Title: Wide Sargasso Sea
Author: Jean Rhys
Context: Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) is a post colonial and masterpiece fiction novel by Jean Rhys. This novel is her comeback to the literary centre stage. Some of the most fascinating characters are brought in ingeniously into light in her fiction work.
Synopsis: The story is about a protected and sensuous young woman named Antoinette Cosway who is sold to Mr.Rochester a proud man from Jamaica for marriage. She travels to his home in England with him. Antoinette is driven out of her mind completely, in the midst of a society pitched in its sexual relations and driven by hatred.
The main character as well as theme of this work is from Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre. Life of this West Indian woman who marries becomes a nightmare. The climate she is settled in is inhospitable, there is no love between her and her husband and she becomes frequently violent and mad. She is then confined by her husband to an attic in his home at Thornfield.
No one is aware of Antoinette’s existence except for him and the hired attendant named Grace Poole who takes care of her. Gradually, Mr.Rochester becomes involved with Jane Eyre, who is governess to a young girl who maybe be his daughter. A major part of the events take place in the West Indies, in the novel. While Antoinette narrates the first and third sections of the novel, her husband Mr.Rochester narrates the middle section of the novel.
Other works by the Author:
1927 – The Left Bank and Other Stories
1928 – Postures
1931 – After Leaving Mr.Mackenzie
1934 – Voyage in the Dark
1939 – Good Morning, Midnight
1968 – Tigers Are Better-Looking
1969 – Penguin Modern Stories
1975 – My Day: Three Pieces, stories
1976 – Sleep It Off Lady, stories
1979 – Smile Please: An Unfinished Autobiography
1984 – Jean Rhys: Letters
1984 – Early Novels
1985 – The Complete Novels
1985 – Tales of the Wide Caribbean, stories
1987 – The Collected Short Stories
1995 – Let Them Call It Jazz, stories