The Professor by Charlotte Brontë

Narrated by James Langton

Before I got into romance reading and listening in a big way, my usual literary diet consisted principally of historical fiction and classics, mostly from the 19^th century. I don’t listen to so many of the latter these days, but when I realised that 21^st April 2016 was the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charlotte Brontë, I thought I’d revisit one of her books in audio and had intended to pick up a copy of Villette. But then I came across a new(ish) version of The Professor, which happens to be the one book of hers I haven’t read, and decided to give that a spin instead. Although it was the author’s first novel, she was unable to find a publisher for it in her lifetime and it wasn’t published until 1857, two years after her death. It’s the only one of her books to take a male character as its central protagonist and narrator, and as such presents an interesting viewpoint; a female writer attempting to write how a man might think and act, which I believe to be quite unusual for the time. The novel has often been dismissed as a “dry run” for the much more successful Villette, and the two books do indeed take their inspiration from Brontë’s experiences as a schoolteacher in Brussels.

William Crimsworth is an orphan whose relatives begrudgingly provided him with a good education. After leaving Eton, he refuses the church living offered by his sanctimonious uncles and also declines to marry his wealthy cousin. Disowned as a result, William decides instead to try to make his way in trade and to that end contacts his much older brother, a successful businessman in the north of England. Edward Crimsworth is cold and calculating; he takes his younger brother on as a lowly clerk and takes every opportunity he can to remind William of his superiority and to humiliate him. When his situation becomes intolerable, William takes the advice of an acquaintance, the bluff, no-nonsense Mr Hunsden, and moves to Brussels to take up a position as an English teacher at a boys’ school there.

In his early twenties, William is not much older than some of his pupils, but he quickly learns to assert his authority and gains in confidence, becoming a more than proficient teacher. Very soon, Mademoiselle Zoraida Reuter, the directrice of the adjoining girls’ school asks him to undertake some additional teaching duties there. He agrees to her proposal and it isn’t long before he finds himself falling under the spell of the lovely but coquettish Zoraida. It’s only when he chances to overhear a conversation between her and Monsieur Pelet, the head of the boys’ school, in which they discuss their impending marriage, that Mlle Reuter’s true nature is revealed to William, and he realises that she has been using his attraction to her in order to manipulate him. Disgusted with both her and himself, William adopts a manner of cold civility toward her, resisting her attempts to draw him back in – but he can now see through her attempts to seem benevolent and concerned. It’s at this point in time that she introduces a new pupil into William’s class, the young teacher of needlework and lace-making, Frances Henri. William is most pleasantly surprised with the progress Frances makes and is impressed with the quality of her imagination and ability to express herself, and gradually, the couple fall in love. When Frances is dismissed by a jealous Mlle Reuter, a furious William resigns his post and goes in search of her, determined to make her his wife.

I enjoyed listening to the story and am glad to have finally experienced the book, but I didn’t find it as compelling as the author’s other works. Charlotte Brontë makes good use of her personal experience of teaching in Brussels, as is obvious in the way she depicts the relationships between teacher and pupil so well. In fact, there are parts of the story that deal with William’s classroom experiences that are amazingly resonant for someone in the teaching profession today!

While William is generally a fairly sympathetic character and there is no doubting that his determination to achieve success through his own hard work is an admirable trait, he is sometimes difficult to like, and can come across as bigoted and self-righteous. The problem occurs when the author uses him to express some of her own prejudices. The distrust of Catholicism William shows was widespread in Victorian England at the time the book was written – it is surely no coincidence that the scheming, manipulative Zoraida is Catholic – and the assumptions he makes about his female pupils based on their appearance and the way he compares them unfavourably to good, Protestant English girls are distinctly unpleasant to the modern ear.

On the other hand, she brilliantly captures William’s feelings of loneliness and isolation when he arrives in an unfamiliar country with no money and no friends, and her descriptions of the sights and sounds of Brussels are evocative and clearly drawn from personal experience.

Listeners should be advised that there is more than a smattering of French words and phrases dotted throughout the text. There are several conversations in that language which are not translated (although some print editions provide translations), so if you are considering listening to this and don’t speak French, you might want to obtain a printed edition or some translations in advance.

As is often the case with audiobooks of Classic Literature, there is more than one version available, so choosing which one to listen to usually comes down to the narrator. There are four versions of The Professor – of which this is the most recent – available at Audible, and I did indeed choose it because James Langton is a favourite narrator of mine and I’d listen to him in practically anything. His pacing is very good and his slightly husky, mellow tone is attractive and very easy to listen to, which is certainly a bonus in the extended passages of narrative and description. He differentiates well between the various characters, and his French accent is very good, whether he is speaking French or English with a French accent. I did notice a few small mispronunciations in the French dialogue here and there, but not many. I especially liked his portrayal of Hunsden, the brash Yorkshireman who is William’s only close friend; and his characterisation of Frances, softly-spoken but with an underlying strength works very well.

Mr Langton’s skilful narration enhances the overall listening experience, although I recognise that The Professor is perhaps not a book that will appeal to all. But it is certainly worth listening to if you enjoy literary classics or the work of Charlotte Brontë in particular.

Caz

Narration: B+

Book Content: B-

Steam Factor: You can play it out loud

Violence Rating: None

Genre: Classic Literature

Publisher: Recorded Books [jwl-utmce-widget id=32435]