Book Review: Villette

[osprey_archer]

I finished rereading Villette *mumblecough* quite some time ago, and I’ve procrastinated on writing a review for so long that I’ve developed a bit of a mental block about it, as one sometimes does when one really loves a book.

The problem is that there are just so many angles from which a review could approach the book. Do I talk about Ginevra, Lucy Snowe’s not-actually-friend because Lucy doesn’t actually like her, but she lets Ginevra hang around because Ginevra’s so pretty, and Ginevra duly continues to hang around because she likes for Lucy to give her a sound moral drubbing now and then? Not that she ever listens to Lucy! Not that she’s going to stop flirting with every man she meets and hoping against hope that one day she’ll break a heart so hard that the man in question will jump off a bridge! But nonetheless she keeps coming back.

Do I talk about M. Paul Emanuel, Lucy’s fellow teacher at the pensionnat and eventual love interest? The worst man in the world, who is constantly telling Lucy to behave herself properly (Lucy is already so restrained that other characters call her “as inoffensive as a shadow”), and yet I love him? I ship them? I think it’s because he’s the only one who sees that Lucy, despite her outward reserve, is in fact a volcano.

I think someone should write an in-depth exploration of Lucy wrestling with Catholicism, and particularly about the fact that Lucy is a Protestant and M. Paul a Catholic and they both find each other’s moral/religious systems at best tragically misguided and at worst repugnant, but also recognize in each other the best possible outcome of that moral system. However, I don’t know enough about 19th-century Catholicism (or the 19th century Church of England, to be honest) to do this justice.

However, I do think it’s much more complicated and interesting than just “anti-Catholicism,” which suggests that Lucy is expressing a reflexive prejudice rather than a well-considered (negative) opinion of the ethical judgments expressed by a particular religion in a particular time and place…. which is also colored by the reflexive prejudices she learned as a child.

Or there’s Lucy Snowe herself, our heroine, super depressed, past master of the art of shooting herself in the foot, yearning for connection but also crustily pushing connection away at every opportunity. (Which is of course part of the appeal of Ginevra to Lucy: Ginevra might not be the companion Lucy would choose, but she WON’T be pushed away.)

Lucy is always giving herself pep talks about how she’s going to be alone forever and the best she can expect is to scrape along earning her daily bread at a profession (teaching) that she doesn’t particularly care for. Whenever something nice happens, she tells herself sternly that it will probably never be repeated, so don’t enjoy it too much. At one point the guy she insists she definitely doesn’t have a crush on starts writing her letters, and she writes an initial warmly emotional response, then rips it up (!) and writes what she considers a correct and cool epistle, which I can only assume convinced him of her entire indifference.

And of course it is possible that his letters were only ever friendly letters and he was never going to fall in love with her even if she gave him a crumb or two of encouragement, but also my God. Never was there a crab so dedicated to dragging itself back into the crab bucket.

But I love Lucy’s crabbiness. Self-defeating characters can be a slog to read about, and I’m sure some people have this reaction to Lucy. But I love that she’s so cranky and annoyed with everything, and I love the way that she writes about it, (no one can put a sentence together like Charlotte Bronte), and I love her sudden bursts of exertion and pushing out and trying blindly to find something better for herself, fighting for happiness even as she insists that “happiness is not a potato” and can’t be cultivated, it just has to descend on you like manna from heaven.

And I love that she is a volcano, a placid exterior concealing a seething mass of passions that might just at some point erupt.

Comments

[asakiyume]

The review is well worth the wait! I love it! I actually howl-laughed at this:

Lucy is always giving herself pep talks about how she’s going to be alone forever and the best she can expect is to scrape along earning her daily bread at a profession (teaching) that she doesn’t particularly care for. Whenever something nice happens, she tells herself sternly that it will probably never be repeated, so don’t enjoy it too much.

But all the character portraits are excellent! (loved "Ginevra might not be the companion Lucy would choose, but she WON'T be pushed away"). I am not sure I would enjoy Lucy's crabbiness as much as you do, but the notion that she's actually a volcano is very enticing, I have to say.

[osprey_archer]

Lucy is trying to look after herself as best she can and she is so bad at it? Lucy, please just try to enjoy nice things on the rare occasions that they come. Please. Please. For all of us, but especially for yourself.

I think her crabbiness is less concentrated than this review makes it sound - hard to pack the complete complicated atmosphere of a five hundred page book into a few hundred words. But it's definitely a character trait that hums along below the surface even when it's not fully in evidence on any given page.

[thisbluespirit]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I read it as a teenager over and over and adored it. There's something so iddy and cathartic about it, to the point that now I haven't dared re-read it for ages. But perhaps I should sometime!

[osprey_archer]

I can't reread it too often because it's such an emotional tsunami - iddy and cathartic but also overwhelming! But I love the book so I have to reread it from time to time.

I'd love to watch a miniseries of Villette, but I don't know if one has ever been made. Even leaving aside the lack of name recognition among the general public, I think it would be a hard book to film, because so much of it is about what it's like in Lucy's head.

[thisbluespirit]

I'd love to watch a miniseries of Villette, but I don't know if one has ever been made.

