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The Professor

3.48 of 5 stars 3.48 · rating details · 5,158 ratings · 263 reviews

Charlotte Brontë's first novel certainly benefits from the vocal gifts of reader James Wilby. Title character William Crimsworth's attempt to find his own way in a world obsessed with money and manners comes alive as Bronte's vivid images and Wilby's lyrical delivery combine. Met with a rainbow of characters, the listener can easily establish each as an individual and unde...more

Hardcover, 269 pages

Published May 1999 by North Books (first published 1857)

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Sep 02, 2008 Elizabeth rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008, french-francophone, in-by-of-england, reviewed, victorians-and-wannabes, bronte-bronte-bronte

I read somewhere that Charlotte Bronte didn't like Jane Austen, which makes me continually compare the two of them. In this book, Bronte begins a chapter by addressing the reader that authors should write more about real emotions and real life and not always spiral the emotions of the characters out of control. She criticizes authors for hurling characters to heights of feeling and then wallowing them in despair, and that this should be done with restraint only to make a stronger point. Jane Aus...more I read somewhere that Charlotte Bronte didn't like Jane Austen, which makes me continually compare the two of them. In this book, Bronte begins a chapter by addressing the reader that authors should write more about real emotions and real life and not always spiral the emotions of the characters out of control. She criticizes authors for hurling characters to heights of feeling and then wallowing them in despair, and that this should be done with restraint only to make a stronger point. Jane Austen also used her first novel to criticize authors of her time - see here, this is how it's done. Both novels, The Professor and Northanger Abbey have the awkwardness of a new writer that has a great deal to say (particularly about women and their place in society) and isn't quite sure how to fit it all in. The poor yet principled and deserving woman is named Frances Evans Henri, and she reminded me a lot of Fanny Price of Mansfield Park with her demur passivity when someone treated her cruelly, although, unlike Fanny, she did like to debate and would passionately defend her point.

And they both hate the French. Bronte actually hates the Belgians more than she hates the French but she's not kind to either of them. Is there something in the English water that makes even sensitive women writers self-righteous prigs when it comes to describing anyone who isn't English (not British, English)? Oh, and Protestant, too. Can't forget what they think of Catholics either.

For all that, The Professor has some wonderful moments. It's a first book, and you can tell, but Bronte has some passages that make me smile just because she writes so wonderfully. More than any other time, when she writes about the feeling of a person when first in love, she can lift a whole chapter just by describing it. The plot is dull and she moves awkwardly through it, but I would come to points of humor or feeling that made the rest of it worth it. It might have helped that the book was only 200 pages though.

A way that Bronte is unlike Austen is her criticism of industrialization and the exploitation of labor (see Elizabeth Gaskell instead). She doesn't blend it well in this book but she makes her points. She also carries a core theme from this book into Jane Eyre; the protagonist is a poor relation who is treated ruthlessly (a word used in both books) by his family. It is through his own efforts that he achieves happiness. He must fend for himself and in that struggle he is helped when it isn't expected and from someone he doesn't expect it from. I began to notice somewhere in the middle of this book just how many times Bronte does use the word ruth in her novels (more than any other author I've read) and these ideas of charity, forgiveness, and honor really stand out in her works, even in her juvenilia. That in itself makes me want to read her later books, to see how (if) she carries it farther, and how.

I've gone on a while already and I haven't gotten to her choice of making the protagonist a man, and whether she was successful at it, and what it means for her as a writer, and --

So, it should be clear that there are many interested ideas and experiments in this novel. There are some problems as well but I think her ability as a writer outweighs her inexperience in this one (although perhaps not her xenophobia).(less)

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Sep 05, 2008 La Petite Américaine rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Bronte/du Maurier/Byatt Fans

Shelves: classics_i_loved, frenchie_stuff

Every time I finish a Charlotte Bronte novel, my heart pounds and my mind is disoriented. After reaching the end of her stories, closing her pages for the last time, and remembering the long passages written out in long-hand, it's all like slowly surfacing from the depths of another world, and you're back home in reality, not quite sure you want to be there.

Although it doesn't have the exquisite tragedy of Villette or the kick-ass karate-chop combos of romance, ghosts, crazy ladies in the attic...more Every time I finish a Charlotte Bronte novel, my heart pounds and my mind is disoriented. After reaching the end of her stories, closing her pages for the last time, and remembering the long passages written out in long-hand, it's all like slowly surfacing from the depths of another world, and you're back home in reality, not quite sure you want to be there.

Although it doesn't have the exquisite tragedy of Villette or the kick-ass karate-chop combos of romance, ghosts, crazy ladies in the attic, religious nut-jobs, and true love found in Jane Eyre, The Professor is still one hell of a novel.

Its themes are common to Bronte's novels: Catholic wickedness (aka, “Romish wizardcraft” in this book -- HAHAHA!), relationships among the different social classes, social-restraint, and independence. Illustrating these themes are our upright, plain, poor, and virtuous narrator and his love interest, who are contrasted by the so-goddamn-evil-i-love-her Zoraide Reuter and her equally two-faced and back stabbing boyfriend, M. Pelet.

In many ways inferior to Jane Eyre, and in many other ways a "rough draft" of Villette, this novel is probably not the author's best. But I loved it. Why? Because Charlotte Brtone wrote it.

Bronte famously wrote that Jane Austen's writing was like "a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers: but no glance of a bright, vivid physiognomy, no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck ... rather, comprehensive, measured, balanced, certainly “highly cultivated.””

What is Bronte then? Her writing is wild, like weeds, growing out of control and wrapping around you eyes, heart, and mind, but she planted those weeds and cultivated them just as carefully as Austen cultivated her garden -- but with more skill. Bronte gets you in a snare from which you cannot break free. Her words, her writing, her storytelling are all overpowering in their savageness. When you try to release yourself (it's called putting the book down) you'll find your heart beating from the rapid ride that she has taken you on ... and you want to jump right back in.

Seriously, I love this woman. Favorite writer EVER!!(less)

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Jan 05, 2008 Skylar Burris rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

What if Jane Eyre had been written from the point of view of Rochester? Would he have seemed more manipulative, more self-centered? Would readers have allowed themselves to be swept away by Jane's passion, and to desire its fruition? In The Professor, Charlotte Bronte narrates the tale from the viewpoint of the male protagonist, and I must confess to finding him frequently unsympathetic. Without seeing this character from the eyes of his affection's object, it is difficult to appreciate him. He...more What if Jane Eyre had been written from the point of view of Rochester? Would he have seemed more manipulative, more self-centered? Would readers have allowed themselves to be swept away by Jane's passion, and to desire its fruition? In The Professor, Charlotte Bronte narrates the tale from the viewpoint of the male protagonist, and I must confess to finding him frequently unsympathetic. Without seeing this character from the eyes of his affection's object, it is difficult to appreciate him. He too often comes off sounding pious and condescending. There are moments when the narrator acknowledges his vulnerabilities, but this is usually in order to display his virtue in resisting temptation.

Like Jane Eyre, the professor insists on following the stern voice of conscience rather than the warm pull of passion, and the moral of both books is the same: flee temptation. The Professor, however, is more obviously evenagelical than Bronte's later work, and these scenes of moral struggle and victory appear more strained, more self-satisfied than in Jane Eyre. The difference may simply be one of narration; perhaps I am more inclined to accept didacticism from a female narrator than from a male, authoritarian voice. The professor's strength is less impressive, perhaps, because he is less vulnerable in 19th century society than a woman would be. The risks he takes for his values are smaller than the risks Jane Eyre assumes. More importantly, his resistance of temptation sometimes smacks more of pride than of virtue. He seems alternately dominering and liberal; indeed, the book as a whole contains a rather odd mixture of feminism and male authoritarianism.

Despite my inability to fully relate to and admire the protagonist, and despite the annoyance of repeated anti-Catholic thrusts, I found this book to be interesting. It does have many moments of penetrating insight, couched in almost poetic language. I was impressed by the way Bronte weaved scripture and literary allusion so constantly into her work. And the book is well enough written to keep me curious of the outcome, even if I do not precisely adore the narrator. The other primary character, Frances, appears at first docile and then suddenly seems transformed into a vocal feminist. She appears to feel her inferiority and then to assert her perogative. We do not get to know her as we know Jane Eyre, because we can only see her through the eyes of the professor, and his narration seems, at times, slightly unreliable. I do not know that Bronte intended it to be; but as a reader, I hesitate to accept fully the narrator's pronouncement on all matters.

The Professor, Bronte's first novel, was never published in her own lifetime. But it is, in fact, more concise and better structured than Jane Eyre. Nevertheless, the book is simply not as likeable as Bronte's later classic. It is an enjoyable and comparatively easy read, but it does not make as profound an impression on the mind. Indeed, there is a sort of feeling of incompletness to the tale. As a reader, I got the impression that the narrator was, at the close of the novel, painting a happy picture of marital harmony, but underneath this seemed to course tiny hints of something darker. That something darker may have been a figment of my imagination, or it may have been an undeveloped theme. One of the most interesting characters in the book, however, is certainly undeveloped. Hundsen makes an appearance towards the beginning of the novel, disappearing from the tale for many chapters, before returning to capture the reader's interest once again. He is sometimes likeable, at others off-putting, depending on the lens of the narrator, and he seems to demand a book unto himself. This, however, we do not receive, and we are left instead with the story of the professor. (less)

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Mar 20, 2009 Sherien rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 19th-century

I see this as an experimental novel. Well this is Charlotte Bronte’s first work and clearly I do not find it utterly satisfying compared to her other works especially 'Jane Eyre'. Charlotte Bronte seems to want to talk about many important and interesting things such as equality between men and women, caste, religion, love, nationality but somehow, she could not narrate it perfectly.

I have to say that the plot was kind of dull and predictable. I liked the idea about relationships going on betwe...more

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Sep 11, 2008 Meghan rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: only the most die hard Bronte fans and even then with a disclaimer

I finally got around to finished/re-reading "The Professor." As I re-read it I remember why I hadn't finished for class when I first started reading it.

There is a lot of superfluous attempts at developing plot. The actual plot does not start up until half way through the book.

There are copious amounts of French (entire dialogues) which are not translated either by the author or by the editor (of the Oxford edition at least).

It is clear to me why this book was never published during Charlotte...more

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Jan 04, 2010 Karen Powell added it · review of another edition

This novel appears to be the precursor to "Villette," using a similar plot, but using a male voice as the narrator. The male is William Crimsworth, orphaned by poor parents, but raised by wealthy relations with resentment on both sides. Soon as he is of age, William sets off to make it on his own, which neccessitates him going into - gasp!- trade, a horrifying word among the upper class. William seeks his long-lost older brother, who didn't have the benefit of their rich relatives' protection an...more This novel appears to be the precursor to "Villette," using a similar plot, but using a male voice as the narrator. The male is William Crimsworth, orphaned by poor parents, but raised by wealthy relations with resentment on both sides. Soon as he is of age, William sets off to make it on his own, which neccessitates him going into - gasp!- trade, a horrifying word among the upper class. William seeks his long-lost older brother, who didn't have the benefit of their rich relatives' protection and made a fortune on his own. William, however, is eternally an outsider, treated badly by his resentful brother, and held at bay by his coworkers, except for Mr. Hunsden, who takes up a curious, trucculent fondness for the young man. Through Hunsden's help, William gets a job in Brussels as a professor. There, he becomes besotted with two women: first, the sensual, yet deceiving Zoraide, then, the more moral and humble, Anglo-Swiss Frances. [return][return]The novel is peculier for its time, but not necessarily for a Bronte, in Frances' perserverance and sense of duty to the point where she must be only in debt to herself, even after she weds. She insists on working, even though William offers her a chance to "rest" after marraige. Even when she has a child, she still works hard and worries that her salary isn't significant enough to contribute to the household. She must be her husband's equal, and together they run a school together and earn an independant living, enabling her to fulfill her dream of moving to England. You can't help but admire her character and know that she is sensible enough to take care of herself.[return][return]Crimsworth prides himself on his morality and sense of duty, but his personality makes things difficult for himself. He has an air of moral superiority, both at home in England and abroad in Brussels. In Brussels, his personality seems most cruel in his descriptions of the Flemish and their Catholicism. (I believe the phrase he uses is "popish wizardry.") This is a theme that pops up in "Villette," and a little bit in "Jane Eyre," so it must be the author's bias as well. Read with the eyes of a modern-day reader, Crimsworth's feelings about Flemish Catholics are quite vitriolic and shade him in a proud, bigoted light. Interesting that he looks down upon them, but has no scruples accepting jobs from them, or teaching them. He seems to feed off of being "better," as he is always espousing English superiority. His feelings are not muted after marriage: The last chapter tells of his domestic life with Frances, where he "punishes" her for being too "French" by reading Wordsworth for an hour. In fact, any quality of Frances's that irritates WIlliam is ascribed to her foreign birth.[return][return]William's judgmental nature reigns throughout the novel and makes it difficult to feel for him, especially since other people seem to work out his problems for him. While Frances has that determined spirit to care for herself drawn from years of poverty, William understands thrift but never suffers for long. Hunsden interfers on his behalf several times, and a chance encounter saving a boy's life yields a job opportunity and a wealthy connection with the boy's father. He doesn't seem deserving of Frances, a point Hunsden brings up. Yet, throughout, William never wavers in his moral pride, and is seldom forgiving for seeing pride in others. He stares at everyone, noting every detail, describing it to excess, and passing (usually unfavorable) judgement.[return][return]But one judgement on which he is spot-on is the schoolmistress he had a passing fancy for, Zoraide. She has a need to be adored and wooed. When she thinks she has William ensnared, she is triumphant. But when William learns of her true nature (and relationship with his boss, M. Pelet) he turns cold, rendering her almost frantic in the attempt to win back his affections. The two would not have suited, so it is a happier conclusion to find him in a superior match with Frances. The two females of the novel are meant to represent what is ultimately desirable (Frances) and undesirable (Zoraide) in women's behavior. Frances is rewarded with a happy marriage, fulfillment through work, and a child, while Zoraide's marriage to Pelet is rewarded with domestic unhappiness and the loss of her figure. [return][return]Utlimately, the novel is an entertaining read, but not as imaginative as "Villette." While "Villette"'s Lucy and this novel's William are both highly judgemental of foreigners, William comes off as uptight, while Lucy appears to be self-denying as a protective measure. WIlliam, however, after always being treated as an outsider perhaps uses his judgemental nature to protect himself as well. Yet he seems to put up blocks against getting to know anyone close, except Frances, without strong effort on their part. The novel's reward is Frances, a pioneer woman who we almost want to describe as "before her time," if she wasn't a product of her time, and her actions the most wise responses to the situations she encounters. A wise decision of Bronte to switch the narrator to a woman for "Villette," as lectures on composure and morality may have felt less hypocritical coming from Frances's point-of-view.(less)

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Jan 18, 2009 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics

I decided to read Wuthering Heights, but it was not on the shelf, so I decided to take this one. It's a charming little book, if one overlooks the narrator's conviction that the shape of a person's head, face, and even body reveals their inner character; also his tendency to refer to different European nationalities as 'races' with easily identified (and always inferior to English) characteristics; and finally his seriously anti-Catholic attitude (and I'm not even Catholic!) - all of which in th...more

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May 19, 2013 Charlotte Ebner rated it 2 of 5 stars

I am glad I approached this novel with limited expectations (at the start of what I hope will be a complete Bronte read-through) as it is a poky, mildly displeasing first attempt by Charlotte.

The main character, William Crimsworth, is a young fellow who decides to make his way in life by teaching English in Belgium. I don't know why he thinks this would be an acceptable career choice, as he feels strongly that Belgium is a vulgar place populated by vulgar hordes of vulgar Belgians. I also don...more I am glad I approached this novel with limited expectations (at the start of what I hope will be a complete Bronte read-through) as it is a poky, mildly displeasing first attempt by Charlotte.

The main character, William Crimsworth, is a young fellow who decides to make his way in life by teaching English in Belgium. I don't know why he thinks this would be an acceptable career choice, as he feels strongly that Belgium is a vulgar place populated by vulgar hordes of vulgar Belgians. I also don't know what Charlotte Bronte was trying to achieve with his character - part of me hopes that she intentionally crafted him to be the sexist and judgmental ass that he comes across as, but I'm fairly certain that it was in reality just an attempt to write a sort of idealized, highly moral young man gone sadly wrong.
William is a creep. He spends a good portion of the book observing the "figures" and "physiognomies" of his students, who are teenage girls. Although they may be "well-formed" (I swear all of these words are used on multiple instances to describe the students in general and also -yay!- a few girls in more detail) our sensitive friend William is repulsed by their Flemish vulgarity. (He can observe this vulgarity by their physiognomies, of course.)
But then! He meets a gal who he can tolerate because she is not Flemish, and they fall in love as he teaches her English. All the while making the falling-in-love process totally inexplicable by maintaining a very rude, standoffish demeanor which is really stupid given the fact that until he meets this girl his time not spent checking out his students is spent bemoaning the fact that he can find nobody to sympathize with his refined, sensitive soul or whatever. And once he finds someone he actually feels is fit to associate with him, he treats her so unkindly.
There are a few minor points that struggle to counteract all this nonsense that somehow manages to be icky and boring at once.
The girl William loves is a good character, almost in a rough-drafty Jane Eyre sort of way. Unfortunately, any respect for her intelligence and independence sort of vanishes when she decides to invest her time in an idiot like William.
And the writing is undeniably lovely.
But overall, bleh. Probably a whole star of my rating is due to this quote:
“Human beings -- human children especially -- seldom deny themselves the pleasure of exercising a power which they are conscious of possessing, even though that power consist only in a capacity to make others wretched”
Even when Charlotte was bad, she couldn't help but have her moments of beauty and brilliance. (less)

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May 10, 2013 Cleo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, owned-books

The Professor was Charlotte Bronte's first novel. The Professor " is a story about the life of the resilient William Crimsworth. An English orphan raised by coldly aristocratic uncles, he rejects a life as a clergyman to work in his brother's mill in Yorkshire. Treated abominably in his tedious clerkship, Crimsworth escapes to Belgium and begins teaching in a boys' school. There he eventually meets the headmistress of a neighboring girls' school, Zoraide Reuter, as well as one of the teachers in...more
The Professor was Charlotte Bronte's first novel. The Professor " is a story about the life of the resilient William Crimsworth. An English orphan raised by coldly aristocratic uncles, he rejects a life as a clergyman to work in his brother's mill in Yorkshire. Treated abominably in his tedious clerkship, Crimsworth escapes to Belgium and begins teaching in a boys' school. There he eventually meets the headmistress of a neighboring girls' school, Zoraide Reuter, as well as one of the teachers in the girls' school, Francis Henri. Narrated from a convincing male perspective, Bronte exercised her skill as a writer in telling a tale based on her own experiences as a student in Brussels, challenging many of the assumptions of Victorian society in the process. Crimsworth matures, finds a fulfilling profession, and discovers love in this significant commencement to Charlotte Bronte's literary career."

I still love Jane Eyre, but I did enjoy The Professor and its writing and story. I did really like the language in it; continuously reading it becomes rather tedious, but in a fairly short novel like this, it was fun to read. Also, I couldn't help wondering how one would diagram sentences like the ones in The Professor and other older novels. At any rate, I really enjoyed the writing.

There is a lot of French in The Professor and one thing that was really annoying in the edition that I read (on right) was that there weren't any footnotes telling the reader what the French meant! The company just assumed that you either know French, don't care, or are motivated enough to look it up. I do care, but not enough to look up the French most of the time. I did use our friend Google Translate in a few instances. Most of the time I could surmise what was being said, but it was confusing sometimes. There's not lots of French, but it's definitely a significant part of the story. So I would not recommend reading the Arcturus Classics edition. It was the only one available at my local bookstore, though. Still, Penguin is a good way to go, even if they do sometimes include too many footnotes.

Back to the actual content of the book, which I really enjoyed. Though not understanding the French definitely detracted from my enjoyment and understanding of the book, I still really did like it. As I mentioned, it had the potential to get tedious, but it didn't in my opinion. I enjoyed the characters, and they way they had subtle conversations with one another. I liked how Frances Henri was introduced.

If you like Jane Eyre or the Bronte sisters in general, this is definitely a good novel to read, especially since these sisters produced so few works. I also have The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

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Apr 02, 2013 Vibina Venugopal rated it 4 of 5 stars

This year my goal is to read lesser known books my favorite authors and their works which I haven't read so far..And I'm starting with Bronte as Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books ever, "The Professor" being her first book which got published only after death as it was consistently rejected by the publishers ..You get to feel the Bronte magic many a times , still Professor stands different in its own terms...

Unlike her other works the protagonist is a man named William Crimsworth who has a cl...more This year my goal is to read lesser known books my favorite authors and their works which I haven't read so far..And I'm starting with Bronte as Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books ever, "The Professor" being her first book which got published only after death as it was consistently rejected by the publishers ..You get to feel the Bronte magic many a times , still Professor stands different in its own terms...

Unlike her other works the protagonist is a man named William Crimsworth who has a clear mind and heart of his own ..he wishes to live by his wish rather going in for the pursuit of easy wealth and luxury..His mother dies during child birth and his maternal uncle reluctantly take care of his education, after graduation he chooses not to marry his wealthy cousin much to the dismay of his relatives and thus is left to himself ..He tries to find a family in his older brother who gives him a job as a clerk in his mill , he treats him rudely, jealousy always clouds his mind that reflects in his actions..Mr. Hundsen one of his brother's acquaintance feels the pulse and worth of William steers way turning events and thus William loses his job that sets him free..He is recommended for a better job in Belgium as a teacher or "professor" in M.Pelet's school which is all boy's school in Brussels and also as a English teacher in a girls school..Though he handles things brilliantly at the Boy's school commanding the respect of student, in the girls school things take a different turn as he staggers his way yet gaining an upper hand...Slowly and steadily he sets his life defining order that he starts to enjoy well..He comes in contact with Zoraide Reuter headmistress of the girls school, a much older lady, she tries to allure him manipulating him through her sweet words pretending care on him..Though initially he is struck by her charm and even desires to take her as his wife after spending an evening with her which had been calculatingly planned by her, but soon he realizes her true color and stays away from her charm and vile..Meanwhile William happens to meet a shy, demure student turned teacher Frances Henri..She teaches the students sewing and other needlework while taking up English class with William like other students..William is taken aback by her flawless English recital and her humbleness..Seeing a greater potential in her, he spends more time with her after classes tutoring her and engaging in healthy arguments and criticism that both find very enlightening...Now how would you like a story when there are no villain or vamp..Ms Reuter slips into the slot with her jealousy, she plays her cards well and fires Frances from her job and removes every trace of her from the school..Predictably William goes haywire searching for her in every possible away...He receives a letter from Frances that has a payment for his English classes and thanking him for his kindness and thoughtfulness but leaves no address to reach back ( I guess that was very Victorian )...He quits his job as he learns about the marriage of Ms.Reuter and decides to move on with his will power and his ability rather than any with any help from a third person..Okay now what happens to his love story?? well read on to know about it...

But for Bronte's style of writing that adds life and beauty to events things would have been dull and plain..Frances adds life and colour to William's otherwise plain life, which is quite infectious..Being Bronte's first novel I was really looking forward to this one and it came out with mixed feelings for me...The moments when Frances William come together you can feel Bronte at her best also when William stands firm determined to face life ahead on his own terms, but I don't know why the book didn't sweep me off my feet like Jane Eyre...But all in all its a wonderful read if not brilliant...(less)

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Mar 19, 2013 Dolors rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: best-ever, read-in-2011

The first novel by Charlotte Brontë, though not published until her death. It has been reviewed as a simple, unimaginative portrait of an English teacher's life in Brussels, an early attempt to what her best known novel Villette would later become.
I don't agree.
This work shines in itself, it's the only story in which Charlotte dares to talk through a man's voice. She talks about responsibility, about earning your own success through effort and sacrifice, to defy the strict clichés and the hypocr...more

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Feb 06, 2013 Ian rated it 2 of 5 stars

I consider myself to be something of a Brontephile, but found it difficult to summon up any enthusiasm for this novel of Charlotte’s. It begins awkwardly. The narrator (and protagonist) starts by reproducing a letter he had once written to an old school friend – a character who never appears again or bears any relevance to the story. It was as if the author struggled to find a way to start the book. And the same awkwardness is shown at the end of the novel. It rambles on after the main story has...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Heidi rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

These are the things I liked about this novel by Charlotte Bronte:
*I liked her preface that states she intended to write about a working man instead of a wealthy one; there would be no woman of fortune to marry for him. And she kept to her word. I liked that.
* There were some really nice moments of character exploration, especially in the Belgian headmistress.
* I loved that it was written from the point of view of a man. I would've liked more insight into his thoughts.

These are the things that w...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Mehjabeen rated it 2 of 5 stars

I chose a (rather bad) online audiobook version of this book with audio and accompanying text. Going to refrain a review of the reading other than saying be careful audiobook novices of the narrator; they can ruin the enjoyment of a book due to reading pace, lack of reasonably appropriateness of emotion. The like.

While this was one factor ruining the book, I was also dismayed by how flat and long winding in some parts this book is. Out of sheer determination, I finished the book (because it's a...more

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Oct 26, 2012 Dorothea rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have such mixed feelings about this novel. I should probably rate it a guilty pleasure.

On the bad side: It begins awkwardly (weakest attempt at setting up a narrative frame ever -- the introduction speculates Charlotte only did it because she was nervous about writing for publication for the first time and wanted to put her audience at a distance). It's set in Belgium, so we get the author at her most chauvinist. I suppose (and hope) that bigotry against the Flemish is a rarity these days! Lot...more

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Sep 25, 2011 Valerie added it · review of another edition

I THINK this is the edition I read. I remember that the version I read purported to be from the writer's own manuscript (Query: The original manuscript, or the rewritten version she used to continue her attempts to get the book published later in her life?). Anyway, this would be truer to her own text than posthumous versions by her publisher and others.

Contrary to what seems to be the general conssnsus, this is anything but the 1st novel Charlotte ever wrote. She had written dozens of volumes (...more I THINK this is the edition I read. I remember that the version I read purported to be from the writer's own manuscript (Query: The original manuscript, or the rewritten version she used to continue her attempts to get the book published later in her life?). Anyway, this would be truer to her own text than posthumous versions by her publisher and others.

Contrary to what seems to be the general conssnsus, this is anything but the 1st novel Charlotte ever wrote. She had written dozens of volumes (totaling thousands of tiny pages written in microscopic script) during her adolescence. This was the first novel she ever wrote FOR PUBLICATION; after her 'Farewell to Angria', and was written with her sisters during long walks around the table at night, after the death of their Aunt had left them with enough money to
self-publish their book of poems.

The Professor made the rounds of publishers along with Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey. Finally the latter two found a home (with a not particularly scrupulous publisher), but the Professor was left to trudge its weary way alone, until it found the way to the offices of Smith, Elder and co. (George Smith once commented on Charlotte's unworldliness, in that she simply scratched off the old addresses, and sent the thing on to the next publisher on her list. Unworldly? Perhaps. Or more likely, she just couldn't afford to keep repackaging the thing.)

William Smith Williams, one of the readers for Smith, Elder and co, read the manuscript carefully, and sent Charlotte a letter of careful criticism, ending by inviting Charlotte to send along a three-volume work as soon as she had one. It was this sort of personal relationship with writers that ended up with Smith, Elder and co acquiring the phenomenally successful Jane Eyre.

