The Luddite side of role-playing

The news on the treatment of classics in some public libraries that we published yesterday is still triggering a lot of blog activity. We quote here just a few ones: Ninme, PortMcClellan and Brenda Michelson on ElementaryLinks:

The thought of libraries dumping classics is just plain disturbing to me.

Now, the above in no way translate to “technology is bad”, rather, people sometimes make bad decisions about the use of technology. So, along with an appreciation of a technology’s possibilities, we need to always recognize the human consequences. May all our inner-Luddites sleep well…

Other things. Ghost of a Flea has discovered the Wuthering Heights role-play game by Phillippe Tromeur. If you don't know it, this is the website with the rules and a review. And Tea_and_Snark is in the middle of a Brontë-frenzy (a condition that the BrontëBlog Team knows something about) and comments Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. We liked this:

At first, I was disappointed, and all I could think was, "I can see why her sisters are more famous." But the more I think about the book, the more I realize her talent is undervalued - and if only she had lived longer, I'm sure her works would have become as critically acclaimed as her sisters'. She just has a radically different take on life in general - there are only echoes of her sisters' consuming passions, replaced by a relatively down-to-earth understanding of how relationships evolve. Gilbert Markham, the hero and narrator of most of the book, is no Rochester or Heathcliff - he's an ordinary guy, very very ordinary, and Anne humorously reveals that trait in Gilbert's narrative when he displays run-of-the-mill male vanity (simultaneously preening and depreciating himself) as well as Gilbert's sometimes comical misunderstanding of the opposite sex. He pursues the heroine, Mrs Graham, not with an earth-shattering passion but with a mild curiosity that sharpens to affection, appreciation, and finally companionable romantic love. (Read more)

The Dame Darcy's illustrated version of Jane Eyre still generates reviews, as this one by Fay Sheco on HistoricalPresent:

Dame Darcy draws expressive faces and detailed fashions, and she often executes moods and settings in a tongue-in-cheek tone that is nevertheless faithful to and respectful of the story.

And the upcoming Brontë film generates some ironic comments such as this one in The Guardian:

As Zellweger takes on Potter and Hathaway does Austen, is there a dead female British author that Hollywood hasn't got its paws on? (...)
In the meantime one wonders how far will we go before the formula expires. If we can't have Jolie as Blyton, I'd settle for Jennifer Aniston as George Eliot, Cameron Diaz as Catherine Cookson, or Michelle Williams as Charlotte Bronte. Except that, whoops, it turns out they're making that one already. (Xan Brooks)

EDIT
More places were the libraries issue is discussed:
The American Spectator, Brontëana, BloggingStocks, TechDirt, LibraryStuff...

Categories: Comics, In the News, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Websites, Wuthering Heights