Contributed by Jonathan Yardley, the longtime Washington Post book critic emeritus, this analysis of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier explores how it may have been influenced or inspired by Jane Eyre. Almost from its inception in 18th-century England, Charlotte Brontë‘s gothic novel has been adored by readers; critics, not so much.
For the fastidious ladies and gentlemen of the quarterly reviews and academe, its central conventions — nature red in tooth and claw; haunted castles atop windswept moors; defenseless young women at the mercy of strange, obsessed men with terrible secrets; bondage, imprisonment, sexual torment and ambiguity, raging fires — are simply too too. Read More→
If you’re obscure, plain, poor, and little, life may not be smooth and easy for you … but, in the end, you’ll meet your hero— your Mr. Rochester and reap your reward. Read on for professor Maria Grazia’s perspective on teaching Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.
You may have to bite wicked older cousins who want to torture you, defend yourself from a jealous aunt who wishes you were dead.
You may have to survive long solitary hours locked in a scary red room, then to strive to keep yourself sane and alive in a bleak, heartless place like a school for poor girls, you must accept to go on living without anybody caring for you or loving you. Read More→
Christina Stead (July 17, 1902 – March 31, 1983) was an Australian-born novelist, short story writer, and Journalist born into a Socialist family.
Her masterful writing went unrecognized for much of her life. Her most notable work is The Man Who Loved Children.
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Ayn Rand (February 2, 1905 – March 6, 1982), American author born in St. Petersburg, Russia. Originally named Alisa Rosenbaum, she was a bookish child who loved stories and started writing her own when still quite young.
Later, as a widely read (if not critically acclaimed) author, she became known for ponderous novels like The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, which were based on the philosophical tenets of Objectivism, which she developed.
Her novels’ leading men were mouthpieces for her objectivist views — especially Howard Roark in The Fountainhead and John Galt in Atlas Shrugged. Her philosophy, as she defined it was, “The concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.” Read More→
Dorothy Parker (August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967), the American journalist, author, and poet was known for her acid wit. She was one of the founding members of the Algonquin Roundtable, an exclusive group of eminent New York City writers in the early twentieth century.
Parker got her start by writing for magazines, including theatre criticism for Vanity Fair. In the 1920s, she became known for her book review column, “Constant Reader,” in the New Yorker.
Her reviews — some snarky, others sensitive, always pithy — were a pleasure to read. The magazine also published some of her short stories. Read More→
Lillian Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was a renowned American playwright and memoirist. Her plays dealt with complex political, social, and familial subjects. Most were well received, and from the height of her career to the present, she is considered a female pioneer in theater.
The Children’s Hour (1934) was the play that launched Hellman’s career in theater. This was followed by number of other successful productions, the best known of which are The Little Foxes, Watch on the Rhine, The Children’s Hour, and Toys in the Attic.
She was awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Prize for best play of the year for the latter two. Though The Autumn Garden, which premiered in 1951, is one of her lesser-known works, many critics considered it her best. Read More→
In troubled economic times, books (and movies) serve as means of comfort and escape. Here we will explore what Americans were reading during the era of the Great Depression, and which women authors of the 1930s appeared on U.S. bestseller lists.
Shown at right, one of the era’s prominent female authors, Daphne du Maurier.
As we know, books that make it to bestseller lists aren’t necessarily the ones that endure as classics. I had no idea what to expect when I explored the lists of top 10 best selling novels for each of the years of the 1930s, but what I did surprised me.
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Louisa May Alcott’s reach into contemporary culture, particularly with her iconic character, Jo March, is never ending. And so, I bring you this interview with Louisa May Alcott (1832 – 1888) from the great beyond, featuring her forthright answers to my hypothetical questions.
Patti Smith is just one of many modern and contemporary authors who was inspired by Jo March. In her memoir, Just Kids, Smith recalled that her earliest inspiration was the fictional Jo, one of the four sisters in Louisa’s most beloved novel, Little Women.
What would a gawky, bookish teen growing up in New Jersey in the 1950s and 60s (albeit one destined to become a punk legend) find in common with a 19th-century girl in crinolines? Read More→
