Who is she?

The Guardian reviews the biography John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand by Richard Reeves. The reviewer quotes Charlotte Brontë's opinion of his wife, Harriet Taylor:

There was an innocent, unworldly, always faintly alarming infantile streak in Mill that runs perhaps most strongly through his relationship with Harriet Taylor , the married woman who was by all accounts the only human being he ever truly loved. Judicious and sardonic as his subject, Reeves offers no verdict as to whether or not the two slept together in the 20 years before her husband's death enabled them to marry, or indeed whether Mill's beloved was actually as unpleasant as many of his admirers have maintained. His own effusive tributes to the majesty of her intellect and the infallibility of her judgment seem decidedly less persuasive than Charlotte Bronte's crisp summing-up, based on a feminist article by Mrs Taylor: 'I thought it was the work of a powerful-minded, clear-headed woman, who had a hard, jealous heart, muscles of iron, and nerves of bent leather; of a woman who longed for power and had never felt affection.' (Hilary Spurling)

As a matter of fact, Charlotte Brontë here was describing to Mrs Gaskell (20 September 1851) her thoughts on an article appeared in the Westminster and Foreign Quarterly Review on the emancipation of women. The article was assumed to be by JS Mill (who was the journal's editor), even though Charlotte at first took it (cleverly) to be by a woman - hence the previous quote. Charlotte herself later on in the same letter continues talking about the author like this:

In short J.S. Mills[sic]'s head is, I daresay -very good- but I feel disposed to scorn his heart.

The New York Post recommends Wuthering Heights 1939 (which airs on TCM at 10:00 AM (ET), check our TV alerts sidebar):

The only novel that Emily Bronte ever wrote became one of the most romantic movies ever made. Bronte tells the tragic story of Cathy, a girl from a good family, and her passion for Heathcliff, a stable boy. Merle Oberon is too gorgeous as Cathy and Laurence Olivier is Heathcliff. Who wouldn't hang out in the stable with Olivier shoeing the horses? (Linda Stasi)

Darkmatters writes a very interesting post on the cinematography of Jane Eyre 1944. Particularly centered on the Helen Burns sickbed scene. Hallucina compares Emily Brontë with Neil Gaiman. And I'm Gonna Say It To...? posts some pictures of Brontë country.

Finally, the Malaysian newspaper The Star carries a story about the trip to the University of Hull of several Malaysian students. They visited Scarborough including Anne Brontë's tomb (picture):

A short walk down the steep castle slopes and another historical site greeted the students at St Mary’s Church. Here they found the tombstone and burial site of Anne Bronte, which drew hushed whispers of “Who is she?” (Sharon Ovinis)

Categories: Anne Brontë, Books, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Jane EyreMovies-DVD-TV, Wuthering Heights