Brontë's will-o’-the-wisp

The Halifax Evening Courier publishes some pictures of the recent Dominic Clare's wooden sculpture of Branwell Brontë:

A WOOD sculpture of Branwell Brontë, the former Calderdale railway worker and brother of the famous literary sisters, is being created as a new tourist attraction.

The sculpture of Branwell, who worked as a clerk at Sowerby Bridge and Luddenden Foot railway stations in 1840, is going on display at the Bronte Parsonage Museum, Haworth.
It is being made by chainsaw artist Dominic Clare out of a cypress pine tree, one of a pair planted by Charlotte Brontë and Arthur Bell Nicholls as part of their wedding celebrations.

The Telegraph discusses the upcoming release of The Duchess (2008), directed by Saul Dibb with Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes:

Ahead of next week's release of The Duchess, starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes, Stephen McClarence explores the Peak District, a region that has grown accustomed to being in the movies.
If the tourist brochures are to be believed on this sunny afternoon in the Peak District, we’re in Jane Eyre country and Pride and Prejudice country simultaneously. Wherever we turn, the two books seem to meld seamlessly into each other. Mr Darcy could be locking a mad wife in the attic as Mr Rochester takes tea with Lady Catherine de Bourg and Jane Eyre and Elizabeth Bennet skip off into the sunset together to live happily ever after. (...)
If it all looks familiar, that is because Stanage Edge features in both the film of Pride and Prejudice and the most recent TV version of Jane Eyre. The Brontë connection is apt: North Lees Hall, a dour, battlemented turret of a house, reputedly inspired Charlotte to write the novel after a visit in 1845. Could it be the inspiration for Thornfield Hall? Is it a coincidence that a local family was called Eyre? Is there scope here for The Full Brontë?
We browse round the “outdoor” shops in Hathersage, with their racks of walkers’ and climbers’ microfleeces, vapour wind jackets, mountain vent pull-ons and momentum zip-necks. It all sounds alarmingly energetic, so we retreat to Haddon Hall, a lovely medieval manor house, where visitors cluster round TVs watching clips from the BBC Jane Eyre, which was also filmed here (do try to keep up with these locations).

Curiously, the Times also talks about the Peak District of Derbyshire from a very different perspective:

Derby is the spookiest city in Britain, according to a recent survey of ghosts and poltergeists in cities across the country. But the Peak District of Derbyshire also has more than its fair share of strange phenomena. Mysterious flickering lights have been seen dancing over crags, peatbogs, heather and wooded valleys; tiny, ghostly flames a few inches high are said to dance around like a lantern moving in zigzag lines.
These lights are known as the will-o’-the-wisp or Jack-o’-lantern and are usually seen in bogs, marshy ground and graveyards. The Longendale Valley and Bleaklow in the Peak District both have a long history of the strange lights, and legends say that these were fairies, witches or possibly the ghostly torches of Roman soldiers. Tales also told of travellers led into treacherous bogs, which is why they used to be called ignis fatuus, the foolish light. But in Jane Eyre, a will-o’-the-wisp guides Jane to safety when she is lost on the moor: “Far in among the marshes and the ridges, a light sprang up. This light was my forlorn hope: I must gain it.” (Paul Simons)

The Kansas City Star talks about Don Cheadle's new film Traitor (2008), directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff:

Apparently Cheadle (who produced and stars in the thriller), writer/director Jeffrey Nachmanoff and others involved in the film went through a bunch of soul-searching about whether Cheadle’s character — an American Muslim responsible for the deaths of several innocent persons — should die at the end of the movie.
They decided to let him live, in large part, Cheadle said, because of how hard it would be to sell a film in which the central character gets killed. (...)
Now before we get all indignant about the ignorance of today’s audiences and the perfidy of producers, let it be acknowledged that this is nothing new. Way back in 1939 movie mogul Sam Goldwyn, concerned that the ending of “Wuthering Heights” was too downbeat, tacked on a final scene in which ill-fated lovers Cathy and Heathcliff (Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier) are reunited in heaven.
No doubt Emily Bronte began revolving laterally over this desecration, but it worked. “Wuthering Heights” was a big hit. (Robert W. Butler)

The Miami New Times reviews George Packer's play Betrayed:

The scant character details we do get — such as Intisar's love of Emily Brontë or Laith's deep appreciation for English-language porn — are small, human, and seem to stand in for a patience and longing so deep that the translators couldn't express it in English.

The Western Mail asks Wales politicians about their favourite holiday reads:

Bethan Jenkins, Plaid Cymru AM for South Wales West, cherishes Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. She described it as a “strong critique of colonialism with a vibrant feminist edge”.

The Guardian lists some recent literary cameos in recent movies or TV series, including the Wuthering Heights references in Hollyoaks.

Carole Kirk posts about Annelies Štrba's Life Dreams exhibition at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

Some of Strba’s pictures are quite dark, possibly in response. Others explore feminine experience in quite an imaginative way, particularly one positioned over one of Branwell’s paintings of Madonna and Child, which I think explores what Mary’s actual experience might have been.
Overall, an extremely rewarding exhibition, and I would definitely recommend a visit.

Gypsyscarlett's Weblog has a long post with plenty of samples of Emily Brontë's poetry.

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Brontë Parsonage Museum, Emily Brontë, Jane Eyre, Poetry, References, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights