I very recently read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne
Brontë
and I absolutely loved it. It got me thinking about hype within the classic
genre. I’ve had heaps of experience with hype in YA, but I never really thought
about it for classics until now.
I’m sure you’ve heard of the Brontë sisters, whether you read
classics or not. I’m sure you’ve also heard of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.
They’re popular classics, right? So my question is, why isn’t The Tenant of
Wildfell Hall just as popular?
If you read my review the other day, you’ll know that I
basically thought this book was brilliant. It’s a very raw story as it was
based on Anne Brontë’s own experiences with her brother, Branwell. I absolutely
love Jane Eyre — it’s one of my all-time favourite books, and I’m not
particularly fond of Wuthering Heights (at least what I’ve read of it) but I
feel that this deserves the same amount of recognition.
I’ve seen a few book bloggers and booktubers talk about this
in the past, but not nearly as many as it deserves. I’ve seen people say they
prefer this over Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, but still — not enough people
have read this.
And not only in the book blogging/tubing community. When it
comes to classics, I really like watching adaptations after I’ve read the book
just to see how the words get translated onto the screen. There are some really
great ones out there, mainly the BBC miniseries of North and South, but then
there are some not so great ones. When it comes to the Brontë
sisters… well, it gets interesting.
There are about eighteen different adaptations of Jane Eyre,
and those are only the ones in English. Out of all of those, I’ve seen two
neither of which I particularly liked. There are 13 adaptations of Wuthering
Heights, again these are just the English ones. How many adaptations are there
of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall you might ask? Two. There are two.
Both of them are miniseries. One made in 1968 that doesn’t
even have a promotional cover on IMDB (so you can imagine how well that must
have turned on) and another made in 1996, which stars Toby Stephens (from Jane
Eyre), Tara Fitzgerald and Rupert Graves (this is just for you Inge).
Some of you might know that Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights
got remakes a few years ago, but no — The Tenant of Wildfell Hall has still got
nothing. I just don’t understand why it isn’t as popular as the other two. In
my personal opinion, it would make a really great movie — firstly, the setting
of the novel is seriously beautiful. Secondly, can you imagine the soundtrack?
It would be beautiful piano pieces and other sombre stuff, it would be amazing.
Thirdly, and possibly most importantly, it tackles the issue of domestic abuse,
which is incredibly relevant in our society. I should mention when I say
‘abuse’, its not violence but more emotional abuse and manipulation. That’s
something people deal with now, every day, and not just women either so why
shouldn’t we see it from the eyes of Anne Brontë who experienced it, even if it
was ages ago. It just proves how much of a serious issue this is.
I’m sorry if this made no sense at all. I just really needed
to get these thoughts of my chest and I’m hoping some of you might agree with
me. If you hadn’t read this yet, then maybe this will convince you to?
Thank you for listening (reading) to me rant about the Brontë’s…again.
I’d say that I’ve gotten over my obsession for The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, but
I really haven’t. #sorrynotsorry
