Amazon.com
In 1966 Jean Rhys reemerged after a long silence with a novel called Wide Sargasso Sea. Rhys had enjoyed minor literary success in the 1920s and '30s with a series of evocative novels featuring women protagonists adrift in Europe, verging on poverty, hoping to be saved by men. By the '40s, however, her work was out of fashion, too sad for a world at war. And Rhys herself was often too sad for the world--she was suicidal, alcoholic, troubled by a vast loneliness. She was also a great writer, despite her powerful self-destructive impulses.
Wide Sargasso Sea is the story of Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress who grew up in the West Indies on a decaying plantation. When she comes of age she is married off to an Englishman, and he takes her away from the only place she has known--a house with a garden where "the paths were overgrown and a smell of dead flowers mixed with the fresh living smell. Underneath the tree ferns, tall as forest tree ferns, the light was green. Orchids flourished out of reach or for some reason not to be touched."
The novel is Rhys's answer to Jane Eyre. Charlotte Brontë's book had long haunted her, mostly for the story it did not tell--that of the madwoman in the attic, Rochester's terrible secret. Antoinette is Rhys's imagining of that locked-up woman, who in the end burns up the house and herself. Wide Sargasso Sea follows her voyage into the dark, both from her point of view and Rochester's. It is a voyage charged with soul-destroying lust. "I watched her die many times," observes the new husband. "In my way, not in hers. In sunlight, in shadow, by moonlight, by candlelight. In the long afternoons when the house was empty."
Rhys struggled over the book, enduring rejections and revisions, wrestling to bring this ruined woman out of the ashes. The slim volume was finally published when she was 70 years old. The critical adulation that followed, she said, "has come too late." Jean Rhys died a few years later, but with Wide Sargasso Sea she left behind a great legacy, a work of strange, scary loveliness. There has not been a book like it before or since. Believe me, I've been searching. --Emily White
Book Description
The fortieth anniversary reissue of the best-selling "tour de force" (Walter Allen, New York Times Book Review).
Jean Rhys's reputation was made upon the publication of this passionate and heartbreaking novel, in which she brings into the light one of fiction's most mysterious characters: the madwoman in the attic from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.
A sensual and protected young woman, Antoinette Cosway grows upin the lush natural world of the Caribbean. She is sold intomarriage to the coldhearted and prideful Rochester, who succumbsto his need for money and his lust. Yet he will make her pay forher ancestors' sins of slaveholding, excessive drinking, and nihilistic despair by enslaving her as a prisoner in his bleak English home.
In this best-selling novel Rhys portrays a society so driven by hatred, so skewed in its sexual relations, that it can literally drive a woman out of her mind.
Customer Reviews:
The horror... the horror... Wide Sargasso Sea is a searing indictment.......2007-09-14
Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea is a dreamlike feverish novel awash in passion and trauma. Forget for a moment that it's a sequel to "Jane Eyre" or that it is a seminal text in Feminism and Colonialist studies. Simply as a strikingly modern story of trauma and madness it is brilliant. Disorienting, agonizing, nightmarish yet stunningly beautiful; I was forced to read it in dribs and drabs - as the knife edge of Rhys' vision would compel me to come up, panting for air. This book is powerful - yet unforgivingly dark. But, of course, it is much more - it's a modernist masterpiece which brilliantly critiques the human costs of crimes of patriarchy, colonialism, slavery and subjugation. It is a searing indictment at the same time it is a haunting work of art.
Antoinette grows up poor and isolated at her family's plantation. Her companions are the black laborers and their children who simmer with resentment at the legacy of slavery. Slavery may have been abolished but has been replaced with economic and social subjugation and the resentment is palpable. Mr. Mason disregards this in a classic example of colonialist arrogance - which destroys their lives. Her mother's anger at Mr. Mason leads to her imprisonment as a mad woman. Women are not permitted to express rage. Patriarchy is central because Antoinette/Bertha is chattel. Her marriage to Rochester is effected because she owns land - it's an economic arrangement to gain property for Rochester. Once married, Antoinette/Bertha is stripped of all her claim to property and is completely under her husband's authority. Their marriage is marked by passion but it becomes apparent how culturally Caribbean (black) she is, tainted with scandal. Their relationship flames out spectacularly. When he decides he can't deal with her and chooses to abandon her to be locked as "the madwoman in the attic" she is reduced to, essentially, a prisoner. A woman, in that society, is literally the prisoner of her husband. Both Antoinette and her mother, Bertha are confined as mad - but their pathologies are the simple act of blaming their spouses and acting out their anger. Rebellion is seen as madness - both in the context of rebellion against slavery and rebellion against patriarchy.
As for the literary context - "Wide Sargasso Sea" as sequel to "Jane Eyre". By situating WSS's story within the classic Victorian novel "Jane Eyre", Rhys sets up a host of powerful resonances. Jane Eyre is a tale of redemption; of love's power to redeem. England's brutal social and economic inequities are hurdles to be overcome - but ultimately love overcomes them all in a healing and redemptive way. The fly in the ointment is Bertha, the mad woman in the attic. Her presence complicates the otherwise straightforward romantic narrative and gives it tension and fire. By inverting this tale to tell the story of Antoinette/Bertha, Rhys deepens the misery by shattering "Jane Eyre"s redemptive message. In "Wide Sargosso Sea" love is a tragic by-product of the economic abuses of patriarchy. Love has no redemptive power for Antoinette. It's just more salt in the wound. A lot of the negative reviews here center around resentment at Rhys for besmirching their beloved innocent "world of 'Jane Eyre'". They've missed the point. Inverting and besmirching the innocent world of 'Jane Eyre' is exactly the point. Colonialist England's apparent grace is built on the blood and toil of subjugated peoples. The subjugation extends to English women as well. You are meant to see that and the experience is not meant to be pleasant.
I can't say enough about this book's importance or the brilliant, polished skill with which it is written. Published in 1966 - at the height of the civil rights movement and free speech movement - WSS's issues were dead on the zeitgeist of the moment. You can imagine how the lush, dark, evil imagery of the jungle must have resonated in with an America embroiled in Viet Nam and a rising anti-war moment. It's not a pleasant read, however. The messages are hard, dark ones. There are no happy endings here and as the story unfolds the brutal details big and small are as oppressive as the tropical humidity. This is fine literature, indeed - but also a journey into pain, deprivation, madness and tragedy. It's not a journey to be taken lightly.
confused.......2007-07-04
This story is confusing and keeps shifting from one thing to the other. It wasn't what I expected it to be. I think it should have been better thought out. It doesn't make much sense and is not entertaining.
Has potential, but doesn't succeed.......2007-06-07
You should probably understand that like a lot of the reviewers who have written in here, Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books. Also, I am a stickler for canon, and anything that's off even a little will drive me crazy.
Honestly, it was hard enough for me to get over the basic changes that Rhys made. Changing the character's name is probably the worst offense. An earlier reviewer said that it was probably just because the name "Bertha" didn't sound pretty enough to her 20th century ears, and I completely agree. Second, changing the character's background. Rhys tried to make Bertha (no, I will not call her Antoinetta) into herself, and impose her own views upon her--if you read about Rhys's life, it makes perfect sense. Perhaps you will argue that Jane Eyre was also a carnation of Charlotte Bronte, but Bronte was creating the world, not trying to fit herself in it. Also, in doing this, Rhys had to make Antoinetta half Creole, and completely violate canon by making Mason only her half-brother. In Jane Eyre, Rochester says that Mason will also one day likely become an imbecile like the rest of the family, so his not being related to the psychotic mother makes absolutely no sense.
These are just superficial complaints, however. As you read the rest of the novel, it goes deeper. Some may claim that Rhys was merely trying to draw parallels between Jane and Bertha, but to me it felt like a blatant ripoff and way of cheating through the novel to get to the "good part." Lessee... poor birth and low social status, check. sad childhood, check. Cold and unfeeling school where the character doesn't quite fit in. Check. However, unlike Jane, you never really like Bertha all that much. She doesn't have Jane's pride and fighting spirit. Why should I root for this sad, mopey character who rarely even speaks in complete sentences? I'd say that it was the negative symptoms of schizophrenia beginning to kick in, but I think that would be giving Rhys too much credit (more on the mental illness as portrayed in the book later.)
And then we get to the Rochester part. This, ladies and gentleman, is character assassination at its finest. I am not arguing that Rochester was the greatest guy ever in Jane Eyre, but Rhys's argument that he was whitewashed makes no sense to me. Jane recognizes that Rochester has sinned, and she even reproaches him for how he has treated Bertha. Also, it is implied that Bertha cheated on Rochester--not the other way around. If Rochester did cheat on her, why would it be with another Creole, a group with which he obviously feels no affection? There were plenty of Englishwomen in Jamaica. Also, we're supposed to feel that his locking her in the attic is the worst crime imaginable, but it's hard for me to agree: being locked in the attic is kind compared to what Bertha would have undergone in a 19th century insane asylum.
The implication, too, that Rochester is the one who drove Bertha mad makes no sense, psychologically (sorry, I am a psychology student, and I have spent much time analyzing the character of Bertha, as I am particularly interested in psychosis) when one considers Jane Eyre. The general view of schizophrenia is that it requires two "hits": genetic and environmental. You are genetically predisposed, but it takes things in the environment to set it off. Rochester makes indications of having disliked Bertha before her symptoms were completely manifested, but he also claims that he would do things such as attempt to make conversation. Also, from what he told Jane, he was initially infatuated with his wife. It was not until she began to act off-hinged that he became disgusted (remember that Bertha was Jamaican, but also well-off and English: I doubt that she would have committed mannerisms so offensive were they not inspired by pathology.) The childhood that Rhys gives Bertha alone would make her suspectible to the disease. Schizophrenia usually does not manifest itself until the early 20's, so it would make sense that her psychosis would appear to begin after the marriage.
Also, part the reason schizophrenia is so dehabilitating is because of the negative symptoms. Rhys's portrayal of Bertha does not appear to have those negative symptoms; most schizophrenics would be not too passionate, but not passionate enough. Granted, there are always exceptions, but someone who is lacking those negative symptoms would be healthier than someone who has them, and I was always under the impression that Bertha was severely ill. Also, Bertha lacks the language and cognitive problems associated with schizophrenia (it is a language and cognitive-based psychosis.) She speaks in fragments and perhaps her speech is a little disorganized, but there is nothing even close to the level of what an unmedicated schizophrenic would say (granted, then we might not understand the book, but such is the problem with first person--it has to be realistic.) I don't know how much about schizophrenia was known when Rhys wrote this book, but if she'd only done a little research to see how schizophrenics truly behave... Maybe attended therapy sessions or visited an institution?
Basically: I understand what Rhys was trying to do, and I think that if you read it on paper, the novel's idea is good. But in trying to fit it with the world of Jane Eyre, she made her mistake. The girl portrayed in this book does not fit with Bertha, and her husband is certainly not Rochester. Also, the portrayal of a character's descent into madness could have been handled so much better. I didn't really feel that Bertha was psychotic until the last part, which isn't too long before she dies.
Sorry if this review wasn't well-organized. Also, I read the novel a while ago, so I may be a bit rusty on it. Consider the fact too that I am a diehard Jane Eyre fan, and thus may be biased.
Wide Sargasso Sea.......2007-05-10
I love this book. At last, a face and soul for the woman in the attic. How fascinating to accompany her on her descent into madness.
The island imagery was spot on. I can almost feel the wind in my face, smell the pure sweet air and hear the noises in the night.
The only thing wrong with this book is that it was too short.
How the hell did this make the MLA 100?.......2007-04-05
This is not a good book. It is incoherent. It is poorly written. It is silly, pretentious, and, at times, melodramatic. How can this be one of the hundred best novels of the 20th century? Bryce Courtenay's The Power of One is ten times the book that this is. The only positive thing I can say about Wide Sargasso Sea is that it doesn't take very long to read.
Book Description
In this riveting narrative of family, betrayal, vengeance, and murder, Lillian Baptiste is willed back to her island home of Dominica to finally settle her past. Haunted by scandal and secrets, Lillian left Dominica when she was fourteen after discovering she was the daughter of Iris, the half-crazy woman whose life was told of in chanté mas songs sung during Carnival: Matilda Swinging and Bottle of Coke; songs about a village on a mountaintop and bones and bodies; songs about flying masquerades and a man who dropped dead. Lillian knew the songs well. And now she knows these songs -- and thus the history -- belong to her. After twenty years away, Lillian returns to face the demons of her past, and with the help of Teddy, the man she refused to love, she will find a way to heal.
Set partly in contemporary Washington, D.C., and partly in post-World War II Dominica, Unburnable weaves together West Indian history, African culture, and American sensibilities. Richly textured and lushly rendered, Unburnable showcases a welcome and assured new voice.
Customer Reviews:
Takes a while to get started.......2007-09-07
I took a little while for me to get into this book. I, quite frankly, didn't care about Lillian the main character until I was almost a third of the way through. The most dimensional and complex characters were of course Matilda and Iris. Once the novel's focus shift primarily to them, it becomes a page turner. If you feel like investing the time to get to the heart of this tale, give it a read.
Chimamanda Adichie's comments on Unburnable.......2007-07-23
Chimamanda Adichie (Half of a Yellow Sun, Purple Hibiscus: A Novel) had these wonderful things to say about UNBURNABLE in the book review section of London's Guardian newspaper on Saturday June 23, 2007:
"I read Marie-Elena John's novel Unburnable on the plane from New York to Copenhagen. I laughed aloud so often reading this wondrously intelligent book about Dominica and the United States and Africa, about gender, class and race, about love and sexuality, that the bespectacled man sitting next to me put his Wall Street Journal down and leaned over to see what the title was. He asked what it was about. I could have told him how it dealt honestly with issues without ever forgetting to keep character and soul as its centre, but instead I told him a tiny anecdote from the book about black women and thongs. And I much enjoyed his blush."
A Must Read.......2007-03-27
This is a great book to kick back in silence and just immerse yourself into suspense, deep thinking, and a few tears. I was just a little disappointed with the ending, but all in all this was a great read.
Not a Fluff Read!.......2007-01-14
I have been blessed enough in the last week to read not one but TWO great books this one being the greater. I will admit I wasn't wrapped up in the book by page two but by page ten I was all caught up in this story. Marie-Elena John is an EXCELLENT story teller. Her words are beautiful and her descriptions come off the page so effortlessly. I could've easily believed this was her third novel instead of her first. I laughed, I cried and I called all my friends and advised them to please read this book. I did not know anything about Dominica before picking up this novel and now I cannot learn enough. This book intrigued me to no end and I cannot wait to read future publishings from Marie-Elena John. This story is not in the least predictable and her knowledge on the subject matter is outstanding! If you are looking for a mind challenging novel that will shock and educate you at the same time then look no further.
Long Story Short.......2006-11-08
Interesting story, you have to continue to read this book and not stop or you might get side tracked if you put it down for too long.
Book Description
Sasha Jensen has returned to Paris, the city of both her happiest moments and her most desperate. Her past lies in wait for her in cafes, bars, and dress shops, blurring all distinctions between nightmare and reality. When she is picked up by a young man, she begins to feel that she is still capable of desires and emotions. Few encounters in fiction have been so brilliantly conceived, and few have come to a more unforgettable end.
