Jane Eyre (Norton Critical Editions) [Paperback]

Charlotte Brontė (Author), Richard J. Dunn (Editor), Charlotte Bronte (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2000

The text reprinted in this new edition is that of the 1848 third edition text--the last text corrected by the author.

"Contexts" includes eighteen new selections and two new subsections: "Charlotte and Jane’s Illustrated Book" which includes a letter from Brontë to her publisher W. S. Williams; "Vignettes from Bewick"; and "Charlotte Brontë and Bewick’s "British Birds’" and "Charlotte Brontë as Governess," which includes letters to Emily Brontë, Ellen Nussey, W. S. Williams, and "The Governess-Grinders." "Criticism" collects six major essays on Jane Eyre, four of them new to the Third Edition. Contributors include Adrienne Rich, Sandra M. Gilbert, Jerome Beaty, Lisa Sternlieb, Jeffrey Sconce, and Donna Marie Nudd. A new Chronology and updated Selected Bibliography are also included.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Richard J. Dunn is Professor of English at the University of Washington. His books include the Norton Critical Edition of Wuthering Heights, Approaches to Teaching Dickens’s David Copperfield, David Copperfield: An Annotated Bibliography, The English Novel, Twentieth-Century Criticism, Defoe to Hardy, and Oliver Twist: Whole Heart and Soul.

Product Details

• Paperback: 552 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Third Edition edition (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393975428
• ISBN-13: 978-0393975420
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,050 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Literature & Fiction > British

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

125 of 136 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only edition to buy, August 28, 2006

By 

Joseph Guyer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jane Eyre (Norton Critical Editions) (Paperback)

This review is aimed more toward the Norton edition than to JANE EYRE. We all know this is a classic. Bronte was simply a genius and a harbinger of romantic, dramatic, gothic, and horror writing. (However, it still irks me that she couldn't end a simple sentence with a period. Every declarative statement, it seems, must be qualified with a colon or semi-colon. Oh well. Sign of the times.)

As for the Norton edition, it's the only one to buy. Bronte makes the assumption that you have read the Bible cover-to-cover a zillion times, and for those of us who have not read it through once, Norton's annotations are more than helpful---they're essential to understanding the novel's Christian allusions. This edition also provides the reader with critical essays, contexts of Bronte's life, Bronte's reactions to critics of her day, etc.

Bottom line: you can get the Dover Thrift edition for a couple bucks, but, if you are interested in giving this classic more than a cursory read, this edition is worth the extra money.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars buy this edition, May 1, 2008

By 

Wyote (Seoul) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Jane Eyre (Norton Critical Editions) (Paperback)

If you're thinking of reading Jane Eyre, and you want to understand it, this edition is the one for you. The footnotes are very helpful, explaining the allusions to the Bible or older literature that you might not pick up on, as well as some of the vocabulary. The contemporary reviews in the back are great - everyone must read Elizabeth Rigby's review. Our culture has changed so much, we don't understand how revolutionary books like Jane Eyre once were. The essays of modern criticism are also very helpful. Someone did a very good job with this book.

A few reviewers wrote that Jane Eyre is not entertaining or something. Actually, it is if you understand it. To me, Jane Eyre is up there with Shakespeare, the Great Gatsby, Catcher in the Rye as some of the deepest, most well thought-out stories I know of. It is a book to read 2 or 3 times before you draw your conclusion.

So - in short - read Jane Eyre, and use the Norton Critical Edition.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful edition, September 27, 2011

By 

E. Strickenburg (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jane Eyre (Norton Critical Editions) (Paperback)

If you already love this book - with its lush style, gothic suspense, striking characters, and passionate romance - but are still looking for the right edition to purchase, search no more. You've found it.

In addition to nicely laid-out typeface and margins, this edition has truly helpful footnotes. They point out the origin of obscure quotations, the meanings of archaic words, and the translations of the smattering of French interspersed throughout the book. Footnotes are found at the bottom of the page within the text, taking away the need for unnecessary flipping to the back of the book. And unlike other footnotes I've read, they don't waste your time pointing out things that are fairly obvious.

At the end of the book is a section entitled "Contexts." This contains helpful biographical information about the author, not just in a summary format, but in actual source documents. We can read letters Charlotte Bronte wrote while at boarding school. Or parts of her journal while she was working as a governess. Or letters to her publisher. Or responses to her book written at the time of its publication.

A section of "Criticism" follows, containing six essays, which focus on everything from assessment of Jane and Mr. Rochester's interactions to a survey of film adaptations of the book. The essays are varied in their perspective and quite interesting to read. This edition was last released in 2001, so the survey of film adaptations doesn't cover the most recent versions, but is a fascinating look at the variation within the previous versions.

My only complaint about this edition is the cover. It is burnt orange in color, and the illustration isn't one I would have picked. But the quality of the edition certainly outweighs any aesthetic concerns with the cover.