JANE EYRE AND BERTHA ROCHESTER: THE UNDERSIDE OF A CLASSIC (PVSC Spring 2024 In-Person 5-week course)
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Jane Eyre and Bertha Rochester: The Underside of a Classic
Instructor: Ruth Nadehaft
(PVSC Spring 2024 In-Person 5-week course) Limit 15
Class is held at UMA-Bangor, Texas Ave. Eastport Hall Room 135
Jane Eyre was a sensation from the moment of its publication and remains a beloved classic, perhaps the most famous 'marriage story' in English. Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys, challenges Jane Eyre as perhaps the ultimate prequel, told by the first Mrs. Rochester, the madwoman in the attic. Devoted and brilliant scholars and biographers have given us the means to bring these two stories together. We'll have five weeks to read and explore them separately and in relation to one another. Both Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea are available to borrow through interlibrary loan or purchase through Amazon.com or other online sources.
Instructor: RUTH NADELHAFT
Ruth grew up in Queens, NYC and was educated straight through college in public schools, including The High School of Music and Art and Queens College of the City University: all free. After she married, Ruth went on to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where their daughter was born. At the time, being in graduate school, married, with a child was unusual. They came to Maine for her husband's job in the History Department of the University. Her own university career was separate and not exactly equal but included six years negotiating contracts for all university full-time faculty in the UMaine system. She came to know Maine differently through nine years on the Maine Humanities Council which met all over Maine and drew projects from every segment of our varied population.