Sequels, prequels... are discussed in
The Independent. And Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea both as milestone and pioneer is mentioned:
The benefits of playing off classic novels became clear as long ago as 1966, when Jean Rhys emerged from decades of obscurity and into public prominence when Wide Sargasso Sea, her prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, became an award-winning triumph. And, as Rhys showed, by basing her novel around the "mad woman in the attic" from Jane Eyre, the central character of a new piece doesn't necessarily have to have been the lead in the original. (Paul Bignell and Andrew Johnson)
The novel is also quoted in an article by the author
Githa Hariharan in
The Telegraph (Calcutta):
Jean Rhys in Wide Sargasso Sea created a prequel and corrective to Jane Eyre from the point of view of the ‘underdog’, Mrs Rochester. Wide Sargasso Sea completes our picture of the Rochesters by taking us to another world altogether, to another, equally valid and important, point of view. In a sense, this is what I try to do with the Scheherazade myth. I take something apparently ‘dated’ and remote from our present-day lives and connect it to the contemporary world through fictional narrative. There is a resemblance between Mrs Rochester, Antoinette, in Rhys’s novel and Dunyazad in When Dreams Travel in the sense that both women are more or less silent in the original work in which they make their appearance. Their bodies are there, but not their voices or their stories. But I do not really see Dunyazad as an underdog figure in the Arabian Nights story, nor do I see When Dreams Travel as an updating of or ‘corrective’ to the Arabian Nights.
The Independent (Ireland) finds paralells between the case of
Edward Erin and some Brontë/Austen characters:
We cite literary characters like Heathcliff, Mr Rochester and Darcy as archetypes of male heroism, when in reality they are nothing of the sort. Heathcliff was a violent psychopath who treated every woman he came in contact with despicably. Mr Rochester dragged his young wife miles from her home and imprisoned her in an attic; he then pretended she didn't exist until he was unmasked at the altar trying to marry again. Darcy was an insufferable, narcissistic snob who believed he could get away with anti-social behaviour because of his wealth and status.
The women are no better. Catherine Earnshaw seems only faintly concerned at Heathcliff's horrific treatment of her sister-in-law, Isabella. Jane Eyre never stops to wonder if a man who locks his wife in an attic is really such a good catch. Elizabeth Bennett quite blatantly marries her Mr Darcy for his money. (Carol Hunt)
The Mirror describes
True Blood like this:
Set in a world where vampires have ‘come out of the coffin’ and live freely with humans, True Blood is a mix of some of the hottest sex scenes on TV as well as a passionate love story to rival Kathy (sic!) and Heathcliff. Or even Bella and Edward, if we’re talking vamp/human affairs…
Marcia Zaaijer reviews for the
Brussels Brontë Blog the Toneelgroep Dorst's production of
De Brontë Sisters:
(...) Personally I think it is a pity, that their father Patrick is portrayed as an eccentric and not very child-loving father, almost like Mrs. Gaskell did one-and-a-half century ago. But somebody who has just come to see this play because Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights made good television not so long ago, has no problems at all with this and can look freely to an fascinating story told by good actors, performing beautifully dressed in sober surroundings. (...)
The readers of
The Guardian suggest the
Keighley and Worth Railway as a worthwhile trip; buying Wuthering Heights in a Public Library sale in the
Galesburg Register-Mail; a Charlotte Brontë quote opening an article in
The Phoenix; we have an Australian blogger (
another something) posting about Wuthering Heights 2009 (which is being broadcast this Sunday and the following one);
Sallan lukupäiväkirja posts in Finnish about the
Classical Comics's adaptation of Jane Eyre;
Inhaler of Books reviews Wuthering Heights;
Fiction Fanatic uploads a poem inspired by Wuthering Heights;
The Republic of Rumi posts his very personal interpretation of Jane Eyre (in the antipodes of the postcolonialists) and
Capitol Cougar complements the discussion with a (quite) different view;
Love and friendship posts several Jane Eyre 2006 icons and
Wizardscar (members of
Siriusly Hazza P) have visited Haworth and the Parsonage.
Starlets Past & Present posts about some of the young Jane Eyres on film and TV.
Finally,
Notes from a Subway Journal posts a quite interesting review of Charlotte Brontë's
Unfinished Novels 1993 edition which included among others
Emma,
Ashworth or
The Story of Willie Ellin.
Categories: Charlotte Brontë, Comics, Haworth, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Theatre, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights
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