The Young Jane and the Restless Catherine (or viceversa)

Let's begin with a few lines by Charlotte Brontë (Conventionality is not morality...) quoted in full by Harper's Magazine with portrait included (although the beautified 1873 painting by Evert A. Duyckinck).

24-Hour Museum and The University of Manchester present 'Black History Trails' in Manchester with a Brontë twist:

There is a chance to find out about the links between Creole culture and Manchester over the next few days as local historian Dominique Tessier leads guided Black History Trails through the city.

The walks on September 6, 7 and 8 have been organised as part of a conference at Manchester University examining the blending of French, Spanish, British and Afro-Caribbean cultures, entitled ‘Creolising Europe’.

Participants will discover how 18th century Haitian slavery resistance leader Toussaint l’Ouverture and jazz legend Louis Armstrong had connections to Manchester, and what Charlotte Brontë and Karl Marx had to do with Creole culture. (Caroline Lewis)

We suppose that the Creole-Brontë connection is through Bertha Mason's West Indies origins. There's also a Cowan Bridge School schoolfellow of Charlotte Brontë's, Mellany Hayne, who was arguably of Creole origins. Nevertheless, recent research by Sarah Fermi (BST, v27(3), 2002) suggests that although there were West Indies family connections, she was not a Creole (see R. Barnard, Brontë Encyclopedia).

The Twin Cities Daily Planet interviews Stacie Rice, Jane in the upcoming Minneapolis performances of Jane Eyre.

Twin Cities native has taken that love into the leading role in the Guthrie Theater’s Jane Eyre, a tale of romance and suspense opening September 8 at the Guthrie. “I am deeply honored to have the title role at the Guthrie. I am also incredibly honored to play a character as deep and rich as Jane Eyre,” said Rice. (...)
Rice admires her character’s strength and spirit. “Jane Eyre represents the pride in being a strong woman, but she also represents my personal fears,” reflected Rice. “There’s no money, no fine clothing, no physical beauty, yet she [Jane Eyre] is strong, smart, wise and kind.”
This adaptation of Jane Eyre by Alan Stanford “allows me to exist in Jane’s world. I can open up and be overtaken by her story,” noted Rice. She admires Jane Eyre’s strong moral attitudes. “I would love to be that way. I would love to share Jane’s kindness for humans, but I cannot claim to be as morally steadfast,” said Rice. (Jennifer Holder)

Buddytv reports a Wuthering Heights reference in today's episode of the eternal soap The Young and the Restless:

After the opening credits, we find ourselves with Jana and Kevin in the hospital. The doctor is about to give them the story on how Jana's surgery went, and the two prepare themselves for the news, making a reference to Wuthering Heights in the process. I can guarantee you that Kevin has never read Wuthering Heights. (Debbie Chang)

Wuthering Heights also plays a role in this dramatic/sensationalist article about madness and drugs in the Daily Mail.

Now, the blogosphere. Eclectopia talks about Jane Eyre in general and Mr. Rochester in particular. The Brontë Parsonage Blog publishes more information about the Gondal Trio (remember this recent post of ours?). Christina from book-a-rama alerts us to two interesting websites: the September issue of the e-zine Estella's Revenge contains an article on Jane Eyre, Sure I Know the Queen.

Jane is the woman I attempt to model my life on. That doesn’t always go well but I remind myself that Jane had to struggle in order to grow into the remarkable woman who pronounces the proto-feminist statement of choice, ‘Reader, I married him.’.

This is an extraordinary phrase in itself and Jane has much more to say about independence and respect. (Read more) (Jodie)

The other link is this contest in Marta Acosta's blog: Best & Worst Trailer of a Classic Novel. Christina has participated with a trailer of Jane Eyre. See it here.

Categories: Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, References, Wuthering Heights