Written on Heathcliff's body

The East African has an article on Nigerian man of letters Chinua Achebe. There comes a point in the article where examples of black people are mentioned to show the image white people had of them in literature.

Black skin became associated with evil, underachievement, laziness and lack of self-will. It justified slavery and colonialism. In literature, the past 500 years have seen the condemnation of the black man, from Shakespeare’s Othello, Emile [sic] Bronte’s Heathcliff and in the work of Joseph Conrad, who compared the black man to an animal. (David Kaiza)

Before we move on to Heathcliff we can't help but say that literature is a product of its time. It's not an objective medium at all and it's just as unfair to judge it solely out of its time. But Heathcliff? He probably wasn't even black. As usual, WutheringHeights.co.uk is a mine of information on the subject.

A lighter topic now. The Derbyshire Evening Telegraph shows how proud the area is to be attracting visitors due to its appearances on films and series. Haddon Hall is quite a star:

Haddon Hall also appeared in the BBC TV dramatisation of Jane Eyre last year and was used for the film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley, Donald Sutherland and Brenda Blethyn. (Aly Walsh & Kate Liptrot)

Haddon Hall was Thornfield Hall too in Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre.

John Mullan - author of the recently-published, much-reviewed Anonymity - reviews the Classical Comics' edition of Macbeth (released tomorrow in the UK) for the Guardian. The article is only tangentially Brontë-related, but a good appetiser all the same, isn't it? Don't forget the Classical Comics' awaited edition of Jane Eyre is due out in July. And an edition of Wuthering Heights is to be expected by autumn 2009 too.

(Incidentally and also only tangentially Brontë-related, the Guardian recently featured an article by Elizabeth Gaskell latest biographer Jenny Uglow on North and South.)

Now let's take a look at the blogosphere. Reviews of novels: Cajun Cottage under the Oaks briefly reviews Agnes Grey. Meghan Curran continues posting about Wuthering Heights. How It Fits seems to be going through a Brontë phase and writes about Jane Eyre. And Wormbook reviews Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys.

Tinaisolen has watched Jane Eyre 1944 and writes about it in Swedish. Le voyage d'une vie posts a few pictures of Brontë Country, particularly the moors. And Dance History Journal posts about Written on the Body.

I was looking forward to Written on the Body, I guess. I was just amazed by how this woman literally threw herself into dance.
Even though I came to see Written on the Body, I was much more impressed with the environmentalist piece than with this one. I did appreciate how this was a true exploration of how the Brontë sisters related to their male pseudonyms, and not just a condemnation of male dominated 19th century society. Sometimes the dancers dressed as males carried the sisters, sometimes the women danced in front of the men. Most often a combination of both were present on stage. My favorite move in the piece was when one of the sister's male pseudonyms sat down on the stage and pantomimed signing something. The performer then did a somersault over what was written on stage, effectively becoming a Brontë sister again. It was an interesting way of presenting transitioning in and out of a role. Really, it's not unlike the situation of women today. We now have the choice of having a career or being a wife and mother, yet assuming two roles is, from what I've seen, very difficult to do. (Sarah Dietze)

Categories: Comics, Dance, Elizabeth Gaskell, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Wuthering Heights