| Villette Contributor(s): Bronte, Charlotte (Author) |
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ISBN: 149521723X ISBN-13: 9781495217234 Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform OUR PRICE: $15.93 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: January 2014 * Not available - Not in print at this time * |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Classics |
| Dewey: FIC |
| Physical Information: 0.64" H x 7" W x 10" (1.17 lbs) 304 pages |
| Themes: - Sex & Gender - Feminine - Topical - Adolescence/Coming of Age - Cultural Region - Western Europe |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Villette is an 1853 novel by Charlotte Bront . After an unspecified family disaster, the protagonist Lucy Snowe travels from England to the fictional French-speaking city of Villette to teach at a girls' school, where she is drawn into adventure and romance. Villette was Charlotte Bront 's fourth novel. It was preceded by the posthumously published The Professor, her first, and then Jane Eyre and Shirley. Villette begins with its famously passive protagonist, Lucy Snowe, age 14, staying at the home of her godmother Mrs. Bretton. Also in residence are Mrs. Bretton's son, John Graham Bretton (whom the family calls Graham), and a young visitor, Paulina Home (who is called Polly). Polly is a peculiar little girl who soon develops a deep devotion to Graham, who showers her with attention. But Polly's visit is cut short when her father arrives to take her away. For reasons that are not stated, Lucy leaves Mrs. Bretton's home a few weeks after the Polly's departure. After some initial hesitation, she is hired as a caregiver by Miss Marchmont, a rheumatic crippled woman. Lucy is soon accustomed to her work and has begun to feel content with her quiet lifestyle. Villette is noted not so much for its plot as for its acute tracing of Lucy's psychology. The novel is sometimes celebrated as an exploration of gender roles and repression. In The Madwoman in the Attic, critics Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar have argued that the character of Lucy Snowe is based in part on William Wordsworth's Lucy poems. Gilbert and Gubar emphasise the idea of feminine re-writing. Some critics have explored the issues of Lucy's psychological state in terms of what they call "patriarchal constructs" which form her cultural context. Villette also explores isolation and cross-cultural conflict in Lucy's attempts to master the French language, as well as conflicts between her English Protestantism and Catholicism. Her denunciation of Catholicism is unsparing: e.g., "God is not with Rome." |