Against clichés: romance, motherhood....

The Baltimore Sun discusses the appeal of the works of Jane Austen today and although we agree with many of the things the article says, we find the following comment rather reductionist and - well - being politically correct, superficial:

What is it about Jane Austen that we find so compelling? Other great Victorian writers provide fodder for colorful costume dramas (Charles Dickens), others are steeped in romance (the Bronte sisters) while others skewer courtship rituals insightfully and with humor (Edith Wharton and Anthony Trollope).
All these writers remain popular today, and most were far more prolific than Austen - which would seem to confer a considerable advantage on enterprising producers searching for neglected gems.
But for none of these brilliant stylists do we demonstrate the same, seemingly insatiable appetite. Observing that the novels' appeal crosses gender and class lines is a statement in the obvious. (Mary Carole McCauley)

Reducing the Brontës to the 'romantic' cliché can also apply to Austen with the same degree of accuracy. And reducing Dickens to 'costume drama'? Well, are not all of theworks mentioned 'colouful costume dramas'?

More on romance novels. The centenary of Mills & Boon is the reason behind this article in The New Straits Times (Malaysia) which nevertheless goes a little further:

This is not lost on certain fans of the genre, who while avoiding the formulaic Mills & Boon variety, enjoy classics from Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen and even Georgette Heyer.
Etta, a Heyer fan in her 40s, points to an intricacy of wit and authenticity in Heyer's portrayal of the early 19th century Regency period.
"In fact, Charlotte Bronte's books, especially Jane Eyre, was controversial and caused a furore because the heroine would not submit to social and religious norms, reflecting the frustration of women at the time," she adds.

Liz Jones in The Daily Mail asks the following question:

Come on, be honest. Can you think of one truly great artist – not just an artist but a novelist or thinker or even a screen goddess – who was also a mother?
Jane Austen? Emily Bronte? Neither even had a proper boyfriend. George Eliot? Not a maternal bone in her body. Rachel Carson?

Well, actually and relying on our memory we can think a few: Elizabeth Gaskell, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Harriet Beecher-Stowe, Mary Wollstonecraft and other contemporary ones like Daphne du Maurier, Kate Atkinson, Toni Morrison, Astrid Lindgren, Sylvia Plath (although probably not the best example) , J.K. Rowling, Justine Picardie, Margaret Forster...

The Haworth twinning with Machu Picchu (Peru) appears again in the news. The Independent's journalist Ian Griggs is not a reader of BrontëBlog because if he was he wouldn't be so astonished:

Could there be more unlikely civic partners than Haworth, West Yorkshire, birthplace of the Brontë sisters and Machu Picchu on the Inca trail, for instance? Or how about Macclesfield, Cheshire and Vigan, the Philippines?
Yet, a spokesman for Howarth's [sic] Twin Town Group claims his town and Machu Picchu "are more similar than you might think. Both have populations of just less than 3,000, are 50 miles from the nearest regional capital and evoke past societies," he added.

More details on the Haworth and Machu Picchu Twin Town Group webpage.

The Brontë Parsonage Blog discloses more details of next week's (April 18-20) Brussels Brontë Group annual week-end of activities. It's a program not to be missed, including a highly interesting conference with the presence among others of Robert Barnard, Eric Ruijssenaars or Paul Heger (great-great-great grandson of Constantin Heger's brother). Check the complete programme and how to book here.

What you can already visit is the exhibition Les Soeurs Brontë à Bruxelles:

This is an opportunity to see a lot of interesting pictures, photos and books on Brussels in the period of the Brontës' stay and to find out more about the Quartier Isabelle and the Pensionnat Heger. There is also plenty of material on the Brontë and Heger families, and a display of Brontë novels and biographies in French from Brussels libraries with Wuthering Heights translated in at least seven different ways!

Exhibition Les Soeurs Brontë à Bruxelles, Bibliothèque des Riches Claires, rue Riches Claires 24, 1000 Brussels, from 10 to 29 April 2008. Exhibition opening hours: Monday to Friday 13.00 to 17.00; Saturday (except for 19 April): 10.00 to 12.00. (Helen MacEwan)

Finally, Libri e Tutt'Altro reviews Cime Tempestose (Wuthering Heights) in Italian and the Austrian newspaper Kurier makes a bizarre Brontë reference in an article about Internet advertising.

Categories: Brussels, Haworth, In the News, Jane Eyre, References, Talks, Wuthering Heights