Blanche is nice and innocent

Imogen Poots talks about her Blanche Ingram role in Jane Eyre 2011 in The Independent:

Her English-rose looks will be used to good effect in a new film adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic novel, Jane Eyre, which she is currently shooting with American director Cary Fukunaga. The actress plays Blanche Ingram, a socialite with whom Mr Rochester flirts to make Jane jealous. While in the novel the character is an unsympathetic gold-digger, it seems that Blanche has been given a make-over for the unnaturally nice Poots. "Blanche is genuinely flabbergasted that Rochester doesn't want to marry her. She is nice, and innocent." (Rachel Shields)

Also in The Independent a new (and good, four out of five stars) review of Jude Morgan's The Taste of Sorrow (published in the US as Charlotte and Emily: A Novel about the Brontës):

It isn't easy to reconstruct the lives of those whom so many of us think we know, but Morgan's method is to range through the present-tense thoughts of her various characters, making them not only dance for us, but think, too.
The Taste of Sorrow begins with the death of the Brontës' mother; moves swiftly on to the deaths of the elder sisters Maria and Elizabeth, brought on by the harsh regime at their school (as depicted in Jane Eyre); and then on to the demands the world places on the remaining family.
There are no surprises in Morgan's characterisations (Emily is masculine and idiosyncratic, Charlotte responsible and worried, Anne overlooked but steely, while Branwell is fatally overindulged) nor in the characters' fates, but we can immerse ourselves all too happily in this highly believable version of their lives. (Lesley McDowell)

The Telegraph describes some new book editions including Capuchin Classics's Wuthering Heights:

A new edition of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, published by Capuchin Classics, features a line drawing of Catherine and Heathcliff on the cover. The artist, however, clearly found her inspiration for Heathcliff in the brooding looks of another bluff Yorkshireman whose love life is equally famous: Ted Hughes. (Mark Sanderson)

On the Coronation Street Blog we read more about Mary and Norris's stay at Brontë country:

Hot and Bothered: Fri Apr 30, 2010

Norris tells her he didn’t come to beautiful Bronte Country to do competitions! (...)
[Mary] suggests cuddling up by the fire with a nice competition entry instead. They go inside and read up on the Bronte classics and Norris tries to get the grill to work. Mary finds it unsettling that there’s probably not a soul around for miles and says she thought she found something in the showers. Norris jokes that perhaps it was Heathcliff and Cathy out for their evening constitutional.

If the producers of Coronation Street are looking for more imaginative ways of 'quoting' from Wuthering Heights, they may find inspiration in this news item from the Attleboro Sun Chronicle:

No mere scholar, [Melanie] Thibeault also admits to a whimsical side, having once entertained members of her calculus class by rapping a summary of "Wuthering Heights" to the beat of "Fergielicious." (Rick Foster)

Another series with a Wuthering Heights reference is The Mentalist, on episode Blood Money (Season 2. Episode 19). On TV Overmind:

Lisbon puts Cho and Jane on a stakeout, where Cho settles in with a good book–Wuthering Heights. (ValerieDavid)

We have to add that Jane asks Cho to explain to him how it ends. EDIT: And thanks to reader Jessica we have what Cho answers: "Not well".

The Zimbabwe Standard reviews Bryony Rheam’s This September Sun finding echoes from Emily Brontë's novel... although he has some trouble remembering the right sister:

It is a past mired in cuckolding her husband Leonard through her relationship with her lover with whom she has an affair reminiscent of Heathcliffe (sic) and Catherine’s in Charlotte Bronte’s [!!!] Wuthering Heights. (Francis Mugana)

Robert Bernstein, producer of Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights, joins other producers in asking the next UK government not to cut the tax benefits available to the British film industry, in The Telegraph.

The Brussels Brontë Blog summarises Professors Angus Easson and Sandro Jung's talks at their recent Brontë weekend:

On the bicentenary of Gaskell’s birth, editor of the Oxford Classics edition of the Life, Professor Angus Easson spoke to the Brussels Brontë Group about the role of the Group’s home town in Gaskell’s research, and the problems caused by reporting on the Brussels years. (...)
Speaking to the Brussels Group later the same day Professor Sandro Jung considered Villette and investigations of a different sort. His talk on ‘Curiosity in Villette’ described Lucy Snow as “an emotionally motivated detective”, using curiosity to understand the world. In contrast, Madame Beck is a “cold, spying, curious female” with no emotional attachment to what she sees. (Emily Waterfield)

And Selina Busch has written a complete report (with several pictures) of the Brontë weekend activities in this other post:

There are always good reasons to return to Brussels and one reason, which could also be used as the theme of this weekend, is curiosity.
Curiosity led Mrs. Gaskell to Brussels to do research for her biography on Charlotte Brontë, a story that would be unravelled during one lecture this weekend and curiosity, or observation, was a theme of another lecture on Villette. (Read more)

::I'll Follow the Sun:: recommends Espido Freire's book Querida Jane, Querida Charlotte (in Spanish); mretonboy uploads to YouTube a video with pictures of a Christmas trip to Haworth.
Two samples of Brontë-related creativity on the blogosphere: The Squeee presents her very own draft of a modern-day take on Jane Eyre: Country Roads; Life in Rhyme posts a cento poem based on lines of Emily Brontë's poetry.

Finally, Sarah Walden has written to us to share this extraordinary reconstruction of the Pillar Portrait with our readers. Click on the picture to enlarge it:

I have recently completed a digital reconstruction of the Pillar Portrait and thought people might like to see my efforts. I did one 5 years ago or more, but it was based on sketches. I believe it was discussed briefly here and on the yahoo group. This is something more. This is actually pulled layer by layer from the pillar itself. I did notice after 75% of the work was done, how similar it was to Branwell's face in the Gun Group. I hope you enjoy it and please let me know if there is any questions you have about the process I used!

Categories: Books, Brontëana, Brussels, Jane Eyre, References, Talks, Wuthering Heights