[New Release] 'Villette,' the Final Work of Charlotte Bronte, Author of 'Jane Eyre'

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] ◆Villette= Villette, numbers 81 and 82 in Changbi World Literature, is the last work published in 1853 by Charlotte Bront? (1816?1855), the British author famous for Jane Eyre.

The protagonist of Villette is Lucy Snow, a woman in her early twenties. Snow loses her entire family and leaves England alone, heading to a strange country called Lavascu. Villette is the name of the city where Snow settles in Lavascu. Lavascu, where French is spoken, is a fictional country modeled after Belgium, and Villette is modeled after Brussels, the capital of Belgium.

In Villette, Snow lives by teaching English at a girls' boarding school run by Madame Beck. She also meets various characters such as Dr. John, a physician; Mr. Paul, a fellow literature teacher; Lucy, an independent woman; and Polly and Ginevra, who have personalities opposite to Lucy, experiencing many events.

Villette is a novel Bront? wrote based on her own experiences. In 1842, Bront? went to study abroad in Brussels, Belgium, to learn French. She stayed for two years at a boarding school run by Professor Constantin H?ger and Madame Claire H?ger, living as both a student and an English teacher. Bront? incorporated her experiences at that time into Villette.

The reason Bront? went to Belgium to study was her dream of becoming a teacher with more independence than a governess and establishing her own school. In Villette, Bront? projects this dream onto Snow. Snow, in an era when women's freedom and self-determination were suppressed, ventures alone to a foreign and unfamiliar city to carve out her life. Through this, Bront? realistically and meticulously depicts the reality, life, aspirations, and anguish of single women of the time.

Professor Jo Aeri, who translated Villette, earned her PhD at Seoul National University researching Charlotte Bront?. Professor Jo also translated Bront?'s representative work Jane Eyre. She said, "In terms of overall completeness, Villette does not reach the level of Jane Eyre, but within its instability and imperfection lies a charm that cannot be found in Jane Eyre."