Jane Eyre and spring cleaning

The Brooklyn Rail talks about book jackets and their importance. The recent Coralie Bickford-Smith's designs for Penguin are recalled:

Penguin classics like The Picture of Dorian Gray and Wuthering Heights have been re-issued as stamped hardcovers designed by senior designer Coralie Bickford-Smith who studied typography at the University of Reading, and Paul Buckley, the artistic director of Viking, spearheaded a paperback redesigning of the contemporary penguin classics that have been illustrated by renowned graphic artists. Not only is the jacketless book practical, but “Being distinctive and unusual makes a book more of an object and ultimately more desirable,” Paul Buckley said. (Victoria Marini)

The same magazine interviews the painter Mark Greenwold:

For good or for bad, Balthus was always the hero of a lot of figurative painters, but I think it was mostly for bad because the Balthus’s that I love most are the little drawings he did for
Wuthering Heights—those are wonderful those little pen drawings. (John Yau)

Library Journal recommends Sherri Browning Erwin's Jane Slayre:

Similar to Sharon Shinn’s Jenna Starborn Erwin’s gripping revision of a well-loved classic is enthusiastically recommended for all. (Jessica Roy & Heather McCormack)

The Huffington Post collects some quotes about Spring Cleaning:

There are moments in great literature, like in "Jane Eyre" when she goes to live with St. John --

"My first will be to clean down (do you comprehend the full force of the expression?) -- to clean down Moor House from chamber to cellar; my next to rub it up with beeswax, oil, and an indefinite number of cloths, till it glitters again; my third, to arrange every chair, table, bed, carpet, with mathematical precision: afterwards I shall go to near ruin you in coals and peat to keep up good fires in every room; and lastly, the two days preceding that on which your sisters are expected, will be devoted by Hannah and me to such a beating of eggs, sorting of currants, grating of spices, compounding of Christmas cakes, chopping up of materials for mince-pies, and solemnizing of other culinary rites, as words can convey but an inadequate notion of to the uninitiated like you." (Jessie Kunhardt and Amy Hertz)

The New York Times reviews Rat by Fernanda Eberstadt:

She and her friend Jérome, like Cathy and Heathcliff, clamber up to their “fort” on the cliffs and peer down at the bejeweled revelers at a local beachside restaurant. (Catleen Medwick)

Contemporary British classical composers are described like this by the Chicago Sun-Times:

Most English composers have rejected ideas of form, and often, brevity, going more for episodic and long unwinding storytelling along the lines of a Bronte novel. (Andrew Partner)

The Financial Times devotes an article to Hardy country and mentions Brontë country in passing:

Explore the rugged moorland landscape of the Pennines in West Yorkshire and east Lancashire that inspired the Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Particular areas of interest are Top Withens, the supposed location for Wuthering Heights, and the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, where the sisters grew up. (Tom de Castella)

On the blogosphere, Kigatsuku has visited Haworth; Breathe In Breathe Out has just read Wuthering Heights; two new blogs contribute to Brontë-Along: {A Few Good Things} and Sonnet of the Moon. Finally Teri Chung uploads two illustrations by herself of Jane Eyre and Blanche Ingram.

EDIT: El Correo Vasco (Spain) talks about the upcoming opening of the cultural center AlhóndigaBilbao in Bilbao. The promotional campaign uses the Brontës:

'Quiero despertarme', 'Quiero mover el cuerpo', 'Niretzat denbora behar dut' o 'Quiero conocer a las hermanas Brönte' (sic) son algunas de las frases que acompañarán a las fotografías durante todo abril en la iniciativa puesta en marcha por La Alhóndiga. «Se trata de una campaña que busca las sensaciones y la llamada de atención sobre aquellas necesidades a las que nos gustaría dar respuesta», añadió [Marián] Egaña. (Jon Mayora) (Google translation)

La Repubblica (Italy) reviews Sette piccoli sospetti by Christian Frascella which contains a Wuthering Heights reference:

I sette amici si preparano: comprano armi finte per corrispondenza, si giocano in una gara di maratona l'ingrato compito di sedurre la più brutta ragazzina del paese, ("la Chiattona" la bollano, impietosi, i sette della banda), cameriera nel bar paterno, grassa e scarmigliata, ma che ha l'anima per leggere addirittura l'Emily Bronte di
Cime Tempestose. (Silvana Mazzochi) (Google translation)

Il Messaggero (Italy) includes among the romantic (no capital R) novels Jane Eyre and other classics:

E infatti tanti classici vengono spesso inclusi nella categoria, come nobilissimi antenati: la Pamela di Richardson, la Jane Eyre della Brontë, e tutta Jane Austen ovviamente. (Pietro Piovani) (Google translation)

Obviously?

Il était une fois le cinéma (France) reviews J.L. Mankiewicz's first film as director: Dragonwyck 1946:

Commencé à la manière de Jane Eyre, Le Château du dragon s’achève en tragédie. (Mickaël Pierson) (Google translation)

Le Monde talks about the writer Pierre Guyotat:

Il était, dit-il, "dans l'inexistence ", mais aussi "dans l'hébétude" : contemplation éblouie d'un paysage, relecture infinie du même poème qu'il recopie sur du papier Canson cousu artisanalement, de l'écoute répétitive de la même musique. Avec une volonté poétique irrépressible, où se mélangent Les Hauts de Hurlevent, Schumann, Fra Angelico, Jean-Paul Richter. (René de Ceccatty) (Google translation)

Finally the Ukrainian Комсомольская правда interviews the singer Сафура (Safura) who likes Jane Eyre:

Любимая книга?
- «Сумерки». «Гарри Поттера» читала в детстве. «Джейн Эйр» читала. Но я больше фильмы люблю смотреть. (Google translation)

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Books, Haworth, Jane Eyre, Sequels, Wuthering Heights