Day after day, we are still surprised by the amount of Brontë references and comments around the world on the net. Today is one of those days when the reach of the Brontës seems - as it actually is - endless.
British author Libby Purves talks about her new novel - Love Songs and Lies - in the
East Anglian Daily Times. When asked about where she writes, this is what she replies:
“Although I say I don't like working in the house, I have little outbreaks of
bringing a laptop computer on to the sofa,” she chuckles. “I would sit and write in bed, but Paul would really hate that! He doesn't like crumbs on the sheets and people sitting around in bed all day: a mad Mrs Rochester in the attic!” (From Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.) (Steven Russell)
The Brontë reference is not so very surprising. Libby Purves is a well-known Brontëite. She recently wrote the foreword for the Hesperus Press edition of
The Green Dwarf, and even yesterday we mentioned her here using
Villette as an example of the English-French differences.
EW.com reviews You Suck by Christopher Moore. The nearly one-line summary provided is as follows:
At least they've got one thing going for them: Abby Normal, a Goth teenager who signs up to be their minion and whose diary entries find the eerie intersection of Brontë, Buffy, and MySpace. (Whitney Patorek)
Eerie intersection indeed. Although the Abby Normal joke is not quite so new. Igor already joked about an Abby Normal in the film
Young Frankenstein. We wonder whether the name here is intentionally 'repeated'.
Trashionista interviews
Andrea Semple, author of The Man from Perfect. When asked about her favourite female heroine, she answers:
Jane Eyre. Because she is probably the most timeless and thoroughly human character ever created in fiction.
SF Site reviews
The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist. The reviewer seems to think that Jane Austen was a Victorian author. This is how the book is described:
It is about genre -- multiple genres actually, encompassing science fiction (primarily of the H.G. Wells variety), mystery, Victorian romance with a dash of Gothic horror, all with a bit of tongue planted firmly in cheek -- a timeworn phrase perhaps, but one that is nonetheless particularly apt. And it is a story we're all familiar with, which, despite knowing that our heroes will outwit their nemesis and the various traps planted to ensnare them, is quite enjoyable.
And here is the conclusion:
Not that there's anything wrong with that. This is quite an enjoyable book, even if it is more reminiscent of the British 60s television series The Avengers than Wuthering Heights. Show of hands now, how many of you prefer John Steed and Emma Peel to Catherine and Heathcliff, anyway?
What the reviewer doesn't comment on is the fact that one of the characters is called Miss Temple. This being a 'Victorian romance with a dash of Gothic horror', the name could be there for more reasons than just sheer coincidence. In fact, the reviewer writes:
The Freud part underpins Miss Temple's (whose name is surely intended as symbolic of a repository of virgin wisdom) venture into the dark secret society of Roger Bascombe, her estranged betrothed. (David Soyka)
Draw your own conclusions.
Despite all this, however,
The Stanford Daily states that you don't need to read Jane Eyre to write an esay on it. You only need a bunch of strategically positioned scholar/academic-looking words and no one will be able to tell the difference.
Why read 500 pages of “Jane Eyre” when all you need is a good look of contemplation and a few well-placed vocab words? Go to Pub Night this Thursday, folks — you have Friday section covered from here on out. (Katie Taylor)
We must say we agree more with her about the void behind the sesquipedalian essays these days. Like a Porsche without its engine.
Categories: Books, Brontëites, References
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