Wide Sargasso Sea
Jean Rhys
112 pages
First published in 1966
My copy (that I bought, btw) published by Norton Critical Editions
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I’m pretty sure there’s such a thing as revisionist literature (the term…I know it exists, I meant I’m pretty sure that’s what it’s called), in which an author takes a well-known tale and revisits/revises/expands on the story. And I’m pretty sure I’m not a fan of revisionist literature.
Because Wide Sargasso Sea is revisionist literature, and I have some issues with it. This is the story…..
Wait a minute, I almost forgot. SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT. Please do not read this if you haven’t read Jane Eyre and you plan to read it and you don’t know what I’m talking about when I say attic.
…. that precedes Jane Eyre, the story of Bertha, Rochester’s first wife, aka the crazy woman locked away in the attic of Thornfield Hall. Only in this story she’s Antoinette, until Rochester turns her into Bertha the zombie. She also has a step-father she didn’t have previously, and a few more siblings (some born on the wrong side of the blankie). The rest of the story I could totally buy into, but the fact that Rhys played fast and loose with some of Antoinette/Bertha’s family history bugged me. Well, not so much the wrong side of the blankie siblings, because that’s totally realistic, but the non-existent step-father and the killing off of real-dad.
However. The whole descent into madness/zombie angle (real Dominican voodoo zombies, as opposed to those pesky Pride and Prejudice revisionist literature zombies that seem to pop up everywhere these days)…that part was genius. Rhys develops Bertha’s backstory, showing us her mad momma, and her crappy childhood, and her happy honeymoon, and her total ass of a husband that slept (okay, that’s a total euphemism) with the help and started calling her Bertha instead of Antoinette (because one of the first steps in making a zombie is to give them a new name) and pretty much drove her right over the edge and made me think that yes indeedy, Rochester really was as big of an ass as Heathcliff was. Except that means I’m buying into Rhys’s story, which I don’t want to do because, dammit, she messed with some of Brontë’s facts. And that upsets me. It’s like when you have a dream in which you’re mad at someone and you wake up and you’re still mad even though you know you shouldn’t be.
What’s a reader to think???
And okay, I know this post is making absolutely no sense unless you’ve read both Jane Eyre AND Wide Sargasso Sea, which you should do (except I just ruined it all), so we can chat and you can tell me if you’re as upset by it all as I am.
YES! That was exactly my issues with the book. There were FACTUAL discrepancies, making the rest of the book unbelieveable. Plus I thought that her depiction of Rochester changed his personality completely, and not in a way that can be compensated for by the narrator switch.
I struggled heavily with this book, and was only able to enjoy it after I divorced it completely from Jane Eyre. If the Rochester character is just someone else, and the Antoinette isn’t really the Bertha in Jane Eyre, than it’s a fantastic story. The moment I try to piece it together with Jane Eyre, though, it falls apart and I get bothered. It feels more like an agenda very badly carried out, rather than the interesting book it should be.
I’m so glad somebody understands my muddled ranting! And yes, as a stand-alone I have more love for it, especially the post-marriage scenes. I really do like how she wove in the zombies and the whole changing of the name.
I have always avoided this book because I heard it was very, very slow. Did you also find it slow?
Yes, for a short book, the pacing IS slow. I expected to fly through it, but it took me a few days.
That’s why this book has sat unread on my shelf for years now. I am scared of it. I don’t know if I can separate myself from Jane Eyre enough to buy into it.
Chrisbookarama´s last [type] ..Lazy Sunday Thoughts-
And since you’ve just spent so much time re-reading Jane Eyre, I’m guessing you’d really have a hard time with it.
I seem to like revisionist literature since I loved Dracula, My Love, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes, etc.
We’ll see about this one.
Trisha´s last [type] ..Wishlist March
I think this might be the first book of revisionist literature that I’ve made it all the way through.
I like the idea of revisionist literature, but I’m never going to read Wide Sargasso Sea. I’m concerned that once I read it, I’d never be able to look at Mr. Rochester the same way again. I do recognize there are problematic elements to Jane Eyre, and Rhys addresses them and that’s good, but I’ve loved Jane Eyre since I was eight and I don’t want to spoil it.
Jenny´s last [type] ..Review- Strangers at the Feast- Jennifer Vanderbes
If you don’t want to spoil Jane Eyre, then yes, you should definitely stay far, far away from this one.
I have read both and I didn’t really like Roch to begin with, so this just meshed with my idea of him even though some parts of the book were suspect and just plain confusing. I tend to like revisionist lit, esp. if I am not a big fan of the original to begin with.
Nicole´s last [type] ..Christian Lacroix and the Tale of Sleeping Beauty- by Camilla Morton – Book Review
He was okay at first, but after Daniel sent the letter, whammo, he turned into a meanie, messing with Bertha’s mind. And everything had to be all about him.
I guess I was in the separation camp, because I loved Wide Sargasso Sea and I love Jane Eyre and I never took the time to mesh and compare the facts.
Beth F´s last [type] ..Weekend Cooking- Chocolate Ginger Cake
I’m guessing this isn’t the book for me!
I have been hot to read this one ever since finishing Jane Eyre, and when I do, you bet I will be sending you an email, because it’s already pissed me off, and I haven’t read it yet! I am going to have to get back to you on this…
I could see how it might be awfully tempting to come up with a back story for old Bertha!
Jenners´s last [type] ..Current Giveaway
I really didn’t like this book at all. Totalyl not worth reading. Jane Eyre was fabulous on its own and didn’t need this story. I also found Rhys’s writing so inaccessible it made it really hard to follow the story. But maybe thats just me being a lazy reader too.
Becky (Page Turners)´s last [type] ..The Messenger by Markus Zusak
Hmm, I am thinking I need to read this since I just read Jane Eyre or possibly recommend it to my book club since we just read it because we were all fascinated by bertha!
Amused´s last [type] ..March Review Book Giveaway Winners!
I love Rhys’ other stuff like Good Morning, Midnight and After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie, but I don’t like this one AT ALL. It doesn’t really fit with Jane Eyre. I was disgruntled by that and the slow pacing only made things worse.
bybee´s last [type] ..Things You Shouldnt Say In The Childrens Section Of The Bookstore
Well, I just read Jane Eyre and this one right after each other. Part of me is glad I did that, so I could make the connections between the two, but the other part of me is mad I didn’t savor the awesomeness that is Jane Eyre a little longer before reading this one.
I get why this is such a…good example of postcolonial literature and I get the reflection of why Rhys chose the character and gave her more backstory, but I really didn’t like it.
Like you (and Amanda I see up there), I saw a lot of discrepancies between this and Jane Eyre that I couldn’t overlook. If she couldn’t work the story within the confines of what Bronte gave, then why bother with the story at all?
I also couldn’t stand what she did to Rochester’s character. It didn’t seem right. And I get that this was him before the events in Jane Eyre, but I never pictured him as being able to do some of the things he did here. It didn’t make sense in my head.
Anyway, I’ll save more for when I make my post.
Allie´s last [type] ..Read-a-thon!
OK, would you recommend this to read FIRST if I was going to attempt to read Jane Eyre (again, I *think* I read this in HS but am curious what my now-self would think of it, thus it feels like a ‘re-read’) ?
Funny, I had always assumed this book was a chunkster. Only 112 pages!? THIS is truly why I’m attracted to it.
Care´s last [type] ..Forgot About PI Day!
So, I only read as far as SPOILER ALERT even though I’ve read Jane Eyre (10 years ago)–but I hope to see the movie soon or read the book or something.
Actually, I just picked up this book at Half Price Books about a month ago! Maybe I’ll read it for the readathon. PS–not participating? I’m devastated. Just not the same without you.
I’m a fan of Jane Eyre and I’ve checked this out of the library more than once without ever reading it. One of these days….
stacybuckeye´s last [type] ..Monday Movie Meme – Women & Prison
Oh, now wait…no one who ever raved about this book to me mentioned that Rhys had made changes to the story. I’m not opposed to filling out the blanks in the story but I hate when an author plays off the original without remaining true.
Lisa´s last [type] ..Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
I think it is unfair to judge this book without understanding the political and, yes, postcolonial context in which it was written. If you are looking for a replica of Jane Eyre, read Jane Eyre. This is not meant to be a trashy modern romantic ‘fill-in-the-blanks’ tale to satisfy Jane Eyre fans. It is a book implicitly hyper-critical of the Western canon and the British imperial spirit. Rhys is using the text of Jane Eyre to ‘write back’ to the Empire, using what has become a well-known trope of classic English literature – the Jane-Rochester story – to critique the political harm that has been done unto the Carribean by English hands. The book has to be read in that context. Reading it in the expectation of getting more Jane Eyre goodness from a secondary text is like reading Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses on the expectation of getting a complimentary gloss on the Qu’ran, or further teachings from the Prophet.