Customer Reviews:
Entertaining and Original Writing.......2007-01-21
I read the present work and then followed up by reading Rhys's big hit, the novel Wide Sargasso Sea.
As a general reader I still preferred this present novel to Sargasso Sea. Here she lets her imagination run wild as she describes the partially alcohol soaked life of a young woman living in post WWI era Paris. The feel and structure of the book is original and the prose and structure has a bit of the feel of Joyce's classic A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. It was written by Rhys in her younger days, decades before her big hit.
As noted by others, it describes the pessimistic thoughts of a woman living near the bottom of society. She lives in a state of depression and loneliness, alone in her own in a world. She has not lost her looks and she is able to attract the odd man into the story. This adds to the complexity of the plot.
Rhys follows the present novel a few decades later with her big hit novel, Wide Sargasso Sea. It was a commercial and literary hit. It is based on the less original idea of extending some elements of the story of Jane Eyre. That limits or forces her story to converge with the plot elements of Jane Eyre. The present work is just Rhys on her own with no limits. Personally, I like the present story for that reason. It is fresh and original.
This is a great but short read, which I found fascinating and entertaining. The Penguin version has a good introduction to the life and work of Jean Rhys which is very useful to read after reading the novel.
Dark look inside a woman's mind.......2002-04-18
"Good Morning, Midnight" tells the story of Sasha Jensen in post-war Paris. The author gets inside Sasha's head and exposes to the reader her low sense of self-worth and her misaligned priorities. We get glimpses into Sasha's past to give clues as to what has brought her to this state of depression. Sasha cares too much about what others around her think of her; she is always concious of how she must appear to waiters in cafes, people on the street and workers at the hotel where she is staying. She is always putting thoughts in their head of how they must percieve her. Sasha also does not have her financial priorities straight since she buys a fancy new hat and plans on buying other new items for her wardrobe and in the meantime is neglecting to eat.
I found "Good Morning, Midnight" a fascinating insight into a woman in a "low" psychological state. This book is not recommended if you are looking for an uplifting, feel-good story. "Good Monring, Midnight" would probably lead to great discussion for book groups.
Reading this book has left a mark on me..........2001-03-12
I have a sentence from 'Good Morning Midnight' tattooed on my right arm. There is no higher acolade.
Delicately Violent.......2001-01-11
It is no wonder that after the publication of this novel people assumed Jean Rhys had committed suicide. It is a dark, introverted, soul-searching novel. It's brilliance lies in the compassion with which Sasha is treated. This is a woman who is unquestionably at the end of her tether. Life occurs almost unconsciously to her. She drinks non-stop and thinks of fashion before eating. But these aren't superficial choices. They are the few soft whispers of a woman about to go over the brink. Throughout the novel you are given brief glimpses of her past as a shop assistant and the troubles in her marriage. In themselves the troubles which result from them are not ample enough to drive a normal woman to such desperation. You feel that the reason for her state of mind is more the result of a profound neglect of her individual spirit by men. She is led on to believe in a progression of being, but is abandoned to clutch at the ghosts of her old haunts in Paris. This is a sharp contrast to the ideas that we have about artistic scene of Paris in this time period. It is a more sincerely concentrated personal experience than most accounts. It is interesting to think of the end in contrast to the jubilant yeses of Molly Bloom in Ulysses. Sasha's yes is one of doom and resignation to a world that has flown past her.
Despite its depressing character, this novel is a fascinating look at a tendency to sink into a psychological state often ignored. It is also a subtle portrayal of an identity built on a knife's edge. Luckily, Ms Rhys did survive this novel (however unhappily). It is a miracle that she did considering the violent lack of self worth of Sasha; to have imagined such a person must have been terrifying indeed.
"Last night was a catastrophe...".......2000-10-09
Just about every night is a catastrophe for Sasha Jansen, the heroine of Jean Rhys's excellent novel. In less than two hundred pages, Rhys has effectively captured not only the bitter sentiments of the "lost generation" but also the huge scope of thoughts and experiences of a lonely brand of humans alienated by a cruel, hyprocritical society. The theme of the book comes straight from Sasha's mouth:
". . . And I'm very much afraid of the whole bloody human race. . . Who wouldn't be afraid of a pack of damned hyenas? . . . And when I say afraid -- that's just a word I use. What I really mean is that I hate them. I hate their voices, I hate their eyes, I hate the way they laugh . . . I hate the whole bloody business. It's cruel, it's idiotic, it's unspeakably horrible . . . Everything spoiled, all spoiled."
The frightening thing about this book is that Rhys successfully cuts through human illusions and comes out with a stark, brutal view of society as a "pack of hyenas." She suggests society is this way because people are insecure and must appease their egos through cruelty to others, but she does not entirely believe or accept this as a valid excuse for cruel behavior. This is a common theme in Rhys's books -- society committing spritual murder through cruelty -- and it is never shown better than here.
Sasha's bitter plight is quite realistic (it's obvious Rhys has had these experiences herself) and the social commentary biting, told through lean and somewhat dream-like stream-of-consciousness prose. The long dialogues and battles of wills between Sasha and the gigolo culminate in a tense, unforgettable ending -- an excellent book by one of the most underrated authors of the Twentieth Century.
Customer Reviews:
Discovered too late.......2006-03-08
This is an enjoyable, if short, early novel by the once forgotten British writer, Jean Rhys, who’s celebrated, Wide Sargasso Sea, contains the same inspiration that of her upbringing in the Caribbean.
Essentially autobiographical, she tells the story of Anna Morgan, a 19 year old girl, recently arrived in London from Dominica (Rhys was born and raised on the small Caribbean island of Dominica). Evoking a penurious existence of cold London bed sits, surrounded by bleak fog and bad food. (Unsurprising as Dominica is famed for its lush habitat, “The Nature Island of the Caribbean”).
She relates the people that Anna encounters who invariably are sexually predatory men, selfish and jealous women and cold hearted relatives. But Anna is also a callow youth, cold towards everyone she meets and so I couldn’t relate to her, but mainly as she acted impulsively and without reason.
However, this novel was ahead of its time in describing the alienation of a newly arrived emigrant and also the situation and plight of women when sick or unemployed. In the absence of a social welfare system, Rhys portrays the women who relied on finding a man to look after them, and also the men who used them for their ends.
Apart form this I personally wouldn’t buy this book on its own despite it having some insights into the world of London and a woman’s place in it at a certain time period. I don’t think it’s a fully appreciated work unless read together with those of her other earlier novels, perhaps as part of a collected works series.
moving, pitiless, beautiful.......2004-01-09
this is my favourite book of all time. i came across it accidentally in Croydon library when I was 20 years old, i loved it then, and i love it now, 20 years later. i read other works of hers (and I think she is an amazing writer) and her biography (by Carole Angier - also utterly brilliant and very highly recommended) - but Voyage in the Dark is still my favourite.
Why this is is hard to say. There is something about the prose style - concise, clear but dreamlike. The subject matter - a woman alone in the world written with a pitiless observation. The themes, loss of innocence, the struggle for survival, the loss of love - all beautifully written.
Carole Angier analyses all this far better than I ever could - if you love literature the chances are (man or woman) you will love this work. I do recommend it, and others works by Rhys, and her definitive biography by Carole Angiers.
Well written but uninteresting........2003-03-22
It could be because I'm male, but I didn't really get into this book. The writing was good but not so incredibly poetic as to interest me on its own. And the characters were uninspiring. I know that it's more realistic to have characters that cannot overcome their problems because most people in real life are like that as well, but I have a hard time dealing with those people so I certainly have little sympathy for a fictional character that is weak and pathetic. I've been told by others that have read this book that I missed the point, and if that's the case I don't mind being educated in my misperceptions but as it stands I can't really recommend this book. However I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it either.
Read it........1999-10-12
jean rhys is so brilliant. amazing. read it
An incredible compassionate book........1998-03-04
Voyage in The Dark was the first Jean Rhys book that I read, and it got me hopelessly addicted. Her voice is honest and compassionate, and truly gives youa bond with the protagonist. It is a book that I have not stopped talking about since I read it.
Book Description
The translator, Jean Rhys Bram, writes, "Magic, philosophy, science and theology combine in strange ways in the thinking of the last centuries of the Roman empire..... Firmicus seemed worthy of note for many reasons. He is almost alone as author of works produced both before and after an apparent conversion to Christianity.... He left a lengthy handbook detailing the astrological practices of his day, the only work which has come down to us in its entirety [90% complete: Holden] out of numerous astrological treatises written in the Hellenistic and Roman periods..... This manual was important because it was the channel for astrological lore to the Middle Ages and Renaissance." (from the Preface)
Customer Reviews:
Congratulations to the editors.......2007-05-21
If you are interesting in the history of astrology, this book is for you. The Work of Julius Firmicus in one pillar of the so called greek astrology, which was integrated in the astrology of the Arabs. It is an invaluable tool for a good understanding of what was astrology and its method in the Antiquity. A reference to have in all offices of professional astrologers.
Customer Reviews:
Overrated .......2007-01-17
One of the most overrated "classics" in literature. This "prequel" to JANE EYRE does little to illuminate the insane Bertha. Okay, so Rouchester is a terrible, awful, vindictive, Euro-centric pig . . . Didn't we already get that in JANE EYRE? Just because he's the "hero" doesn't make him, well, a hero we should look up to.
Supposedly, Rhys spent YEARS writing and rewriting this curiously weak, empty, underwhelming novel. I'll stop short of suggesting that she wrote it simply to capitalize on the popularity of JANE EYRE.
One of the book's saving graces is Rhys' vivid decriptions of the Caribbean setting: the colors and textures and culture. But it isn't enough to justify this novel's label as a masterpiece.
a poor defense.......2006-04-15
Okay, so Bertha Mason was treated awfully in Charlotte Bront?'s Jane Eyre. Point taken. But Jean Rhys does an exceptionally poor job at defending Mr Rochester's first wife, who she christens Antoinette Cosway. In Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette/Bertha can hardly be called a heroine. Instead she comes off as a spineless young woman who is only too eager to become a victim of her English husband. He in turn is convinced that he is actually the victim of their unfortunate marriage. With this, Rhys creates two exceptionally unsympathetic characters, who you wish would just get up and do something about their situations, instead of wallowing in self-pity and rum. I'm sure there was actually a strong woman behind the raving lunatic that Bertha Mason became, but Jean Rhys hasn't shown her.
Haunting.......2005-10-25
Wide Sargasso Sea is the prequel to Jane Eyre, following Antoinette Cosway from childhood to her marriage to Rochester. They don't care for each other, but must accept the match, Rochester because he has no other prospects, and Antoinette because her family has a history of madness and Rochester doesn't know the stories.
The book itself is very different from Jane Eyre. It begins from Antoinette's point of view, focusing heavily on Antoinette's mother, a troubled--eventually insane--widow. Then perspective shifts to Rochester and his preoccupied young wife, Antoinette.
Anyone who has read Jane Eyre (and probably many others besides) will know what's coming, and this contributes to the spooky tone of the book. Antoinette from her own perspective feels so justified and normal, but from Rochester's she is oddly detached and her behavior grows to mirror her mother's eerily. The book keeps you thinking long after the ending...it's one of the most amazing things I've ever read. Please, please read it.
Average customer rating:
|
Caliban in Exile: The Outsider in Caribbean Fiction (Contributions to the Study of World Literature)
Margaret Paul Joseph
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Literary Theory
| History & Criticism
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Caribbean
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| Classics
| Comic
| Contemporary
| Literary
General
| Criticism & Theory
| History & Criticism
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Ethnic Studies
| Special Groups
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0313281076 |
Book Description
The Caliban-Prospero encounter in Shakespeare's The Tempest has evolved as a metaphor for the colonial experience. The present study utilizes the Caliban symbol in examining the influence of colonialism in Caribbean literature, focusing on the works of three major writers from the Caribbean islands: Jean Rhys, of British descent from Dominica; George Lamming, of African origin from Barbados; and Sam Selvon, of mixed Indian and Scottish heritage from Trinidad. The works chosen are set in England where the writers and their characters experience a double displacement, the alienation of the exiled in the country that once colonized their own islands. They are outsiders: unwelcome in Prospero's home country. The novels dramatize the theme of physical and psychological exile. Rhys's characters need mirrors in which they search for an assurance of identity; Lamming's are torn by the conflict inherent in "the tragic sense of life"; and Selvon's ironic language expresses the deepest sense of exile: exile from one's own self. Other Caribbean writers are included in the analysis, and the volume concludes by examining contemporary writers for whom Caliban's role in literature appears to be changing. Novelists like Earl Lovelace and Jamaica Kincaid demonstrate that it is possible to be an outsider in one's own country, and that issues of class can be as corrosive as issues of race. The focus has moved beyond physical exile, but the spirit and strength of Caliban continue to pervade the new literature. In giving expression to their anguish, both the earlier and new Caribbean writers have created highly interesting and successful fiction. This well crafted thematic study of Caribbean literature will be of great value to students, teachers, scholars, and readers of Third World, post-colonial, and multicultural literature.
Customer Reviews:
master of character portraits.......2005-09-09
Drawing from mundane incidents, Rhys's stories are told with a tone that is unsentamental and often detached. Yet her eye for detail, and in particular, character is unmatched. From everyday events she is able to create striking and realistic character portraits as witnessed in among others "Tout Mountparnasse and a Lady," where the "lady" is to be both pitied and despised. While her stories and characters are often filled with a sense of crushing despair ("Sleep in Off Lady" is particularly depressing), I also felt that her sense of humor (though often dark) is much more evident here than in her novels. In short, a great introduction to an underappreciated author.
Superb writing by a neglected master.......2002-07-15
Despite Rhys' near-constant theme of the "kept" woman who is now too old and paying her dues, she was a fabulous writer with a wonderful way of describing a woman's feelings. Highly recommended to anyone interested in great women writers of the last century.
Mostly brilliant.......2000-03-30
This writer ought to be read by a vast audience. Her stories are gripping accounts of lives lived on the edge of sanity or reason. The story "Let Them Call It Jazz" is worth the price alone. Read it and weep.
Average customer rating:
|
Wide Sargasso Sea
Jean RHYS
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000G9YMPE |
Books:
- You Can Draw Star Wars (You Can Draw)
- 500 Bowls: Contemporary Explorations of a Timeless Design
- 500 Teapots: Contemporary Explorations of a Timeless Design
- Architectural Graphic Standards
- ART OF POCAHONTAS, THE
- Audubon's Birds of America: The Audubon Society Baby Elephant Folio
- Beyond Impressionism: The Naturalist Impulse
- Billmeyer and Saltzman's Principles of Color Technology, 3rd Edition
- Bobby Sherman : Still Remembering You
- Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Mercy Seat
- Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
- Hans Kollhoff: Architecture/Architektur/Architettura
- No Time to Die
- In Vogue: The Illustrated History of the World's Most Famous Fashion Magazine
- Plant Roots: The Hidden Half
- Paul Apostle of the Heart Set Free
- The Private Life of a Masterpiece: Uncovering the Forgotten Secrets and Hidden Life Histories of Ico
- Marriage and the Family: A Brief Introduction
- Weeds a Guide for Dyers and Herbalists
Jane Eyre (Norton Critical Editions)
Jane Eyre (Dover Thrift Editions)
Jane Eyre (Signet Classics)
A Passage to India
Mrs. Dalloway
