The St. Austin Review
The St. Austin Review (StAR) is an international journal of Catholic culture, literature, and ideas. In its pages, printed every two months, some of the brightest and most vigorous minds around meet to explore the people, ideas, movements, and events that shape and misshape our world.
The Victorian Age in Literature
Sample Article Novel Illustration: An Educational Approach to Jane Eyre
“Where did you get your copies?”
“Out of my head.”
“That head I see now on your shoulders?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Has it other furniture of the same kind within?”
“I should think it may have: I should hope—better.”
He spread the pictures before him, and again surveyed them alternately.
— Jane Eyre
In this memorable early scene, Mr. Edward Rochester examines the artistic portfolio of his governess, the eponymous heroine of Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel, Jane Eyre. Rochester categorizes the content of the portfolio as “for a school-girl, peculiar”—an evaluation with which readers concur. The paintings are so peculiar, in fact, that many readers, including my students, consider the ekphrastic lapse a cue to skim rather than read deeply for a few paragraphs.
This would be a mistake. In fact, this is a critical passage for close-reading, providing insights into the character of the heroine and the central tensions of the novel. It also provides an opportunity for readers to consider the place and pedagogical virtue of visual art in depicting a fictional world.
The Ink Desk Blog
March/April Issue: The Victorian Age in Literature
Sample Content from Our Latest Issue Table of Contents Sample [...]
Jan / Feb – Broken Images & Handfuls of Dust
Literature in the Twentieth Century Sample Content from Our Latest [...]
November/December issue: Beauteous Truth
Sample Content from Our Latest Issue Table of Contents Sample [...]
July/August Issue: Faith and Fantasy: Chesterton, Tolkien, Lewis, Rowling and Other Tellers of Tall Tales
Sample Content from Our Latest Issue Table of Contents [...]
May / June Issue — The Mere Genius of C. S. Lewis
Sample Content from Our Latest Issue Table of Contents Sample [...]
Lent with Frodo Baggins
Last week, Joseph Pearce invited us to join Bilbo Baggins [...]
What was the Counter -Reformation?
Understanding the real Reformation... What was the Counter Reformation? - [...]
Greek Tragedy and Anglo-Saxon Wisdom
Episode 2 of Joseph Pearce's series for EWTN on the [...]
St. Austin Review Issues
More From The Ink Desk Blog
Hilaire Belloc and the Catholic Revival
Celebrating the place of Hilaire Belloc in the Catholic Revival... Hilaire Belloc and the Catholic Revival - Joseph Pearce (jpearce.co)
Music As If Beauty Mattered
Joseph Pearce continues and concludes his conversation with composer, Michael Kurek... Music As If Beauty Mattered - Joseph Pearce (jpearce.co)
Lent with Bilbo Baggins
Having previously accompanied Frodo on a Lenten pilgrimage, Joseph Pearce now follows in Bilbo's penitential footsteps... Lent with Bilbo Baggins - Joseph Pearce (jpearce.co)
Pride is our Achilles’ Heel
With great pre-Christian wisdom, Homer shows us how pride precedes a fall... Pride is Our Achilles' Heel - Joseph Pearce (jpearce.co)
The Convert Who Converted Millions
Paying tribute to a convert to the Faith who converted millions of people to Catholic social teaching... The Convert Who Converted Millions to Catholic Teaching - Joseph Pearce (jpearce.co)
If Music Be the Food of Love
Joseph Pearce in conversation with composer, Michael Kurek... If Music Be the Food of Love - Joseph Pearce (jpearce.co)