Charlotte Brontë's Prozac

The Telegraph and Argus carries an article on the forthcoming exhibition at the Brontë Parsonage Museum: Alter Ego.

Abstract paintings based on Bronte handwriting and signatures will be displayed at the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth.
Victor Buta's exhibition Alter Ego, running February 6-March 31, explores the writers' pseudonyms of currer, Ellis and Acton Bell.
Victor used the Brontes' miniature books and handwritten correspondence as source material.
A museum spokesman said: "The paintings emerge from an interest in signatures of questionable authenticity.
"This includes those invented or used in a conscious effort to mask or change identity."
The exhibition is included in the museum admission price. Phone 01535 or 640188. (David Knights)

And remember that the Museum is closed throughout January. It reopens - with the brand-new exhibition Genius - on February 1st.

The Daily of the University of Washington has a few (rhetorical?) questions:

I’m developing questions I may need to ask in office hours — a few of the ones bouncing around so far include: “Why was Heathcliff such a d*ck to everyone?” “How did Mira Nair turn Vanity Fair into such a short movie when the novel is that thick?” and “Would Charlotte Brontë have written Jane Eyre if Prozac had been around in the early Victorian?” (Matthew Jackson)

About the latter, in our opinion, the right question would be whether she would have written Shirley and Villette. Jane Eyre she wrote quite rapidly and easily, and quite contentedly too.

The press today offers a couple of Brontë-oriented glimpses into the lives of two 'anonymous' people. Firstly, the Yorkshire Post has an article on Barry Watson, who intends to become 'the oldest person to swim the Channel'. In order to achieve this, he obviously does some training, part of which includes:

He has a strict regime of walking measured distances and always times himself. For one particular hilly five-mile course near home, he began by taking two hours but was soon down to 1.22. For a challenging route from Haworth to Top Withins – Wuthering Heights of Brontë fame – and back he first took 2.20 but is now down to 1.38. (Bill Bridge)

Which is really quite impressive.

And secondly The Somerset County Daily American talks to the Mary S. Biesecker Public Library director in Somerset County, Ann Schrock.

One of Schrock’s favorite books is “Wuthering Heights,” a story about childhood love leading to jealousy, death and revenge.
“I liked the book and then I read about how they came about writing the book, which is really interesting too,” Schrock said. (Brian Schrock)

Now for the blogosphere. In Quest of a Wife reviews Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre, and a quotation from this film inspires a post on The Engaging Brand Blog. Jane Eyre - the actual novel - gives way to posts on NI entre amigos (in Portuguese) and Teatime with Erica (who accompanies the post with a picture from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall BBC adaptation, though). Finally, and as happened to many of us, Reading, Writing, Working, Playing has just read Justine Picardie's Daphne and her interests have flown in all directions at once, one of these being Wuthering Heights.

Finally, YouTube brings us the making off of Women from Mark Ryan's musical adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Brontë Parsonage Museum, Haworth, Jane Eyre, Music, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights