New York Times asks why Jane Eyre is always Welcome

In an article “Another Hike on the Moors for Jane Eyre,” in this Sunday’s New York Times, Charles McGrath considers the enduring appeal of Charlotte Brontë’s famous novel. There are lots of reason the book survives. Writer/Director Douglas McGrath (would directed Emma from that other famous 19th century female writer) points out that, “What makes a classic a classic is that the story always has relevance to whatever generation is reading it. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t be a classic—it would be forgotten.” Of course some classics are more relevant than others. While Jane Austen spoke to so many people in the 1990s and 2000s, the 2010s may be Charlotte Brontë’s decade. As Jane Eyre’s director Cary Fukunaga suggests,

Jane Austen is like “Gossip Girl,” and Charlotte and Emily were like Goth twins…It’s a totally different sensibility. The emotional world that Charlotte inhabited is much darker and more dangerous.