Manchegan Madness. Brontë manifestation

We have been diagnosed. Manchegan Madness is our disease:

One of the biggest risks facing readers today is the danger of falling prey to Manchegan Madness. Manchegan Madness is an obsessive compulsive desire to act out the events of a fictional story and/or become a fictional character. The first known manifestation of Manchegan Madness was documented by Miguel de Cervantes in Don Quixote. (Literary Compass)

As far as we know, there's no available treatment. Early stages of the illness can be found in several places of the net:

One usual symptom of Manchegan Madness (in its Brontë manifestation) is to find Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights references everywhere. The Lebanon Daily Star reviewer is a good example. This is an extract from a review of Elif Shafak's The Bastard of Istanbul:

"The Bastard of Istanbul" unfurls a story of outrageous complexity that tangles, knots and unravels around two families, one Armenian and one Turkish. Imagine putting Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights" in the hands of Gabriel Garcia Marquez with a few words of advice on the pivotal role of freaks and misfits from Carson McCullers.(Kaelen Wilson-Goldie)

Another symptom is to review compulsively anything Brontë-related from the most different perspectives: D.G. Davidson reviews Jane Eyre on The Sci Fi Catholic; but on the Readers' Roundtable Book Club a link can be found to a 2005 Stephen Amidon article in The Salon that compares Jane Eyre to the TV-show Sex and the City.

Words in Flight publishes a review of The Brontës A to Z by Lisa Paddock and Carl Rollyson:

Recommended for those who want to know more about the Brontes but who are not (yet) ready to jump into some of the more scholarly works available. (Jennifer Cameron-Smith)

A Bit of Fun publishes some videos and links to articles related to Wuthering Heights. What you Dream reviews Maureen Corrigan's Leave me alone, I'm reading! (which we presented some time ago).

Finally, it seems that Jonathan Rhys Meyers's problem is not connected with the Manchegan Madness (although you never know). Several celebrity websites report he has checked into a rehab clinic.

The actor also recently wrapped shooting The Children of Huang Shi and, besides finishing up August Rush and shooting The Tudors, is set to go into Bronte with Michelle Williams and Toussaint with Don Cheadle. No wonder Jonathan Rhys Meyers is exhausted and needed a break to recover. Those two features are still scheduled to begin shooting later this year, but it's unclear if Jonathan Rhys Meyers going into rehab could force delays or even recasting.

Branwell's shadow is very long...

Categories: Books, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Websites