Air Jane — a Soaring Comic Treatment

Sprinkled with whimsy, Jane Eyre is nonetheless an often dark tale, a testament to overcoming both cruel folks and cruel fate.

If you want a similar but less dark experience, I wholeheartedly recommend a brightly illustrated, energetic version called Air Jane, in which our Gothic heroine is transformed into — in the author's words — a "19th-century hoop-shootin', wisecrackin', fun-lovin' governess."

Meet young Jane: mistreated orphan, basketball prodigy, determined girl-child. Follow her adventures, which impressively parallel those of the original story. Experience her childhood travails; her governess job in the mysterious mansion; her strange feelings for the master of the hall; the dreadful secret; her potential salvation with St. John Rivers; etc. It's more faithful to Brontë's tale than many movie versions or book treatments.

People and places are renamed, but in an easily recognizable way. Here's an early passage that displays the style in which Air Jane is written:

I got kicked out. I was only about eight at the time, and that rotten old Aunt Sneed sent me to Nowood School. And I'll tell you what, that place was BAD NEWS. It was a STRICT all girls school, and when I say strict, I mean REAL strict. CRAZY strict. Strickity. Strick, stric-strict."

While that sounds pretty juvenile (and funny), it does represent the kind of writing you'll find here, but any Jane Eyre fan who doesn't mind a tone shift will find lots to enjoy in this creative retelling.

You can find Air Jane at the deviantart.com website. Two tips:

1. To zoom in for easier reading, click on the page image.
2. After you finish each page, scroll below and look along the left edge for "NEXT PAGE: [link]". Click on "[link]".

The author says she wrote Air Jane in 1995, when she was in college. I applaud her creativity and her devotion to her craft!