Wuthering Heights-inspired: from names to quilts

Obviously, countless news sites and blogs report and mourn the loss of young actor Heath Ledger and remind us that his mother named him and his sister Heathcliff and Cathy after the protagonists of Wuthering Heights.

But there are also a few more news items worth reporting today. Such as equalling Jane Eyre to John Grisham's books. We have nothing personal agains John Grisham ourselves, but we don't think the books compare at all. One Bryce Johnson in The Daily Californian does so when trying to explain why most e-book retailers have failed.

Johnson said he believed e-book retailers had largely failed because they had primarily focused on popular literature rather than niche audiences.
"Everyone had focused on the casual reader that read John Grisham or Jane Eyre on the beach," he said. (Stephanie M. Lee)

One of the joys of Jane Eyre is that it allows for beach-reading as well as for brainy library-reading. And we don't think the readers of Jane Eyre are so casual either.

The Times talks to Frances Pinsent, born in 1960, about growing up. She mentions what her reads were.

There was a constant supply of the latest children’s books – Stig of the Dump, Catweazel, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, the Narnia books – but nothing for teenagers, Frances says. “I think I read a lot of adult books too young – the Brontës, Thomas Hardy. It was a huge jump. Now there’s Jacqueline Wilson.”

The Guardian alerts us to a very special forthcoming ballet based on Jane Eyre. Very special, we say, because the dancers are children: The London Children's Ballet, specifically.

We've had Jane Eyre as a book, a film, a television series and an opera - and now there is Jane Eyre the ballet. The London Children's Ballet has turned Charlotte Brontë's novel into a ballet for 52 young dancers aged 9-15, and will be performing the work for the first time in May at London's Peacock Theatre. For the choreographer Nicole Tongue, ballet is the ideal medium through which to tell the story. "It has always been regarded as a very grown-up story, but there is a lot for children to identify with, whether it is bullying, isolation, or the frustration that Jane feels when she is younger," says Tongue. "She's a very modern role model in that she stands firm for what she believes in." (Francesca Martin) (Picture source)

The production will be on stage at London's Peacock Theatre from May 15 to May 18, 2008, although tickets aren't for sale yet.

LibriVox has now completed their Wuthering Heights project. The audiobook files can be downloaded from their website. Congrats on their great job too!

SylviaPlath.org.uk is also to be thanked for posting the complete poem Sylvia Plath wrote inspired by Wuthering Heights. It is very atmospheric and truly wroth reading.

Continuing with the Wuthering Heights inspiration, Piecing, Patching writes briefly about her love for Wuthering Heights fabrics for quilting.

Now for some Jane Eyre inspiration as well. A couple of blogs discuss Wide Sargasso Sea: Girl Detective and Oh, which includes it on a list of what writers should read. Movie Collections and Screen Trivia reviews Jane Eyre 1944.

Categories: Audio-Radio, Dance, In the News, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Poetry, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights