On hairs, bears and the page 99 test

News that complement some previous ones:

Some days ago we posted about the new exhibition at the Brontë Parsonage Museum: Who were the Brontës?. The Mirror publishes just a brief extract of that press release:

THE Bronte sisters were quite affluent, according to new scientific evidence.
This is contrary to the commonly held belief the famous writers led lives of drudgery and loneliness in bleak Yorkshire.
DNA samples of hair taken from Charlotte, Emily and Anne reveal they ate a healthy diet with plenty of vegetables and protein.
This dispels the myth their tyrannical father, Reverend Patrick Bronte, forced them to live on potatoes.
Scientists at Bradford University tested samples of hair, taken in 1820, now on display at the Parsonage Museum in Haworth, West Yorks.

It is believed the myths surrounding the Brontes' lifestyle may stem from Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte, glamorising her achievements

Well, glamorising wouldn't be the right word...

And now more on Brontë and hotels. Yesterday we published about Nora Roberts's projected hotel. Today, we read in The Bath Chronicle about The Tasburgh House Hotel and its Charlotte Brontë room (in the picture) with bear included:

In each of the 12 rooms is a bear dressed as a famous writer: for example William Wordsworth in jacket and daffodil, and Charlotte Bronte in a dress made to match a portrait of her hanging in the Tate Gallery. (N. Stone)

Tate Gallery ? Branwell and George Richmond hardly seem Tate Gallery material ...

Another interesting thing is the Page 99 Test. We already posted some time ago how Jane Eyre was subjected to the test. Now, the turn is for Wuthering Heights by no less than Patsy Stoneman:

Overall, the page suggests complex interactions between characters of very different motivations and moral attitudes, played out in dramatic and vivid language and promising unpredictable developments. If you read on, you are likely to get deeply involved; you will have to try to solve puzzles and to make judgements, in situations which raise fierce emotions.

Finally some reviews: The Orlando Weekly qualifies Jane Eyre 1944 as a mediocre movie (its qualities as a Jane Eyre adaptation can be argued, but its quality as a movie certainly not, in the humble opinion of this half of BrontëBlog):

Jane Eyre lines up the defense for the mediocre movie, with two commentaries from cast members, film historians and a Welles biographer, but the Men Behind Jane Eyre supplement, following the career trajectories of Stevenson and Welles before and after the film, says little about the movie. (John Thomason)

And this Portuguese blog talks about O Morro Dos Ventos Uivantes, i.e. Wuthering Heights in Portuguese.

Categories: In the News, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights