The part with the person in the attic

IESB publishes an interview with the producers, director and screenwriter of Shutter Island:

Laeta Kalogridis (screenwriter): Uh, personal fascination with 19^th century novels. So yes, much of what I responded to was you know, ironically was the Bronte sort of aspects of the-the gothic quality to the story telling. Although also I would say, so I think I was responding to the source material, I don't think I was, uh, I don't think I was reading into or bringing anything in particular. But ironically, although I could see all of the elements of the sort of McCarthyism that were being alluded to, for me personally, uh, so much of what spoke to me in the story were what you might consider to be a traditional gothic novel elements from that period about madness, about the wages of sin. You know very "Wuthering Heights" kind of stuff.

Also IESB posts the entire transcript of the accompanying press conference, given by Martin Scorsese, Ben Kingsley and Leonardo DiCaprio. Martin Scorsese mentions I Walked with a Zombie:

... this has a lot to do with-the pictorial, certainly the pictorialism or Tourneur, and uh, the one-I mean "I Walked With A Zombie" is really "Jane Eyre" in the Indies, we all know, was a terrible title.

The New Haven Advocate reviews the Yale Cabaret production of Wuthering Heights.

Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights is classic fiction, one of the few British novels that is Romantic both in conception and execution. This makes it a favorite of those who can't get enough of tragic lovers, fated to be not only obsessively involved with one another, but also to be endless antagonists of one another. Love is hell; you always kill the thing you love, etc.
The story has been filmed several times, sometimes with the third-generation [sic] stories, sometimes not. The fulfillment of the story, as Brontë presents it, has to do with the intermarriage of two families, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, so that the future hinges upon the betrothal of two cousins. But what is most readily identified with the name "Wuthering Heights," thanks in part to the 1939 Hollywood film, is the story of Cathy Earnshaw and Heathcliff, an orphan boy adopted by Cathy's father, and their love, as passionate as those turbulent (or "wuthering") skies over the moors where the story is set.
Adapting this sprawling multi-generational tale of two houses in a picturesque setting as a three-person drama for the Yale Cabaret is no mean feat, and Elizabeth Barrett Groth (even her name has the ring of Victorian literature!), who wrote the adaptation, stars as Cathy, and co-directed with Brad Tuggle, clearly is driven by a vision of the romance between Cathy and Heathcliff (Sam Lasman).
Groth's adaptation gives us only the high points, as more or less a two-act drama of thwarted love. We see the first meeting between Cathy and Heathcliff, both about 6; we see the burgeoning infatuation; we see Cathy's decision to accept the marriage proposal of her rich and sophisticated neighbor Edgar Linton (never seen); we see Heathcliff's rage and despair, and we see his return, rich and more sophisticated, if incessantly surly. The denouement that involves that mainstay of Victorian fiction, death during childbirth, and concludes with a Gothic love from beyond the grave.
Such amorous antagonists must have a witness, and that was ably provided by Shannon Sullivan as Nelly, the Earnshaws' housekeeper, a very necessary character to fill us in on the backstory, but also for giving backtalk to the very headstrong couple, each confiding in her at different times. Sullivan was almost always present somewhere and was wonderful at busying herself, in character, as if enacting the pondering, shocked, loving memory in which the drama plays out. She was our "everywoman," trying to cope with the couple as rascally children, as self-involved teens and as suffering adults.
In one particularly effective scene between Cathy and Nelly, the latter berated the girl for her ideas on why accepting Edgar was appropriate. Groth's back-and-forth dialogue gave Cathy her comeuppance, but also showed that Nelly knew how much was at stake, frightened at Cathy's wild declaration: "I am Heathcliff."
For the play to work, we have to believe in what Cathy feels. Groth, as Cathy, gave us a character self-involved with her own emotions to the point of blindness to others. What pleased me most about this production was that it registered how insufferable Cathy can be, while also making it clear how much she suffers from her obsession. Heathcliff can't be hers because he already is her, so to speak. But he can't be anyone else's either.
And yet, surprisingly, she seems not to intuit — being Heathcliff and all — that he might feel the same about her plan to marry Linton (for whom and whose family, Heathcliff, in a well-played and amusing monologue to Nelly, expresses complete contempt).
Groth was very much the Romantic heroine, with raven tresses and heaving bosom, and Lasman was suitably disheveled in a Byronic way, able to call up a chilling "I am in Hell" voice for the later stages of Heathcliff's drama. Particularly memorable was the haunting by Cathy's ghost, literally outside the window on an intemperate night. (Donald Brown)

