Jane Eyre’s Heathcliff [sic!]

Before we move on to our daily newsround, we would like to publish a brief reminder that Charlotte Brontë - looking like a 'snowdrop' - married Arthur Bell Nicholls on a day like today in 1854, that is 155 years ago.

The Times reviews Flirting With Finance: The Modern Woman’s Guide To Financial Freedom, 'written by Anneli Knight, a freelance journalist, and Virginia Graham, a qualified financial planner and former model'. The reviewer spots one big mistake:

But these analogies gradually become stretched and overly literal, with biotech shares being compared to the guy who “wears a lab coat and protective eyewear during business hours”, telecoms shares to men who are “always on the phone, the internet” and the enterprise collapses entirely when the authors compare art and other collectable investments to “ahh, the dreamy, mysterious artist. The dark horse. Jane Eyre’s Heathcliff.” There’s a book called Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Brontë. There’s also a book called Wuthering Heights written by Emily Brontë. The latter, when I last read it, featured a character called Heathcliff. But, if memory serves, Jane Eyre and Heathcliff have never featured in the same major literary work. [...]
But the Heathcliff/Jane Eyre clanger is a symptom of a bigger intellectual problem with Flirting with Finance: ultimately, romance and investment are completely dissimilar. And to compare them (to make another comparison) is like drawing an analogy between Michael Jackson’s discography and the output of a Midlands sponge factory. (Sathnam Sanghera)

Fortunately, other people are capable of remembering who's in which book. The Mormon Times carries an article on Sister Ann M. Dibb:

One of her favorite examples of virtue is the character Jane Eyre, when she refuses to marry Mr. Rochester after she finds out his first wife is still alive. "It is because she is a virtuous woman" that she stays true to the laws of God, Sister Dibb said. (Christine Rappleye)

And it is one of our favourite examples of Jane Eyre's versatility and how it will be considered religious, not religious, Christian, unChristian, etc.

The Herald-Mail talks to Katie Wennick, a teenager who has 'won a $30,000 scholarship from romance writer Nora Roberts’ foundation'.

As a reader, Wennick said she likes many types of books, including classics such as “Jane Eyre” and “Oliver Twist.” (Andrew Schotz)

We wonder if due to that Nora Roberts will treat her to a night at her inn's Jane Eyre room.

Newsweek has published its mother of all the top-100 book lists: the meta-list. No Brontës in there (shame on you Mr. Newsweek) but Wide Sargasso Sea makes it to the 45.

On the blogosphere Tales of a Liberty Belle and Linda Loves Books! both write about Jane Eyre. Dovegreyreader interviews Lilian Pizzichini, Jean Rhys's biographer.

Categories: Books, Jane Eyre, Weirdo, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights