Encyclopedias, rumourology and dolls

The Brontë Parsonage Blog covers the recent talk given by Robert Barnard presenting A Brontë Encyclopedia. As we read in the post it was a very interesting talk.

Magazine editor Shorter produced Charlotte Brontë and her Circle in the 1890s, and it was his title which provided Dr Barnard with the talk's structure. "Some might think that she didn't have a circle....but everyone has one....although you would be hard-pressed to find one for Emily."I am going to talk about two or three circles. The first is the one which Patrick and Maria gathered around themselves at Thornton." (...) The second group of people which Dr Barnard selected was the clergy - part of Charlotte's circle. (...) The third circle selected was Charlotte's society of her equals. "This was the sort of society which she had been aiming for all her life. The evidence is in the Juvenilia, which is full of literary controversies." (Richard Wilcocks)

Do read the complete post, it's worthwhile. Also, Richard Wilcocks has been so kind as to mention our review of the book.

The status of the Brontë biopic is right now a mystery. A lot of rumours are going on but there's nothing definite. It seems like Brian Cox and Bryce Dallas Howard have left the project and the only name from the latest known cast that is still attached to the project is Evan Rachel Wood, but of course this kind of news have to be read with a pinch of salt. The Times, at least, thinks she is still on board:

She will play Anne Brontë in the high-profile historical biopic Brontë, and the fictional heroine Alice in Manson’s directorial debut The Visions of Lewis Carroll. (Kevin Maher)

The Ireland Event Guide interviews film director Neil Jordan. Did you know that he is called the Heathcliff of the film industry?:

And what of his taciturn nature gaining him the tag ‘the Heathcliff of the film industry’ – fair? “I don’t know what to say about that, really. It’s just like in Ireland, from the age of about 22, when I set up the Irish Writers Co-Op, and was working with theatre company with Jim Sheridan, I became quite well known early on. So, by the time I got to make movies, I was a bit tired of it, really. It’s not… I can do that, and enjoy it, but it does get a bit tedious." (...)

The Chicago Tribune reviews the performances of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan Opera House:

Seldom as theatrically arresting as the best shows Zimmerman has staged in Chicago (such as her Tony-winning adaptation of Ovid's "Metamorphoses"), this new "Lucia" pulls a few clever tricks out of its hat, turning the familiar tragedy of love thwarted by the politics of vengeance into a picturesque Victorian ghost story: a Heathcliff and Cathy romance with tunes.

It's not the first time that Donizetti's opera and the Brontës cross their paths.

In other news: scholargipsy talks about Jane Eyre. La mia fabbrica di cioccolato reviews Agnes Grey in Italian. Blissfully Eccentric is visiting Paris and comments on the ballet performances of the Wuthering Heights.

Finally, the bizarre finding of the day: on eBay an "Anne Brontë" doll is on sale. Why is Anne and not Suzie/Lilie/Minnie/Whatever it's difficult to say.

Categories: Agnes Grey, Brontë Parsonage Museum, Movies-DVD-TV, Talks, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights