Monster lit and the Brontës

Bookslut takes a look at the ever-growing list of 'monster lit' and mentions the Brontës a couple of times:

Jane Austen was the queen of Monster Lit in 2009. While 2010 proves to move onto some other lady writers like Alcott, and rumors abound of Brontës and Eliot, Jane Austen is Monster Lit’s favorite whipping girl. [...]
Out of the Jane Austen monster novels, Jane Bites Back is perhaps the most original of them all. [...]In addition to Jane Austen as vampire, we also have Austen’s maker, Lord Byron (who is credited with founding the monster) and the Brontë family. (Selena Chambers)

We are afraid that Wuthering Bites and Jane Slayre are more than just rumours at this point.

Bookslut also reviews Brian Dillon's The Hypochondriacs/Tormented Hope:

Most of these people actually were getting violated, in some unfortunate ways, by the social and physical climate of their times. Charlotte Bronte wrote Robert Southey a letter about her desire to be a writer, and was basically told that nervous illness was a girl’s only role in the literary world. (Elizabeth Bachner)

Another book (or series) connected to the Brontës is of course Twilight. The Snapper discusses the film adaptations and says,

But Edward isn’t a good boyfriend. Telling someone, “You’re my only reason to stay alive, if that’s what I am,” as Edward does in “New Moon”, isn’t love; it’s dysfunctional. And outside of the time spent with Edward, Bella doesn’t do anything except go to school and read “romantic” novels like “Wuthering Heights.” Speaking of which, the relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff is probably the most dysfunctional in all of literature, but I digress. (Lyndsey Sturkey)

Speaking of Wuthering Heights, the Daily Mail has an article on Heathcliff... - er - no, we meant Gordon Brown. Again.

Will [political editor of GMTV, Gloria De Piero] charm the pants off them? Anyone with the brass neck to tell Brown he was like Emily Bronte's fictional weirdo Heathcliff is surely in with a chance. (Peter McKay)

Yes, she was the one to begin this never-ending Heathcliffgate.

And now for something quite funny. One of those mistakes, as seen in the Columbia Spectator:

While it is well known that the Brontë sisters both wrote under pen names in the 17th century to hide their identities, protect their reputations, and increase their chances of being published, it is surprising to many that our generation’s own beloved J.K. Rowling did the very same. Rowling used the initials “J.K.” instead of Joanne, her full first name. Although it is unclear whether this was her own doing or the creation of her publisher, Bloomsbury, it is evident that the reasoning behind it is no different than that of the Brontë sisters: a fear that men would not purchase her book knowing that it was written by a woman. (Vaidehi Joshi)

We find it hilarious that a sentence that contains a mistake by a difference of two centuries (!) starts with 'while it is well known that...'. Because it's not, actually.

Thankfully, there are people out there who know what they are writing about, just like the Brussels Brontë Blog, which reports a recent talk on Wuthering Heights by Nicholas Marsh, editor of Palgrave Macmillan's Analysing Texts series.

Finally, Que a Estante nos Caia emcima posts about Jane Eyre in Portuguese and Bookmunch discusses Jerome Charyn's The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson and quotes a reference to Jane Eyre.

Categories: Books, Jane Eyre, Talks, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights