Re; Rochester vs Heathcliff as romantic hero: I’m always astonished and a little grossed out by women swooning over Heathcliff; I want to ask, ‘Did you READ Wuthering Heights or have you only watched the movies?⁉️” Heathcliff, as Emily Brontë WROTE him, was a sadistic, obsessive, malignantly narcissistic, animal-torturing psychopath! Jeez! To this day, I can only enjoy the book in fits and starts and even then only around Halloween. 😂👻
I’ve read Jane Eyre several times, but after watching this, I feel compelled to read it again. Is too late to join the book club? The first time I read Jane Eyre was when I was 14. I was sick at home and my English class was watching the film adaptation. Since I missed it, I decided to read the book, which was actually not assigned reading. I fell in love with the book and was almost glad I got sick. I’ve since read it a couple more times. It just keeps getting better. I am also a fan of Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff and Rochester are such different characters, it would be interesting to do a close reading comparison of the two. Also, you mentioned gothic novels, and I just recently finished reading The Mysteries of Udolpho. Hard to get through the overly effusive descriptions of scenery, but I am so glad I read it.
Thank you, from Stockholm Sweden, believe it or not I was just about to start reading Jane Eyre, and how lucky was I not, so now when I have a better understanding of the milieu and the author it will be a happening instead of merely reading a book. How fun.
Enjoyed the presentation on Jane Eyre! I came very late to JE after a number of failed attempts as a younger man. It was a different experience from WH, which was like trying to read a hurricane. Jane is a Protestant saint who will not bow to her oppressors and is rewarded for it. JE reminded me of Robinson Crusoe, except the island she's marooned on is England and the people who make her miserable are the cannibals. As Harold Bloom said, the Brontes are more like themselves than they resemble any contemporary writer.
Read it at age 14 and never once thought it was deep. Didn't know there was such a thing. Just a page turner. What an interesting tidbit, " an autobiography ."
I read it first when I was a lonely preteen. There were many aspects of Jane that I could identify with. Plus I was so happy to be someone's confidant even if it was a character in a book by a long dead author.
💝It was my first book of 2023, a re-read. Its probably my all-time favorite novel. I read a tattered hardcover edition in high school for fun. The Lowood School scenes gripped my imagination. Then in college, I memorized the punishment scene at Lowood for a speech class and presented it. Of course memorization requires a deeper consumption of a text. I believe I've read the book five times cover to cover and have read parts countless times. This year, the feminism hit me more strongly. Also the section I purposely read the John Reed section more slowly than in the past. It was a worthy endeavor to give it it's due. Jane is a fantastic character who inspires me.
My impression of this book changed many times. The first time, I was 11 years old. Then, about five times overall. For some reason, it's quite comport read for me, even though the book itself is not.
Jane Eyre is one of the most honest and fearless books I've ever read. Charlotte Bronte says what she thinks and feels so frankly that it's scary. My favorite novel next to Moby Dick.
There's a companion novel to "Jane Eyre." It's called "Wide Sargasso Sea." Wiki says: The novel serves as a postcolonial and feminist prequel to Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre (1847), describing the background to Mr. Rochester's marriage from the point-of-view of his wife Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress.
I read this way before J.E. and if I remember correctly, it shows Bertha as innocent victim, thus totally ignoring Charlotte Brontë's characterization of Rochester.
I've just joined your Book Club today and I'm super excited to start the journey! It's going to be a tough choice between Anna Karenina (which I read in high school but want to re-read with a more slow and thoughtful approach) and Jane Eyre which I haven't read. I'm one of those people who often read several books in parallel so maybe that's what I'll have to do this time! 😅
We're so happy that you're reading with us, Natalia!! I'm so excited to hear your insights as we read through these great books together. It's definitely a tough choice between Anna Karenina and Jane Eyre. They're both such beautiful masterpieces and contain so much wisdom. And it sounds like you have the same reading style as me! I love running multiple books in parallel. I find that the authors start to speak to each other when I do that 😊
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thank you for a warm welcome! I have been catching up on a lot of your videos and one of them was about your reading style. It was the first time I finally felt at peace with mine because of you sharing that! I used to think it’s kind of silly/not productive to surround myself with 8-10 books in one evening and look through some sections from each for 10-15 min. To be fair I do it mostly with non-fiction books on the same or similar topic. With fiction it would be “only” 3-4 at a time. 😂 But yes, your sharing your experience made me feel seen! Thank you!
Hi Ben, I absolutely love the channel! I was wondering if you were going to do any videos on Kurt Vonnegut? He is my absolute favourite, and I would love to hear your thoughts on him
I only read Jane Eyre this year after putting it off, well, most of my life. Once I read it though, I was utterly drawn in. Why hadn’t I ever read this brilliant novel?! (I asked myself). It made me realise how I had some wrong assumptions about books. In the end, I bought copies of this book and gave them as gifts to my female friends urging them to read it and have their lives changed as well. (Yeah I became THAT person!) 🤣 Thank you for your videos. They are all brilliant!
