Villette (Barnes & Noble Classics) - Charlotte Bronte [0]
From the Pages of Villette
Title Page
Copyright Page
Charlotte Brontë
The World of Charlotte Brontë and Villette
Introduction
Villette
VOLUME ONE
CHAPTER 1 - Bretton
CHAPTER 2 - Paulina
CHAPTER 3 - The Playmates
CHAPTER 4 - Miss Marchmont
CHAPTER 5 - Turning a New Leaf
CHAPTER 6 - London
CHAPTER 7 - Villette
CHAPTER 8 - Madame Beck
CHAPTER 9 - Isidore
CHAPTER 10 - Dr. John
CHAPTER 11 - The Portresse’s Cabinet
CHAPTER 12 - The Casket
CHAPTER 13 - A Sneeze Out of Season
CHAPTER 14 - The Fête
CHAPTER 15 - The Long Vacation
VOLUME TWO
CHAPTER 16 - Auld Lang Syne
CHAPTER 17 - La Terrasse
CHAPTER 18 - We Quarrel
CHAPTER 19 - The Cleopatra
CHAPTER 20 - The Concert
CHAPTER 21 - Reaction
CHAPTER 22 - The Letter
CHAPTER 23 - Vashti
CHAPTER 24 - M. de Bassompierre
CHAPTER 25 - The Little Countess
CHAPTER 26 - A Burial
CHAPTER 27 - The Hôtel Crécy
VOLUME THREE
CHAPTER 28 - The Watchguard
CHAPTER 29 - Monsieur’s Fête
CHAPTER 30 - M. Paul
CHAPTER 31 - The Dryad
CHAPTER 32 - The First Letter
CHAPTER 33 - M. Paul Keeps His Promise
CHAPTER 34 - Malevola
CHAPTER 35 - Fraternity
CHAPTER 36 - The Apple of Discord
CHAPTER 37 - Sunshine
CHAPTER 38 - Cloud
CHAPTER 39 - Old and New Acquaintance
CHAPTER 40 - The Happy Pair
CHAPTER 41 - Faubourg Clotilde
CHAPTER 42 - Finis
Endnotes
Inspired by
Comments & Questions
For Further Reading
From the Pages of Villette
I, Lucy Snowe, plead guiltless of that curse, an overheated and discursive imagination. (page 15)
A strong, vague persuasion, that it was better to go forward than backward, and that I could go forward—that a way, however narrow and difficult, would in time open, predominated over other feelings. (page 52)
I felt I was getting on; not lying the stagnant prey of mould and rust, but polishing my faculties and whetting them to a keen edge with constant use. Experience of a certain kind lay before me, on no narrow scale. (page 91)
Madame knew something of the world; madame knew much of human nature. I don’t think that another directress in Villette would have dared to admit a ‘jeune homme’ within her walls; but madame knew that by granting such admission, on an occasion like the present, a bold stroke might be struck, and a great point gained. (page 162)
‘You have no relations; you can’t call yourself young at twenty-three; you have no attractive accomplishments—no beauty. As to admirers, you hardly know what they are; you can’t even talk on the subject: you sit dumb when the other teachers quote their conquests. I believe you never were in love, and never will be: you don’t know the feeling, and so much the better, for though you might have your own heart broken, no living heart will you ever break. Isn’t it all true?’ (pages 164—165)
There are human tempers, bland, glowing, and genial, within whose influence it is as good for the poor in spirit to live, as it is for the feeble in frame to bask in the glow of noon. (page 223)
I shut the garret-door; I placed my light on a doddered and mouldy chest of drawers; I put on a shawl, for the air was ice-cold; I took my letter, trembling with sweet impatience; I broke its seal. (page 276)
‘What am I to do with this daughter or daughterling of mine? She neither grows in wisdom nor in stature.’ (page 315)
I like to see flowers growing, but when they are gathered, they cease to please. I look on them as things rootless and perishable; their likeness to life makes me sad. I never offer flowers to those I love; I never wish to receive them from hands dear to me. (page 381)
‘My book is this garden; its contents are human nature—female human nature. I know you all by heart.’ (page 411)
‘Monsieur, I tell you every glance you cast from that lattice is a wrong done to the best part of your own nature. To study the human heart thus, is to banquet secretly and sacrilegiously on Eve’s apples. I wish you were a Protestant.’ (page 414)
‘Papa, they are not letters to send to the post in your letter-bag; they are only