Merry Wanderer of the Night:
victorian literature

I was introduced to the lovely Mary Elizabeth Braddon when I read her novel Lady Audley's Secret last semester. I was interested in her first novel that I decided to take a classic all about sensation fiction just so I could read more books by her. And I'm glad I did, because I found Aurora Floyd to be vastly superior to Braddon's first novel. While Lady Audley's Secret is fabulous because of its strange characters and intense plot, Aurora Floyd won for me because of its concentration on minor characters. I also felt the plot wasn't wrapped up as quickly as the plot in Lady Audley's Secret. Aurora Floyd is about a woman whose name is, you guessed it Aurora Floyd. She pursues and is pursued by a clean soldier, but after she is rejected by him for her inability to share a dark secret she moves on and finds a new love interest. While this is simple enough, Aurora is still haunted by her secret which she refuses to share with anyone.

Aurora is a complicated character. She is beautiful, though not conventional. She is honest, but secretive. She is charitable and caring, which makes it difficult for the reader to suspect her of any wrongdoing. But then, what is her secret? She also has a love for gambling and horses, which makes her challenging as a Victorian woman. So basically, Aurora is a woman to love. And I fell in love with her very quickly. My love for her pushed me to the end of novel, because obviously I had to find out what her secret was. A word of caution, DON'T read the back of the book if you get the Oxford World's Classics version. It will ruin it for you.

Another aspect of this novel I loved was the used of, as mentioned before, minor characters. This novel truly plays with servants and makes them threatening to the seemingly powerful masters. I loved how Braddon made this characters evil yet somewhat understandable... similar to Lucy Audley in Lady Audley's Secret. They might have bad motives, but they're basically just a product of their environment. Check out this passage:

"Why is it that the dependants in a household are so feverishly inquisitive about the doings and sayings, the manners and customs, the joys and sorrows, of those who employ them? Is it that, having abnegated for themselves all active share in life, they take an unhealthy interest in those who are in the thick of the strife? Is it because, being cut off in a great measure by the nature of their employment from family ties and family pleasures, they feel a malicious delight in all family trials and vexations, and the ever-recurring breezes which disturb the domestic atmosphere? Remember this, husands and wives, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, brothers and sisters, when you quarrel. Your servants enjoy the fun." (177)

This novel earned an A.

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I was thrilled to find a class that was teaching Wilike Collins' The Woman in White this semester because I had been reading about it forever (at least it seemed that way to me). And the description on the back of the book got me even more excited when it said the novel was "the first and most influential of the Victorian genre that combined Gothic horror with psychological realism." Great, right? Right?

Well my friends, it was great. Excellent in fact. The narrative structure copies a criminal investigation. The first character we meet is Walter Hartright, a romantic character who has a strange encounter with a creepy woman in white on the road. She seems different, perhaps not quite insane but there is definitely something wrong with her. And why is she dressed all in white? He doesn't know it at the time, but this woman is going to change the general course of things for everyone he meets. He is on his way to new place of work, a drawing master for Laura Fairlie. When he meets Laura Fairlie he is pleasantly surprised to see how beautiful she is, but later finds out that she is already engaged to someone else. Sir Percival Glyde.

We lose Walter fairly quickly and the bulk of the novel is narrated by my favorite character, Marian. Marian has the body of a goddess and the face of mole, but she is extremely intelligent and observant. Her ugliness truly buys her freedom, as no man would want to marry that. She watches Sir Percival Glyde and his friend Count Fosco. She want to trust Percival since he is marrying her half sister, but she just cannot bring herself to do so. She is also pulled in by my other favorite character, Count Fosco, but she realizes Count Fosco tricks people easily and tries not to succumb to his powers. Fosco is a strange man. He is enormously fat, sweet to his wife in public, and is constantly eating sweets. He also knows exactly how to make people listen to him which makes him a humongous threat.

So who is the woman in white? What is the relationship between Count Fosco and Sir Percival Glyde? Why did Sir Percival want to marry Laura? These and many more questions pop up along the way in this book. It truly is a thrilling read. So why a B you might ask. The reason for the B is basically that I thought the ending was too neat and tidy, although I realize this would have been the preferred ending by most people in the book's day. I don't always like perfect endings though, and I wish this one would have ended differently. But it is certainly a must read!

This novel earned a B.

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I had never seen the Sense and Sensibility (1995) trailer before because I was five when it came out so I thought I'd look it up. I'm finishing Sea Monsters tonight and it's making me have a greater appreciated for the original, I think I might watch the movie tomorrow.

Also, just about the greatest cast ever: Kate Winslet! Emma Thompson! Alan Rickman! Hugh Grant!

And just in case the trailer didn't make you want to watch it again...

Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret

is a fascinating look into the world of madness. The novel was written in 1861. A biographical note: Braddon lived with publisher John Maxwell and his children but they could not get married because his wife was still alive and in an insane asylum. It's like the real life Jane Eyre

!

George Talboys has been in Australia working to make money for his wife back home in England. They are newly married and he wants to provide a good life for her because he felt she seemed unhappy with the small amount of money they had. He left in the middle of the night without giving his wife anything but a note saying where he was going. His thoughts have been filled with his wife and he is excited to get home to her, but when he arrives he finds out that his wife, Helen Talboys, is dead.

George and his friend Robert spend a great amount of time together after his arrival and Robert sees how depressed George has become. They visit the deceased wife's father and their child she left behind. George does not take the child. Eventually George is nowhere to be found and Robert declares that he is dead, and possibly murdered. When George disappears they are at Audley Court, Robert's uncle's residence.

Robert's uncle, Sir Michael Audley has recently taken a very young wife, Lucy Audley. She is the same age as his tomboy daughter, Alicia, and has no history. She is childlike, with blonde hair and blue eyes, but there is something in her personality that people seem to pull away from. Alicia especially dislikes her.

I will admit that the plot was pretty easy to figure out in the first few chapters which isn't necessarily a good thing in a "murder mystery" but it really is quite good. It's one of my favorite books I've read this semester and if you like murder stories or Victorian literature it is definitely a must read.

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I just spent one hour at the main library looking at articles in Persuasion (Jane Austen Journal) and The Gaskell Society Journal because I have to write a paper proposal. I then had to copy all of those articles, which took the bulk of my time. Now I have to leave for my earthwords Literary Magazine staff dinner soon. One good thing did happen while I was the library though, I found English Love Poems

and did some reading while I was copying. Thought I would share an Emily Bronte poem in hopes of lightening everyone's workload tonight, although I'll admit it's not the happiest of poems.

Remembrance

Cold in the earth -- and the deep snow piled above thee,
Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave!
Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,
Severed at last by Time's all-severing wave?

Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover
Over the mountains, on that northern shore,
Resting their wings where heath and fern leaves cover
Thy noble heart forever, ever more?

Cold in the earth -- and fifteen wild Decembers,
From those brown hills, have melted into spring;
Faithful, indeed, is the spirit that remembers
After such years of change and suffering!

Sweet Love of youth, forgive, if I forget thee,
While the world's tide is bearing me along;
Other desires and other hopes beset me,
Hopes which obscure, but cannot do thee wrong!

No later light has lightened up my heaven,
No second morn has ever shone for me;
All my life's bliss from thy dear life was given,
All my life's bliss is in the grave with thee.

But, when the days of golden dreams had perished,
And even Despair was powerless to destroy,
Then did I learn how existence could be cherished,
Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy.

Then did I check the tears of useless passion --
Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine;
Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten
Down to that tomb already more than mine.

And, even yet, I dare not let it languish,
Dare not indulge in memory's rapturous pain;
Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,
How could I seek the empty world again?

For those of you that missed it I found out about Emma: Volume 1

last week, the post is here. It is a manga, or graphic novel, by Kaoru Mori.

The story takes place in London during the 19th Century. Emma is a maid for an old widow who used to work as a governess. The widow appears somewhat classless in the story, which allows her to encourage Emma's interest in her old student, William Jones. William Jones is a member of the gentry whose father is set on him marrying a higher class woman, but William wants to marry for love and he loves Emma. It's a little cheesy, love at first sight, but the rest of the story is so great that I didn't think much about it.

Willliam Jones is very extreme in how much he cares for Emma, which I feel is more characteristic of a manga than of a Victorian romance novel. He will do anything to please her and buys her glasses because she cannot see out of hers. When he is walking in London he is always looking out for Emma, and since it is a manga he always sees her.

What I love most about this graphic novel is not the romance story though, it is the attention to traits of the Victorian society. In chapter three William Jones has a friend visit. His name is Hakim and he is Indian royalty. His entrance is a little eccentric, he arrives with a herd of elephants and belly dancers, later taking William on an elephant ride. While I felt that was a little extreme I did like how much it showed the interest of British people in the East. I think Mori made Hakim's entrance so extreme to show how the Victorian people had exotic ideas of the East.

In another scene Hakim and William are at the library and they find a book with photographs of scantily clad women. Hakim is not impressed and William makes a comment about the people in India not wearing clothes. Things like this made it interesting for me, it is very different from a Victorian novel but deals with a lot of the same issues. If I had to compare it to a none graphic novel, it kind of reminded me of Leonard Woolf.

To William's surprise, Hakim is also falling in love with Emma. Actually, everyone is falling in love with Emma (because it's manga). William goes to get a note to send to her and the girl at the counter says that several people have come to send a note to the exact same girl. Since it is a series there was no resolution left at the end, so if I want to find out more about the Hakim, William, Emma love triangle I suppose I will have to snag the second volume! Overall a good read if you're interested in Victorian history but are looking for something different. There is also a television show called Emma - A Victorian Romance Season 1

based on the manga.

Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: CMX (September 20, 2006)
Language: English

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Last night I was searching for more great Victorian novels and reference books when I ran across Emma: A Victorian Romance. It's a Japanese anime that aired from 2002-2006. I'm sorry I didn't find out about it sooner because it's so quirky. I've never seen an anime where the characters were essentially white people, well except maybe Pokeman. I am amazed by how versatile anime has become.

The series is actually based of a 10 volume manga series that I found on Amazon. From what I understand Emma is a lower class maid living in London who falls in love with an upper class male named William Jones. This of course is the making of many great Victorian novels. I'm also totally in love with the lady of the house who I think is William Jones' old teacher. She says great Victorian standbys like, "It's just good manners" but you can tell that she has a soft spot for her maid.

You can watch the first episode (in Japanese with English subtitles) on Youtube.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

On a whim I went to one of my favorite used bookstores with a few friends today and found two books that I think will make my Victorian-Lit obsessed self very happy.

The first is Selected Letters by Jane Austen. I used to hate Jane Austen, even the Pride and Prejudice movie with Kiera Knightley (oh the horror!), but after reading Sense and Sensibility for class I'm starting to come around to her. Even though the basis of this blog is reading NOT for class and for enjoyment, it is really amazing how differently you see a book when you read it in a group.

The second is Disorderly Conduct by Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, subtitle: Visions of Gender in Victorian America. I just about peed my pants when I saw this book because you can't believe how incredibly difficult it is to find books about the Victorian period in America. I also see that the book goes for over thirty dollars on Amazon and I got it for under five, so that alone makes it worthwhile.

You can look forward to reviews of these books in the coming weeks!