The Professor

By: Charlotte Brontë

Narrated by: James Wilby

Exclusively from Audible

The Professor is Charlotte Brontë's first novel albeit the last to have been published. Edited and distributed by Arthur Bell Nicholls, two years after Brontë's death, it is based on her experiences of living as a language student in Brussels.

The only male narrator and protagonist in her stories, The Professor follows the career and love affairs of William Crimsworth, a reserved but compassionate aristocrat who has been ostracised by his family and left penniless.

Well educated and eager to enthuse others, William becomes a teacher and leaves his scornful family behind to work at a boy's boarding school in Brussels. Unimpeded by his gender, unlike the female characters in her stories, Charlotte takes advantage of William's freedom to travel and delight in the pleasures of the opposite sex. Her hero becomes enamoured with the headmistress of a neighbouring girl's school and this tempestuous relationship is mirrored with the sweet and gentle bond he forges with pupil, Frances Henri.

Described by Brontë herself as possessing more 'pith, more substance' and 'more reality' than Jane Eyre, this audiobook provides greater insight into the short life of the beloved author and reaffirms that her reputation as one of the greats of English Literature, is well deserved.

Narrator Biography

James Wilby trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and later became an associate member of the institution.

He is an English actor, celebrated for appearing in films such as Maurice, Gosford Park, Howard's End and A Room with a View.

James' breakthrough performance was in the production of Privileged, in which he starred alongside Hugh Grant. This led to his being cast in the critically acclaimed Maurice, for which he won the Venice Film Festival's Best Actor award.

His stage performances include Helping Harry, Don Juan, Less Than Kind, On Emotion and The Consultant. He starred in the Royal Shakespeare Company's revival of John Osborne's A Patriot for Me, which was met with very favourable reviews.

James has also worked on the making of various audiobooks and is widely considered to be one of the greatest voices of the British drama. His audio work includes Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind, Graham Greene's It's a Battlefield, Ian McEwan's Saturday and The Girl at the Lion D'Or by Sebastian Faulks.

©2005 BBC Audiobooks (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

The steady development of the main characters

The story characters are fascinating and narrator does an excellent job with character intonations and languages

Virtuous, steady living brings blossoming love.

The reading was supurb! The professor and Frances are an ideal happily ever after. I wish I knew Victor's life. It would have been a nice sequel.

A Worthy First Effort

This, obviously, is not a classic. But, for a first novel, it’s outstanding.

The plot, the use of language, the development of character - all, very good.

It’s a good story, well told. And, in it, we can see the budding elements of the work of one of the great novelists.

The reading is more than satisfactory, though, while proficient, some of the reading in French gets carried away in certain places.

Beware - must know French

It is a good story (as are all Brontë novels) but there are numerous conversations in French with no translation for readers who don’t know the language. All character voices are done by Mr Wilby, even the female ones, which made it hard to follow at times. I wish I would have taken the time to read all the reviews before I got it.

no wonder it was originally rejected for publicati

Written with precision and elegance, the story itself is predictable and maudlin. The main female character is faultless to the point of saintliness. Other characters, for the most part, are also lacking in any verisimilitude and are one dimensional. The narrator is excellent. In sum, anyone who enjoys the Bronte sisters will find this worthy of reading so long as expectations are not great.

The reader was excellent

I wish the author had translated the French or not used it so much but that can’t be helped now! lol

A Positive Bronte!

Having been stung by Villette, and finding Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights very frustrating, I was reluctant to try another of the Bronte sisters' efforts, but this is quite different and has its appeal. The performance is masterful and literally made the listening experience one toward which I looked forward with anticipation as I sat down each evening. The values are solid, if a bit given to a female's flight of fancy when philosophizing on behalf of the male protagonist. Worth a listen.

Fine Brontë but you must know some French

A shy man, though empowered by his time’s mores and a powerful young woman, though made submissive by her time’s mores combine after a delicate and protracted romance . Since much the dialogue is in French, it helps to know this tongue, the langue favored by Frances in her rebellious mood. An ensemble piece with bug few characters, all well drawn

Gorgeous Writing

Reader, listen first to the novel and form your own opinion. Then read this.
....
In all seriousness, this is a book that starts and ends with interest, but doesn't tell a particularly compelling story in its middle. Bronte is a wonderful writer and there is great pleasure simply in letting her sentences pass through one's mind. The narrator does an excellent job giving life to those sentences though the recording is a bit soft and I had to crank my car stereo higher than I do for the average Audible book.

Back to the story. I think Bronte was far more interested in the main character's love interest or his friend Hunsden, both peculiar in their own respective ways, than in the main character himself. Indeed, the book is most interesting for the window it opens into the past, particularly in regard to the schooling of boys and girls in the mid-19th century. I loved the moment when the teacher writes on a plagiarized assignment "Stupid and deceitful" and then tears it in two in front of the class. Such bluntness and directness would not pass in a classroom today.

If you're a completist of Bronte fiction, go ahead and enjoy this. If you haven't yet read Jane Eyre or The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, read those first, and then, eventually, return here.

The perfect narrator for Charlotte's great book

The professor is so underrated!! I adored it. The narrator was perfect and I found myself absolutely entranced.
Must listen!!!
You won't be disappointed