The genius and resilience of Charlotte, Emily and Anne

Erica Wagner is a sure-value Brontëite. In The Times she manages to link the new Cameron-Clegg cabinet, the recent Brontë Power Dolls video and gender-oriented reading:

Perhaps what the new Home Secretary needs is a Power Doll of her own.
The Brontë sisters have them, after all, as you’d know if you’ve seen the truly excellent little “commercial” made — some years ago now but never screened — by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs fame). Yes, it’s true that recently in the pages of this newspaper I was to be found casting doubt on Wuthering Heights’ claims to greatness (I’ll take Jane Eyre over WH any day), but for all my dislike of that particular novel I can’t cast any doubt on the genius and resilience of Charlotte, Emily and Anne.
The little film is very funny, but there is a serious point behind it: the sisters, you’ll recall, initially disguised their identities — as Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Currer, Ellis and Acton: blokes’ names in the 19th century, though fashionably androgynous now, I’d say. And how much, precisely, has changed? J. K.Rowling, M. J. Hyland, A. L. Kennedy. But what about M. L. Amis or P. M. Roth? No, I didn’t think so. It remains true that women read books by both men and women; men are less likely to read books by women.

Michael Moorcocks tells about a visit to Texas in the Financial Times which includes Austin (Texas) and its Brontë treasures:

Another of Austin’s treasures is the huge collection of modernist manuscripts, visual art and rare books kept at the University of Texas’s Harry Ransom Center. This is largely the work of the literary scholar Tom Staley, who used the university’s wealth to put together an unrivalled resource. They have Charlotte Brontë’s earliest notebooks written in a tiny but decipherable hand[.]

Flavorwire echoes yesterday's USA Today article about the upcoming cinema Brontë-mania:

In these weird economic times, it seems only natural that we’d identify more with governesses and orphans than ladies of leisure. Suddenly, who’s contriving for who to marry whom can seem like an awfully small concern (although we suppose that hasn’t stopped the Sex and the City hype). If we’re going to indulge in romance stories, perhaps we’re looking for something more consuming and even twisted, with higher stakes, dramatic breakdowns, burning houses, and weddings that double as hostage situations. And that’s exactly what the Brontës bring to the table.
Let’s also not forget that Wuthering Heights is a Twilight favorite, the book Edward and Bella obsess over. In fact, the series has Emily’s book sales skyrocketing, perhaps aided by a new cover clearly designed to cash in on vampire chic. As Meyer realized, the appeal of the Brontë novels is very similar to that of the vamp-craze films and books (not to mention they’re about as chaste as Twilight). They’re all about romance that manifests as pain, men who, despite their love may be too monstrous to tame, and the women who can’t help but be devoted to them. We have been critical of vampire mania in the past, and it still creeps us out a bit. But if it’s helped to bring Heathcliff and Jane and Lucy and Rochester back into the popular imagination, it can’t be all bad. (Judy Berman)

The Delaware News Journal reviews the latest concert of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra which included Igor Stravinsky's 1943 piece Ode (more information about its Jane Eyre associations on this previous post):

The curtain-raiser was Stravinsky’s ten-minute Ode, commissioned in 1943 to mark the death of Tanglewood Festival founder Serge Koussevitzky’s wife Natalie.
Although the tenor of the piece is austere, the central Eclogue is enlivened by hunting music the composer had recycled from his abortive score for the film Jane Eyre. The oddly tentative brass playing marked a piquant contrast with the more flowing, pastoral music for strings in a performance that emphasized the enigmatic character of the music. (Thomas Leitch)

Another musical piece with Brontë references is Benjamin Britten's cantata The Company of Heaven (more information on this old post). The Pforzheim Zeitung reviews a performance in Pforzheim, Germany:

Klangschön gelingen dem Chor hingegen die Akkordrückungen im nur von der Orgel (Christian Scheel) begleiteten „Elisha“ oder das klangschön und mit tänzerischer Leichtigkeit auch von Tenor Rüdiger Linn interpretierte „A thousand, thousand gleaming fires“ nach einem Gedicht von Emilie Brontë. Abwechselnd gelesen von Sprecher Gerhard Mohr (mit gut verständlichem Englisch) und teils als Übersetzung von Kirsten Drope (mit klar strahlendem Sopran) und Rüdiger Linn unterstrichen die vielfältigen, von Richard Ellis Roberts zusammengestellten Texte die Intention der Musik Brittens. (Google translation)

Lorna Jones writes about her love for The Guardian in, well, her favourite newspaper:

I just did a four-month tour in Europe playing the maid in Jane Eyre. I always play lowly characters. I think it's because of my northern accent. I'm not very good at high status. In the past year, I've played a prostitute, a tavern waitress, a servant, the lot.

She was touring with the DreamPark company playing Mrs Fairfax.

The Irish Times recommends a visit to Haworth a couple visiting Yorkshire:

Haworth is famous for its link with Emily, Charlotte and Anne Brontë, who wrote most of their novels at Haworth Parsonage – now a museum owned by the Brontë Society.

Jonathan Glancey presents as follows a series of articles (in The Guardian) following in the footsteps of architectural critic Ian Nairn:

'To describe a church as an orgasm is bound to offend someone." Well, yes; Kenneth Ross, the incumbent of All Saints, Margaret Street, at the time might well have turned puce at the thought. "Yet," continued Ian Nairn, writing in the mid-1960s of William Butterfield's intense Gothic Revival church built a century earlier, "this building can only be understood in terms of compelling passion. Here is the force of Wuthering Heights translated into dusky red and black bricks, put down in a mundane Marylebone street to rivet you, pluck you into the courtyard with its hard welcoming wings and quivering steeple."

