Brontë Atonement

The New York Times Paperback Row highlights the new paperback edition of Edward Mendelson's The Things That Matter: What Seven Classic Novels Have to Say About the Stages of Life. A book that was reviewed on BrontëBlog some months ago:

(Anchor, $14.) Mendelson, a professor of English at Columbia, reads novels — by Mary Shelley, Emily and Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot and Virginia Woolf — that shed light on a significant stage in human life. He believes that most novels “can be understood most fully if they are interpreted and understood from a personal point of view, not only from historical, thematic or analytical perspectives,” and he takes readers deep into each novel’s moral universe. (Elsa Dixler)

The Guardian informs of yet another Jane Eyre meets... publicity strategy:

Penguin's Michael Joseph imprint is still scouring the blogosphere for single mothers with attitude. (...) Now Michael Joseph's editors have paid more than £100,000 to Manchester-based Maria Roberts, who writes at singlemotherontheverge.com. Her book is pitched as "Jane Eyre meets Shameless" and "Bridget Jones battling to rid herself of an eco-warrior boyfriend", and will be out in 2009. (Joel Rickett)

Atonement, the latest film of Joe Wright adapting a novel by Ian McEwan is reviewed on several places and some Brontë references slip in. The Harvard Crimson quotes the reviews of Joe Wright's previous film, Pride and Prejudice:

Those who disliked “Pride and Prejudice,” both critics and viewers, tended to be avid Austenites. An L.A. Weekly critic complained that “Knightley plays Lizzie as, of all things, a head-tossing daddy’s girl,” while a close friend (and fellow English concentrator) disdainfully referred to Wright’s interpretation as “Brontë-esque.” (Madeline K.B. Ross)

The San Diego Union-Tribune is reminded of Wuthering Heights 1939:

The lovers are acted with profound sincerity by McAvoy and with a snappish hauteur that surpasses itself by Knightley. Both actors enlarge our sense of them, much as Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon did so long ago in “Wuthering Heights.”
(David Elliott)

On the same journal, Keira Knightley is interviewed saying

Mention that Cecilia has emotive kinship with Cathy of “Wuthering Heights,” and Knightley sparkles without a pause. “One of my favorite books! Completely love it! Talk about a spoiled bitch, that Cathy. I am quite drawn to people who behave badly.” (David Elliott)

And even TimeOut New York uses a Brontë metaphor to describe one of the characters aspirations:

Clacking endlessly at her typewriter, 13-year-old Briony (Ronan) fancies herself a budding Brontë. (David Fear)

More things: The Halifax Courier publishes an article about a possible visit by Elizabeth Gaskell to Halifax and, of course, her Charlotte Brontë biography is mentioned:

She became known as a novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era but is perhaps best known for her biography of Charlotte Bronte, which played a significant role in developing her fellow author's reputation.

Kelly Dalglish, is interviewed in The Guardian and qualifies as a Brontëite-to-be (?):

Exactly. What was the last CD you bought?
I just bought the audio CD of Jane Eyre for this trip. Does that make me sound intelligent or thick? I get so sleepy if I listen to music all the way up. And the radio stations just repeat themselves so by the time you've done four hours it's kind of boring. (Paolo Bandini)

Suite101 posts about Jane Eyre at Gateshead. Shauna Robert's for Love of Books interviews Laura Joh Rowland whose forthcoming book is The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë:

Your next book, The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë (a March 2008 release), will take place in a completely different time and place. Why did you start a second mystery series?
I wanted to stretch my wings. Even though I love my Japanese series and plan to continue writing it, I’ve always wanted to try something else. I picked Charlotte Brontë because I love her novels, and I’m fascinated by her adventurous, tragic, romantic life. She’s the perfect heroine. I’m also fascinated by Victorian England. It has striking parallels with our own time, such as rapid, dramatic advances in science and technology that changed the world forever. I don’t know whether The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë will become a series, but I certainly hope so.

Veteen piirretty viiva? posts about Humiseva Harju, Wuthering Heights in Finnish. La página de José does the same thing but in Spanish.

Categories: Books, Brontëites, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Wuthering Heights