Full Description
Jane Eyre, the story of a young girl and her passage into adulthood, was an immediate commercial success at the time of its original publication in 1847. Its representation of the underside of domestic life and the hypocrisy behind religious enthusiasm drew both praise and bitter criticism, while Charlotte Brontë's striking expose of poor living conditions for children in charity schools as well as her poignant portrayal of the limitations faced by women who worked as governesses sparked great controversy and social debate. Jane Eyre, Brontë's best-known novel, remains an extraordinary coming-of-age narrative, and one of the great classics of literature.
The second edition has been updated throughout to reflect recent scholarship, and includes new appendices on violence against women in Victorian fiction and madness and disability in the Victorian era.
Contents
Appendix A: Prefatory Material to Subsequent Editions of Jane Eyre
1. Preface to the Second Edition of Jane Eyre
2. Note to the Third Edition of Jane Eyre
Appendix B: Jane Eyre and the Proper Young Woman
1. Sarah Stickney Ellis, The Daughters of England: Their Position in Society, Character and Responsibilities
Appendix C: Representations of Violence Against Women in Victorian Fiction
1. Charles Dickens, from Oliver Twist (1838)
2a. Emily Brontë, from Wuthering Heights (1847)
2b. Anne Brontë, from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848)
2c. George Eliot, from "Janet's Repentance," Scenes of Clerical Life (1858)
3a.Thomas Frost, from The Mysteries of Old Father Thames (1848)
3b. Thomas Hardy, from Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891)
Appendix D: Race, Empire, and the West Indies
1. Thomas Carlyle, "Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question (Fraser's Magazine)
2. John Stuart Mill, "The Negro Question" (Fraser's Magazine)
Appendix E: Madness and Disability in the Victorian Era
1. from An Act for the Amendment and better Administration of the Laws relating to the Poor in England and Wales (1834)
2. Danby P. Fry, from The Lunacy Acts, with an Introductory Commentary, Notes to the Statutes, Including References to Decided Cases, and a Copious Index (1864)