In later years, when critics would try to get Charlotte to write more like Jane Austen, she would point to The Professor, as an indication that she had tried to do that, and had been unable to get it published. She really had no gift for writing prose 'as unromantic as Monday morning'. The Professor wasn't her only attempt to do so, but it was really her first. Though she later argued that ANYBODY'S personal experience was very limited, she tried to draw on her own experiences for much of the setting, characters, etc. For example, the character of Hunsden is generally considered to have been modeled after the father of Charlotte's schoolfriend, Mary Taylor. The only real relic of her Angrian days was the male narrator, which may also have been retained in an attempt to escape romaniticism.

"It was found to be no go". But despite the continual refusal of publishers (even those who were her friends) to publish the novel, Charlotte kept trying, and often offered a rewritten version to impatient publishers when they complained that her current work was coming along too slowly.

Eventually, she cannibalized a lot of the book for material for Villette. But she still wanted the Professor published, because she argued that although the book had many flaws, some parts of it were the best she'd ever written.

Charlotte herself was a fairly provincial woman, so it's perhaps not surprising when her characters prove similiarly bigoted. It's worth noting, for example, that the schooling Charlotte and her sisters received, while extensive for her day, was not by any means up to contemporary standards. She didn't even have a 'high school' education. If not for self-education, she would have had about 5-6 years TOTAL of formal education. Fortunately, she read voraciously...but not necessarily from a wide library. Several of her letters to Mary, for example, thank Mary for the loan of French novels which Bronte characterizes as 'clever, wicked, sophisticated, and immmoral.' Probably she couldn't have gotten such things from what passed for a circulating library in her area, because they likely wouldn't have carried them, even in the original French.

If Charlotte hadn't come from a very literate household, and hadn't had access to a few other very literate friends, it's likely that she would have been even more prejudiced and narrow-beamed than she was. Her criticisms of the 'stupidity' of the Belgian schoolgirls would probably more justly have been directed at their (often externally enforced) ignorance. For a comparison of Bronte's own education as compared to that of her contemporaries, try the scene from Villette in which Lucy Snowe is primly led away from her (quite satirical) inspection of a Rubenesque 'Cleopatra' to a dull series of vignettes depicting the proper life of a woman (about which she is even more sardonic. As I recall, 'insipid' was one of the lesser imprecations she used.)

One note as to sources: Charlotte's publishers paid her in cash, but one of the payments she valued most was boxes of books, which she shared with her sisters and then scrupulously sent back. In her letters to her publishers, she lists some of the titles--and it's evident that one of her most valued 'fringe benefits' was access to a considerably more extensive library than any in her home area.(less)

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Aug 19, 2011 Margo Brooks rated it 2 of 5 stars

Audiobook. There is a reason that this book (Bronte's first to try to publish) was published posthumously. It is dull--and since most of it takes place in Belgium (where Bronte went to school) half of it is also in French. Since I listened to it and couldn't find an actual copy in the library, I don't know if the French is transleted in the book. It was on the audiobook (thank goodness).

I listened to this book because I am reading "The Secret Adverntures of Charlotte Bronte" and it has been so...more

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Dec 24, 2010 Ruth rated it 2 of 5 stars

So, I decided to rework my way through Charlotte Bronte's stuff and this is the first novel she wrote so I decided to read it first even thought it didn't actually get published until after she was dead (I think). It's about a love affair between a professor and his recently former student, and according to the preface it is based at least a little on Bronte's unreciprocated crush on her own teacher when she was in Belgium, and maybe her fantasy about how it could have turned out if things had b...more So, I decided to rework my way through Charlotte Bronte's stuff and this is the first novel she wrote so I decided to read it first even thought it didn't actually get published until after she was dead (I think). It's about a love affair between a professor and his recently former student, and according to the preface it is based at least a little on Bronte's unreciprocated crush on her own teacher when she was in Belgium, and maybe her fantasy about how it could have turned out if things had been a little different. I didn't really like the narrator, Crimsworth, much- he was a very upright guy and also an outsider who was cast out by his relatives for being true to himself, kind of like Jane Eyre, which should have made him sympathetic, but he still seemed sort of creepy and stilted to me. I think I liked Hunsden the most, the crazy rich peripheral character who is sort of a jerk but with an underlying social conscience and heart. As for the pupil, Frances, she was OK- she was quiet but had a bit of a spark, and it was only by empathizing with her, not Crimsworth, that I could in any way get swept up in the romance of the whole thing. I wish I could have been inside her mind instead of his. Sometimes I felt like I was, like the moment when listens outside the door and overhears her reciting a poem to herself that she had written about him and that gives him license to finally declare his love made me think of Charlotte herself maybe doing the same thing, reciting a little louder than necessary in the hopes that her beloved teacher was secretly listening. Of course he wasn't in real life, but she could put "him" there in her novel, couldn't she?- that felt totally real to me, and make me sympathetic, but that's kind of confusing because the only reason I'm enjoying it is because I'm conflating Bronte with her character- also, I like it so much because I imagine the scenario in which he isn't actually listening outside, she is just imagining it. The fact that he does actually come in kind of ruins it, which makes sense according to this Anne Carson book I just finished about eros (review forthcoming), because it removes the essential third thing in the triangle, the barrier between the lover and the beloved, and the sweet-painful tension just dissolves too quickly. I guess what I can say about this book is that it's more interesting in light of my recent obsession with Charlotte B moreso than on any merit of its own, which is OK, but not the best thing I could hope for from a novel.(less)

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May 05, 2010 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Bronte Fans

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Although not Charlotte Bronte's finest work, The Professor could be considered a practice run for her later - although earlier-published - novel Vilette, which runs along much the same plot course.

The Professor is interestingly the only of Bronte's major publications to be written from the perspective of a male lead: William Crimsworth. Perhaps for this reason, perhaps a little on purpose, or perhaps because I personally missed the intention, the effect is one of masculine condescencion and lack...more Although not Charlotte Bronte's finest work, The Professor could be considered a practice run for her later - although earlier-published - novel Vilette, which runs along much the same plot course.

The Professor is interestingly the only of Bronte's major publications to be written from the perspective of a male lead: William Crimsworth. Perhaps for this reason, perhaps a little on purpose, or perhaps because I personally missed the intention, the effect is one of masculine condescencion and lack of feeling. Bronte has been noted for her strong female characters, but the slight and withdrawing, although stubborn, Mdlle. Henri written as the novel's female protagonist is someone to whom I could give only a stifled amount of respect. A determined young girl though she is, in devoting herself to Crimsworth she readily submits to him. After a bookful of referring to her interest (then husband-to-be, then husband) as "master", Mdlle. Henri eventually gains the confidence and means to establish her own school - finally, a strong, dignified and independent move, you might think. But even in this Mdlle. Henri seems to rely almost entirely on the male lead: firstly, she feels as though she must anxiously ask his permission to undertake the endeavour instead of serving her time as his devoted housewife (a fate to which I have the feeling she would have readily submitted had he said no, for she is so ready to serve him); secondly, Crimsworth, who happens to saunter into a ridiculously well-paid job in the same profession as Henri, but paid more than three times as much, has the upper hand even financially, and it is insinuated that without his income they could not build the school together; thirdly, when the school has been established and the two lovers finally become directors of their respective sexes, it is mentioned that Henri continually calls on Crimsworth to monitor, advise and guide her, as though she cannot trust her own judgement.

Apart from the clear lack of Charlotte's usual and dignified feminist zeal, the novel still holds what we all love about Bronte writing: a brilliance of style, a deep study of concience and human feeling and a clear, firm grasp of knowledge and language, combined to perfection.

(less)

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Nov 16, 2012 Michael de Percy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-reviewed

Whenever the introduction to a classic suggests that I read the novel before I read the introduction, I shall do so. I was a little disappointed that my view of the novel was shaped by the introduction, nonetheless, this was my first Brontë novel so I am sure to recover! I found the story to be like a first-person biography (as opposed to an auto-biography), and indeed that was intended. Tainted as my view was by the introduction, I could not help but notice the effeminate nature of the protagon...more

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Jan 14, 2012 Furqan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: the-brontës, classics, british-literature

This was Charlotte Bronte's first novel and certainly not one of her finest works. I can see why it was rejected by the publishers several times and was only published posthumously. The novel is narrated in first person by the protagonist, William Crimsworth. It is partly set in a fictional town of Yorkshire and the rest in the city of Brussels, Belgium.

The story has a promising start, but plunges into monotony as it progresses. The protagonist's opinion of the inhabitants of Brussels makes a re...more

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May 14, 2013 Joseph rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: british, victorian

My first Charlotte Bronte book and again I wonder how I could have missed this book or ignored this author for so long. Although Anne is still my favorite in the early part of my reading, Charlotte's The Professor follows the same form of story telling. The major characters are well developed and likable or unlikable as the case maybe. Minor characters are not developed, such as William's friend Charles.

William is the main character, an Englishman with an education who rejecting going into the c...more

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Sep 27, 2009 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars

While I enjoyed The Professor, it was hardly life-changing.

One warning: there is a LOT of French in this novel! The British readers at the time would, of course, have understood every word. Thankfully, my French is good enough that I was able to read uninterrupted by going to my dictionary, but I highly recommend that you keep a translator by your side if you want to understand exactly what is being said in several scenes.

It's an enjoyable novel with likable characters. I like the normalcy of t...more

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Apr 10, 2009 Noel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: lit-and-fiction, released-through-bookcrossing

I don't think this book is for everyone, but I clearly enjoyed bits of it. The premise is that William is orphaned, sent to Eton, graduates and escapes the grip of his cruel elder brother in England and moves to Belgium to become a professor. There he befriends the headmaster of the boy's school where he teaches and also starts teaching at a girl's school. Up to this point the book is a bit flat, and William's character would benefit greatly from letting his hair down and leaving his English upb...more

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Dec 29, 2012 Amerynth rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: british-literature, fiction, read-2012, belgium

Charlotte Bronte made several unsuccessful attempts to have "The Professor," her earliest work published. I can see why it was only published after her death (and numerous rewrites) as it really isn't a great novel.

The story follows William Crimsworth, a man (like her female characters) who is thrown to the wild and forced to find his own fortune. He becomes a teacher in Brussels and the plot moves on from there.

It really takes a long time for the book to get going -- her long blocks of descript...more

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Feb 01, 2013 France-Andrée rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: classic-english, romance, relationships

That was fairly disappointing on many levels. Maybe the first thing is I enjoyed all of Charlotte Brontë's books so I had a high expectations for this one, but I should have had lowered them because after all there is reasons why editors from the author's time did not want to publish this.

The writing is not very mature, the characters are not well developed (even the narrator!) and nothing of note happens. It starts well with a young man looking for a career and going to his brother's company to...more

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Oct 17, 2012 Simona rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ho deciso di leggere "Il professore", poiché durante il mio primo Club del Libro di Torino Stefanya ne ha parlato suscitando la mia curiosità e portandomi a leggerlo in contemporanea con Lucrezia.
Ammetto che non conoscevo affatto questo libro. Quando si parla delle sorelle Bronte, io penso immediatamente a "Cime tempestose" o a "Jane Eyre",le opere rispettivamente di Emily e Charlotte Bronte.
Leggere questo libro è stato una sorpresa. E' il primo libro scritto da Charlotte Bronte che fu critica...more

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May 15, 2010 Hannah rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: nerdy-english-major-books

I have to say, I was kind of disappointed by this one, especially after having liked Jane Eyre so much. The Professor centers around a male protagonist who's very forthright, circumspect, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps, proud, and at times downright prejudiced (Made enough references to the moral inferiority of "Romists" and the Flamands with their "stupid expressions", Bronte? Eee. It got pretty painful.)

The story was more or less okay to follow, but never really became captivating, and I...more

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Jan 13, 2009 Faith rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2002-2004

I really liked Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre. It is a masterpeace. The Professor is CBs first novel and was a big disapointment after haveing read Jane Eyre. Nothing ever seamed to happen, and the characters just talked. I would call The Professor one of the most boring book I've ever read. It was a wonder I carried through reading it. I just wnated to thow it into the wall, cos on top of all it was very difficult to read not only because of the old English but because on every other page there wa...more

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Sep 28, 2012 Hannah Dye rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Professor was the first book written by Charlotte Bronte. Initially rejected it was published after her death with an introduction by her husband. Written in the first person the narrator is a young man who rejects the hypocritical offer of his rich relatives to sponsor his entry into the church and determines that he will carve out his fate himself. A brief but educational period as clerk to his abrasive industrialist older brother launches him into a career as a teacher in a boys' school i...more

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About Charlotte Brontë

Charlotte Brontë was a British novelist, the eldest out of the three famous Brontë sisters whose novels have become standards of English literature. See also Emily Brontë and Anne Brontë.

Charlotte Brontë was born in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, the third of six children, to Patrick Brontë (formerly "Patrick Brunty"), an Irish Anglican clergyman, and his wife, Maria Branwell. In April 1820 the fam...more Charlotte Brontë was a British novelist, the eldest out of the three famous Brontë sisters whose novels have become standards of English literature. See also Emily Brontë and Anne Brontë.

Charlotte Brontë was born in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, the third of six children, to Patrick Brontë (formerly "Patrick Brunty"), an Irish Anglican clergyman, and his wife, Maria Branwell. In April 1820 the family moved a few miles to Haworth, where Patrick had been appointed Perpetual Curate. Maria Branwell Brontë died of cancer on 15 September 1821, leaving five daughters and a son to the care of her sister Elizabeth Branwell. In August 1824, Charlotte was sent with three of her sisters; Emily, Maria, and Elizabeth, to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire (which she would describe as Lowood School in Jane Eyre).

Its poor conditions, Charlotte maintained, permanently affected her health and physical development and hastened the deaths of her two elder sisters, Maria (born 1814) and Elizabeth (born 1815), who died of tuberculosis in 1825 soon after they were removed from the school.

At home in Haworth Parsonage, Charlotte and the other surviving children — Branwell, Emily, and Anne — began chronicling the lives and struggles of the inhabitants of their imaginary kingdoms. Charlotte and Branwell wrote stories about their country — Angria — and Emily and Anne wrote articles and poems about theirs — Gondal. The sagas were elaborate and convoluted (and still exist in part manuscripts) and provided them with an obsessive interest in childhood and early adolescence, which prepared them for their literary vocations in adulthood.

Charlotte continued her education at Roe Head school in Mirfield from 1831 to 1832, where she met her lifelong friends and correspondents, Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor. During this period (1833), she wrote her novella The Green Dwarf under the name of Wellesley. Charlotte returned as a teacher from 1835 to 1838.

In 1839 she took up the first of many positions as governess to various families in Yorkshire, a career she pursued until 1841. In 1842 she and Emily travelled to Brussels to enroll in a pensionnat run by Constantin Heger (1809 – 1896) and his wife Claire Zoé Parent Heger (1804 – 1890). In return for board and tuition, Charlotte taught English and Emily taught music. Their time at the pensionnat was cut short when Elizabeth Branwell, their aunt who joined the family after the death of their mother to look after the children, died of internal obstruction in October 1842.

Charlotte returned alone to Brussels in January 1843 to take up a teaching post at the pensionnat. Her second stay at the pensionnat was not a happy one; she became lonely, homesick, and deeply attached to Constantin Heger. She finally returned to Haworth in January 1844 and later used her time at the pensionnat as the inspiration for some of The Professor and Villette.

In May 1846, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne published a joint collection of poetry under the assumed names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Although the book failed to attract interest (only two copies were sold), the sisters decided to continue writing for publication and began work on their first novels.

Charlotte continued to use the name 'Currer Bell' when she published her first two novels. Of this, Brontë later wrote:
"Averse to personal publicity, we veiled our own names under those of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell; the ambiguous choice being dictated by a sort of conscientious scruple at assuming Christian names positively masculine, while we did not like to declare ourselves women, because--without at that time suspecting that our mode of writing and thinking was not what is called 'feminine'--we had a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice"(less)

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Quotes from The Professor

“I sought her eye, desirous to read there the intelligence which I could not discern in her face or hear in her conversation; it was merry, rather small; by turns I saw vivacity, vanity, coquetry, look out through its irid, but I watched in vain for a glimpse of soul. I am no Oriental; white necks, carmine lips and cheeks, clusters of bright curls, do not suffice for me without that Promethean spark which will live after the roses and lilies are faded, the burnished hair grown grey. In sunshine, in prosperity, the flowers are very well; but how many wet days are there in life--November seasons of disaster, when a man's hearth and home would be cold indeed, without the clear, cheering gleam of intellect.” — 11 people liked it

“That to begin with; let respect be the foundation, affection the first floor, love the superstructure.” — 5 people liked it

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