Jane Eyre, the 1847 novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë, has frequently been adapted for film, radio, television, and theatre, and has also inspired a number of rewritings and reinterpretations.
1938: The Mercury Theatre on the Air, 18 September 1938, with Orson Welles and music by Bernard Herrmann; the acetate recording was irreparably damaged by its use in preparing the 1943 motion picture[18]: 91
1994: Jane Eyre, British radio, January 1994, with Ciarán Hinds[31]
1994 "BBC Radio Presents Jane Eyre" (Abridged) AudioBook (4 audiocassettes); ISBN 9780553473971; Running Time: 240 minutes; Performance by Juliet Stevenson; Bantam Doubleday Dell; BBC Enterprises;[32]
1971: Jane Eyre, part of Novela (TVE), starring María Luisa Merlo as Jane and Rafael Arcos as Rochester,[42] there are 15 episodes total with a run time of 372min total.[43]
1972: Jana Eyrová, produced by Czechoslovak television, starring Marta Vančurová (Jane) and Jan Kačer (Rochester)[44]
1973: Jane Eyre, a BBC series starring Sorcha Cusack (Jane), Michael Jayston (Rochester), Juliet Waley (Young Jane), and Tina Heath (Helen Burns); much of the dialogue is taken directly from the original novel[45]
1994: A two-act ballet of Jane Eyre was created for the first time by the London Children's Ballet in 1994, with an original score by composer Julia Gomelskaya and choreography by Polyanna Buckingham.
1997: Jane Eyre, an opera in three acts, Op. 134, was composed by John Joubert in 1987–1997 to a libretto by Kenneth Birkin after the novel. The world premiere of a revised version took place at Ruddock Performing Arts Centre in Birmingham (England) on 25 October 2016, with April Fredrick (soprano) as Jane and David Stout (baritone) as Rochester. The performance was later released on CD by SOMM Recordings.
1998: A musical version with music by Michael Malthaner, lyrics by Charles Corritore, and book by David Matthews, was written and produced in 1998.[57] The world premiere was in Toronto, Canada, with Marla Schaffel as Jane and Anthony Crivello as Rochester.
2004: Jane Eyre, an Odd Socks Production, written and performed in 2004. It was shared on YouTube in 2020 to support the theatre while it was closed.[60]
2006 Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, adapted by Polly Teale. Company - Shared Experience performed at the Trafalgar Studios.
2007: The ballet Jane, based on the book, was created in 2007, a Bullard/Tye production with music by Max Reger. Its world premiere was scheduled at the Civic Auditorium, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 29 and 30 June, performed by the Kalamazoo Ballet Company, Therese Bullard, Director.
2008: A musical production directed by Debby Race, book by Jana Smith and Wayne R. Scott, with a musical score by Jana Smith and Brad Roseborough, premiered in 2008 at the Lifehouse Theatre in Redlands, California[61]
2009: A symphony (7th) by Michel Bosc premiered in Bandol (France), 11 October 2009.
2013: The Autobiography of Jane Eyre, an ongoing modernized web series adaptation. It was created by Nessa Aref and Alysson Hall, produced by Nessa Aref and Erika Babins, and stars Alysson Hall as Jane.[62][63]
2014: A new stage adaptation directed by Sally Cookson was devised by the company at the Bristol Old Vic as two-parts. The production opened as a one-part play in the Lyttleton Theatre at the National Theatre, London (in a co-production with Bristol Old Vic) in 2015 before touring to Bristol Old Vic, Nottingham Theatre Royal, Hong Kong Arts Festival and touring the rest of the UK in 2017, ending with another run at the National Theatre.
2020: Dramatic adaptation by Elizabeth Williamson.[69] The Oregon Shakespeare Festival produced it during their 2024 season; this was its west coast premiere.[70]
Works inspired by the novel
Literature
Sequels
The novelist Angela Carter was working on a sequel to Jane Eyre at the time of her death in 1992. This was to have been the story of Jane's stepdaughter Adèle Varens and her mother Céline. Only a synopsis survives.[71]
2000: Jane Rochester by Kimberly A. Bennett explores the first years of the Rochesters' marriage with gothic and explicit content.
2003: Jane Eyre: The Graphic Novel. Script Adaptation: Amy Corzine; Artwork: John M. Burns; Lettering: Terry Wiley; Classical Comics Ltd.[73]
2008: Jane Eyre's Daughter by Elizabeth Newark. A fully grown daughter of Jane Eyre must choose between two men.
2014: All Hallows At Eyre Hall[74] by Luccia Gray. Volume One of the Eyre Hall Trilogy is a sequel to both Jane Eyre and its prequel Wide Sargasso Sea. Twenty-two years have passed since Jane became Mrs. Rochester, and Richard Mason has returned from Jamaica, revealing more of Edward Rochester's unspeakable secrets.
2017: Jane Eyre at Cranbridge[75] by Emma Foxwood is a sequel to Jane Eyre. Shortly after Jane returns to Edward Rochester and marries him, a turn of events causes Jane to travel to the quiet village of Cranbridge. While there, she experiences a series of remarkable events.
Re-workings
1958: Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart makes implicit and explicit reference to Jane Eyre. The novel is a gothic romance set in a remote French château in the 1950s. The heroine, Linda, is, like Jane, an orphan who takes on the role of governess, this time to a young boy. She compares her situation to that of Jane Eyre on several occasions. Motifs from JaneEyre also appear in Stewart's The Ivy Tree (1961) but without explicit references to the novel.
2002: Jenna Starborn by Sharon Shinn, a science-fiction novel based upon Jane Eyre[12]
2010: Jane Slayre by Sherri Browning Erwin. In the same vein as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, this has Jane Eyre battling vampires while also working through the events of the original story.[76]
2010 Sloane Hall by Libby Sternberg, a retelling set in 1929 Hollywood as films shifted from silent to sound.[77]ISBN9781594149177
2010: Jane by April Lindner. Set in the 20th century with Mr. Rochester as Nico Rathburn, a world-famous rockstar[78]
2010: Chocolate Roses by Joan Sowards. A modern LDS novel parodying Jane Eyre. ISBN9781935217626
2012: The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey is a modern variation on Jane Eyre set in 1960s Scotland.[79]
2012: Jane Eyre Laid Bare, which is credited to Eve Sinclair and Charlotte Brontë. An erotic mashup work.
2012: Jane Eyrotica by Charlotte Brontë and Karena Rose. An erotic mashup work.
2015: Re Jane: A Novel by Patricia Park pictures Jane as a half-Korean, half-American orphan in Flushing, Queens.[80]
2015: "Unearthly Things" by George Mann; a comic book story published by Titan Comics and based upon the science fiction TV series Doctor Who, in which the Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald share an adventure with Brontë, and their relationship inspires the author to base the characters of Jane and Rochester on them.
2016: Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye; inspired by her reading of Jane Eyre, the titular protagonist tells her story, which follows a similar path to the original, but this Jane is a serial killer.
2016: A manga adaptation by Crystal S. Chan was published by Manga Classics Inc., with artwork by Sunneko Lee.[81][82]
2017: Jane by Aline Brosh McKenna and Ramon K. Perez; a graphic novel published by Boom! Studios, it is a contemporary reworking of the novel set in modern-day New York, with Jane being a nanny for a Westchester recluse and St. John being reimagined as her crossdressing fashion designer roommate Hector.
2018: My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodie Meadows. A young adulthistorical fantasy novel in which Jane is recruited by a ghost-hunting agency.
2006: The Translator by Leila Aboulela, a Sudanese British Muslim retelling.
2007: Thornfield Hall: Jane Eyre's Hidden Story by Emma Tennant.
2010: I am Jane Eyre by Teana Rowland. This version of Jane Eyre delves into some of the unexplained aspects of the novel.
2015: Jane Eyre: My Private Autobiography by W.J. Harrison. This version of Jane Eyre works in some novel twists that fit into the original plot, such as Jane's pursuit of Rochester and St. John's homosexuality.
2023: Jane & Edward by Melodie Edwards. Retelling of Jane Eyre in modern times.[83]
Prequels
1966: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. The character Bertha Mason serves as the main protagonist for this novel which acts as a prequel to Jane Eyre. It describes the meeting and marriage of Antoinette Cosway (later renamed Bertha by Mr. Rochester) and Mr. Rochester. In its reshaping of events related to Jane Eyre, the novel suggests that Bertha's madness is not congenital, but rather the result of terrible childhood experiences and Mr. Rochester's unloving treatment of her. Wide Sargasso Sea has been adapted into film twice.
Spin-offs
2001: The novel The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde revolves around the plot of Jane Eyre. It portrays the book as originally largely free of literary contrivance: Jane and Mr. Rochester's first meeting is a simple conversation without the dramatic horse accident, and Jane does not hear his voice calling for her and ends up starting a new life in India. The protagonist's efforts mostly accidentally change it to the real version.[84]
2009: Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler. A novel about Charlotte Brontë writing the story.[85]
2009: Jane Airhead by Kay Woodward. A novel about a present-day teenage girl obsessed with Jane Eyre.[86]
2012: A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont. The first novel in a series about a girl named Emma who is transported into the stories of her favorite books. In this instalment, Emma finds herself in the role of Jane Eyre, the book she is currently reading. Once there, she must choose whether to follow the plot of Jane's story or return to her own.[87]
Re-tellings from another character's point of view
1966: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. Bertha's story beginning with her origins in the Caribbean, where she was forced to marry Rochester, and ending with her entrapment and suicide in Rochester's English home.[citation needed]
2006: The French Dancer's Bastard: The Story of Adèle From Jane Eyre by Emma Tennant. This is a slightly modified version of Tennant's 2000 novel.[citation needed]
2009: Adele, Grace, and Celine: The Other Women of Jane Eyre by Claire Moise. This both retells the story from the point of view of three other women and explains their fate after the main events of the story.[88]
2010: Rochester: A Novel Inspired by Jane Eyre by J.L. Niemann. Jane Eyre told from the first-person perspective of Edward Rochester.[citation needed]
2011: Jane Eyre's Rival: The Real Mrs Rochester by Clair Holland. Told from the perspective of Bertha Antoinetta Mason, Mr. Rochester's first wife, by Lisa Mason, Antoinetta's modern-day descendant.[citation needed]
2011: Jane Eyre's Husband – The Life of Edward Rochester by Tara Bradley. Rochester's entire life.[citation needed]
2017: Mr Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker – Edward Fairfax Rochester's life before he meets Jane, then essentially, Jane Eyre from his perspective.[citation needed]
2022: Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste. Reimagines Rochester as am immortal villain and Bertha as a victim who becomes immortal.[89]
2022: Reader, I Murdered Him by Betsy Cornwell. Tells Adele's story starting from before Rochester takes her to England through the novel and focuses on her time after Jane Eyre at school in London.[90]
Other influences
1938: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier has parallels with Jane Eyre.[9][91][92] However, the author never confirmed any direct influence of Jane Eyre on her novel.[93]
Music
2019: Madwoman in the Attic, a song by Blackbriar and featured on their album Our Mortal Remains, is inspired by the novel.[94]
^Regis, Amber K.; Wynne, Deborah (2017). Charlotte Brontë: Legacies and Afterlives. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press. p. 241. ISBN9781784992460.
^Anderson, Jennifer (12 March 2010). "Bronte, Charlotte & Sherri Browning Erwin. Jane Slayre: The Literary Classic with a Blood-Sucking Twist". Xpress Reviews. Library Journals, LLC.
^Jensen, Karen (October 2010). "Sternberg, Libby. Sloane Hall: A Novel". Voice of Youth Advocates. 33 (4): 359.
^Lynn Isaac, Megan (Spring 2011). "Lindner, April: Jane". The Horn Book Guide. 22 (1): 104.
^Hong, Terry (13 May 2015). "'Re Jane' cleverly recasts Jane Eyre as a Korean American from Queens". The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Publishing Society.
^Amber K., Regis; Wynne, Deborah (2017). Charlotte Brontë : Legacies and Afterlives. Interventions: Rethinking the Nineteenth Century. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press. p. 284. ISBN9781784992460.
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