It ends, briefly, in England, leading up to Antoinette’s death. The slim book covers from Antoinette’s traumatic childhood, through her marriage to the wealthy second son, Rochester, to their fated honeymoon deep in the wilderness of the Caribbean. Ostensibly, it also gives some depth to Rochester and his secret past. Wide Sargasso Sea is the back-story of Antoinette (Bertha) Cosway, the crazy lady in the attic of Jane Eyre‘s Thornfield Hall. I mean, ideas have been shared and expanded on since the very earliest days of story. I am not at all opposed to the idea of fan fiction, as long as privacy and property is not abused and ideas are held with respect. Of course, in the 60s, we didn’t quite have the proliferation of fan fiction that we have nowadays, but I like the idea that Rhys’s novel was taken seriously, because good–or even great–things can come from expanding on someone else’s ideas. It is, well… we might identify it these days as fan fiction. If you are not familiar with Wide Sargasso Sea, you might be wondering what a 1960s novel has to do with the Bronte sisters. I read Wide Sargasso Sea, not just because it is considered a great book, but because I read Jane Eyre earlier this year and am currently reading through all the Bronte sisters’ writing. Available from Norton, and first published in 1966.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |