The Brontë Project 2021 discussion

Let's discuss the first half of The Professor (Up to and including chapter XV)

I’m enjoying this so far. My only hope is that Crimsworth gets himself some revenge on M. Pelet and Reuter for their crap ways. Maybe wall them into a basement like a Poe story.

So far this book feels a lot like 'Villette', only from the male point of view. As always, I'm enjoying Charlotte Bronte's writing, but everything else I can't help but compare to 'Villette' and find it weaker and less appealing. Charlotte Bronte explores many similar themes in 'The Professor', including her obvious gripe with catholicism and her opinion that English people are superior to Belgians in this particular case. One might argue that these are not the author's opinions, rather the opinions of her characters, but it just feels like it's her, especially after she did the same thing in two of her books.This book was easier to get into than 'Villette' at first, but now I find that I can go for days without thinking about it or picking it up. Though Lucy Snowe from 'Villete' wasn't exactly a ray of sunshine and not the most likeable character out there, I was very intrigued by her and wanted to know more. William Crimsworth, on the other hand, I'm not that interested in. I don't find him compelling as a character. However, 'The Professor' seems a bit lighter read in terms that it doesn't go deep into metal health issues, at least for now. We'll see what happens next, after chapter 15 I think a new love interest is on the way.

I can definitely see the comparisons with Villette here. It was Charlotte's first novel so, in some ways, it seems like Villette was built on the foundations of The Professor given the latter was never published during her lifetime.

I am quite enjoying the book so far. It was a shock to see Mdlle Reuter walking hand in hand with M Pelet but I can see things may now be starting to develop with Mdlle Henri.

A good read so far. I don't think it has quite as well developed a narrative as that of Villette which had better nuanced characters and strong visual imagery of 19th century Brussels. However, I'm really enjoying it.

After reading the first 15 chapters, I have to say that I really don't like William Crimsworth as a person. I want to like him, I do, but his opinions and prejudices I find a little difficult to tolerate. I know not to look on books like this with a 21st-century eye, and I am usually able to do so, but I'm struggling with this book.

As a whole, I like the story so far. You can see Bronte really working with so much that with become common motifs for her -- orphaned narrators, faschination with and dislike of Continental Europeans, main character as a teacher, dislike for the Catholic faith. I find it interesting here that she choses a male narrator, which is typical for a Bildungsroman/Picaresque novel of the time period. I wonder what potentially caused her to write with female narrators for the rest of her career. Her female narrative is far stronger than her male narrative one, so I wonder if that may have had something to do with it.

I am looking forward to finishing this little book and see if I finally grow to like Crimsworth or not.