Dark Romance

The Edmonton Journal and See Magazine review the film Black Field:

[Danishka] Esterhazy attempts to transplant the gothic genre of the Brontë sisters to a desolate Canadian Prairie setting, and she succeeds most spectacularly in the look of the film. In collaboration with gifted cinematographer Paul Suderman and production designer Ricardo Alms, Esterhazy saturates the frame with striking images -- diffused, lantern-lit interiors and the gorgeous desolation of an early Prairie spring. (Randall King in EJ)

Inspired by the “dark romance” of the Brontë sisters — whose novels she calls “early feminist literature” — Esterhazy started writing the screenplay for Black Field in early 2008. So striking was her basic scenario that she found a producer with the first draft: Winnipeg thespian and acting teacher Jeff Skinner. (Kenton Smith in SM)

The Yorkshire Post interviews actor Brian Blessed who remembers the following anecdote:

"My mother never had any doubts acting was the right thing to do," he says. "But I think my father was a little worried. However, when he saw me appear as Bramwell (sic) Brontë, that changed everything. Afterwards, he turned to me and said he had found the death scene absolutely terrifying. He had never seen an audience sit in stunned silence before. He lived until he was 98 and his opinion was always important to me." (Sarah Freeman)

Wonder Wall interviews Charlaine Harris, writer and probable Brontëite.

Some of her favorite writers that may have influenced her: Edgar Allen Poe, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, Nigel Marsh, Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Robert Heinlein. (Zap2it)

Another Brontëite is singer and actress Kelly Clarkson who knows perfectly well what she would bring to a desert island

“I would take Hugh Jackman,” Kelly replied when asked what three things she would take with her to a desert island during an interview with British television show The Hot Desk. “I am sorry to his wife by the way – I guess I would also take a good book, one of my favourite books because you would be pretty bored right? Maybe I would take Jane Eyre. (MusicRooms)

Thanks to Wonkette, we have discovered that in Laura Bush's memoirs, Spoken from the Heart, the Brontës are actually mentioned:

You enjoyed living by yourself and with roommates in Houston and in Austin, where you occasionally poked around in the University of Texas library, “a treasure trove of rare manuscripts from Shakespeare’s First Folio to manuscripts by the Brontë sisters and John Keats and the page proofs from James Joyce’s Ulysses” (p. 91).

The Globe and Mail has an article about how reading books can help you in your social life:

Makes sense to Ms. Spafford, whose love of fiction began with The Cat in the Hat and graduated to an obsession with the Brontë sisters and, most recently, novels by African-American authors. (Hayley Mick)

More Jane Eyre podcasts are posted on Classic Literature Podcast; the Brontë Parsonage Blog publishes another opinion on the Scarborough car park in Anne Brontë's graveyard issue; Life, Love & Why has mixed feelings after reading Wuthering Heights; Provo City Library Staff Reviews posts about Romancing Miss Brontë.

Categories: Anne Brontë, Brontëites, Fiction, Jane Eyre, References, Wuthering Heights