Jane Eyre goes to war

Let's open with that much-used ice-breaking resource: a joke, although a very old one - at least for Brontëites. But still it always makes us smile. From the Daily Nebraskan:

H: That reminds me of one of my favorite jokes: If the author of "Wuthering Heights" had lived in the Triassic period, what kind of dinosaur would she have been?
J: A brontesaurus? (Hilary Stohs-Krause and Jeremy Buckley)

Now we may move on to more serious matters. There are three news stories featuring Jane Eyre, with varying degrees of proximity to the real thing.

The one closest to the novel comes from journalgazette.net and appears in an article about nannies:

From “Jane Eyre” to “The Sound of Music” to “Mary Poppins,” the nanny has been a revered staple of movies and literature. (Cristina Rouvalis)

On to the one that's moving a little farther. The Signpost uses Jane Eyre's metaphorical cage or imprisonment to talk about school vouchers. After a lengthy, topic-oriented synopsis of Jane Eyre:

I agree that it seems unfair to redirect some of the tax money from the public schools to the private sector. Yet, in spite of all of these things, I am for school vouchers. The reason is simple: the public school system finds itself in the same situation as sweet Jane Eyre. The system has worked hard amid frustrating and sometimes shameful situations for decades. Dedicated teachers, administrators and volunteers have worked miracles in the lives of children all over this state in overcrowded classrooms using nothing but disintegrating books and their own intelligence. But now we have arrived at a place where the status quo is just not working anymore. Like Jane, the desire for something better has surfaced and it will not be ignored. (Sally Paskins)

And finally one that goes quite far indeed. The New York Observer reviews World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism by Norman Podhoretz and the reviewer gets somewhat entangled with the opening of the book.

That Norman Podhoretz would open his new and deeply troubling World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism with a quaint Victorian salutation, “Dear Reader”—most famously used in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre­—is only fitting. Mr. Podhoretz’s book is not so much a coherent argument, let alone a persuasive one, as it is a project of looking backward. Drowning in the past, lacking in vision, World War IV is the work of a man who can’t stop fighting the battles of yesteryear, even after new threats have emerged and struck. (Ethan Porter)

We never knew 'dear reader' was Charlotte Brontë's exclusive property.

And today must be the D.H. Lawrence - Wuthering Heights connection day. Two unrelated websites bring up Wuthering Heights and D.H. Lawrence at the same time.

Psychanalyse-Paris posts chapter 12 (Litany of Exhortations) from D.H. Lawrence's Fantasia of the Unconscious. In this case, then, it's D.H. Lawrence himself who mentions Wuthering Heights.

But if you should never meet such a man: and if your wife should torture you every day with her love-will: and even if she should force herself into a consumption, like Catherine Linton in "Wuthering Heights," owing to her obstinate and determined love-will (which is quite another matter than love): and if you see the world inventing poison-gas and falling into its poisoned grave: never give in, but be alone, and utterly alone with your own soul, in the stillness and sweet possession of your own soul. And don’t even be angry. And never be sad. Why should you? It’s not your affair.

Meanwhile Straight.com reviews the French film version of Lady Chatterley's Lover, Lady Chatterley et l'homme des bois.

French intellectuals have always been drawn to those rare British narratives that are propelled by unrestrained sexual passion. It's not for nothing that Romeo and Juliet and Othello are the most produced Shakespearean plays in the Hexagon, nor that Wuthering Heights is the most filmed Victorian novel. (Mark Harris)

And indeed a Frenchman, Jacques Rivette, did film a version of Hurlevent in 1985. And another French film version of Emily's novel might be underway.

Proof of the French love for Wuthering Heights too is this post from Madame America, in French. But do check the post out even if you don't speak French to see the eautiful picture of an edition of Wuthering Heights.

And finally an alert for tomorrow from Seacoastonline for the Hampton/Exeter area:

THIRD THURSDAY BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP meets from 1 to 2:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at Hampstead Public Library. The Sept. 20 discussion will revolve around two books: “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronté [sic] and “The Thirteenth Tale” by Dale Setterfield. 329-6411.

Categories: Alert, Humour, Jane Eyre, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights