The US Biography Channel aires today the episode of Biography Classroom devoted to the Brontë Sisters. Pay attention to the summary of the documentary because it's priceless:
Biography Classroom“The Brontë Sisters.”Wednesday, June 28 @ 7:00 am ET
Running Time: 60 Minutes The fascinating story of Emily, Charlotte, and Anne Brontë, who wrote under the pen names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell in the 1850s, when women were not allowed to publish under their own names. Charlotte, who wrote Jane Eyre, died in childbirth; and Emily's only work was the romantic classic Wuthering Heights. The sisters, who wrote to stave off boredom, published a joint volume of poetry before their untimely deaths. It's difficult to, in so few lines, make so many mistakes. Let's accept 1850s... although Emily and Anne died before, but what about this:
An egregious lie: Charlotte Brontë died in childbirth.
A (stupid) arbitrary theory : The sisters wrote to stave off boredom.
A fact so badly expressed that misinforms: The sisters published a joint volume of poetry before their untimely deaths (it seems that the Poems were their last book, not their first one) ?
Categories: Movies-DVD-TV
Watched it today. It appears that the footage of the sisters comes from the British TV drama "In Search of the Brontes"...
ReplyDeleteWhile we're in this pedantic mood (lol! Charlotte died at childbirth? Utter nonsense!), allow me to take the liberty of pointing out that on the Briography website, they spelt "Brontë" wrongly. They spelt it as "Bronté". Now, that's unforgivable!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - we were dreading the documentary might be as bad as the blurb. Good to see it wasn't. Still, how sad that a supposedly serious *Biography* channel should make so many mistakes in such few lines.
ReplyDeletePristine Ong - Ha! Well, at least they knew there was *something* on top on the 'e' :P
I just found this site - looks fascinating.
ReplyDeleteA couple other things about this particular blurb: 1) the order of the real names should have been the same as that of the pseudonyms - otherwise it looks as if Emily used Currer and Charlotte used Ellis. 2) Women were not _allowed_ to write under their own names? This makes it sounds as if it were against the law.
Thanks. Maybe we will have to call the Guinness people, this is a serious candidate for the worst blurb ever.
ReplyDelete