Charlotte Brontë's interesting and intriguing life

First of all we find shocking and unexpected news from the Brontë Parsonage Museum at Haworth, as reported by The Telegraph and Argus.

Picture Source: John Sargent in Keighley News.

Gas cylinders exploded as firefighters tackled a blaze behind the Brontë Parsonage Museum at Haworth yesterday teatime.
Fire crews had to take cover behind sheds while aiming water at the scorching containers.
They evacuated bystanders as the fire, on an allotment, threatened to spread.
The propane gas cylinders were being stored in a shed that caught fire.
Lee Scholes, a crew manager at Keighley Fire Station, said Haworth firefighters reached the scene first.
One team moved in close with a hand-held hose until "monitor" hoses could be set up.
The monitors automatically sprayed water at the cylinders while firefighters retreated to a safe distance.
But before all the cylinders could be cooled down at least one of them exploded.
Mr Scholes said: "It was just like a giant firework. There was a lot of noise.
"It was quite a blaze - it might have been more than one shed on fire."
Firefighters stopped the blaze spreading to other sheds. (David Knight)

We are extremely glad to hear that it didn't develop into anything serious and that nobody was hurt in any way.

Incidentally the blog Beautifulnoise/skin has a couple of posts on a recent visit to Haworth: first post, second post.

Now for something completely different. According to Faith Black from the Huffington Post, Charlotte Brontë led a most cinematic, interesting and intriguing kind of life, at least compared to Jane Austen.

Has everyone run out of interesting adaptations to make? Perhaps we should move on to other authors now. Authors whose lives more easily lend themselves to cinematic representation without resorting to baseless fabrication. How about Charlotte Bronte? Her life was full of interest and intrigue without having to make anything up.

We're not sure Charlotte herself would agree with that. Does losing her mother, aunt and five siblings fall into the 'interesting and intriguing category'? Because if it does, then we'd rather live dull lives.

An equally 'unusual' statement is made by Peter Bradshaw, reviewing Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander for the Guardian.

And all the time, the spirits of the dead return to dominate the dreams and fears of the living. Bergman's story is Dickensian in its extravagant emotional power - with a hint of Charlotte Brontë - and there is some Chekhov in its melancholy.

Finally, devoted bookworm reviews Jane Eyre.

Categories: Charlotte Brontë, Haworth, In the News, Jane Eyre