World Enough and Time

I had a thought in the grocery store today about Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold, which I am rereading, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Both books are favourites that I have read many times.

I know I'm talking to people who know Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" probably as well as I do, so bear with me while I recap - there's a reason for this.

In "Jane Eyre", Jane is very much in love with the wealthy, solitary, and disgruntled Mr. Rochester. He wants to marry her but there are complications, and she can't find it in her to live with him on his terms, so she leaves him. After some time, she goes back to find him, a fairly significant journey in which she travels alone (by carriage). He isn't where she expects to find him, and she has to find the way. When she gets to the manor house he is living in,in the country, she speaks first to a familiar servant, Mary.

When Jane approaches Mr. Rochester, he's sitting in a chair. He can't see her, because he's blind. She doesn't say anything - lets him think she's the maid, pouring him a drink - because she wants to look at him. She is distressed by the deterioration in his looks and health. When she speaks, he thinks she's a hallucination, such as he has dreamed of so often. When she has assured him she isn't, he's grumpy because thinks she's going to leave him again, and she assures him she will not. She teases him about how unkempt he has become.

So in "Shards of Honour", Cordelia feels she can't stay with Aral Vorkosigan on his terms because she is horrified by Barrayar. She returns to Beta Colony, but then goes back to Barrayar alone (by space ship), where she has to track Aral down in his big house in the country, at Vorkosigan Surleau. She first meets and speaks to a familiar servant - Bothari.

When she finds Aral, he's sitting. He doesn't see her because his eyes are shut, and he's drunk. She doesn't announce herself because she wants to look at him first. She is distressed by the changes in him. When she speaks, he (in surprise) declares she is not a hallucination. Then he's grumpy because he thinks she has just come for a visit and will leave him again, and she assures him that she's staying. She doesn't pour a drink for him - he pours one for her. She teases him about how unkempt he has become.

It's all right there in the text.

There are differences, of course. Aral wasn't trying to commit bigamy, and Rochester's father doesn't turn up. One book is set in Victorian England, the other on anther planet. (Maybe not as unlike Victorian England as you'd think.)

There are other parallels. One being that in each book the hero has an unhappy first marriage with a faithfless wife who ends up killing herself.

And I guess another parallel is that Mr. Rochester is one of my favourite fictional heroes, right up there with Aral Vorkosigan.

Now, I suspect Lois McMaster Bujold wasn't consciously copying Charlotte Bronte's scene, but we know she's a fan because Charlotte Bronte is one of the writers she cites in her dedication for "A Civil Campaign".

A couple of other similarities: both Rochester and Aral are normally taciturn men who don't confide in many people, but both love telling stories about their past to Jane and Cordelia, and hearing personal stories in return.

Somewhat less of a parallel, but notable because there's an echo, is that Aral in the past was an amateur artist who liked to do sketches of people. Jane Eyre was an amateur artist who liked to do sketches of people.

Let's see what other parallels I can think of.