And coincidentally, the Yale Daily News mentions Jane Eyre in passing:

This semester, I vowed to do all of the things I planned to do before Yale happened — before classes, rehearsals and papers clouded my vision and looming deadlines screamed: You should use that time to read instead! “Jane Eyre” is a mighty long book, and you haven’t even gotten to the part with the person in the attic! (Kristen Ng)

Hamptons features Sheila Kohler, author of Becoming Jane Eyre, and reports her recent event at Canio's Books.

Last Saturday novelist and short story writer Sheila Kohler read from her latest novel "Becoming Jane Eyre" and fielded questions from the SRO audience in Sag Harbor. [...]
Turning the conversation back to the evening's reading at Canio's, I asked Kohler to describe her latest book, "It is based on the life of the Brontes. What I was really interested in was how Charlotte Bronte came to write 'Jane Eyre.'" Her first book 'The Professor' was really a bit of a flop and she hadn't been able to sell it and then she wrote this book ['Jane Eyre'] which was overnight a best seller. So I was interested in how that came about."
After being introduced by Canio's co-owner Kathryn Szoka, Kohler shared some background regarding the writing of her historical novel and read from the chapter wherein Bronte hesitantly reveals to her father the existence and success of "Jane Eyre." The reading had moments that were both touching and funny and the audience responded in kind. Kohler's gift of literary imagery facilitates the spoken word rendering of her work, admitting to me earlier in our conversation, "I always write very visually, I see it. I think some people work more through language, but I really work through like a screen, what I see. When I am writing, I need to see it."
Inquiring further about Kohler's creative process, I asked if she worked from an outline, "Not at all, I just sit down and write. Then, of course, it is all in the revision. No, I think it would be dull if you knew the whole thing ahead of time. I think you need to surprise yourself on the page."
What is no surprise, however, is that once again Kohler has brought yet another beautifully crafted story to the page. "Becoming Jane Eyre" is a brilliant and touching, albeit fictionalized, look into the artistic process and emotional profile of the world's most profound and tragic literary sisterhood in general and the specific creative journey of Charlotte in particular. It is an endearing back story to one of literature's most endearing and timeless novels, "Jane Eyre." (Douglas Harrington)

Charlotte Higgins wonders in the Guardian, 'what is the best British novel since the war?' And a couple of comments (this and this) point to Wide Sargasso Sea.

The Guardian also posted Tiffany Murray's top 10 rock'n'roll novels recently and The Day comments on the fact that Wuthering Heights made it onto the list.

... and, yes, that is Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights listed at number 5. (Murray compares Heathcliff to Jack White. Yes, that's sort of ridiculous, although just the other day I was comparing Heathcliff to Ted Nugent, Dr. Zhivago to Lou Barlow, and Nagel, the hero in Knut Hamsun’s Mysteries, to both Loggins and Messina. (Rick Koster)

Voxy suggests a Valentine's Day trip to the current exhibition at the Auckland Museum: Wonderland: The Magic of the Rose.

In Wonderland listen to rose-infused romantic poems by Emily Bronte, George Elliot and Robbie Burns. Through art, artefacts, jewellery and treasured objects, explore the romantic significance of roses. Discover stories and legends of the flower, from the Greek goddess Aphrodite, to the tale of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. And there's so much more!

Finally, Erblons posts about Wuthering Heights in Spanish and The Ancient Pelican comments briefly on Wuthering Heights 1939.

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Books, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights