Faculty, Students Run Reading Marathon

English faculty and students will read aloud the entire text of Charlotte Brontë’s novel “Jane Eyre” between 9 a.m. and midnight Saturday, Sept. 29, in Reynolds Hall at Westmont. Community members are invited to come by, listen and enjoy light refreshments provided throughout the day.

This event anticipates the college’s upcoming theatrical production of “Jane Eyre,” Fridays and Saturdays, Oct. 19-20 and 26-27, at 8 p.m. in Porter Theatre. Actors in the play will join in the reading.

“We’ve forgotten the pleasure of reading together,” says English professor Cheri Larsen Hoeckley, who is coordinating the event. “It was a very common 19th-century practice.” She hopes students and community members will enjoy this event. “It’s a different way to have fun that will contribute to life-long learning,” she says.

This 1847 British novel tells the tale of strong-minded Jane, an orphan who must lock away her exuberance and passion to become a lowly governess in Mr. Rochester’s mansion, where she discovers a dark secret.

“Jane Eyre” is a relevant text today, Larsen Hoeckley believes. “Brontë has much to say about how we live together as men and women and how the emotional, vocational and spiritual parts of our lives weave together. And she has much to say about justice and mercy.”

For more information about the marathon reading, contact the English department at (805) 565-6079. For information about the theatrical production of “Jane Eyre,” contact Beth Lemons in the theatre department at (805) 565-7040 or blemons@westmont.edu.