This made me think that the BBC would definitely have had a go in the 1970s and if not, they would have done it on the radio.

I was not wrong! They made a miniseries in 1970, which starred Judy Parfitt!! With Peter Jeffrey (who is usually an eternal Villain of the Week but v engaging regardless) as M. Paul and was directed by Moira Armstrong (who is a standout early BBC director, & instantly a recommendation in itself.) There doesn't seem to be any indication of whether or not it actually exists; it certainly doesn't seem to have been released in any format, so there's a tantalising and useless answer! I knew they would have made the attempt, though.

There have been at least two radio dramatisations, however, in 1999 and 2009, both with intriguing casts, and the 1999 looks as if it should be good. I think it might actually lend itself to the format quite well, for the very reasons it could be difficult to film - here. I should imagine that one or both will be currently available somewhere.

But now I want to see Judy Parfitt! I can't even visualise her as Lucy, but at the same time I don't believe there's anything she can't do, either, so clearly this needs to be settled with a watch.

[kore]

OOOH.

[thisbluespirit]

XD

I don't know if you're curious about the 1970s TV or the radio, but I included what I could about both here, with YT links for both of the mentioned radio dramatisations. So, either enjoy or just share in the endless old UK Telly angst and frustration.

[osprey_archer]

1970s BBC gives and 1970s BBC takes away! Made the miniseries, but possibly didn't keep it anywhere, let alone release it in a format we can watch...

A radio drama does sound intriguing, though. And I think you're right, it could be adapted to the radio more easily perhaps than to TV.

[thisbluespirit]

There is a pretty good chance that a 1970 colour classic BBC serial survives and just hasn't been released, because the BBC are also pretty terrible at releasing stuff.

Interestingly, when I was looking for the 1999 Radio version, I found that the last time it was repeated, they illustrated it with a pic that is clearly taken from the 1970 TV one:



I can't tell if that is Judy Parfitt from the back, but I know a) what 1970 BBC colour looks like and b) I can recognise Peter Jeffrey under more cunning disguises and at greater distances than that.

I can't see any current official availability for the 1999, but someone does have the full version on YT here, ditto for the 2009 version with Anna Maxwell Martin, at the same channel. (It probably was up at the IA, but one of the major uploaders of BBC Radio has gone or been booted and all their works with them, sadly.)

If I ever see any sign of the 1970s somewhere, I will let you know. Stranger things have happened!

[osprey_archer]

Oh noooo, now that I've seen the still I want to see the miniseries more... BBC please have mercy! (The BBC cruelly refuses.)

[thisbluespirit]

I'm sorry!

[osprey_archer]

In other sad TV news, in between when we talked about The Racing Game in February and when I got a DVD player in April, the library got rid of their Racing Game DVD set! I feel slightly better about this because I learned that only the first episode is an adaptation of Odds Against, but STILL.

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, that is very unfair of the library! If it's of any use to you, it is still up on YT, and you could watch the first ep that way if curiosity gets the better of you.

[osprey_archer]

I had better wait to watch the first ep until I am ready to read more Sid Halley. If the actor is so good he made Dick Francis run off to write another book, he will surely make me want to read the next one.

[kore]

This is a great writeup! I totally love Lucy too.

[osprey_archer]

Lucy is such a delight. (Lucy stalks through the door to inform me she is NOT a delight, she has NEVER been a delight, if I am going to talk nonsense I should not talk at ALL.)

[troisoiseaux]

SOMEDAY. Someday I will read Villette!

[osprey_archer]

I believe in you!!!

[genarti]

Someday perhaps I will read Villette! This write-up was a delight and DID bump it several places up the list. I love your description of Lucy's determined crabbishness, taking herself by the scruff of the neck (this metaphor is getting away from me) to fling herself back into the bucket.

[osprey_archer]

Villette is well worth reading! But definitely a commitment, as it is a Victorian brick.

Lucy doesn't much mind about the other crabs climbing out of the bucket, but she, personally, is never going to allow herself out.

[regshoe]

Lucy <33 I love the image of Lucy as the proverbial crab dragging herself back into the bucket instead of other crabs. She is such a fascinating character, and this is such a good book!

[osprey_archer]

I love Lucy so much and Lucy is so crustily unwilling to admit that anyone might ever love her and it's just So Much.

[skygiants]

the moment when Lucy is like "I did theatricals and made passionate love to Ginevra onstage and had such a good time that I immediately swore it could never happen again!" the moment when Lucy is like "I temporarily contemplated converting to Catholicism and had such a rush of relief at the idea of opening my heart to a priest that I immediately swore it could never happen again!!" Lucy Snowe I'm obsessed with you

[osprey_archer]

EVERY TIME she has a good experience and then firmly squashes the possibility that it could repeat, EVERY TIME the world hands her the hope of better things and she shoves it away, EVERY TIME she gets a letter from her crush and writes a response that I can only assume is worded like "Dear Graham, The weather has been good. All is unchanged in the pensionnat. Your obedient servant Lucy." Lucy. Lucy please, I know you think happiness can't be cultivated like a potato, but at least put out a bucket so you can catch the manna from heaven when it falls.