Jane Eyre, all over

Jane Eyre is all over the news today:

The Brontë Parsonage Blog publishes an interview with Amy Corzine, the script adaptor of the upcoming Classical Comics adaptation of Jane Eyre that has appeared previously on BrontëBlog:

Picture Source.

Writing the graphic adaptation of Jane Eyre for Classical Comics gave me a fantastic excuse and tremendous opportunity to immerse myself in its author’s mind. It quickly became obvious that Brontë was propounding the belief, perhaps gleaned from her Irish forebears, that real spirituality arises from a natural goodness in human beings that is inextricable from Nature.

A potent mixture of Christianity and British folklore established a powerful psychological background for the love affair between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester. Symbolism made the novel sparkle. Jane’s show of strength was linked with the moon rising. Mr. Rochester was described as a bird of prey. He often called Jane a tiny bird of one sort or the other, or a fairy sprite. (Amy Corzine)

Check some of the illustrations that we posted some months ago and you will understand more clearly how these symbolisms are treated.

Book Outlook posts about Confinement in Jane Eyre. The article introduces some interesting points in need of a further discussion:

(...) But of the veritable prisons Jane Eyre is forced to endure, many of these confinements do more to protect her than they keep her from liberty. If she hadn’t been locked away from Mrs. Reed and her cousins, she may have suffered a similar fate; she may have become as shallow, as wayward, as stilted or as resentful as any in the class of her “superiors”. If she had not endured the confinements of reason, she might have fulfilled the reputation of her childhood, and if she had not learned to control her reason she could have become as deranged as Bertha. (...)

Rare Finds, the blog of Bauman Rare Books, informs about this magnificent first edition of Jane Eyre, available for just 68000$:

(BRONTË, Charlotte) BELL, Currer. Jane Eyre: An Autobiography. Edited by Currer Bell. London: Smith, Elder, 1847. Three volumes. Octavo, contemporary three-quarter brown calf gilt, raised bands, red morocco labels, marbled boards and endpapers. Housed in custom half-morocco clamshell box. $68,000.

First edition of one of the greatest and most popular novels in English literature in contemporary binding.

Charlotte Bronte’s decision to publish under the pseudonym “Currer Bell” aroused great public curiosity regarding the author’s true identity. Thackeray, Bronte’s literary hero, was sent a pre-publication copy, prompting this reply: “It is a fine book... Some of the love passages made me cry... I have been exceedingly moved & pleased by Jane Eyre . It is a woman’s writing, but whose?” (Barker, 535). The demand for Jane Eyre “was almost unprecedented. The first edition... was published on 16 October 1847; it had sold out within three months... By any standard, Jane Eyre was a resounding success” (Barker, 535-37). Bronte “had learned to combine extraordinary power of expressing passion with an equally surprising power of giving reality to her pictures which transfigures the commonest scenes and events in the light of genius” (DNB). Bound without half titles in Volumes I and II; and without publisher’s advertisements in Volume I. Wolff 826. Smith 2.

Page 13 of Volume I with repaired closed tear, occasional light foxing to text, binding about-fine. A rare classic, exceptional in handsome contemporary binding.

Darque Reviews interviews Lilith Saintcrow, author of the Dante Valentine series, who among very different influences confesses that:

I also am a big Stephen King fan, and I reread Jane Eyre and Sleeping With The Enemy at least once a year.

Finally, the only non-Jane Eyre item today: some days ago we presented the current performances of Roberto Pieri's adaptation of Wuthering Heights, Cumbres Borrascosas in Spanish, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Here you can find a non official blog about the production.

Categories: Brontëites, Comics, Jane Eyre, Theatre, Wuthering Heights