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Original poster

Bronte or Austen ?

64 replies

herethereeverywhere · 04/12/2012 12:37

Just that really. Just had a debate with my sister regarding them both (all Brontes vs Jane Austen ). I said that although I do love P&P and Persuasion for me it's the Brontes every time. DSis thinks you can't beat Austen for escapism though. Apologies if this has been done on here before but DSis and I have decided to bow down to the mumsnet vote Grin

OP posts:
PretzelTime · 05/12/2012 20:55

I must be immature because I don't get Austen. Haven't managed to finish any book by her other than Northanger Abbey.

Wuthering Heights - A bunch of terribly rude people being unfriendly with each other. Didn't finish it either.

Jane Eyre was a great read though.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 05/12/2012 20:50

I can cope with Hardy but Geoge E makes me want to shred up the books and THEN slit my wrists - soooooooooo tedious.

Yorky · 05/12/2012 20:49

Austen, any time.

I have to be feeling virtuous to attempt a Bronte, although I like Tenant when I get into it - I relate to him better than her though Hmm

Hardy? He's the literary equivalent of music to slit your wrists by.

Chubfuddler · 05/12/2012 20:25

I also thought this was a baby name thread

hattymattie · 05/12/2012 20:25

Bronte for me - Austen is too mannered - I like all that passion.

Love Austen on the telly though - especially with ole Col' (intelligent me) Smile

Chubfuddler · 05/12/2012 20:22

Austen all the way. If wuthering heights was written now it would attract venom on MN a la twilight. Jane eyre is if anything even more fucked up.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 05/12/2012 20:18

Austen
Austen
Austen
Austen
Austen

Forget wittering about on the moors. Give me sparkling conversation and little bits of ivory any day.

standsonshiftingsands · 05/12/2012 16:15

Hardy for me. If I'm pushed, I'd go for Brontes.

GreenandwhitePenguin · 05/12/2012 16:11

Another one for Austen here. Love the mickey-taking of the Gothic horror novels in Northanger Abbey. Of all the Bronte works I prefer the ones penned by Anne. What a shame they all died before their genius was appreciated.

elkiedee · 04/12/2012 21:10

Why do you have to make an either/or choice? And the Brontes are 3 different people. I loved Anne's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall but was disappointed by Agnes Grey.

HoratiaLovesBabyJesus · 04/12/2012 19:38

Don't read George Eliot. Trust me, you'll never get those hours back.

Original poster
herethereeverywhere · 04/12/2012 18:58

It's pretty evenly split then Grin I agree with the pp who said it depends on your mood. With the weather being rainy and windy and it getting dark earlier I am definitely more in a Bronte mood.

OP posts:
BOFingSanta · 04/12/2012 18:40

(except Mansfield Park)

BOFingSanta · 04/12/2012 18:39

Austen every time for me. I love them all.

GrimmaTheNome · 04/12/2012 18:32

I would love someone to name their kids Bronte and Austen!

tangentially, that reminds me of when our new neighbours when I was a child introduced their two children - Spencer and Tracy. Mother said, 'oh, he's one of my favourite actors' and the mum said 'who is?'Confused

highlandcoo · 04/12/2012 18:29

hackmum : "Austen is someone I love - the books are so subtle and so clever and funny but they also resonate and stay with you, I find, in a way that the Brontes don't. At the most basic level, I actually believe in the characters in a way that I don't with the Brontes."

Totally agree Xmas Smile

AnneElliott · 04/12/2012 18:26

It has to be Austen. I read P&P at 12 and didn't get it, but once I was older the humour became clear. Bronte is great, particularly The Tenant of Wildfell Hall but Austen is the winner for me.

LRDtheFeministDude · 04/12/2012 18:17

I would love someone to name their kids Bronte and Austen! Grin

Are we allowed to say neither?

I quite like both (not read all the Brontes though), but I don't find them easy to compare and don't think the Brontes were all that similar. And I used to hate Northanger Abbey but now I find it funnier.

EugenesAxeChoppedDownANiceTree · 04/12/2012 18:17

If I was talking in a cerebral sense; the Brontes (I should say the Bronte, as I've only read Jane Eyre; I didn't get into Wuthering Heights at all). If I'm talking about what I actually prefer reading; Austen.

MooncupGoddess · 04/12/2012 18:15

I was the other way round, loved Austen in my teens but didn't get the Brontes at all. All that agonising!

Now I am marginally less emotionally repressed I love Jane Eyre (often underrated by people who think its main point is the love story), Shirley, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and even Villette if I'm in the right mood.

JenaiMathis · 04/12/2012 18:13

Saw this in Most Active and thought it was a Baby Name thread Xmas Grin

GrimmaTheNome · 04/12/2012 18:11

Having now passed 50, I think I'm nearly old enough to have another crack at George Eliot...I've just started 'Shirley' for the first time though, think I ought to get on and read that first.

mummytime · 04/12/2012 18:02

When I first read Emma at 19, I really didn't get it. The scene discussing if Jane (?) should have gone to the post office, when I re-read in my mid twenties I was amazed at what I had missed.

hackmum · 04/12/2012 17:40

Grimma: "I don't know about that - I didn't get Austen at all when I was an early teen, too subtle maybe, whereas Bronte (Jane Eyre anyway) was exactly right."

Yes, me too. Loved Jane Eyre at 14. Read P&P at 15, thought it was OK, but didn't get the jokes. Now it's probably my all-time favourite book.

I do enjoy the Brontes - Jane Eyre, of course, also Villette, and Tenant of Wildfell Hall is much better than you might expect. Wuthering Heights is a bit bonkers. But Austen is someone I love - the books are so subtle and so clever and funny but they also resonate and stay with you, I find, in a way that the Brontes don't. At the most basic level, I actually believe in the characters in a way that I don't with the Brontes.

SuperScribbler · 04/12/2012 17:36

I think it's like trying to compare liquorice to lemon sherberts. Both are delicious but in very different ways

I like both, depending on my mood, but not together.