Really enjoyed this -- *thank* *you* (& very much thinking about joining the book club just to hear your further lectures :) An aside but to Charlotte's dislike of Austen, it always struck me as possibly because Austen is so (comparatively) spare in her prose -- she says what is necessary, and often with a proverbial razor -- Brontë's language is utterly and completely different and I wonder if Austen seemed like something of a cold fish to her given the kind of intensity in/with which they wrote their novels and lived their lives.
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To anyone seeking an audiobook version, Thandiwe Newton's narration of Jane Eyre is SUCH a treat.
I agree! She did an excellent job.
It is brilliant.
Just downloaded this narration on Audible, for free. Thank you! 🙏🏽
I just cannot get enough of Nadia May’s version. I’ve listened to it twice now. I’ll have to give Newton’s a try but May’s has a special place in my heart of being the first to tell me the story of Jane Eyre ❤️
I prefer Anna Popplewell's narration, but Thandiwe also does an EXCELLENT job
My favorite literature professor used to say "There are two kinds of people in the world: the Wuthering Heights people and the Jane Eyre people." I am afraid, after reading Wuthering Heights multiple times, that I enjoy it better than Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre, however, is what made me study literature in college. That story was riveting and sorrowful.
So true. I adore Jane Eyre but detest Wuthering Heights. Strong words, but the WH characters are so unlikeable that I just cannot get past that.
Enjoy JE thoroughly but *love* WH
@@carokat1111Sorry you didn’t much like WH. What gets to me about WH is that women say they don’t like, say, men like Heathcliff, but actually many fall for such brutally cunning and manipulative men … time and time again. It’s one of the few books I’ve read more than twice.
@@csbenzo I read it in high school and was fascinated by it but didn't enjoy the experience at all. Decided to try again age 40 and I think I liked it even less! I don't think I will try for third time lucky.
@@carokat1111 You have a point in unlikeable characters in WH. My interest is in Heathcliff, is in that many years ago I had my “Heathcliff moment”. Overnight I went from quiet law-abiding nerdy chess player with minimal social life to major suspect in a kidnap murder, purely by bizarre circumstantial associations. I featured in the news, too. I was mortified and thought this is the end of what little social life I have. Couldn’t have been more wrong. I was to discover that women of all ages, married or single, love celebrity, even alleged criminal celebrity. They like the thrill of danger. The edgy. Being able to tell their friends they survived the night with a major suspect. Not all women, of course, but an inordinate number. My social life improved quite dramatically.
It was then that I realised Emily Brontë was on to something. Secretly and not so secretly, woman want Heathcliff. And this is why the book is so popular.
I read Jane Eyre in Spanish when I was around 15 years old and I loved it so much that I had to read it again a couple years later, now that I’m 26 and a lot more fluent in English I must read it in it’s original language so that I can enjoy it in all of its glory :)
Jane Eyre is one of my favourite comfort novels and has helped me through high school, college, illnesses and loneliness. It's also distracted me from my disability as do other things. I first read Jane Eyre aged 11 and fell in love with both Jane and everything about the novel. I remember not liking Mr Rochester very much as he deceives Jane but after many readings of the novel, I began to sympathise with him as he's not had an easy life with Bertha. It's a beautiful and romantic book and I've loved it for 23 years. Thanks for the video and giving me an opportunity to talk about novels Ben. X
Thank you so much for sharing such a beautiful appreciation of this masterpiece, Kate. I love how special Jane Eyre is to you. Great literature truly has a life-saving power and our favourite writers end up becoming our close friends. I don't know where I would personally be without writers like Charlotte Brontë :) x
@BenjaminMcEvoy Thank you for your lovely message, Ben. I learnt about The Brontes on a school trip to Haworth in October 1999, aged 10. I visited The Bronte Museum and fell in love with the family. I read Jane Eyre in the autumn of 2000 just as I started high school which wasn't the easiest time for me so Jane Eyre helped me. The novel still continues to comfort me through dark times. I own two editions of the book. My aunt bought me a 1930s copy in 2011 and my parents gave me the Folio Society edition for my birthday a few years ago. It's beautifully illustrated. I've read Wuthering Heights but I find the book dark and disturbing. I really like The Tenant of Wildfell Hall too. I wish Anne got more credit for her novel. I love Juliet Stephenson's narration of Jane Eyre which I own on Audible. I want to listen to it again. I think books do help us and comfort us through life. Ben, thank you very much again for allowing the opportunity to discuss my beloved Jane Eyre. 😊 x
This book had a profoundly therapeutic effect on me when I read it at 13. I so related to feeling misunderstood and dismissed like young Jane. Her strength strengthened me through the years.
jane eyre was one of the first novels that made me fall in love with reading. prior, i didn’t read much, but i always enjoyed the classics i had to read for school. i remember picking up a three dollar copy of jane eyre and it collected dust for two years before i finally decided to read it; and wow- i’m lucky i did. not only did it introduce my own volition and soul into the world of literature, but it truly changed my perspective on the world. to the brontë sisters!
I did my honors thesis on Jane Eyre, many, many years ago, so it will always be close to my heart.
Such a brilliant novel to choose for your thesis! I can see why it would be so special to you, Kathy :)
Dear @Ben
I know its not in this year’s syllabus, but reading Wide Sargasso Sea just after reading Jane Eyre would be such a mind blowing experience…
I love Jane Eyre, but after reading WSS, it radically changes your whole perspective on the novel and the characters… once you read it you’ll never see Jane Eyre with the same eyes again… it’s Such a great example of conversations happening through literature… ❤
Jane’s personal strength is what makes this my all time favorite book.
I first read it in 2018 and read it a second February/March of this year. I too actively thought about the story when I had put the book down even after finishing it as well.
Prior to reading Jane Eyre, I had read Villette, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Agnes Grey, Wuthering Heights, and all of Jane Austen’s books.
As for my choice of male leads, definitely Mr. Rochester. He drew Jane out of the corner so she was able to participate in the evening’s discussions and challenged her intellectually, while Heathcliff’s highly emotional nature of jealousy, anger, and violence were not appealing to me.
I very much enjoyed watching this video and it is making me want to pick up my copy of Jane Eyre again!
Jane Eyre has been sadly sitting on my bookshelf collecting dust for years, but thanks to you I now can't wait to start it!
jane eyre, one of the first classics that i read and fell in love with. fascinating book and easily accessible , highly recommended classic for beginners
Would you describe it as an easy read in terms of style and vocabulary? I am a non-native speaker and I am hesitant to start reading it. I get so annoyed when I start reading a book and get bored when the vocabulary is too complicated then end up throwing it away.
@@KawtarElAzouki yes i would describe it as a relatively easy book for beginners the plot and style is straightforward especially for a classic, you might encounter a few words or phrases that you dont understand but that is a positive and good learning opportunity. and i am also a non native English speaker and i enjoyed it thouroughly
@@haydersdk5088 Thank you very much 🙏🏼 I appreciate your response. I will start reading it today.
Hope you eventually do "Madame Bovary"! It's probably the greatest novel you haven't done yet.
I'm definitely planning to discuss that one! :)
Subbed, because yours is one of the very few commentaries I’ve ever happened upon that nails, in every point, Charlotte, the woman, and her creation of Jane Eyre. Well done sir ❤
Hi Benjamin, I just found you on You Tube. I am a prolific Victorian reader, but your You Tube on Marcel Proust really intrigued me. I bought all 7 volumes of In Search of Lost Time and soon will begin a deep reading of In Search of Lost Time. I will soon be turning 70 years of age. I have lost much time in my life, some of the time quite frivolous but now that I am reaching 7 decades I think the best gift I can give myself is read "In Search of Lost Time." I have prepare myself by purchasing a lovely journal to have beside me while I read and then write my inner thoughts and experience of what I read and perhaps connect what I write from my past experience, or even what I would love to experience henceforth. I believe this is the perfect time to read Marcel Proust and will adhere to all your suggestions in the video. Thank you for finding a treasure in your channel.
This book was a great distraction to me during India’s particularly brutal second wave of Covid. Hearing the name “Jane Eyre” is enough to take me back to that time.
One of my favourite books too. I'm sorry India had a brutal 2md wave. 'Gain of function' comes to mind. Take care fellow Jame Eyre fan ☺
@@nikk3251ah it was mostly the government managing it all very poorly. Thank you, and you take care as well
i can relate. i hated how scared all of us were of the 2nd wave. constantly feeling terrified, so many people dying everyday. im happy that you could find comfort in this book. for me, i could not get myself to read any book during that time.
@@aarushidwivedi7825we both made it. I hope you’re doing better now. God bless us all
Jane Eyre is my favourite out of the Brontës. It's very complex and personal, and as a woman I can relate to her. This discussion is very insightful and I agree with you, it is a somewhat rebellious book in their time. It is such a treat rereading it! Hope you can discuss more of the Brontë Sisters. Wuthering Height is so poetic and dark but I think Anne Brontë is least talked about. Tenant of Wildfell Hall is my favourite in her works.
I read Jane Eyre after reading Agnes Grey and loved both books in different ways for the different reading experiences with them. Jane Eyre truly a deeply moving book that captivates the reader with the passion conveyed between the lines.
Hi Benjamin. Congratulations on 100k subscribers! Your channel is what got me into reading classic literature.
I have always enjoyed reading but I never really even considered reading the classics until I saw how interesting you made them all sound.
I’ve now read and enjoyed Crime and Punishment, The Illiad, and I have about 150 pages left of War and Peace lol.
one of my favourite books
This is too good I’m rewatching it over and over
Aw, thank you!! I'm so happy to hear that! :)
I just wanna say I absolutely love your Channel Benjamin! I only discovered it very recently but I can't get enough of your videos. You are amazing at talking about the books you focus on. I started getting into reading more in the last few years after ignoring that passion for a long time but I think that passion has always been hiding inside me. I just needed my first attempts at reading some great novels that have that alluring aura around them in order to truly ignite that burning flame of passion. Greetings from Germany
Yay! Thank you for the great content Benjamin. You make these works available to so many people with your knowledge, enthusiasm and love for these books. Your work is love made visible as you always say. Keep it up
Aw, thank you so much! That is so incredibly kind of you to say. You have completely made my day 🙏❤️
Very helpful, thank you, You are so clever, must be the reading + thinking
Team Rochester here. 😍Great discussion of my favorite novel. You've inspired me to read deeper and wider all of the Bronte sisters' works (I've only read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights) and the biographies. Thank you!
Team Rochester here.😃😍me too!
Just finished it today and I must say it is one of my favorite books now. When a book makes you sad, happy, and provokes thoughtful meditation, you know it's a great book.
We have entered Spooky Season and the Brontëverse! Well done! 👏🏽
My absolute favourite time of year! And the Brontës are such perfect reading as the days become cold and dark :)
I'm reading Wuthering Heights right now for that very reason!
I just found a few classics at the thrift store, including Jane Eyre, Barnes & Noble classics edition. I have always wanted to read it, and I am a bit late to the party (I'm54). I definitely want this to be "life changing," and I want to love it so much that I want to keep going and read all of the Brontë sisters' works. I think you would make an excellent narrator as well. 📖
Hello Benjamin. I do enjoy your videos. Amazing!!! Charlotte Bronte and her protagonist Jane Eyre have each touched me in so many ways. Sheltered, with hardly any experience in the ways of relationships and yet understanding so well the depths of passion and romantic love, being solid in her feminine strength even at a time of repression and being so deeply in touch with her inner truth, makes this amazing author so ahead of her times. I love the other Bronte’s as well for these qualities. Thank you for your introspective insights. ❤️🙏🏾
I just started reading this, thank you! Looking forward to this video! (I also love Wuthering Heights, the book, not only the Kate Bush song)
That's amazing! I would love to know what you make of it! I'm a big fan of Emily's great novel too. And also the Kate Bush song 😊 🎶
Really looking forward to reading this book with the book club.
I'm so excited for this one too, Jenny! I love how much affection there is for Jane Eyre. It's definitely going to be a very special reading experience :)
Literally started the book an hour ago and came to this to see if you had posted about it, tysm!
That's such amazing timing! I'd really love to know what you make of it :)
This lecture about my all time favorite Bronte book has been a true joy to listen to. Thank you, sir!
Aw, thank you so much, Curt! I really appreciate that, my friend 🙏😊
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Also, let me give you another big THANK YOU for recommending the book, "The Secret History of Jane Eyre." I'm reading that now and you are correct, it is definitely a fascinating read (and anyone who loves Jane Eyre will learn something new by reading it.).
Jayne Eyre is my all time favorite book! I love, love this book and have seen every movie made from this book.
Wow!! That's so awesome :) That makes me so happy to hear!
Dude, you are simply awesome. I enjoy literature but find myself studying the writers and the back stories more and more as time goes by. You do such a great job at explaining the back stories, keep up the great work.
Thank you so much, my friend. That is so kind of you to say. You have completely made my day. I appreciate you being here and enjoying these great books with me! :)
I discovered this channel yesterday and I’m glued to it. Congrats on 100k 🎉
Welcome to the channel! Thank you so much for the kind congratulations :) I'm completely speechless!
I am currently studying this book for my British Literature class, this video comes out at the perfect time ! This book is new to me and I like it so far !
Perfect timing. I’m about half way through the book and been watching the channel for the past couple months :)
Fantastic timing! I hope you're enjoying it :) And thank you so much for watching, my friend!
You said it more perfectly than I could ever - “a force of nature”.
And so far it’s been nothing short of that.
I just started reading this! About halfway through now. Your timing is impeccable
In the early 90s I read Jane Eyre for the first time as part of A level English. It was by far the best thing to come out of that course and it’s been my favourite novel ever since. I still cry at all the same parts every time I read it!
20:49 I just found a copy of this used on World Of Books. I'm so curious to see her personal letters, I wonder how much of her is actually in Jane Eyre.
I’ve re read Jane Eyre more than any other book. I loved taking time out every summer to read it but that was a few years ago. I’ve been thinking about joining the Hardcore Literature Book Club. This video has persuaded me absolutely. I’ve leant so much from it. Thank you Ben.😊
Thank you so much, Sarah :) I'm so happy you enjoyed the video so much! I'm thrilled that you're joining the discussion at the book club. I can't wait to hear your insights as we read through this masterpiece. I can definitely understand why you have reread this book so much. Truly such an astonishing novel! 😊
Never clicked this fast! Another banger by sir Ben! Jane Eyre is actually on my list and I can't wait to read it after my current novel which is Wuthering Heights. Thank you for this amazing content sir!
Thank you so much, my friend! I really appreciate that :) I love that you're going to read Jane Eyre right after Wuthering Heights! I would be very keen to know which one resonates with you the most!
I hope you read it if you have not yet it is the first classic I read and still my favorite glad there are no spoilers as this is one you should experience as it happens
Hello Benjamin. I like your podcast and You Tube channel. I have always liked the idea of 'living' the books I read. The characters becoming real people. I do not know of many who feel this way, so it was truly refreshing to hear you say that. May there be many more discussions to come. Take care. From the divided states.
I finished Jane Eyre, for the first time, two days ago. I was so moved by this novel! At times I read too quickly because I wanted the story to go in a different direction and I was so upset with Miss Bronte! I miss it already, and now that I can relax into the plot, I want to start it again and savor what I blew past. I feel so connected to Jane. I don't think I've ever rooted harder for a main character.
I have a strong desire to join the Hardcore Literature Club and hope to do so sooner rather than later. I have read Jane Eyre about 3 or 4 times but right now I just started re-reading Villette for the second time. While Jane Eyre is undoubtedly the more popular and is considered her masterpiece, my personal favorite is Villette. Other than all the French in it, which being an American I'm woefully ignorant of, I just love it. Your suggestions on how to read Jane Eyre I think will help me read Villette in a way I didn't the first time. Thank you for all you do and for your generosity. It is much appreciated.
On my list to read after my current novel. Looking forward to it.
That's very exciting, Max! I would love to know what you make of it :)
I have found the audiobook recommended. Your advice is gold, thank you!
Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy it :)
I watched with great interest your analysis on my favourite book of all time, Jane Eyre and i absolutely loved it!
I've read this masterpiece many times throughout my life and each time there is something new to discover. Through Charlotte, i met Emily and Anne. Emily had a wild imagination and Heathcliff is way darker than Charlotte's mr Rochester. Rochester may be abrupt at times and moody but these are the results of his tortured past. Heathcliff, had a very rough upbringing, he becomes wilder and wilder as he grows old. There is no pity, kindness or remorse concerning him but undoubtedly he is capable to love Catherine with all his might, even though he can hurt her and be hurt by her at the same time. Heathcliff and Catherine's love is toxic. They are so desparate about each other and yet can be venomous and suffocating in their expression of love.
Mr Rochester loves Jane truly, passionately, absolutely, despite his dark secret. He does not lie intentionally but out of fear of losing her. He can be caring and loving when he has the woman he loves around him. He goes wild only when he fears that he will be separated from Jane. Mr R is no angel, he is a flawed, broken man but he can be transformed by love, whereas Heathcliff, can not. He is almost described as the devil in Wuthering Heights.
However, there are slight similarities between mr R. and H. Their language of expression is wild, passionate and fierce. Only that because they are quite different individuals.
I have always loved mr Rochester, who is my favourite fictional character of all time. So to answer your question, mr Rochester or Heathcliff, my answer would be mr R, though i can feel for Heathcliff, who's behaviour and way of living is also the result of abuse and ill-treatment from back when he was a teenager.
I can't get enough of the Brontes and can talk non stop about them!
Benjamin, when listening to you, I’m always trying to understand your intelligence that allows you to speak without interruption, showing a complete immersion into the literature.
Also, Wuthering Heights has always been my favorite novel. Heathcliff had to overcome so much from an early age.
Benjamin McEvoy, you are a wealth of knowledge! You have a special gift to get one's interested on "Hardcore Literature", pun intended. English is my second language, and I have been trying to immerse myself onto the classics of English literature. I read Jane Eyre last year and found it fantastic. Back in 2001, I started my journey into the USA life, at the same time, I read Wuthering Heights. As for your question regarding Mr. Rochester versus Heathcliff characters' traits, I find Mr. Rochester less evil, less cunning, more likeable, yet, as a rebel woman, I feel more "attracted" to Heathcliff, always going for the dangerous type (insert laugh!). I am currently reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, and your video on the book that turned Dorian evil it's masterful too. Thank you for your talks and videos. You are a fountain of literature inspiration!
It's always a good day when Ben uploads :))
Thank you so much, my friend. I appreciate you! :)
This book is my favorite,im currently reading it and enjoying the plot. The other book i was reading was Wuthering by her sister Emily. I'm planning to read Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Agnes Grey as well Charlotte's three books The Professor, Villete and Shirley
Thank you for making this and sharing it with us; I learned so much! I'm about to pick the book up for the first time and am even more excited now.
I’m excited that you made an in depth video on this one. I’m reading this right now. I’m 4 chapters in and loving every page. I did a month of the Proust tier last month and I listen to the podcast as well. Been following for a while Ben. I love your perspectives on everything. Your passion is infectious. - Tony
Thank you so much, Tony. That means the absolute world to me :) I am so grateful to have you watching and reading along with me. I'm thrilled that you're loving Jane Eyre so much. It really is such a masterpiece. I would love to hear what you make of the rest of it because it keeps getting better and better throughout!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy when she cries out “Deceit is not my fault!” I nearly cried the scene is so powerful. I felt elation for Jane in that moment, and was blown away how Brontë was able to connect me to her character so deeply in only a few chapters, but I knew I was in love when I read her description of sitting by the window pane and looking out at the damp November day, before the first incident with John Reed. That’s when I knew I was all in.
Incredible video. Incredible passion. I will start Jane Eyre for the first time soon. I'm sure now it will be very inspiring - you're doing fantastic work!
Thank you so much! That is so kind of you :) You have completely made my day! I'd love to know what you make of Jane Eyre!
Bravo to you man, for explaining the joy of reading this (and other) book! The way you go about it reminds me very much of my English teacher back in the day. I am very glad I found your channel here! I love the 19th century classics, A specially the English and Russian classics in this century!
This is so well researched and informative! When I had first read Jane Eyre, I read it as an interesting story which I had enjoyed. But now whenever I will re read it, I will see Charlotte Brontë in it.
Top drawer, as usual. Your videos are an oasis, an escape from the mundane. I'm obsessed with the Brontes at the moment, and surprise surprise, along came your video. Thanks, guv'nor. 🙏🏽
Why have I never read this? I've seen all the movies....time for the book.
Canada
This is really great analysis. As good as as a lecture from a college professor!
Thank you so much Benjamin for this video full of great information on Charlotte's life and the Gothic form. Your passion for the great books is absolutely contagious. I love it! You made me pick up and appreciate Moby Dick!! I read Jane Eyre in French many years ago and I absolutely fell in love with it. She shows us the way to resilience, inner strength and love. What a model of fortitude! My goal is to read it in English. I'm sure it will be a different reading experience.
Yay, one of my favorites! 👏🏻Looking forward to a fourth read with Hardcore Literature Bookclub and hearing your in depth, thought provoking lectures along the way!
Thank~you, Benjamin.
Thank you so much, Suzanne :) I can't wait to hear your thoughts from your fourth reading of this masterpiece! I can feel that this is going to be a very special reading experience!
Ben you might not need a dictionary by your side when you read Jane Eyre. I very definitely do. I bought them at the same time and the dictionary has fallen apart first.
Yes! English is my second language and I kept referring to the dictionary every paragraph 😂 definitely not an easy read for me, but loved every bit of it.
In Charlotte's passionate letter, I see more of Mr. Rochester than Jane Eyre. I still feared for him on a recent re-reading of the original - even having read the russian translation a decade ago. Jane has Faith and Reason to ground her, and years of experience compartmentalizing her past to keep functioning. Mr. Rochester's emotional immaturity is captured well in Wide Sargasso Sea, the prequel by Jean Rhys.
I read for the first when I was 11 years old, and have reread many times! Next time I visit England I want to visit the Brontë museum and homestead. My partner and I had plans to do so. He was a retired literature teacher and would have enjoyed it so much. Sadly, he passed away before it happened. But what a marvellous read!
Hmmm.. Rochester or Heathcliff? Both. My younger, dark passionate and curious self claims one while my current self prefers the heroic Rochester.
Can i just say, thank you so much. You are a beacon of passion and remind me daily why it is I love great literature so much
Thank you so much, Steve. That is incredibly kind of you to say. You've completely made my day 🙏
Thanks for the video. Last year you encouraged me to read Tolstoy's Anna Karenenina. Now I am going to go for Bronte's Jane Eyre. Soon I will be joining your book club. Thanks a lot
❤❤😊
You're so welcome. Thank you so much for watching, Cecilia. I am so happy to hear that you read Tolstoy's great novel. I can't wait to hear what you make of Charlotte Brontë's masterpiece! ❤️🙏
Thank you, Benjamin, for another brilliant video.
Definitely team Rochester. Heathcliff is too brutish, violent, and cruel, though he did have a difficult childhood.
My first reading of Jane Eyre when I was in my teens in university. That was after reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. You can imagine the shock. It was like experiencing day and subsequently night.
Jane Eyre and Charlotte Bronte are just so modern and the message of equality is still relevant today. For me, in my teens, I was not able to appreciate the wit of Jane Austen and quite tired of reading about having teas and ball dance again and again. Jane is plain so unlike the conventional heroine in those days and more relatable and you can see her growth as a person in the novel.
Wuthering Heights is indeed a standalone, and I love it too. The gothic atmosphere evoked is so enveloping and seeps into your veins.
Also read Anna Karenina and love it.
Jane Eyre and Tess of the D'urbervilles were my favorites in my teens and still have a special place in my heart some 40 years later. I have read them many, many times.
Thinking of joining the book club. Want to read Jane Eyre again.
Thanks for the fantastic content, Benjamin! Also, congratulations on 100K... ❤
Aw, thank you so much, Lisa! I really appreciate that 🙏❤️
I just finished Jane Eyre and it’s a book I find to be very good in some parts and boring in other parts. But it hooked me and kept me thinking about it after reading, so that’s something.
I love this video, gives me more insight about things surrounding the book.
Congratulations on finishing Jane Eyre! It sounds like you gave it a very deep reading. It's definitely a sign of a profound work when you continue to think about it after you've finished! :)
Benjamin, hope your doing well. Thanks for the content.
Thank you so much, Alex! I really appreciate that. I hope you're keeping well too 🙏😊
Excellent essay. I'd like to see more top hundreds but of all types short stories, with maybe one divided into genres, too. It's a great way to encourage readers into the reading habit.
I just read it for the first time recently and it blew me away! Not since Dickens have I come across an author who utilizes first-person narration in such a memorable and engaging way. When I read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte a couple of years ago, it became one of my favorite novels ever. Jane Eyre is also now one of my favorites. So much so, that I have already put other novels aside and started reading Villette. At this rate, when I develop my own top 10 list in the future, it's likely going to be primarily made up of books by Dickens and the Bronte sisters. It's too soon to make any definitive statements because I have not yet read even a tenth of the literature of the great 19th-century novelists. That being said, in my (limited) reading experience so far, Victorian literature is the GOAT!
Wait till you read French classic
Re; Rochester vs Heathcliff as romantic hero: I’m always astonished and a little grossed out by women swooning over Heathcliff; I want to ask, ‘Did you READ Wuthering Heights or have you only watched the movies?⁉️”
Heathcliff, as Emily Brontë WROTE him, was a sadistic, obsessive, malignantly narcissistic, animal-torturing psychopath! Jeez! To this day, I can only enjoy the book in fits and starts and even then only around Halloween. 😂👻
I’ve read Jane Eyre several times, but after watching this, I feel compelled to read it again. Is too late to join the book club? The first time I read Jane Eyre was when I was 14. I was sick at home and my English class was watching the film adaptation. Since I missed it, I decided to read the book, which was actually not assigned reading. I fell in love with the book and was almost glad I got sick. I’ve since read it a couple more times. It just keeps getting better. I am also a fan of Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff and Rochester are such different characters, it would be interesting to do a close reading comparison of the two. Also, you mentioned gothic novels, and I just recently finished reading The Mysteries of Udolpho. Hard to get through the overly effusive descriptions of scenery, but I am so glad I read it.
Thank you, from Stockholm Sweden, believe it or not I was just about to start reading Jane Eyre, and how lucky was I not, so now when I have a better understanding of the milieu and the author it will be a happening instead of merely reading a book. How fun.
Thank you. Most engaging and educational.
Enjoyed the presentation on Jane Eyre!
I came very late to JE after a number of failed attempts as a younger man. It was a different experience from WH, which was like trying to read a hurricane.
Jane is a Protestant saint who will not bow to her oppressors and is rewarded for it.
JE reminded me of Robinson Crusoe, except the island she's marooned on is England and the people who make her miserable are the cannibals.
As Harold Bloom said, the Brontes are more like themselves than they resemble any contemporary writer.
Thanks for sharing this amazing video, Benjamin!
Have an amazing week ahead!
Cheers from Brazil!
Well this is my first reading of Jane Eyre and I’m enjoying it immensely.
I'm so happy to hear that!
I haven't read it since my school days, and I can't say I was very engaged with it. I'll have a watch of the video and see if I learn to appreciate it
Marvelous explanation vs analyze of characters of this pearl of ENGLISH LITERATURE!
You are so well spoken.
Read it at age 14 and never once thought it was deep. Didn't know there was such a thing. Just a page turner. What an interesting tidbit, " an autobiography ."
Loved this novel. I’ll have to read it again 🎉!
I read it first when I was a lonely preteen. There were many aspects of Jane that I could identify with. Plus I was so happy to be someone's confidant even if it was a character in a book by a long dead author.
💝It was my first book of 2023, a re-read. Its probably my all-time favorite novel. I read a tattered hardcover edition in high school for fun. The Lowood School scenes gripped my imagination. Then in college, I memorized the punishment scene at Lowood for a speech class and presented it. Of course memorization requires a deeper consumption of a text. I believe I've read the book five times cover to cover and have read parts countless times. This year, the feminism hit me more strongly. Also the section I purposely read the John Reed section more slowly than in the past. It was a worthy endeavor to give it it's due. Jane is a fantastic character who inspires me.
Hello Benjamin ! When will you discuss about Thomas Mann. Reading his Doctor Faustus right now. Love all his writing.
your videos are consistenly great, thank you!
Thank you so much, my friend. I really appreciate that!
I was planning to read it, now i will read it without a doubt with your video, thank you.
I would love to know what you make of it! :)
I want to read every book you discuss. So many books so little time!!!
Aw, thank you so much, Kimmy! This is my lament every single day. So many books so little time! I really feel that :)
My impression of this book changed many times. The first time, I was 11 years old. Then, about five times overall. For some reason, it's quite comport read for me, even though the book itself is not.
Jane Eyre is one of the most honest and fearless books I've ever read. Charlotte Bronte says what she thinks and feels so frankly that it's scary. My favorite novel next to Moby Dick.
There's a companion novel to "Jane Eyre." It's called "Wide Sargasso Sea." Wiki says: The novel serves as a postcolonial and feminist prequel to Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre (1847), describing the background to Mr. Rochester's marriage from the point-of-view of his wife Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress.
I read this way before J.E. and if I remember correctly, it shows Bertha as innocent victim, thus totally ignoring Charlotte Brontë's characterization of Rochester.
@@mllesamedi84 It's not like Jean Rhys to let men off the hook. LOL I read her novels from the 1920s and 30s. Very good but bleak as hell.
I can’t even read Jane Eyre after Wide Sargasso Sea. It’s a brilliant book and you don’t judge it, it judges you
I've just joined your Book Club today and I'm super excited to start the journey! It's going to be a tough choice between Anna Karenina (which I read in high school but want to re-read with a more slow and thoughtful approach) and Jane Eyre which I haven't read. I'm one of those people who often read several books in parallel so maybe that's what I'll have to do this time! 😅
Try Jane you will love me rodchester
We're so happy that you're reading with us, Natalia!! I'm so excited to hear your insights as we read through these great books together. It's definitely a tough choice between Anna Karenina and Jane Eyre. They're both such beautiful masterpieces and contain so much wisdom. And it sounds like you have the same reading style as me! I love running multiple books in parallel. I find that the authors start to speak to each other when I do that 😊
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thank you for a warm welcome! I have been catching up on a lot of your videos and one of them was about your reading style. It was the first time I finally felt at peace with mine because of you sharing that! I used to think it’s kind of silly/not productive to surround myself with 8-10 books in one evening and look through some sections from each for 10-15 min. To be fair I do it mostly with non-fiction books on the same or similar topic. With fiction it would be “only” 3-4 at a time. 😂 But yes, your sharing your experience made me feel seen! Thank you!
Hi Ben, I absolutely love the channel! I was wondering if you were going to do any videos on Kurt Vonnegut? He is my absolute favourite, and I would love to hear your thoughts on him
I only read Jane Eyre this year after putting it off, well, most of my life. Once I read it though, I was utterly drawn in. Why hadn’t I ever read this brilliant novel?! (I asked myself). It made me realise how I had some wrong assumptions about books. In the end, I bought copies of this book and gave them as gifts to my female friends urging them to read it and have their lives changed as well. (Yeah I became THAT person!) 🤣 Thank you for your videos. They are all brilliant!
Really enjoyed this -- *thank* *you* (& very much thinking about joining the book club just to hear your further lectures :) An aside but to Charlotte's dislike of Austen, it always struck me as possibly because Austen is so (comparatively) spare in her prose -- she says what is necessary, and often with a proverbial razor -- Brontë's language is utterly and completely different and I wonder if Austen seemed like something of a cold fish to her given the kind of intensity in/with which they wrote their novels and lived their lives.
Fantastic video. It gives me inspiration.
Thank you so much, Laura ☺️
Jane Eyre is the classic that got me into classics!