pirated French translation of Villette

Ich möchte

vom Drahtseil herabsehen auf diese Welt

ich möchte

aufs Eis gehn und selbst sehen wie langs mich hält

was geht es dich an was ich riskier?

Ich gehör nur mir

Not my art but my commission

Genevieve Bujold as Anne Boleyn

Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)

i don't believe in god, but i believe that you're my savior

What always strikes me in this novel-- one of my favorites!-- is that I'm led into Lucy Snowe's affection for a hero who's unlikely, if not absolutely unlikable.  A plain, short, middle-aged teacher at a school for girls in fictional Villette (Belgium), M. Paul Emanuel rages at his pupils and colleagues; takes everything personally; manipulates; and often shows an astonishing lack of consideration for others, as when he locks Lucy into a roach-infested attic for four hours on a hot summer day so that she can rescue his stage play from imminent disaster.  Not exactly endearing, right?

Oddly enough, wrong.  Under Bronte's influence, somehow I can't help but smile at his childish ego-- just as I find Mr. Rochester impossibly cute when he's being, well, impossible!  Something about the emotional transparency and self-centeredness of these men becomes so appealing once they betray a weakness for the heroine...  Plus, they spar so well with protagonists (like Lucy Snowe and Jane Eyre) who don't take their hot tempers and jealous antics at all seriously!  Lucy laughs at M. Paul before falling in love with him, and indeed-- like Jane-- indulges in a few mind-games of her own at his expense.  To Lucy, M. Paul isn't frightening or abrasive; his haranguing is "piquant" and "better than music."  He stimulates.