The first blue-stocking

The Guardian reviews the new Brilliant Women: 18th-Century Bluestockings exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. In the article we can find a curious Brontë reference:

This parade of full-on public confidence is bracing, especially for those of us used to modest amateur likenesses of female writers (think of Cassandra's sketch of Jane Austen and Branwell Brontë's naive daub of his sisters), which suggest the retiring, almost furtive quality of their careers. (Amanda Vickery)

Funny, because there's a chapter in Shirley precisely entitled The first blue-stocking where Louis Moore recites word by word a French devoir by Shirley Keeldar: La Première Femme Savante.

The Guardian's San Francisco Blog talks about the quirkyalone movement and Jane Eyre makes a guest appearance:

To some, the term "quirkyalone" may conjure the image of an eccentric weirdo who embraces lifelong singledom for lack of dating opportunities. Quite the contrary, Cagen emphasizes: quirkyalones are not loner Jane Eyre-types, she says; they are often active, attractive, extroverts who are simply anti-dull relationships and anti-settling. (Marke B.)

On ControVersi an Italian Jane Eyre audiobook (read by Silvia Cecchini and with original music by Ivan Genesio) can be downloaded. The Samhellion interviews author Brenda Novak. Another Brontëite:

Who or what has most influenced your writing?
The way my husband jumps into anything he’s interested in set a great example for me to do the same, so I think he was a big influence in getting me started. But it was the classics that really inspired me, that made my imagination take flight. I trace my love of reading and writing back to the fifth grade when I discovered a whole row of books that were beyond anything I’d ever experienced—JANE EYRE and THE SECRET GARDEN are the two I remember most clearly.

British Literature posts about Jane Eyre. Capitanes y Reyes (Escritores del Mundo) posts a brief biography of Emily Brontë (although they insist on calling her Brönte). Some pictures of Haworth and York can be found on A quick succession of busy nothings.

Categories: Brontëites, Emily Brontë, Jane Eyre, References