Charlotte Brontë and the politics of appearance

Almost a year ago we reported a collection of Penguin Books which would be published in Chinese. Today we gladly read on The Book Standard how a bilingual website and a Chinese blog have just been launched.

"Penguin has been doing business in China since 2005 and we are very excited about these online ventures," said John Makinson, chairman and CEO of Penguin Group. "Penguin China's website and blog are the newest examples of our commitment to growth in this important market and the expansion of our global digital strategy."
The publisher's first list of Penguin Classics in Chinese will be hitting the Chinese market in December 2007, published in cooperation with the Chongqing Publishing Group. Some of the books to be published include Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, and The History of Tom Jones, by Henry Fielding.
"Our website, blog and the launch of our Penguin Classics publishing program represent another important step in making direct contact with our readers in the Chinese market," said Jo Lusby, general manager of Penguin China, "while continuing to reinforce the quality, breadth and depth of Penguin's books and brands." (Kimberly Maul)

Publishers' Weekly carries the news as well. The cover and details of Jane Eyre, however, don't seem to be online yet.

OutdoorsMagic.com mentions a newly-opened path in the Peak District.

The path, says the Peak Park Authority was probably used by Charlotte Bronte, whose heroine Jane Eyre crosses from Moscar Cross (White Cross in the book) to Hathersage crossing Ridgwayside, an area of traditional haymeadows to the east of the road above the very obvious road junction. It's marked on the 1:25,000 map of the area. (Jon)

Sounds interesting. However, punctilious people that we are, we can't avoid saying that it's actually Whitcross in the book.

Swedish blog Calliope Books has a post on Jane Eyre where the Brontë Parsonage cross-stitch kit is also mentioned, followed by the intriguing question: 'What else can a modern woman want?'.

And still more on Charlotte Brontë. The New York Times has an article on The Politics of Appearance. The journalist, Daphne Merkin, gets her passing reference right, which - as you know - is not always the case with these types of mentions. And, amazingly enough, it even sorts of fits the context too!

Appearances have always mattered to some degree, for women more than for men, although this distinction is fast eroding. In more sober Victorian times, well before the advent of celebrity-cellulite sightings and Web sites such as Awfulplasticsurgery.com, Charlotte Brontë was patronized for being homely — a veritable mieskeit — by William Thackeray when she finally ventured out of her spinster’s existence on the Yorkshire moors and into London society. No matter that she had written the incomparable “Jane Eyre” or that she had dedicated its second edition to Thackeray himself.

But Charlotte Brontë never pretended otherwise, although her eyes seem to have been remarkable. Actually, she made Jane Eyre a 'poor, obscure, plain, and little' heroine (much like herself) to prove to her sisters that a heroine didn't need to be beautiful to be interesting and successful. However, George Smith - her publisher - stated he believed she would have exchanged her genius for some beauty.

signandsight.com features an article on artist Balthus, who - as you know - was greatly inspired by Wuthering Heights.

He knew how to pass himself off with the proud air of other-worldliness, a passionate charades player, who made his first appearace as the darkly wreckless rake Heathcliff in "Wuthering Heights" and his last as a kind of samurai in Japanese knight's armour. Residing in his Swiss wooden castle, he presented himself to the bemused visitor like a dinosaur from lost worlds. (The article originally appeared in the Süddeutsche Zeitung on August 21, 2007. Manfred Schwarz is an art critic for the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Translation: Claudia Kotte)

Mad Notes has a very complete post on Wuthering Heights, copied perhaps from some other source.

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Books, Charlotte Brontë, In the News, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights