One of the great literary mysteries of our time

Lilian Pizzichini's biography of Jean Rhys: The Blue Hour. A Portrait of Jean Rhys is reviewed by the Daily Mail:

Had she been alive today Jean Rhys (1890-1976) would certainly have been diagnosed with a personality disorder. Or as hovering on the very edge of the Asperger's spectrum. Poor woman.
As Lilian Pizzichini's excellent biography makes clear, Rhys, author of such troubling novels as Quartet, Good Morning, Midnight and the radiantly brilliant Wide Sargasso Sea, was an absolute nightmare. And, of course, such a volatile personality is God's gift to a biographer. (...)
How she managed to write Wide Sargasso Sea (the Jane Eyre prequel about the first MrsRochester) is one of the great literary mysteries of our time. Pizzichini describes the original draft as being 'stained with grief, sweat and face powder' - as well as splashes of whisky, we must assume, as by now Rhys was getting through at least a bottle a day. (Val Hennessy)

The same Daily Mail publishes a profile of Samantha Morton which highlights her performances of Jane Eyre in 1997:

It was her performance as Jane Eyre in 1997, in ITV's adaptation of the Charlotte Bronte classic, which established her as leading lady material. (Tim Oglethorpe)

The Star (Malaysia) recommends a visit to Haworth and the Brontë country:

If you’ve read The Canterbury Tales or Wuthering Heights and wondered what it must be like to be in the landscapes that inspired the story, why not take a look yourself? (...)
At the opposite end of the country, and of no less literary significance, is the town of Haworth in the bleak but beautiful Yorkshire Dales. It was here that some of the great romantic novels of the 19th century were written.
Inspired by their surroundings, three of the five daughters of Patrick Bronte became some of the most famous literary figures of all time. Known as the Bronte sisters, Charlotte is famous for writing Jane Eyre, Ann, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and Emily, one of the classic romantic tales Wuthering Heights.
Haworth is a former industrial mill town, but is now given over almost entirely to tourism, with its main street consisting of numerous gift shops, pubs, restaurants and bed-and-breakfast accommodation. However, it is not a tacky place and retains its charm, mainly due to the lack of modern buildings and its dramatic location on the Yorkshire Moors.
It is these windswept, rugged grasslands which fired the imagination of the sisters while they gazed out of the windows of their house. The Parsonage (priest’s home), where they spent most of their adult lives, is now maintained as a museum to the family.
It has kept many of its original features, including, rather macabrely, the sofa on which Emily died. In fact, ill health dogged most of their lives, as it did many people in this area in the 19th century. It was their frail compositions which led them to spend much of their time indoors or around the Parsonage — with their energies being put to literary pursuits.
Of less morbid interest, there is an interactive exhibition based on the family’s life and works, and each room is decorated authentically and full of information about the sisters.
Many people opt to take the Bronte walk, which leads from the Parsonage and past the graveyard (don’t take this walk at night if you are easily spooked) and down a well-used footpath to the picturesque but not very big, Bronte Falls. On a hot day (unfortunately not very common on the moors), it is great to just sit here with a picnic and admire the beauty of the scenery.
In fact, this is what the Brontes were said to have done in the so-called Bronte Chair, a large stone on which the sisters allegedly sat in and took turns writing their novels. For those who are feeling a little fitter, the walk continues uphill to a ruined cottage called Top Withens, which is apparently the setting for Heathcliffe’s (sic) home in Wuthering Heights.
Gazing down from here at the undulating expanse of moorland, you could easily lose yourself in the story and imagine Heathcliffe frantically searching the moors and calling out for his beloved Kathy (sic).
Back in the town, Haworth has many attractions in its own right, but it is also the centre of what is known as the Brontë Country, which includes sites of scenic beauty, 19th century railroads, castles and thriving market towns.
Indeed, after spending some time in this harsh but inspiring area, one can see how the sisters were inspired to write what they did. (Wayne Johnson)

Two early Brontëites. Author Hilary Mantel is interviewed in The Financial Times:

Which literary character most resembles you?
When I was a child I empathised with Jane Eyre, as women writers often do. Since then I haven’t thought of books in that way: I know me and I know the character and the two don’t merge. (Anna Metcalfe)

And Guillaume Musso in Nice Matin:

Les livres, une affaire de famille ? L'écrivain confirme : « Mes parents m'ont appris à être éclectique. Vers 10-11 ans, je passais mes étés dans la réserve de la bibliothèque et je dévorais tout ce qui me tombait sous la main. C'est comme ça que j'ai découvert Les Hauts de Hurlevent d'Emily Brontë. Un choc. » (Google translation)

He insists on his passion for Wuthering Heights in Metro:

Quels classiques vous inspirent ?
Mes deux romans cultes sont "Belle du Seigneur" d'Albert Cohen ainsi que "Les hauts de hurlevent" d'Emily Brontë. (Google translation)

Les Echos reviews Sam Savage's Firmin:

La première fois qu'il sortira avec sa mère et ses frères et soeurs (douze crétins incultes) et qu'il goûtera une feuille de laitue, il aura cette réflexion profonde : « Elle a le goût de Jane Eyre. » « Firmin », sous-titré « Autobiographie d'un grignoteur de livres », est le roman singulier d'un écrivain philosophe excentrique, Sam Savage - devenu, grâce au bouche-à-oreille, un best-seller outre-Atlantique. (Philippe Chevilley) (Google translation)

The Globe and Mail talks with Margaret Trudeau who seems a little bit confused about who lived at Thornfield Hall's attic:

And after the Trudeaus' 1977 separation, she “lived in the attic at 24 Sussex and at Stornoway, like Jane Eyre,” for two to three years before buying her own house. (Sarah Hampson)

Briefer news: an impersonation of Emily Brontë in a flowing, blue dress in The Burlington Hawk Eye. Sufi mystics and Wuthering Heights in the Denver Examiner. The Australian celebrates that Penguin mugs (including Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights) are finally available in Australia. The Bethel College (Indiana) announces a production of Gordon & Caird's Jane Eyre: The Musical scheduled for February 2010. Bella Online remembers how Vivien Leigh was offered the role of Isabella in Wuthering Heights 1939 and how she turned it down for Gone With the Wind. Finally, Le Journal de Dimanche (in French) links together once again Wuthering Heights and the Twilight saga.

On the blogosphere: WORD for Teens posts about Jane Eyre, The Trials and Tribulations of a Misplaced Misfit is impressed with Toby Stephens's Rochester in Jane Eyre 2006 and extra posts about the differences between Jane Eyre and Bella Swan. On YouTube we find an animated version of the poem Spellbound by Emily Bronte created by students at New Rickstones Academy.

Categories: Brontëites, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, References, Theatre, Wide SargassoSea, Wuthering Heights