Best-Loved Author Of All Time interrupted by a mobile phone call

The Daily Mail (and The Telegraph among others) informs about one of those periodical literary polls asking for the best loved book or author or whatever. This one was commissioned by the Costa Book Awards 2008: Best-Loved Author Of All Time. A couple of Brontës are there:

15. Charlotte Bronte
20. Emily Bronte

Hollywood Today reviews The Blackstone Key by Rose Malikan. The review ends with this enigmatic comment:

There could have been a bit more conflict between Mary and Captain Holland. Her hero, or is he? Blackstone Key moves along the lines of the works of Charlotte Bronte with regard to the suspense. (Gabrielle Pantera)

Charlotte Brontë, a Hitchcock avant la lettre?

Another review that tangentially mentions the Brontës is the following:

Fans of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters will be in a familiar landscape reading The Magicians and Mrs. Quent (498 pages; Bantam Spectra; $23) by Galen Beckett. This fantasy debut uses those authors’ famous works as a template. Does the place name Heathcrest Hall ring any chimes? (Robert Folsom in Kansas City Star)

The Concord Monitor talks about one of our usual suspects, Margot Livesey's The House on Fortune Street:

We hear each of their stories in turn, exemplified by a similar situation in a famous novel or an author's life: Dara becomes a real-life Jane Eyre when a tall, dark stranger literally falls at her feet. Cameron's story parallels Lewis Carroll's, the author of Alice in Wonderland, who was fascinated by young girls and took many photos of them. In Abigail's ending narrative, we learn that her beloved grandfather loved Dickens, and Great Expectations is reflected in her story. You don't have to remember much about the classic works to enjoy Livesey's comparisons. Betrayal is a major theme, as are luck and the search for truth. In the end, you will wonder how anyone can ever know another person, even one living under the same roof. (Claire Davis)

Some days ago we talked about Watson & Oliver sketch comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. MetroLife gives more information:

What these grammar school pals should aim for is more invention and twist on universal themes. They do show they're capable of doing that with a Wuthering Heights sketch, where Cathy and Heathcliff's romantic witterings on the moors take an unexpected turn when they're interrupted by a mobile phone call. As does a fight, batons in hand, between film score composers John Williams and John Barry. (Sharon Lougher)

Another local newspaper, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner, presents Tony Earnshaw's Made in Yorkshire (more information on this previous post).

UniversBD reviews Mara's latest comic book: Clues-T1: Sur les traces du passé. According to the author:

Sorte de polar à la sauce victorienne, Clues est, d’après son auteur, un mélange entre Sherlock Holmes, Gangs of New York, My fair Lady et Jane Eyre. (Laurent Boileau)

Le Monde publishes an article about an exhibition of Paula Rego in Nîmes, France:

"Paula Rego, rétrospective de l'oeuvre graphique", Ecole supérieure des beaux-arts, hôtel Rivet, 10, Grande-Rue, Nîmes. Tél. : 04-66-76-70-22. Jusqu'au 21 septembre. Du mardi au samedi, de 10 heures à 18 heures.

Certaines s'expliquent partiellement par la littérature : Rego a en effet consacré des séries d'estampes à Peter Pan ou au corbeau maléfique de Poe. Elle connaît par coeur Lewis Carroll, et la suite que lui a inspirée Jane Eyre en 2002 suit le roman très loin dans le grotesque, la laideur accablante, le désespoir le plus morne. On y retrouve l'humeur noire et railleuse qui caractérisait en 1996 sa galerie de sorcières contemporaines.

Contemporaines : le deuxième terme importe. Ce fantastique à la fois funèbre et comique de Rego pourrait n'être qu'hommages rendus à Hogarth et à Goya. Elle les a salués en effet plusieurs fois et, de temps en temps, leur adresse encore un signe de complicité. Mais, à l'exception des images pour Jane Eyre, tout, dans ces gravures, les situe aujourd'hui, costumes, attitudes, décors et, naturellement, ses ruptures de style, sa manière sèche d'abréger et de couper court aux détails inutiles et encombrants. (Philippe Dagen)

EDIT (September, 3): An English translation of the article can be read on The Guardian.

The blogosphere is pretty quiet today: Lulin olvasmányai reviews Jane Eyre in Hungarian and Tierney publishes an interesting post on Wuthering Heights and on how people tend to - mistakenly, of course - lump the Brontës and Jane Austen together. You're history! posts about Justine Picardie's Daphne.

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Books, Comics, In the News, Jane Eyre, References, Theatre, Wuthering Heights