Introduction by Joyce Carol Oates • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read Initially published under the pseudonym Currer Bell in 1847,Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyreerupted onto the English literary sceneimmediately winning the devotion of many of the world’s most renowned writersincluding William Makepeace Thackeraywho declared it a work “of great genius.” Widely regarded as a revolutionary novelBrontë’s masterpiece introduced the world to a radical new type of heroineone whose defiant virtue and moral courage departed sharply from the more acquiescent and malleable female characters of the day. Passionatedramaticand surprisingly modernJane Eyre endures as one of the world’s most beloved novels.