Charlotte Brontë's novel The Professor begins as William Crimsworth's letter to an old school friend, then the letter conceit is dropped, and the novel continues in first-person to the general reader. Crimsworth writes in retrospect. Without being an unreliable narrator, he keeps back a few scenes after others have been accomplished, but this does not detract from the story of his journey from put-upon clerk to teacher at his own school.
Though the narrator is male, themes similar to Brontë's other novels appear--self-reliance, women's roles, and the value of intellect. This book does not have the detective story-intensity of Jane Eyre or Villette, nor the political tone of Shirley, but a quiet, steadfastness that provides its own interest. It is a pity it was not published during Brontë's lifetime, as she had wanted.
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