The inner swing

Let's begin with an alert from Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Public Library is hosting an online Jane Eyre discussion this month on its blog Brooklyn Book Talk (thanks to Debbie who left a comment on a previous post).

Sometimes Brontë references can be found in the more unexpected places. As a light digression from an endemic and terrible conflict: the Israel vs Palestine one. BBC News publishes an exchange of letters of two young women living in Israel and Gaza. Both finish their letters with a literary exchange after some (very) bitter remarks:

Outside the conflict, I was wondering what English books you like reading? This year, Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte, is one of my favourites. I can't decide if Heathcliff is truly a villain!
Best wishes and keep well,
Anav [Silverman]

Heathcliff is a victim of his tyrannical society, but when he is in power, he becomes a victimiser himself. Do you notice, the victim always becomes the bully when he has control?[...]
My favourite English novel is Heart of Darkness for Joseph Conrad. Don't you think, colonialism in all ages has the same ideology?
Do you like Shakespeare? Hamlet is one of my favourites. Every time I read it I discover that he has a new problem.
Best wishes,
Mona

The Newcastle Journal-Live describes the new Brancepeth Castle Golf Club and we were quite "shocked" to read the following:

The setting is amazing enough. The green, which slopes away right, sits in a little hollow on the other side of another steep ravine - with a huge cedar of Lebanon and an American sequoia on the left and more traditional native species on the right, the gap through the branches to the green is fairly restricted. The brooding castle sits above and it's easy to imagine the demented Bertha Mason (aka Mrs Rochester from Jane Eyre) appearing on the blazing battlements at any moment.

Maybe that's the therapy that Bertha needed. To find her inner swing.

On another note. We read in Time Out: Chicago about the last - apparently in all senses - work of the company Goat Island: The Lastmaker:

Hixson explains that one section of Lastmaker is based on The Last Waltz, Martin Scorsese’s documentary about rock group the Band’s farewell concert in 1978. Much like Goat Island, the Band decided that after 16 years on the road, it was time for a change. “We created our own version of that concert,” Hixson says. The company developed a series of vignettes, each about the length of a pop song, which feature famous last words and actions, including the last 60 seconds of Bach’s final composition, some of Lenny Bruce’s last monologues, material from a last interview with the poet Stanley Kunitz and the last words of author Emily Brontë. (Sarah Best)

The last words of Wuthering Heights seem to be the 'last words of Emily Brontë' according to this article on the Dance Theatre Journal:

I lingered around them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth. (The Last Words of Emily Brontë, 1848)

Suitcasing discusses Wuthering Heights, dovegreyreader is experiencing a post-Daphne syndrome including an intense Brontë phase. SuperPunching briefly reviews Laura Joh Rowland's The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë:

Brontë fans will delight in Rowland's portrait of Charlotte, who closely parallels Jane both in personality and station. The men playing opposite Charlotte often echo the character of Edward Rochester, lending an enticing will-they, won't-they tension to the proceedings.

Mom and Pop talks about Shirley and Posted Notes does the same with Agnes Grey.

Categories: Agnes Grey, Alert, Books, Dance, Jane Eyre, Shirley, Wuthering Heights