The Winnipeg Free Press reviews Martin Amis's The Pregnant Widow:

And throughout the novel, English student Keith is reading Austen, the Brontës, Lawrence and other authors and discussing how they've handled sex and love. (Bob Armstrong)

Another review with a Brontë twist. The Toronto Star reviews the TV film The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister:

The female leads are both physically attractive and psychologically complex, especially Maxine Peak as the title character, a real-life 19th century landowner and proto-lesbian who defied layer upon layer of social convention — bitchy neighbours, misogynist competitors, intrusive relatives — to live openly with a “female companion.” It’s a stormy, forceful and passionate tale. Kind of like the Brontës by way of a postgrad seminar in gender identity. (Brent Ledger)

Gay.it (Italy) also comments on this film:

Janice Hadlow, direttrice della BBC2, ne parla in questi termini: «Il film è ambientato nello stesso mondo raccontatoci dai romanzi delle sorelle Brontë ma qui la storia è del tutto differente, e ci fa capire come l'amore e la vita nello Yorkshire del 19mo secolo fossero assai più ricchi, vari e stupefacenti di quanto abbiamo letto in quei romanzi». (Roberto Schinardi) (Google translation)

The Minot Daily News brings attention to a new meeting of the Dakota Discussions series in Velva:

Velva "Dakota Discussions": 2 p.m., Velva School and Public Library. This program will be a film discussion of "Jane Eyre." The program is sponsored by the Velva School and Public Library and the North Dakota Humanities Council. Call 338-2022 or send e-mail to Iris.Swedlund@sendit.nodak.edu for more information.

The press release of the exhibition Entre glace et neige. Processi ed energie della natura (May 14-October 26 in the Centro Saint Benin, Aosta, Italy) contains a curious Wuthering Heights reference:

La neve fa perdere ogni punto di riferimento. Nel romanzo di Emily Bronte Cime Tempestose (1847) il signor Lockwood, affittuario di Thrushcross Grange (la bella villa dei Linton caduta anch’essa nelle mani di Heatcliff), torna a casa dopo una tempesta di neve (e una tempestosa notte passata nella fosca dimora di Heatcliff), in una giornata in cui l’aria è “limpida, calma e fredda come ghiaccio impalpabile”, e trova un paesaggio mutato: “…il fianco della collina era tutto un oceano bianco e ondoso, in cui le creste e gli strapiombi non corrispondevano affatto ai rialzi e avallamenti del terreno: o perlomeno molte buche si erano riempite fino a livellarsi, e intere file di cumuli di detriti delle cave erano state cancellate dalla mappa che la mia escursione del giorno prima mi aveva lasciato impressa in mente”. La neve trasforma la mappatura del territorio, la geografia mentale. (Laura Cherubini) (Google translation)

Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland) interviews professor Ewa Kraskowska about Jane Austen's persisting influence. A bit of Brontë too:

Dziś, na fali feminizmu i nowego, genderowego odczytywania literatury dawnej, jej książki zyskały nowy kontekst?
- Na pewno. Zresztą okazało się, że angielska twórczość kobiet z tamtego czasu to nie tylko Austen i trochę późniejsze od niej siostry Brontë czy George Eliot. Jest więcej autorek, które nie pojawiały się dotąd w kanonie literackim, ale zostały odkryte na nowo i okazały się interesujące.
Na przykład?
- Elizabeth Gaskell, znana głównie jako biografka Charlotte Brontë. Pisała m.in. o kobietach z nizin społecznych, o robotnicach z manufaktur. Albo trzecia z sióstr Brontë - Ann, która do tej pory była niemal kompletnie poza Anglią nieznana. Właśnie powstaje pierwszy przekład jej powieści na polski. (Magdalena Żakowska) (Google translation)

Marietta Chudakova (Чудакова Мариетта) talks about books for teenagers in Неделя:

н: На тему детского чтения вы написали книгу "Не для взрослых. Время читать. Полка первая". Будет ли у нее продолжение? Вообще, что читать подросткам - тем, кому 12-13? Когда Толкиен и "Гарри Поттер" уже прочитаны, а Сэлинджера оценить пока трудно.
чудакова: Печатаю по-прежнему в замечательном журнале "Семья и школа" статьи этого рода. "Полка первая", о которой вы говорите, давно распродана, полгода как вышла "Полка вторая". Библиотекари детских и юношеских библиотек очень просят продолжать. Наверное, буду готовить "Полку третью". Времени не хватает; мне стала немного помогать в этом деле дочь - выпускница романо-германского отделения филфака МГУ Маша Чудакова. Написала, например, про "Джейн Эйр", которую я в свое время не прочитала, а теперь уже поезд ушел... (Ирина Мак) (Google translation)

Teenage diaries which happen to mention the Brontës ("At the moment I'm continuing to read Villette. I think I shall buy all the books written by the Brontës", Janine Orford, 16 in 2001) in The Guardian; O Audicious Book has read Justine Picardie's Daphne; Victoria Janssen is reading Jane Eyre and Violet Gallaher reviews its Jane Eyre 1996 adaptation (in German).

Categories: Books, Haworth, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, References, Talks, Wuthering Heights