Warhorses and just horses

The Mail on Sunday talks to screenwriter Andrew Davies and he brings up the following point concerning the current state of BBC adaptations:

Now he claims that the BBC only wants to make the best known classical works after it shelved his plans to adapt Anthony Trollope’s acclaimed political novels, The Pallisers.
‘I was also going to do Dickens’ Dombey and Son,’ he told the Radio Times. ‘But they’ve asked me to do David Copperfield instead.
‘I think, in terms of doing the classics, their position is somewhere near what ITV’s was ten years ago, which is: “ Yes, we’ll do them, but only if they’re big, popular warhorses.” So it is going downmarket, I guess.’ (Liz Thomas)

Which is an opinion shared by many. Fiona, one of the commenters to the article, says that, 'I'd like to take this chance to put a bid in for a production of 'Villette'.', with which we wholeheartedly agree and add that Agnes Grey or Shirley wouldn't make bad adaptations either. After all, as we have said many times, Cranford or North and South weren't 'big, popular warhorses' initially and they were very successful, weren't they? (And incidentally Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell would make quite a good series as well).

Another recurrent topic seems to be that women can't write masterpieces. The Huffington Post says that,

Random House recently published a new edition of the novel Frankenstein with a surprising change: Mary Shelley is no longer identified as the novel's sole author. Instead, the cover reads "Mary Shelley (with Percy Shelley)." (Victoria Rosner)

And here it is indeed, which reminds us unpleasantly of those theories that state that either Branwell Brontë penned Wuthering Heights or he helped Emily write it. However, the Huffington Post brings up another Brontë connection to this unfortunate topic:

Robert Southey, the poet laureate of England for thirty years, wrote to Charlotte Brontë in 1837 that "literature is not the business of a woman's life and it cannot be." Brontë published under the male pseudonym Currer Bell, retaining only her initials as a trace of her presence. (Victoria Rosner)

Actually, though, the Bell pseudonyms weren't just to hide the fact that they were women but to hide them generally.

Speakeasy, a Wall Street Journal blog, interviews John Irving:

John Irving on being a staple of every 11th grader’s AP English syllabus:
I feel badly, actually, that they’re forced to read me. Then again, I don’t think it’s the high school kids who are in trouble with literacy. I think it’s the adults. The percentage of adults in this country who read hardcover fiction is less than 1 percent. For some reason, when you look on planes, it’s women who are reading the novels. My son had to read “Jane Eyre” and he was disgusted –- “Jane Eyre” is an excellent novel! (Julie Steinberg)

Indeed it is!

An article from School Library Journal touches on the same subject bur from a more positive point of view:

Amy J. Chow, The Brearley School, New York City:
We are a K-12 girls’ independent school with approximately 700 students, located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Influenced by teachers, friends, and parents, students in grades 9 through 12 are simultaneously returning to the classics and exploring the world through adult narrative nonfiction. Many are (re)reading Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Sense and Sensibility, Animal Farm, and Northanger Abbey. (Marlene Charnizon)

We are also reassured by 9-year-old Shivani Angappan, winner of Macy's 4th annual Spelling Bee, who says that,

her favorite authors are classic female writers Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen.

She does say it on the clip from The Early Show.

Apparently Mr Rochester is no longer making it into 'lit-hotties' lists partly because - together with Mr Darcy and Gilbert Blythe, neither of whom make it into the list either - he was used as a basis for Twilight's Edward Cullen. At least that's what we gather from this article from the Sonoma State Star.

Over 150 years before any fangirls fell for Edward Cullen's overprotective, dramatic and even slightly controlling behavior, Jane Eyre found herself falling for Mr. Rochester for all the same reasons. [...]
In interviews, author Stephanie Meyer has even admitted that, in creating Edward, she drew heavily on Fitzwilliam Darcy ("Pride and Prejudice"), Gilbert Blythe ("Anne of Green Gables") and Edward Rochester ("Jane Eyre") for inspiration. [...]
The following fine men are all equally (and probably more) deserving, though this list is, by no means, exhaustive. (Rose McMackin)

It's the 'probably more' that kills us, see.

Heathcliff is not mentioned and neither is he included on the list but other news sites witness to his influence. Examiner reviews Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick and says,

Bad boy Patch is Heathcliff reborn as an immortal. (Cheryl Vanatti)

And Express Night Out reviews rock band AFI's new album Crash Love.

The album starts off on the right foot with opener "Torch Song," which launches right into Havok's pining unhappiness and the band's familiar call-and-response vocal style. As Havok laments, "I tear out of my eyes for you, my dear," the rest of the band chimes in, "Hate me," and the duality continues throughout the rest of the chorus, as Havok describes tearing out his soul and being "so enthralled I might die." It's very Heathcliff and Catherine with a dash of Edward and Bella. . . (Roxana Hadadi)

The Times Tribune has an article on Corbin High School’s theatrical production of Murder by the Book in Kentucky, which of course features Charlotte Brontë.

Also, the Irish Times has an article which mentions a horse - not a warhorse - named Jane Eyre.

As for blogs, Self-Styled Siren has a very interesting post on Devotion followed by very interesting comments. The Stohel Madhouse writes about Jane Eyre and Intuition Light posts a biography of Emily Brontë.

Categories: Books, Brontëites, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Theatre, Villette, Wuthering Heights