Readers of El Sol de Cuernavaca, don't believe everything you read

Since BrontëBlog was born we have read many appallingly wrong accounts of the lives of the Brontës. Many misconceptions, too. But we truly believe this is about the worst thing we've come across in all this time. You decide whether you want to laugh or cry.

Mexican newspaper El Diario de Cuernavaca takes James Tully's The Crimes of Charlotte Brontë a tad too seriously and pours a few wrong additions into the mixture as well, creating a very scary article. The title? Charlotte Brontë, autora de Jean [sic] Eyre pudo haber asesinado a sus hermanos. (Charlotte Brontë, author of Jean [sic] Eyre may have killed her siblings.) This outstanding piece of journalism is written by María José Lasso.

El nombre de Charlotte Bronte ha llegado a nuestros días gracias a su obra más famosa,Jeane [sic] Eyre, una fascinante novela de mediados del siglo IX [sic] traducida en todos los idiomas y que fue lectura casi obligatoria para cuatro generaciones de jovencitas.
The name of Charlotte Brontë is familiar to us thanks to her most famous work, Jeane [sic] Eyre, a fascinating novel written in the 9th [sic] century, translated into every language and a compulsory read for young girls of four generations.

A new name, a new time for being written and a translation into every language in the world. Surely the writer belongs to the fifth generation who didn't get to read the novel.

La apasionante historia de la ama de llaves [sic] enamorada de su empleador fue llevada varias veces al cine. Lyz [sic] Taylor participó a los 7 años en una de sus versiones (era Jeanne [sic] de niña) y William Hurt en la última, hace ya unos años. Al ser una de las más famosas novelistas de la Gran Bretaña, su vida ha sido objeto de múltiples biografías que coinciden en señalar aspectos poco amables de su persona. Como ejemplo, el sabotaje por celos y envidia del trabajo de sus hermanas Emily y Anne, también escritoras de talento.
The passionate story of the housekeeper [sic] who falls in love with her employer has been taken to the big screen several times. 7-year-old Lyz [sic] Taylor played a part in one of its versions (she played Jeanne [sic] as a child) and William Hurt was in the latest one, many years ago already. Because she is one of the most famous writers in Great Britain, her life has been the object of many biographies which point to not-so-kind aspects of her character. For instance, the boycott - due to jealousy and envy - to the work of her sisters Emily and Anne, also talented writers.

She thinks Jane (oh, sorry, Jeanne) is Mrs Fairfax! And the way she states so matter-of-factly Charlotte's bad temper (or whatever) is both laughable and frightening at the same time.

Pero desde 1999 Charlotte Bronte es objeto de la más grave de las acusaciones: 152 años después de su muerte, el criminólogo James Tully (que ha pasado diez años estudiando también los crímenes de Jack el Destripador) ha escrito un libro donde acusa a la escritora de haber asesinado a sus dos hermanas y a su hermano Branwell, quienes murieron entre los 20 y 30 años en 1848, con una diferencia de sólo unos meses, tras lo cual Charlotte destruyó toda su correspondencia, así como la continuación de Cumbres borrascosas, la obra maestra de su hermana Emily.
But since 1999 Charlotte Brontë is the object of the most serios of accusations: 152 years after her death, criminologist James Tully (who has spent ten years studying the crimes of Jack the Ripper as well) has written a book where he accuses the writer of having murdered her two sisters and her brother Branwell, who died between 20 and 30 years of age in 1848, with only months in between them, after which Charlotte destroyed all their correspondence as well as the sequel to Wuthering Heights, her sister Emily's masterpiece.

First of all: James Tully is dead too so we should speak of him in the past tense, shouldn't we? And Charlotte seems to have been a sort of Methuselah, having written Jane Eyre in the 9th century and having died so 'recently'.

And yes, those are indeed Tully's arguments (though he said Emily's second novel, not sequel to Wuthering Heights) which should be taken witha large pinch of salt given they were published as FICTION, although he wanted them published as fact. Thank goodness no one really believed him apart from the writer of this article and a few others, because some books do fall into the wrong hands sometimes.

And so the article follows, relaying Tully's arguments and giving them all the credit. One other funny mistake occurs several lines below where Anne is made to write 'El manicomio de Windfell Hall', that is, 'The lunatic asylum of Windfell Hall'. A very handy place for Bertha Rochester and a few other people, too.

Categories: Weirdo