Sally's Rage Face

[magog_83]

What the hell is this? I am so mad.

Pan Macmillan is adding a further twist to the erotica trend, acquiring a racy re-telling of Charlotte Bronte's classic, Jane Eyre.

Publishing director Wayne Brookes bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Vivienne Schuster and Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown in the debut novel, Jane Eyre Laid Bare, by Eve Sinclair. Macmillan will publish as an e-book in August 2012 with a mass-market paperback to follow "shortly afterwards".

The author described it as "an erotic version of my favourite classic", adding: "I think that readers through the ages have appreciated the smouldering sexual chemistry between Jane and Rochester and I have changed very little of Bronte's original to retell the timeless story of a young girl falling for an unattainable older man and getting out of her depth in a sensual world she cannot control."

Brookes said: "When I received the opening chapters of this novel I instantly knew it was something that Macmillan had to publish. The idea is genius; Jane Eyre Laid Bare is a fan fiction re-write of Charlotte Bronte's much-loved novel, giving the original an exciting and enticing erotic make-over.

"The original is full of sexual tension and Eve Sinclair has cleverly explored and exposed the sensual underbelly of a highly-regarded classic."

If she is in fact changing 'very little of Bronte's original' and 'giving the original an exciting and enticing erotic make-over', rather than setting it in a different era etc, then way to completely miss the point of who Jane is and what the novel is about. Also, way to make money off something that is overwhelmingly someone else's work, and a great work of literature at that.

I guess this might seem a hypocritical gripe to have, since I have a copy of 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' somewhere in my room. But that is such a cracky change as to make it okay to me, it's like a whole different (and very silly) world, it's not going by the same rules that Jane Austen set out in her original. But to just add erotica (if this is what's happening) to Jane Eyre changes the whole tone of the book and the people that Jane and Rochester are. I cannot imagine a way of doing it that doesn't cheapen the story and characters :/

Between this and 'Wuthering Heights' being marketed as the favourite book of a 100 year old vampire, I should think the Brontes could power the Northern Grid with how fast they are spinning in their graves. If I was Anne, I would be bracing myself for Agnes Grey turning up as Christian's promiscuous alcoholic sister in '50 Shades' :/

MORE DETAILS OF THE PLOT: http://www.panmacmillan.com/News/June-2012/Jane-Eyre-Laid-Bare ::cries:: Clearly it is a period retelling.

Comments

[shiny4love.livejournal.com]

Whoa, that is weird. I'm off home due to a UTI and just powered up my lt.

I only re-read Jane Eyre at the beginning of the year, after having overdosed on the recent JE film with Fassbender as Rochester, (bloody loved how beautifully shot that film was, it gave it such an air of desolation and solitude that really seemed to fit Jane but was still somehow strong) that I had to get back in Jane's head.

I couldn't agree more with you. Both Jane and Edward are damaged people yet adamant to be strong and do the right thing. Even though Edward does lose his way a bit, he loves her though and love will make you do stupid things.

I can't imagine Jane ever allowing herself to do something that is so outside the norm of expected society. Plus the idea that Edward would taint the purity of her, there I say soul, I don't just mean her virginity but what she fundamentally is by allowing himself to take what is not lawfully his. The man wants to marry her to bond with her and make her whole his. He would never take advantage of her like that.

By the way, this brings me round to asking how your Merlin retelling of JE is going ;)

[eviltish.livejournal.com]

I was just about to comment to say something very similar. The power of Jane and Rochester's attraction to each other is very much rooted in Jane's purity of soul, and that Rochester is overwhelmed and entranced by that strength. I find their connection deeply sensual in ways that are nothing to do with physical intimacy, and I would worry that to include that would fundamentally alter the basis of their relationship.

[shiny4love.livejournal.com]

Exactly I hate that they used the word sensual and relate it solely to sex.

It's like the moment in the Knightley Pride and Prejudice film when Darcy takes her hand to help her into the cab and we have that lingering shot on their hands. That tiny bit of physical contact makes me gasp every time and is probably one of my favourite parts of that film.

Don't get me wrong I love my NC17 fanfic but in context and it needs to be appropriate to the story not just slung in there to titillate.

[magog-83.livejournal.com]

There is a bit in the 1996 'Persuasion' like that when Captain Wentworth helps Anne into a carriage and just for a second the camera lingers on his hand at her waist. Then he pulls back really quickly and looks away and you just KNOW how he feels about her <3

[shiny4love.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched that in ages, I have it on DVD I should really watch it again soon.

[eviltish.livejournal.com]

Oh Persuasion is another one that hits me right in the heart, the poetry of quiet, repressed emotion in that story gets me every time.

[magog-83.livejournal.com]

NOOOOOOOO.

Extra info from the publisher >:(

It's 1847 and Jane Eyre, an innocent eighteen-year-old, is desperate for experience when she meets her employer, the handsome, brooding Mr Rochester, who soon begins to confide in her about his dark past, believing her mind to be incorruptible. But Jane has a vivid imagination and needs of her own. She soon comes to realise that Thornfield Hall is a much more sensually arousing place than she had first assumed. She finds herself embroiled in a passionate, sexual, sensual romance with Rochester. But his insatiable appetites and increasingly dark fantasies eventually prove too much for Jane. When the secret of Thornfield Hall is finally revealed, Jane is faced with the terrible truth of why she can never marry Rochester. Instead must break his spell and escape him to preserve her own sanity, or stay and be forever ruined.

[eviltish.livejournal.com]

When the secret of Thornfield Hall is finally revealed, Jane is faced with the terrible truth of why she can never marry Rochester. Instead must break his spell and escape him to preserve her own sanity, or stay and be forever ruined.

WHAT.

SO much wrong with that that I don't know where to begin.

[magog-83.livejournal.com]

It makes me wonder what the heck is going to be wrong with Bertha in this one - is it going to be tied to his 'dark fantasies'?!?! I hope not.

[shiny4love.livejournal.com]

OMG really his dark fantasies!! and what exactly is his dark past that he is supposed to be telling her about.

Have they actually read the book?

[magog-83.livejournal.com]

Exactly! I think one of those most telling parts in the story is after the whole thing with Bertha is revealed and Rochester can't convince Jane to give in to him anyway - he knows that she wouldn't, and if she did she wouldn't be Jane.

“Never,” said he, as he ground his teeth, “never was anything at once so frail and so indomitable. A mere reed she feels in my hand!” (And he shook me with the force of his hold.) “I could bend her with my finger and thumb: and what good would it do if I bent, if I uptore, if I crushed her? Consider that eye: consider the resolute, wild, free thing looking out of it, defying me, with more than courage—with a stern triumph. Whatever I do with its cage, I cannot get at it—the savage, beautiful creature! If I tear, if I rend the slight prison, my outrage will only let the captive loose. Conqueror I might be of the house; but the inmate would escape to heaven before I could call myself possessor of its clay dwelling-place. And it is you, spirit—with will and energy, and virtue and purity—that I want: not alone your brittle frame. Of yourself you could come with soft flight and nestle against my heart, if you would: seized against your will, you will elude the grasp like an essence—you will vanish ere I inhale your fragrance. Oh! come, Jane, come!”

Merlin JE is still progressing slowly, my archives diploma and job is taking up all of my time, sadly :( It is however NOT a 'racy retelling', I promise you, and it will be available to read entirely for free :D

[shiny4love.livejournal.com]

Great quote :) exactly, he wants her, NOT the package she comes in.

I love that sex is not taboo in society anymore, that we can have it and talk about it without shame and it be a normal and accepted part of our lives in the modern world (yes I do appreciate its not necessarily so all over the world) but why does everything have to be reduced to the base.

Intimacy is more that getting naked with each other its about being vulnerable to the one you care about, about being honest and exposing your internal self to someone who you trust to take care of those insecurities, dreams and fears.

"my archives diploma and job is taking up all of my time, sadly :( " yeah right you love your AD :) and work is work unfortunately. I'm more that happy to wait and look forward to eventually reading it for free :)

[eviltish.livejournal.com]

And it is you, spirit—with will and energy, and virtue and purity—that I want: not alone your brittle frame.

His desperation and grief at the duality of his desire here - wanting her completely but knowing that the very reason he loves her, her strength of character that she won't compromise, is the reason that will keep them apart - is heartbreaking.

The physicality of Fassbender's Rochester in this scene in the most recent film adds another layer to this. He is such a physically commanding presence that to see him on his knees, begging and sobbing because she won't give in is very powerful.

[shiny4love.livejournal.com]

"The physicality of Fassbender's Rochester in this scene in the most recent film adds another layer to this. He is such a physically commanding presence that to see him on his knees, begging and sobbing because she won't give in is very powerful. "

That was what so impressed me about Fassbender as Rochester he had such a tight command of himself in the film and yet there was something underneath that. You could see Jane being pulled in by everything he didn't say. I liked also that there was a teasing element there as well that he did poke at Jane. He is often so stiff in other adaptations.

When he is clasping hold of her you can see how just like Jane there is this passion underneath all the civility. They are both filled with such passion, such strength of character and yet so good at putting on that mask for society that its a shock to the system when they break it down for each other. It frightens and excites them both. I always cry at that point in the book, I just hurt for them both.

[magog-83.livejournal.com]

Toby Stephens is a great non-stiff Rochester too. Although I have loved the book for a long time, it wasn't until seeing that BBC adaptation that I realised how teasing some of his lines were (that I hadn't noticed before), and how playful they could be at times, or just how perfectly in accord with one another - so much so that it was the first filmed version that made me believe in them as a couple as much as the book did <3

A lot of the older adaptations make Rochester so forbidding you wonder what on earth Jane sees in him. His offbeat sense of humour and sarcasm is so clear in the novel after all.

[shiny4love.livejournal.com]

I LOVED that adaptation. It was also the first time my other half came in contact with JE, he knew I loved the book and watched it with me. He actually enjoyed it and I always make him sit through any and all adaptations that end up being on.

Plus the boy was sensible enough to buy me the DD as a Xmas present :)

I always liked that Rochester was a bit of a joker. The whole section with the play and him dressing up as the gypsy fortune teller is one of my favourite Rochester moments. I could imagine that when he was younger before everything went down the pan he was bright and fun and a bit of a prankster. I always think of him being one of those people that laughed a LOT and loudly with his head thrown back. I think Jane gives him some of that back, I think she loosens him up a bit.

[eviltish.livejournal.com]

I adored the BBC version with Toby Stephens. Really fell for Rochester hard because of that adaptation. (Me and my then boyf, he was bowled over by that miniseries.) So I was very dubious when the film was announced because I really wasn't sure what else they could bring to the story that wasn't a retred of the BBC adaptation. And to be fair it is a different take on it, Jane is a much more distant character in the film - I found Mia's portrayal quite closed off when I first saw it, she's a good Jane but her subtlety I think gets lost in the initial majesty of the cinematography. And Rochester too seemed a harder character to connect with, Fassbender's edginess and sharp-eyed cruelty is more pronounced than that of Toby Stephens.

However on re-watching I realised that that film is entirely brilliant in what it doesn't say/show. It is a study in repressed emotion and the quiet, desperate connection that grows between Jane and Rochester. I cry pretty much from the middle of the film to the end now when I rewatch it - there are so many perfect moments of what *could* be that pass between them that it is by far one of the most sensually erotic films I've seen in a long time.

Casting Mia as Jane and Fass as Rochester against each other is also very clever, not only do they have a very real chemistry, Mia looks young and innocent in the perfect way. She's delicate but radiates an inner strength which I think has a lot to do with Mia's sense of her physicality as a ballet dancer, she can hold herself perfectly still in a way that is both unnervingly tenacious but completely calm.

And Fassbender, who is only 12/13 years older than her, wears his experiences in a natural way, you believe looking at him that he is a man who has lived a life of indulgence and decadence. When they are on screen together the contrast between them is visually very striking.

Needless to say, I have FEELINGS about that film. :)

[magog-83.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, I haven't seen it. Once I find my perfect adaptation, I tend to stick with it (haven't seen the 2005 Pride and Prejudice for the same reason, I saw bits of it but just wasn't interested after the BBC version), plus I always prefer the depth they can go into with mini-series, as opposed to the constraints of a 2 hour film. I read a very detailed synopsis of it though that praised the beautiful cinematography and atmosphere :)

[shiny4love.livejournal.com]

If you are interested I could email you a VLC dl of the JE film. I have a large attachment option on my account and the file is only 1.83gb.

It really is a lovely adaptation and I'm sure or least I hope you would like it.

[magog-83.livejournal.com]

I probably wouldn't watch it in the right frame of mind to give it a chance, to be honest :( I got so irritated with the promotional stuff for the film, and the director and actors going on about how their 'new' take and how 'no-one' had ever noticed these particular themes that actually many adaptations had noticed and the BBC version had drawn out beautifully. I know they have to say these things to sell their film, but it always makes me a bit squinty eyed - especially when there was such a recent, faithful and popular TV version.

I've seen lots of clips of it on youtube, but Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens are absolutely Jane and Rochester to me now, I think.

Thank you for the kind offer though :)

[shiny4love.livejournal.com]

No worries, I get that its part of the reason I put off watching the film for so long because I do love the bbc version.

In the end I watched it because I had finally watched X-Men First Class and got hooked on Fassbender. As is my fanatical completism (is that a word?) when I like something I watched everything I could get my hands on he was in. I hadn't even realised it was him as Rochester until then :P

[shiny4love.livejournal.com]

'However on re-watching I realised that that film is entirely brilliant in what it doesn't say/show. It is a study in repressed emotion and the quiet, desperate connection that grows between Jane and Rochester. I cry pretty much from the middle of the film to the end now when I re-watch it - there are so many perfect moments of what *could* be that pass between them that it is by far one of the most sensually erotic films I've seen in a long time.'

Mia is fantastic in the role of Jane I love the way she holds herself throughout the film. She also manages to remind you that although she acts and behaves the adult that underneath all the propriety there is an insecure teenage girl.

There is a moment in the film and I cant quite remember when it happens but she is in a room in her under clothes looking at herself in the mirror. She runs her hands over her waist and you can see all those things every girl asks herself running through her mind. You know the 'am I pleasing to his eye'.

In a way the saddest part of that is when its mirrored after the farce of her wedding and she is desperately tearing of the wedding dress. Once she back in the simple white under clothes you can see her physically relaxing, it almost like she actually voices the fact that this is what she actually is. This simple plain lonely girl. Not the woman who was to be married, that was the fantasy.

[magog-83.livejournal.com]

The other Jane Eyre quote I love (and that sums up Jane so well and is relevant here).

“I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad—as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth—so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane—quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs."

[shiny4love.livejournal.com]

Yes its funny I can imagine a lot of people now thinking she's nuts or just a prude for not going ahead and having what she wants. She believes in something though, all she has ever had is her principles and her belief in what is right and wrong. To turn her back on that is effectively to negate everything she has believed and done up to that point.

Jane is a strong and self aware woman who won't let anyone take her sense of self away from her even the man she loves because it all she really has that is truly hers.

[magog-83.livejournal.com]

Yes! I think if you read the book, and still think she's mad not to go to Italy with Rochester, then you've not understood her at all. Rochester points out she has no family, no wealth, no-one to care what she does, and this is what she answers. Even when she has nothing else, she has her self-respect and her determination to be true to herself and that makes her such a strong heroine in my book, and one worth admiring.

[shiny4love.livejournal.com]

I think it's something that we have really lost. I work with a lot of young people pretty much 80% of the people at work are between 19-25 and it's so hard sometimes to not get angry with some of the young women in the place.

They seem to have so little respect for themselves and no desire to be anything other than a good looking girl, wearing the right clothes and attracting blokes. I don't know how feminism ended up producing a generation of women who may as well be stuck in a 50's typing pool waiting to be picked out for marriage.

Yeah it great that they can have sex when they want and not feel like a slut because society say so, but what happened to actually wanting to be more than a trophy wife. It's like we are going backwards.

Jane would be so disappointed in them :(

[xthursdaynextx.livejournal.com]

Jumping in here, but on the subject of ambitions beyond being a trophy wife, I once saw a little girl no more than three with a t-shirt saying 'Future WAG'. It made me want to cry.

[shiny4love.livejournal.com]

Oh that is awful, sadly it probably says more about the mother's expectations for her daughter than the poor little girl. Which somehow is even more depressing that, that is all she aspires to for her.

[overtsock.livejournal.com]

In a way I feel sort of bad for this person. Like, wow, way to miss the point of the book, hon. How is this any different from any of the erotica that they sell at the pharmacy next to the magazines?

[magog-83.livejournal.com]

I'm really hoping there is more to this somehow, and that it's a modern version or something - not that that will make much sense because then it will be even more like all the erotica at the pharmacy :/ Either way, I agree with dragon.

[overtsock.livejournal.com]

Ralph the dragon adequately expresses my emotions about a lot of things. Not even 24 hours old and he's making himself useful :)

The thing is, if they make it modern times...well, then sex isn't really racy is it? It would be a sort of Carrie/Mr. Big situation. Yawn.

[magog-83.livejournal.com]

Oh god, it's not a modern version - just found this on the publisher's site.

It's 1847 and Jane Eyre, an innocent eighteen-year-old, is desperate for experience when she meets her employer, the handsome, brooding Mr Rochester, who soon begins to confide in her about his dark past, believing her mind to be incorruptible. But Jane has a vivid imagination and needs of her own. She soon comes to realise that Thornfield Hall is a much more sensually arousing place than she had first assumed. She finds herself embroiled in a passionate, sexual, sensual romance with Rochester. But his insatiable appetites and increasingly dark fantasies eventually prove too much for Jane. When the secret of Thornfield Hall is finally revealed, Jane is faced with the terrible truth of why she can never marry Rochester. Instead must break his spell and escape him to preserve her own sanity, or stay and be forever ruined.

Does the dragon burn manuscripts at all? Because that might be handy.

[overtsock.livejournal.com]

No, but I make a mean flamethrower out of hairspray and and oven lighter....

[xthursdaynextx.livejournal.com]

I don't even have words for how dumb this is. Why not just write a novel with original characters inspired by the general dynamic in JE if that's what you want? Why try to rewrite it? That's not even fanfic. What would the novel even be without the tension? Ugh. Just the title makes me cringe, it's like all those shows on BBC3 where they came up with the title first and then didn't really try too hard with the actual content.