Wide Sargasso Sea Puns

I am specifically looking for books that are both

1. classics/well-written in their own right, possibly in different styles (e.g. vitorian gothic romance vs. post-colonial modernism)
2. incorporate some of the same characters
3. compliment, extend, critique or reframe the other; ideally, not just internally but also on broader social themes the way these two books

Basically not just a fanfic, but a thoughtful reinterpretation or extension of the literary work that stands on its own. Are there any other books that you know that fit this mold?

I LOVE Jane Eyre! (I love it so much I named one daughter Jane and another Charlotte) I just realized (I know...I know) there was this prequel out there and I am wondering if I should read it. Will this book spoil Jane Eyre for me? Does it paint her in a bad light? I don't want it to ruin my love for Jane Eyre. I have heard mixed reviews about it so I thought I'd ask you all!

Hi! I'm a tutor and I just had an amazing experience reading Jane Eyre with a bright student who is a junior in high school. We discussed reading Wide Sargasso Sea next, for obvious reasons, but I've never read it before so I'm unsure if it is appropriate. Language would be less of an issue than sexual content. Thanks!

Also, does anyone have any other thoughts on Wide Sargasso Sea in general? Do you think it will diminish my student's fondness for the character of Rochester and therefore Jane Eyre as a whole?

Spoilers, obviously.

After my re-read of Jane Eyre, I decided to also re-read Wide Sargasso Sea. I thought Rhys did an amazing job of creating the frantic and foggy perspectives of Antoinette and Rochester.

One of the things I didn’t remember about the book was that Rochester straight up just changes Antoinette’s name. It’s not a nickname or anything. He just picked something else. I thought it showed great symbolism of erasing her and dehumanizing her but by bit where she was transformed to Bertha.

One thing that didn’t really mesh well with me was Rhys’ writing style v Bronte’s. Rhys’ felt way more modern (obviously since it was written much later), so it kind of took me out of the idea of the book as a prequel until the very end when we’re in Bronte’s world.

Less about the intertextuality and more the tone & themes. Its so brutal, Jean Rhys really pulled no punches. Defo the best feminist book I’ve read and just one of the best in general.

Haven’t read anything else by her so open to suggestions on where to start there too!

I finished this book a week ago and then read Jane Eyre again, just to enjoy the different perspectives both books offer. However, I can't seem to decide whether the book is actually good or bad. Progressive, yes, but the writing style and fragmented descriptions made it a bit hard to like. Any opinions?

I know the premises of these books are quite different but I really love the chaotic nature of them both as well as the different writing styles!!

As any of you who've read it might remember, in The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, there's a part where Antoinette, desperate for the love of her husband who refuses to touch her, drugs him with a love potion so he'll sleep with her. Does this not count as marital rape or at least dubious consent? He literally feels physically ill and traumatized afterwards.

It gave me flashbacks to Merope from Harry Potter. If a wizard drugged a Muggle woman with a love potion, kidnapped her home and forced her to have children with him, wouldn't we see a lot more of a negative reaction? Yet I see a lot of sympathy for Merope because she was abused at home and "did it for love." Meanwhile Riddle Sr. is dragged for abandoning his pregnant wife. What do you think?

I just finished Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. The beginning part of the novel--narrating Antoinette/Bertha's childhood right after the emancipation of slaves--set up a fascinatingly complex treatment of former slaveowners for the rest of the novel. Antoinette is descended from slaveowners, and tells us how blacks on the island treated her family after emancipation. Spoiler alert--they didn't bring them cakes and flowers.

I am struck by how raw the treatment of slavery and slaveowning is in this novel, even though it is mostly from the perspective of white people. Rhys does not shy away from the evils committed by white slaveowners, including Antoinette's family. Rhys gives Christophine and other black characters the opportunity to express their rage (maybe she doesn't give them enough space to speak in their own voices, but their voices are still a part of the novel). Yet at the same time, Antoinette spends a lot of the novel talking about how emancipation destroyed her family and contributed to her mother's madness, and how the post-emancipation treatment of her family sowed the seeds of her own madness. And all the while there is this enormous tension as to where Antoinette belongs--black people don't want her as her family profited by owning them, but neither do the English because she has gone "Creole," and she herself is in a state of constant confusion as to who she is.

It seems obvious that Rhys is quite sensitive to the irreparable harm slavery wrought in the Caribbean. The depth to which she goes into the Mason's experience after emancipation--the pain, madness, loss, and death--does not seem to be an expression of sympathy with the Masons. Instead, it seems that Rhys is describing the Mason's just deserts--the agony they can expect once the evil institution that propped them up for so long washes away. In my view, Rhys is not asking us to sympathize with the Masons, nor relish in their downfall. Instead, Rhys is showing us how former slaveholders reject and fight the realization that their prosperity was built on evil, and how sometimes, their prosperity comes crashing down despite their refusal to accept its evil foundation.

I'd love to get people's thoughts on how they interpret the treatment of slavery and its legacy in Wide Sargasso Sea. These are just some rudimentary rambling thoughts of mine. Perhaps I'm giving Rhys too much credit on racial sensitivity--this is a book written and narrated by white people throughout, and black char

Shoutout to u/blobtdq and u/laudula for guessing this one!

This is going up a hair early because I'm waking up early tomorrow. Back to regularly scheduled programming later this weekend.

This is the unauthorized sequel to Jane Eyre, written about Bertha Mason (Rochester’s first wife, the source of the crazy laughter). Jean Rhys is originally from the Caribbean, and places the narrative into post-1834 and the abolition of slavery in Jamaica.

SUMMARY

In Rhys’s book, the young woman’s name is Antoinette Cosway and she lives with her mother and brother near Spanish Town, Jamaica. Because of emancipation and her father’s death, Antoinette’s family falls into financial ruin and also become ostracized (the community of black folks on the island hates them for being former slaveholders (can’t exactly blame them), and the white people don’t like them for being poor, Creole, and French). Antoinette’s mom marries Mr. Mason, a wealthy planter, buuuuuuuut this makes everything worse and rioters burn down the house and wind up killing Antoinette’s brother, Pierre. This deeply affects their mother, and both Antoinette and her mom are sent away - her mom to an isolated house, and Antoinette to her aunt Cora’s house in Spanish Town, where Antoinette studies at a convent for a year and a half. The end of Part 1 is Mr. Mason coming back into Antoinette’s life and pretty much declaring “GUESS WHAT? YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED!” Apparently Antoinette and Rochester are initially super wary of each other (given a surprise arranged marriage, I would be too), but they eventually trust each other. The trust is broken when someone claiming to be Antoinette’s stepbrother writes a letter with some really awful claims about mental health and sexual degeneracy among the Cosway family. This is where the crap hits the fan, and… well, by the time Antoinette is guarded by Grace Poole and poses a risk as the arsonist in the attic, she doesn’t have as much of a sense of herself or her place - and neither Richard Mason nor Rochester are much help.

FUN FACT

The Sargasso Sea is apparently the part of the ocean where all the creepy Bermuda Triangle stuff happens (ships and planes going missing, etc) - perhaps like Antoinette starts to lose her sense of self? Jean Rhys is also from the Caribbean - she grew up on Dominica, but lived in England from the age of 16. She read Jane Eyre when she arrived in England and apparently was astounded that Bertha’s entire story was just “meh” at

It's just a random thought but I was reading WSS and came upon something that intrigued me.

Mr Mason, Antoinnette's step father is named after the french word for house which is maison. Is there any particular link or it just super random :PPP

I knew how it was going to end, having read that it's basically Jane Eyre from the perspective of the mad woman in the attic, but that didn't take away any of the emotional impact. In fact, the knowledge that the main character is doomed from the start lends more poignancy to those moments where you see a glimmer of hope for some kind of happiness. What are your thoughts?

I know it's supposed to be a prequel to Jane Eyre, but to me it just seems like a poorly written feminist novel, and all I got from it was to never stick your dick in crazy.

If you guys could explain why it is a good read, I promise to never take up the obeah religion.

Here are my wants: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ao7uIbe1c0NTdElLSjlKR2IySWZnbThSU2VxNmttaWc

Has anyone else happened to read her tie-in with Bronte's Jane Eyre? I just finished Wide Sargasso Sea and was left with mixed feelings. I'm really curious as to what anyone else may have thought.

View Poll

Hey gang!

Welcome back to our Guess Who discussion series. The final episodes of Season 2 have just been released on HBO Max! Follow along with the discussions in these threads, and let us know what you think!

#"Cher, Scooby and the Sargasso Sea!"

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• Daphne Blake: Grey Griffin
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• Cher

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Hi! I'm a tutor and I just had an amazing experience reading Jane Eyre with a bright student who is a junior in high school. We discussed reading Wide Sargasso Sea next, for obvious reasons, but I've never read it before so I'm unsure if it is appropriate. Language would be less of an issue than sexual content. Thanks!

Also, does anyone have any other thoughts on Wide Sargasso Sea in general? Do you think it will diminish my student's fondness for the character of Rochester and therefore Jane Eyre as a whole?

Hi! I'm a tutor and I just had an amazing experience reading Jane Eyre with a bright student who is a junior in high school. We discussed reading Wide Sargasso Sea next, for obvious reasons, but I've never read it before so I'm unsure if it is appropriate. Language would be less of an issue than sexual content. Thanks!

Also, does anyone have any other thoughts on Wide Sargasso Sea in general? Do you think it will diminish my student's fondness for the character of Rochester and therefore Jane Eyre as a whole?

Less about the intertextuality and more the tone & themes. Its so brutal, Jean Rhys really pulled no punches. Defo the best feminist book I’ve read and just one of the best in general.

Haven’t read anything else by her so open to suggestions on where to start there too!