160 years ago... in Ireland?

Some journals/blogs remind us of an important event that happened exactly 160 years ago:

The novel “Jane Eyre” was published 160 years ago today, in 1847. Author Charlotte Bronte submitted her manuscript under the male name Currer Bell because, at the time, it was unlikely a book by a woman author would be published.

Can you imagine how it would be to read Jane Eyre for the first time without knowing anything about the plot? Stuck in a book posts about it.

Blather.net reacts to the election of Oscar Wilde, an Irishman, as Britain's greatest wit with their own personal list of Ireland's greatest wits (or 'Irished' wits). Among them is

Emily Brontë. Manically-depressed graveyard worrier from Fermoy, Co. Cork. Her epic work 'Wuthering Heights', charting the adventures of a roving potato-salesman during the Great Famine, is a real barrel of laughs. (damien)

With Emily Brontë they are not so far from the reality. As a matter of fact Patrick Brontë was born in Drumballyroney, County Down.

The Boston Globe talks about fan-fiction and sequels and Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea gets a mention:

In some cases, books that today would be considered fan fiction have become literary classics. Jean Rhys’s novel ‘‘Wide Sargasso Sea,’’ explores one specific character in Charlotte Bronte’s ‘‘Jane Eyre,’’ telling the story of the madwoman locked in Rochester’s attic. Now ‘‘Wide Sargasso Sea’’ is read in high school and college literature classes. (Vanessa E. Jones)

Allmusic reviews PJ Harvey's White Chalk and this time restricts the Brontë influence to one track:

Lyrics like "The Devil's Come here at once! All my being is now in pining" could be written by one of the Brontë sisters. (Heather Phares)

Brood also talks about the album. BrontëBlog gave their opinion on this Brontëmania in a previous post.

Finally, Jo-h's photostream publishes a picture of Oakwell Hall.

Categories: Humour, Jane Eyre, Music, Wide Sargasso Sea