Discoveries

[ladysprite]

Why didn't anyone tell me that the Brontes wrote heavy-duty prescription strength angst?

Damn, I would have actually read their books in high school if I had known that, instead of contorting like mad to get out of them and find acceptable english-class alternatives. Instead, I bulled my way through 'The Red Badge of Courage,' page by agonizing page, never knowing the tasty ocean of romantic woe that was waiting patiently for me.

I only learned this, of course, after working my way through all the actual fun books in my library's Books On Tape collection. Faced with an hour-long drive to work, no more Stephen King or Christopher Moore in stock, and a dearth of decent broadcast radio, I decided that cultural betterment was likely to be less boring than driving in utter silence, and picked up a copy of 'Jane Eyre.'

Half an hour in, I was enjoying it more than I thought I would. An hour after that I was hooked. It's delightful. It's marvelous character-driven dramatic angst the likes of which I haven't seen in forever - I've found the original inspiration from which all other angst plots have sprung. The setting is fascinating, too, for someone who has only limited experience with the era, and it's going to be a great help when I need to get into character for the Victorian LARP I'm playing in.

Of course, being the obsessive consumer I am, I now need to start devouring Victorian melodramatic literature in vast quantities. There are worse fates, though, I suppose. Does anyone familiar with the genre have any recommendations of what I should read next?

Comments

[braider.livejournal.com]

Now go read Wide Sargasso Sea. It's just fascinating.

[leanne-opaskar.livejournal.com]

If you haven't read Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, do so. It's phenomenal.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

More angst: Wuthering Heights

[dreda.livejournal.com]

Villette. Also, anything by Elizabeth Gaskell. Denser, and less purely melodramatic, but still deeply angsty - George Eliot.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

You have just made me immensely glad that I've never delved into Victorian chicklit, for the same reason that I greatly preferred Buffy to Angel. Concentrated angst just doesn't do it for me, I keep wanting the players to GET OVER IT and move on with their lives. But if you want some good recommendations in that area, my friend neadods is a huge fan of that stuff too and can doubtless provide some for you.

[ricevermicelli.livejournal.com]

My taste runs to the pre-Victorian (and frankly, I couldn't stand Jane Eyre - I kept wanting to scream that Mr. Rochester was just an asshole). I strongly recommend "The Monk" by Matthew Lewis, and "Northanger Abbey" by Jane Austen.

[tpau]

"Sister Carrey" i forget by whom was good...

[dreda.livejournal.com]

Theodore Dreiser, says the librarian. There are two versions, one with lots more text. Jury's out on which is better...

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

Anything written by Mrs. Gaskell.

And of course, the motherlode of angst, Wuthering Heights.

[tafkad.livejournal.com]

Bleak House, by Charles Dickens.

[hfcougar.livejournal.com]

I adored Jane Eyre. It's not just angst, it's well-written angst.

For lighter, fluffier angst, Emma is a personal favorite. For darker, more sinister angst, there's Wuthering Heights, though all the characters in that one annoyed me. For pr0n angst, there's Lady Chatterley's Lover, a copy of which matildalucet is currently getting rid of. Generally, as far as I know, you can't go wrong with Brontes or Austen.

I feel like I'm talking about fanfic here. Oy.

[cristovau.livejournal.com]

seconded

[iamjw.livejournal.com]

Tess of the D'Urbervilles (although I can't remember when it's set).

The original Dracula.

I second the recommendation of Wide Sargasso Sea (a modern companion to Jane Eyre).

Tale of Two Cities - talk about romantic angst! (Pre-Victorian, though).

[citabria]

Most of my recommendations would be pre-Victorian, regrettably (as is Jane Eyre). I'll ponder, though, and let you know whether I can think of any appropriately angsty Victorian writers (or writers who set their novels in the Victorian era).

[almeda.livejournal.com]

If you've not yet found The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, I think based on this that you'd like it. It's epistolary, which nobody DOES anymore.

[mindways]

It's not angsty, but simply because it's related I'll mention The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.

If Jane Eyre were an exquisite Romantic melody in a minor key, The Eyre Affair would be...er...a standalone counterpoint to it, for mandolin, electric guitar, two tubas, theremin, kazoo, grand piano, synthesizer, and brass band, as composed by Danny Elfman and Robert Anton Wilson.

Or something like that. :)

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Jane Eyre is good... it's unfortunate that having something stamped as "classic" can cause people to avoid it. As for others along the same lines... maybe try The Woman in White.

[pamelina.livejournal.com]

Yep. Heathcliff