Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre A Casebook

This casebook assembles a variety of essays written in an engaging style which introduce a reader to key critical approaches to Charelotte Bronte's beloved novel Jane Eyre. The 10 essays included range from psychological and materialist interpretations to feminist and postcolonialist readings. Framing chapters explore the historical and social contexts out of which Jane Eyre arose, investigate the novel's critical reception, and provide suggested readings for further study.

Jane Eyre is one of the most well-loved and widely read works in the canon, popular at both the high school and university levels. The casebook provides a series of essays that are lucidly and passionately written, and carefully researched and argued while still being accessible to the general reading public. The anthology is structured in three sections. The first provides three overall interpretations of the novel that are excellent examples of the most common approach to Jane Eyre: a reading that explores the psychological development of the novel's eponymous heroine. The second section will introduce more novel approaches: a feminist reading of the novel, a depiction of the psyche in Jane Eyre, a depiction of Jane in light of mid-Victorian discussions of Evangelicism, an analysis of Jane in relation to contemporary debates about the governess, and an examination of the novel in relation to colonialist discourse. The last section of the anthology includes essays that provide accounts of the familial context out of which Jane Eyre arose, its critical reception, and its literary afterlife.

Elsie B. Michie is an Associate Professor of English at Lousisiana State University.