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Villette (Wordsworth Classics)
 
 

Villette (Wordsworth Classics) (Paperback)

by Charlotte Bronte (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
Price: £1.99 & eligible for Free UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Paperback: 496 pages
  • Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd; New Ed edition (7 Oct 1993)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 185326072X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1853260728
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 5,521 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #3 in  Books > Fiction > The Classics > Bronte, Charlotte
    #26 in  Books > Fiction > Women Writers & Fiction > Women Authors
    #54 in  Books > Fiction > By Period > 19th Century > Authors

Product Description

Product Description
This novel is based on the author's personal experience as a teacher in Brussels. It is a moving tale of repressed feelings and subjection to cruel circumstance and position, borne with heroic fortitude. It is also the story of a woman's right to love and be loved.

About the Author
Introduction and Notes by Dr Sally Minogue, Canterbury Christ Church University College.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Villette (Wordsworth Classics)
82% buy the item featured on this page:
Villette (Wordsworth Classics) 4.4 out of 5 stars (12)
£1.99
Villette (Penguin Classics)
8% buy
Villette (Penguin Classics) 4.4 out of 5 stars (7)
£5.99
Jane Eyre (Penguin Popular Classics)
4% buy
Jane Eyre (Penguin Popular Classics) 4.4 out of 5 stars (91)
£2.25
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Wordsworth Classics)
3% buy
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Wordsworth Classics) 4.5 out of 5 stars (17)
£1.99

 

Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars It's criminal!, 13 April 2001
By A Customer
I do not in any way mean to say that this book is bad; indeed, I mean the very opposite. It is criminal that "Villette" is not widely recognised as Charlotte Brontë's tour de force. Overshadowed by the tremendous success of "Jane Eyre" - which is, in itself, a wonderful novel - "Villette" has been largely ignored. Yet, in my opinion, it is superior: it has a better structure, a better heroine and a well designed plot. In what can only be described as an "aesthetically satisfying work," we engage with the main character, Lucy Snowe; we feel her passion, her isolation, her desperation - in fact, it is a highly autobiographical work. It is the story of unrequited love. It is the study of the development of a character put into adverse circumstances. It is the expression of , as never seen in English before, of the complexities and subtleties of a woman. It is poetical, beautiful. We follow Lucy as she grows up: living with her aunt, becoming a teacher in a school called Villette, standing up to the hostility of many other teachers and finally ... I think that anyone who loved "Jane Eyre" - there are not many of us who don't - will appreciate this criminally overlooked novel. Moreover, it is the perfect novel for a first-time Brontë reader - followed very closely by "Jane Eyre". Please do not take my word for it - read it and be mesmerised in a vividly painted world that will haunt you forever!
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A superior work of fiction; intelligent and entertaining, 5 May 2002
In Villette, Charlotte Bronte creates a work of fiction which rivals in complexity with the better known Jane Eyre. In it, the heroine, Lucy Snowe, goes to France to find work and a home, having no friends or relatives to support her,and enroles as a governess in a boarding school. The story follows her through her life and her journey in an unfamiliar world, but never the less one she manages to work in.
Lucy Snowe is a girl who has learnt from a very early age to hide her feelings and - attempts - to control her despairs and desires. On the outside she appears to be a very solemn creature, but one who does not suffer as much as the 'real' Lucy does. She has suffered through her life a series of misfortunes which are only hinted at, particularly the events taking place in her childhood, and the end of the book hints at yet another tragedy - I won't say any more.
I enjoyed this book much more than I did Jane Eyre, probably because the character was, to me at least, more interesting. Lucy was slightly sarcastic, and the illusion she cultivates throughout the book enables her to take the role of observer, drawing us into lives of the people around her and the conflicts which they are quite public about, and the conflicts taking place within herself, which are much more private.
Although this book is quite long, with a huge opportunity for becoming slow and boring, it never becomes dull or loses pace. I loved reading it, the descriptions at the beginning of the book really appealed to me, and I would recommend it to just about anyone.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars If you thought Jane Eyre was good..., 5 April 2007
By Doll Common (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews
Then definitely read this!

I liked Jane Eyre very much, but it was Villette that really captured my imagination and heart. In my opinion (though I realise it is verging on this criminal to admit this) it is better than Jane Eyre - it certainly has more depth, the plot is far superior, and it's just... more enjoyable. I admit that JE has the irreplaceable Mr Rochester, but Villette has Mousieur Paul, a Rochesterian (?) character himself - idiosyncratic, harsh, domineering, austere, and yet simultaneously attractive. I preferrd him to Rochester as he, and his love for the protagonist Lucy Snowe, is more believable, and has more depth.

The only thing I would say is that unless your French is pretty good don't buy the Oxford edition - there is a lot of French dialogue, and OUP clearly didn't want to spend the money on paper and ink to translate it all - which I found extremely frustrating.

Overall - a fantastic book to curl up with and lose yourself in - it is one of my favourites!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute joy to read
Reader, I heart Ms. Bronte! Reading Villette was like reading a huge epic that I was so emmersed in that I walked in Lucy Snowe's shoes, I felt what she felt. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Boof

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply wonderful
Villette is a very accomplished book and a terrific novel whose heroin is as near perfect as any character will ever be. Read more
Published 14 months ago by H. Lacroix

5.0 out of 5 stars Bronte's Best
This is by far superior to Jane Eyre in every way, despite the fact that Jane Eyre is a brilliant book in its own right. This is better. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley

4.0 out of 5 stars An important and effective exploration of emotion.
Villette is a fantasticly subtle exploration of human emotion.
The novel may seem slow to start, yet this careful pace and use
of backgrounding makes it difficult... Read more
Published on 11 Feb 2007 by Mr. RW Abbotson

3.0 out of 5 stars Worthy but dull
Part of the attraction of this book for me is that Villette is Brussels, where I work, and the small largely Francophone kingdom of Labassecour (which still retains its... Read more
Published on 28 Oct 2006 by Nicholas Whyte

5.0 out of 5 stars charming...tragic?
I found myself reading this novel after Jane eyre and wuthering heights (as i am sure most readers probably will) but it is just possible that this book surpasses even those... Read more
Published on 25 Oct 2002 by Mr. Nicholas Davies

1.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected
This is the fourth book by the Brontes that I have read. Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre would be in my top ten of favourite novels and I also enjoyed Anne's The Tennant of... Read more
Published on 19 April 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars Astounding story of pure love and the sorrow of loss.
What a wonderful novel of the sweet joy of love and the bitter anguish of loss. Villette should be required reading for all students of liturature for its use of symbolism and... Read more
Published on 1 Jul 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars enchanting
I really enjoyed reding this book, it shows the fears and anxieties of a single woman in an early century who has struck out on her own to make a living. Read more
Published on 2 April 1999

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