Brontë tour around the world

Join us today for a trip around the world following the Brontës.

In Sweden, Hela Gotland publishes an article on an exhibition that has just opened at Gotlands Konstmuseet called Mad woman in the attic.

Utställningen "Mad woman in the attic" (Galna kvinnor på vinden) är en litterär metafor för Charlotte Brontës klassiska roman "Jane Eyre" från 1847. Metaforen associerar till hur kreativa kvinnor kunde betraktas som galna eller opassande och också som metafor för kvinnors styrka, ilska eller sexualitet som hölls tillbaka i det patriarkala samhället. Här träffar vi de båda konstnärerna på "vinden" och utställningen är uppbyggd som en vindsmiljö där man hittar saker efterhand. Saker som verkar glömda sedan länge. (Bengt Valentinsson)

The exhibition has used the 'madwoman in the attic' metaphor to include a collection of women's art.

In Spain, the Diario de Mallorca reports that a book by the Catalan writer Carme Riera - L'estiu de l'anglès - will soon be a film as well.

El grueso de la película se rodará en Inglaterra. Confirma al deseo de la productora, se buscarán parajes similares a los utilizados en el clásico Cumbres borrascosas. Los interiores se rodarán en Barcelona. Se baraja un presupuesto "modesto" de unos tres millones de euros y, fiel a la trayectoria de esta productora nacida seis años atrás, será una coproducción internacional entre España y el Reino Unido. El rodaje podría comenzar en septiembre del 2008 y el estreno, un año después. (Lourdes Durán)

Most of the film will be shot in England, where the novel is set. They want places like those 'used in the classic novel Wuthering Heights'. Shooting will start in September 2008 and the film will probably open a year after that.

In Spain too, La Nueva España chats with writer María José Rosete, author of Sombras en el corazón, a novel heavily influenced by Jane Eyre.

-La suya es una novela gótica. ¿A lo «Jane Eyre» o «Cumbres borrascosas»?
-Sobre todo se trata de una novela de entretenimiento, una historia que escribí para divertirme y con la intención de que quien la leyera también se divierta. Se trata de una historia criminal llena de misterio. La historia se desarrolla en los Estados Unidos, unos primos pasan un verano en casa de su abuelo y entonces... No voy a contar nada más, ¿no le parece? (S. Fernández)

When asked whether this is a gothic novel à la Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights she says that the novel's main goal is entertainment, both for her when she wrote it and for the reader. It's a mystery novel set in the USA. Some cousins spend the summer at their grandfather's and then...

In the Netherlands, NU has information in Dutch on Jane Eyre 2006, which has been recently released on DVD there. They give it five stars.

Now we return to where it all began: England. The Evening News reports the sad news that Brontë Boats are moving out of the Calderdale area due to difficulties with the parking restrictions.

The owner of a major Hebden Bridge tourist attraction is taking her business out of Calderdale because of parking restrictions.
Sharon Pickard, 54, is the owner of Bronte Boats, which brings 18,000 visitors to the town every year.
She put her life savings into setting up the canal cruise firm in 2005, but says this year the coaches that bring in her customers have been banned from parking in Hebden Bridge centre.
Ms Pickard, of Sowerby Bridge, claims this has made business impossible and is taking her thriving tourist attraction to Leeds. (Joe Shute)

The Guardian has an article on Diederick Santer, producer of Jane Eyre 2006 and current producer of classic soap opera EastEnders.

And finally the PJ Harvey mentions of the day. From The Philadelphia Inquirer:

This is PJ Harvey's Bronte sisters album, a set of chilling ballads sung by a woman locked away in the attic in Jane Eyre or lost out on the moor in the middle of the night in Wuthering Heights. (Dan DeLuca)

From Casket of Dreams:

Harvey appears to have mutated now into a Bronte, as her album cover proves: her strange, manly beauty is reminiscent of Charlotte Gainsbourg in Jane Eyre, and the profile shot reminds me of portraits of Emily. That’s why the 33 version of White Chalk seems to show her hand: it’s the nasty dream submerged under the record, the lover mutating into the beloved, destroying herself in the process. It’s Jane becoming Rochester; Cathy becoming Heathcliff; alienated, lonely woman becoming demonic Byronic man.

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Books, In the News, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, Wuthering Heights