Do you agree? I find it a troubling, controversial novel – it makes me think about fiction, about Jane Eyre, about the position of women and about colonialism and integration of different races, but I don’t LOVE it. GoodReads called it “a masterpiece of modern fiction” and the New York Times book review pronounced it a “tour de force”. Time magazine named Wide Sargasso Sea as one of the “100 Best English-language Novels since 1923’, and Modern Library’s ‘100 Best Novels’ ranks it at 94. Have you just read Wide Sargasso Sea for the first time? I hope you find it helpful to learn more about the very strange woman who wrote it, its connections with Brontë’s classic, and its depiction of an exotic Caribbean island and its problems. I wonder what has happened to Katherine and if she recovered? I wonder if she is still reading, and enjoying, the novels of Jean Rhys?įor me, the major fascination of this book comes from its relationship to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, a novel I love. Was she already depressed when she went to Edinburgh and did her depression draw her to Jean Rhys, who also suffered depression? Did reading the works of someone who was going through what she herself was suffering help her at all? I’ll never know the answers, but I look back and hope that my friend gained some comfort from her reading. Having re-read Wide Sargasso Sea has made me think about my friend again. I heard that soon after my visit Katherine returned to the USA, her marriage over, her thesis unfinished, and I never saw her again. I was twenty and had no experience whatsoever of mental illness, so felt uncomfortable and uncertain what to say or do. I went to visit her there – my first and only visit to such an institution, and all because of Jean Rhys! Poor Katherine was in a bad way. I made enquiries, as I was concerned, and heard she was suffering from serious depression and was spending some weeks in what was in those days called a ‘mental hospital’. She was no longer to be seen in the university library or the English department. However, as the year went by, I saw less of Katherine, and then heard she was ill.
We had some interesting discussions about the book and its portrayal of Mr Rochester, not entirely agreeing, but always interested in each other’s views. I’d never even heard of Jean Rhys before this and she encouraged me to read Wide Sargasso Sea since I loved Jane Eyre. Her name was Katherine and we got on well – I often had dinner with her and her husband. I was a student at Edinburgh University in 1980 and met an American girl who was doing a PhD thesis on the novels of Jean Rhys. Rochester, Ruth Wilson as Jane, and Francesca Annis as Lady Ingram.I think my introduction to this novel would have intrigued Jean Rhys. This lavish and sensual new version of Charlotte Bronte's classic novel is modern and moody, timeless and romantic.
But she is soon shocked to uncover the deeply hidden truth of her own past. Penniless and hungry, she finds shelter and friendship in the shape of a kind clergyman and his family. Her fears are confirmed when Rochester's secret past is revealed, destroying her chance for happiness, and forcing Jane to flee Thornfield. When Jane saves Rochester from an eerie fire, she begins to suspect that there are many mysteries behind the walls of Thornfield Hall. Jane gradually wins his heart, but they must overcome the dark secrets of the past before they can find happiness. She soon finds herself falling in love with the brooding master of the house - the passionate Mr. She accepts a governess position at Thornfield Hall, where she tutors a lively French girl named Adele. Movies : Romance : Other quality : EnglishĪfter a wretched childhood, orphaned Jane Eyre yearns for new experiences.