How to Be a Heroine

How can the great heroines of literature teach you to live your best life? What does it mean to be your own heroine? To be the main character and not the wallflower? To act with agency and determination? To find your strength in the face of adversity? From Elizabeth Bennet to Jane Eyre, from the Princess of Cleves to Ourika, these classic heroines endure trials that they must overcome not only in the external world of adventures, misunderstandings, betrayals, and loss, but also in their internal worlds where self-doubt, terrible childhoods, cultural expectations, and romantic dreams determine how each forges her unique and indomitable strength of character. This richly illustrated book will invite you into the worlds of your favorite novels where you will get to know your favorite heroines better. In the process, you will get to know yourself better. The great Harold Bloom wrote: "We read deeply for varied reasons, most of them familiar: that we cannot know enough people profoundly enough; that we need to know ourselves better; that we require knowledge, not just of self and others, but of the way things are. Yet the strongest, most authentic motive for deep reading…is the search for a difficult pleasure." This book is an unpacking of that difficult pleasure, for the great works of literature are not easy: they are complex, unique, resonant, and worth the effort it takes (in a world of increasing superficiality) to get to the heart of the matter. That said, this is not school, and the goal of this book is not to needlessly complicate literature that is already, perhaps, intimidating; nor is it to glibly oversimplify these great literary monuments. Bloom also wrote: "We read to find ourselves, more fully and more strangely than otherwise we could hope to find." This is a book about books, but more than anything it is a book about you, about your story, and about the adventure of your life.