Single-sex Wuthering Education

Some British newspapers talk about the return of single-sex schools. We are not particularly happy that the reading of Wuthering Heights is mentioned as an example:

Research has also indicated that girls are more likely to be stimulated to read by classical romances such as Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, while boys tend to respond more to action stories. (Graham Tibbets in The Telegraph)

Researchers have revealed that girls are more likely to be stimulated to read by classical romantic tales such as Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, while boys are likely to be wooed by action stories. (Richard Garner in The Independent)

The Guardian talks to Laura Mackie, controller of drama at ITV, who makes the following comment about the upcoming TV adaptation of Wuthering Heights:

What didn't make the final cut of the interview but was nevertheless interesting was her discussion about the remake of The Prisoner that ITV are making in South Africa (in a co-production with AMC), her attitude to ITV doing period pieces ("We couldn't do an obscure Trollope but we were drawn to Wuthering Heights and to A Passage to India") and to Suranne Jones's posh accent in Harley Street. (Gareth McLean)

An alert for today from the University of Georgia:

Bulldog Book Club. Sponsored by the UGA Libraries. Discuss Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre. 11 a.m. MLC Jittery Joe's. Contact: fteague@uga.edu.

On the blogosphere, achukareviews posts about Classical Comics's Jane Eyre:

Classical Comics' second new offering is slightly more perplexing than their release of Frankenstein. With their original line up of Shakespeare stories - Macbeth and Henry V - it was clear that they had chosen 'rip roaring' stories full of adventure and action to tempt disaffected teenage boys into reading. With Jane Eyre it's less easy to see who is being targeted?
The artwork, although agonizingly beautiful, is more watercolour than Photoshop and adds to the dated feel of this comic. Walking around my class (year 6) I found it difficult to find a group that would take to a story about a young girl's turbulent journey through childhood to the heartaches of adulthood. With a GCSE class, one could position the narrative within the timeline of feminism, and the literary tradition of liberated female authors, as well as using it as a launchpad for exploring adaptations of classic stories. Therein lies the contradiction that this version of Jane Eyre never shakes off: a story undoubtedly aimed at adults, repackaged in a format that is read and adored by boys.

Finally, Reading Through History Book Club is reading Jane Eyre.

Categories: Alert, Comics, In the News,Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Wuthering Heights