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Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Edmund Dulac Jane Eyre illustrations


All of Edmund Dulac's illustrations of Jane Eyre are now available on the Bronteana Resource page; the link to the Jane Eyre illustrations is here.

12 comments:

mysticgypsy said...

ooh does Rochester appear rather short here?

Also what is with his vivid red coat? ;)

Brontëana said...

I am not sure what I think of these illustrations... they don't come near to what I imagine the novel being like but they are well drawn, if nothing else. He also did illustrations for Villette.

rinabeana said...

Rochester looks kind of... dumpy.

mysticgypsy said...

oh are you planning to scan the Villette ones as well? I'd love to take a look!

Thanks!!:)

Brontëana said...

to Rinabeana:

I object to the blue and the yellow pants.

Brontëana said...

Unfortunately I have not been able to get scans of the Villette edition yet. I also have no illustrations of Wuthering Heights, or of Anne's novels. I do have maybe... 3 of The Professor (from the late 1800s), and some lovely ones for Shirley and Villette still to add! Not to mention a ridiculous number of Jane Eyre illustrations... But I collect them so that's okay. ;)

mysticgypsy said...

I can't wait for the rest of the illustrations...especially for Villette. I am reading this again for a class and I must say, it is far too eerie.
How do you find this novel in this respect? And do you like this aspect of it?

Brontëana said...

The ones for Villette are probably... early 1900s, or 1920s.

I only read Villette once, last year, so my memory is not as sharp as it should be. I remember being taken in by the 'nun' at first, and it took me some time to realise it was nothing at all. I think it works, though. She is a nervous person, and this sort of psychological terror is in the same world as her own domestic fears.

mysticgypsy said...

Do you mean Charlotte or Lucy?

But the Nun is not easily dismissable though...I find it quite unsettling in its "nothingness" :\

Brontëana said...

Both. Although I meant Lucy, Lucy really does channel Charlotte into the fiction, during her darker hours. I'm not sure what you find disturbing. I meant 'nothingness' as in finding out it was all a hoax, but is there something else?

mysticgypsy said...

I find it disturbing in quite the same way as I find Bertha.
I mean in the end, the secret comes out, and as you say, it turns out to be a hoax..and yet the fact that Bronte chose to portray the "other woman" or (arguably) the "other self" in such means as the Nun who appears at significant moments and relates to Lucy so closely is what I find intentionally bizzare. It is a hoax..and yet not so. I feel that Charlotte Bronte is teasing us with an illusion of a hoax. Because so much of the novel is steeped in burial and repression, the hoax could very well be an extension of that metaphor.

Brontëana said...

That's a wonderful insight! I think it is very plausible that it in a sense is and is not a hoax at the same time.