Villette: Background, Resources, and Reading Schedule

[Lady Clementina, Moderator]

Villette was published in 1853 by Charlotte Brontë, under her pen name, Currer Bell, her third (and final) novel. Her first, The Professor was only published posthumously in 1857. The story is narrated in first person by our protagonist Lucy Snowe, but she is, as we will see, a very different person from Brontë’s best-known heroine, Jane Eyre. In the story, we follow Lucy who has lost her family in an unspecified disaster. She moves to Belgium, specifically, the fictional town of Villette, where she begins to teach at a school. Villette is seen as a reworking of sorts of Brontë’s The Professor, both based on Charlotte’s own experiences teaching at a pensionnat in Brussels (initially with Emily, later on her own) where she fell in love with M. Heger who ran the pensionnat with his wife. The book deals with various themes including love, loneliness, resilience, as well as an exploration of Lucy’s own psychology. There are also some gothic elements.

[Lady Clementina, Moderator]

Find the book

At Project Gutenberg (various formats): https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/9182

Audio at Librivox (three versions): https://librivox.org/search?title=Vil...

[Lady Clementina, Moderator]

Reading Schedule
We’ll be reading Villette in short instalments of 5 chapters each, with the exception of our final instalment, which will be 7 chapters. This comes to roughly between 40 and 50 pages a week (other than the last segment).

Week 1: April 9–April 15: Chapters I–V
Week 2: April 16–April 22: Chapters VI–X
Week 3: April 23–April 29: Chapters XI–XV
Week 4: April 30–May 6: Chapters XVI–XX
Week 5: May 7–May 13: Chapters XXI–XXV
Week 6: May 14–May 20: Chapters XXVI–XXX
Week 7: May 21–May 27: Chapters XXXI–XXXV
Week 8: May 28–June 3: Chapters XXXV–XLII

[Lady Clementina, Moderator]

Charlotte Brontë
Born in 1817, the third daughter of Rev Patrick Brontë and Maria (Branwell) Brontë, and the eldest of their children who survived into adulthood, Charlotte Brontë was educated in the Clergy Daughters’ School (on which she based Lowood in Jane Eyre). She and Emily were removed from there and back to Haworth Parsonage after two of their siblings Maria and Elizabeth died of tuberculosis. She was later sent to be educated at Roehead in Mirfield, and also took up many positions as governess. Charlotte with siblings Emily, Anne and Branwell created a fantasy world, Glasstown, writing chronicles of various inhabitants there. After a collection of poems published jointly with her sisters, Charlotte’s first published work was Jane Eyre in 1847, which was a commercial success. She went on to write Shirley (1849) and Villette (1853). She died in 1855, jus three months short of her 39th birthday, due to complications connected with her pregnancy.

[Lady Clementina, Moderator]

Find a bio of Charlotte Brontë at Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlot...

Find a rich set of articles and resources exploring Charlotte Brontë, her works, characters, themes and much more at the Victorian web: https://victorianweb.org/authors/bron...

A short video on what Charlotte Brontë might have really looked like (5 min approx.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQNsV...

A 46-minute documentary about all three sisters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zYRM...

[Renee, Moderator]

I found Villette to be such a lovely novel. I hope that lots of Vics take advantage of the opportunity to read it together this month.

[Lady Clementina, Moderator]

Renee wrote: "I found Villette to be such a lovely novel. I hope that lots of Vics take advantage of the opportunity to read it together this month."

Thanks Renee. Me too; I think, it is possibly Charlotte Bronte's most complex book in many ways, and gives one much to talk about. So am hoping for a good discussion as well.

[Nidhi]

Villette motivated me read author’s biography, Life of Charlotte Bronte by Gaskell which is also very good. I liked Villette because of its unconventionality and profuse use of figurative language. The character of heroine has many similarities with the author.

Some readers may find it ‘preachy ‘ but I had no problem with that because I have never encountered a preacher in real life lol.

[Lady Clementina, Moderator]

Glad to hear that Nidhi. It is a wonderful read. And you're right, Lucy is a really interesting character.

I hope you get the chance to join in the discussion. The first week is up.

[Michaela]

I hope to get the book soon, as it´s been on my tbr list for some years.

[Lady Clementina, Moderator]

Hope you get the chance to join in soon Michaela

[Cindy, Moderator]

I've read Villette before, but I went into it (for some reason!) expecting it to be similar to Jane Eyre. I enjoyed the book immensely but felt that I missed a lot due to my preconceived ideas, so I welcome a chance to revisit it!

[Lady Clementina, Moderator]

Glad to hear that Cindy. Hope you can join in. It certainly is very different to Jane Eyre, especially Lucy's character

[LiLi]

Just jumping into this now, as I just finished another April group read (_Persuasion_).

I'm a bit confused. I thought Lucy was supposed to go to Belgium, but the blurb on the book listing says France. Have the borders changed (Belgium isn't even a very old country)? Or does she mean Wallonia? Or are we relying on French being the official language while Flemish was suppressed?

[Ginny]

LiLi wrote: "Just jumping into this now, as I just finished another April group read (_Persuasion_).

I'm a bit confused. I thought Lucy was supposed to go to Belgium, but the blurb on the book listing says Fra..."

I found this. "Belgium has three official languages: French, Dutch and German. In Belgian schools the official two languages taught are French and Dutch, so the majority of Belgians are bilingual. Dutch (Flemish) is spoken in the Flemish communities, while French is spoken in Wallonia. In Brussels the most common language is French. However, in recent years Flemish is gaining importance. Most Belgians will also speak or at least understand English."

[LiLi]

I know about the current official languages, as I lived in Flanders for four years. But French was the official language until, I think, the late 1960s. I'm wondering whether this is why the blurb says the book takes place in France, or where, in fact, these events are supposed to be taking place.

[LiLi]

Hm, and I've just looked up Bretton. It's in the UK, in both Cambridgeshire and Derbyshire! It seems that, regardless, the action does not start in,but moves to, the Continent. :D

[LiLi]

It seems maybe I should just be patient and the answer will appear later in the book. Sorry for the trouble!

[Ginny]

LiLi wrote: "It seems maybe I should just be patient and the answer will appear later in the book. Sorry for the trouble!"

Actually, now I am interested. Some sources say it's meant to be Brussels, some say Villette is a fictional town in France. If I hadn't looked anything up, going just from the novel I would think it is in France. Definitely fictional town and province.

[LiLi]

The fictional name unfortunately makes it hard to look up on Google Maps. Based on Lady Clementina's original post and the knowledge that Charlotte Brontë spent some very influential time in Belgium, I'm inclined to go with Belgium. Perhaps the blurb on my book is simply wrong! I'm only on the third chapter, so perhaps time will tell.

[Lady Clementina, Moderator]

I'm glad we're having an interesting discussion on the setting. The book itself says nothing (so far as my memory serves me) and based on what we've read so far as to where Villette might be, so all we know is it's French speaking. Online, wikipedia and the Encyclopedia Britannica say it's based on Brussels, while some other sources say France. Belgium seems the most likely choice since it is where she herself was, but being a fictional town, it could really be either. We'll keep a watch out as we read on to see if any clues are thrown up

[LiLi]

I've only just finished chapter 4, but I will let you know if I notice any identifying characteristics that seem to match Brussels. I didn't go there very often, but I will try to keep you apprised if possible!

[Lady Clementina, Moderator]

Sure, thanks. Do join in the discussion once you're upto chapter5

[LiLi]

I'm hoping to complete it tonight!

[LiLi]

Definitely Belgium. Villette is cited as being situated in the kingdom of Labassecour ("the barnyard"), whereas France is listed separately on the same page as the home of M. de Bassompierre.

[LiLi]

The fictional name is probably also a pun: "bas" means "low" (e.g., the Netherlands are called "Pays-Bas" in French). Belgium is likely here being grouped as one of the low countries by this appellation.

[Lady Clementina, Moderator]

Thanks for confirming that Lili🙂 I didn't pick up on that description.

[LiLi]

De rien! See you soon in the Week 2 discussion. :)

[Trev]

The power of Charlotte!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carliepo...

[LiLi]

Small but mighty!