Real, talented people with flaws and frailties

The Longridge and River Valley News and other regional newspapers review Juliet Barker's new edition of The Brontës:

The story of the tragic Brontës is familiar to most...‘poor’ Charlotte, wild and romantic Emily, Anne and her unrequited love and Branwell, their drunken, drug-addicted wastrel of a brother.
Barker’s definitive biography, first published in 1994, demolishes these myths and presents startling new information that is just as compelling, but true instead of imaginary.
The author spent 11 years researching this reappraisal of the fascinating Brontë family and her outstanding portrait reads like a masterclass in biographical writing.(...)
The treasure trove of information includes newly discovered poems and letters by the Rev Patrick Brontë and three of his remarkable children, Branwell, Emily and Anne, as well as first-hand reports by friends and acquaintances which contradict many of Mrs Gaskell’s wilder flights of fancy.
But perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of Barker’s biography is her insistence on tackling the Brontës as a family unit rather than as individuals.
Their closeness, she claims, is the key to their incredible achievements and taking one of them out of context ‘creates the sort of imbalance and distortion of facts that has added considerably to the Brontë legend’.
Barker allows the letters and memoirs to tell their own story and in this way we meet the real Charlotte, Emily et al and discover the dynamics of their relationships and the tragedies that shaped their outlook on life. (...)
This book is a truly outstanding achievement, a reinvigorated, honest and instructive account of the Brontës, not the mythical, shadowy, doomed geniuses of so many biographies, but real, talented people with flaws and frailties. (Pam Norfolk)

The New York Times interviews Cathleen P. Black, newly-appointed New York City Schools Chancellor:

Since the principal said she always asks prospective employees about their passion for reading, I have to ask:
Are you a big reader?
(...) I’ve always got a book open; I’m always moving books around. A woman who had been at my house recently, her book just came out recently, so that’s on my desk. A lighthearted novel. Her name is Susan Fales Hill. I forget the name of it right now. I think of my favorite books — “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Jane Eyre.”

Time Magazine discusses a recent article about married men and antisocial behaviour:

A good marriage civilizes men. At least, that's what it looks like, since fewer married men are antisocial. Married men are more responsible, less aggressive, less likely to do something illegal and more mentally healthy than single ones. This has been documented in a bunch of studies and chronicled in such great works of art as Jane Eyre and Failure To Launch. (Belinda Luscombe)

The Westbrook Observer talks to Freddy Pacheco, miniature painter:

The urge to travel that brought him here, he said, came from an interest in history and wanting to have real experiences with the things that he learned about. In 1972 he traveled to England with a desire to walk the moors after reading Emily Brontë’s novel “Wuthering Heights.”
“I said, I had to go there,” said Pacheco. “I did and I even went to the house of the Brontë family, I walked on the moors where they used to walk. I was just there by myself. I wanted to relive that in my head.” (Melissa Wood)

Anorak describes ironically Shaun Ryder's participation in I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!:

The I’m A Celebrity gaggle arrived back at Heathrow Airport. Shaun Ryder hid his copy of Wuthering Heights and got back into character. He was with wife Joanne, son Oliver and daughters Pearl and Lulu. Oliver, Pearl and Joanne are all solid names of the old school. But Lulu belies the lurking luvvie.

The Mirror has a Brontë reference in today's Quizword:

ACROSS 3 'The ---', novel by Charlotte Brontë that was published posthumously in 1857

The San Francisco Chronicle informs about the artist Sue Blackwell and her collaboration in the design of Crabtree & Evelyn Enchanted Christmas window and her work at the Brontë Parsonage is mentioned.On The Drum we read a new mention of Screen Yorkshire's collaboration on the production of Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights. Honoré, Honor, Honour is one of the many bloggers who are waiting for Jane Eyre 2011 and Cosas que Pasan posts about Wuthering Heights in Spanish.

Categories: Biography, Brontëites, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Wuthering Heights