Rebellious Spirit

National Post reviews April Lindner's Jane:

Jane is a captivating story about an improbable romance between a modest girl who stumbles across the extravagant world of her rock star lover, while at the same time, an engrossing mystery as secrets from Rathburn’s past are slowly revealed. In Jane, Lindner recycles a successful formula that has attracted a huge fan base with the Twilight series of books in recent years.
However, novels like Lindner’s Jane inspire a new generation of readers, and engender respect for classic literature. Lindner’s modern Jane is persistently loyal to Charlotte Brontë’s 19th-century protagonist Jane Eyre in substance and character, with the exception of the contemporary rock star edge. And much like its 19th-century predecessor, gossip-obsessed millennium teens will likely find Linder’s Jane hard to resist. (Santina Tedesco)

Other recent reviews can be read on Las Risas and Fragments of Life.

The Toronto Star talks about  playwright William Luce's works and mentions his play Currer Bell, Esq. which was made into a TV film in 1983 directed by Delbert Mann:

Julie Harris won her fifth Tony Award portraying Emily Dickinson in Luce's The Belle of Amherst, was nominated for a sixth for Lucifer's Child (in which she played Isak Dinesen) and earned a Peabody Award for playing Charlotte Brontë on PBS — all with Luce scripts. (Richard Ouzounian)

The Guardian publishes the answers to its fiendish literary quiz. Sarah Waters's questions among them:

2 In which novels do these dogs appear: Evie, Tock, Pilot, Jasper, Mister Mars, the dog of tears.
Answer: JR Ackerley's We Think the World of You, Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, Iris Murdoch's Under the Net, José Saramago's Blindness[.]

The Times looks for the ones to watch in 2011:

Imogen Poots. In March she squeezes into a corset and bustle as Blanche Ingram in Cary Fukunaga’s update of Jane Eyre. (Kate Muir)

Stephen Poliakoff, director and screenwriter: My one to watch next year is Michelle Dockery. Michelle has an edgy mystery about her and an aloof beauty. I first saw her on an audition tape for the BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre in 2006. She lost the part to Ruth Wilson, but I thought she was startling. (Andrew Billen)

The Telegraph interviews journalist Genevieve Fox:

Favourite book Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë for the heroine’s rebellious spirit and her bravery. A proto-feminist with soul.

The Otago Daily Times (New Zealand) covers the Dunedin Theatre Awards where the Fortune Theatre's Wuthering Heights production obtained a couple of awards:

Best Design (Technical)
Peter King: Wuthering Heights, Fortune Theatre (winner)
Best Design (Scenographic)
Peter King: Wuthering Heights, Fortune Theatre  (nominee)
Best Performance (Female)
Anna Henare: Wuthering Heights, Fortune Theatre (winner)
Best Director
Lisa Warrington: Wuthering Heights, Fortune Theatre (nominee)
Production of the Year
Wuthering Heights: Fortune Theatre (nominee)

The Telegraph & Argus lists some of the local post-Christmas events:

The New Year’s Eve traditional event is the Auld Lang Syne fell-race, started by a bagpiper on top of Penistone Hill Park. The race is full but offers onlookers a spectacular course towards Brontë Bridge and Haworth Moor. The 400 runners head off at 11.30am on their six-mile run up 900ft of ascent. (Simon Forde)

Mid-Willamette Valley Statesman Journal recommends Barnes & Noble Classics for Christmas:

I recently discovered these amazing stocking stuffers: classic works of literature like "A Tale of Two Cities," "The Art of War," "Peter Pan," "The Complete Sherlock Holmes," "Jane Eyre," "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and many more. Each title is nicely bound (many contain illustrations) and under 10 bucks. (Barbara Curtin)

Zeit (Germany) also gives some Christmas book suggestions. One of them is Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair:

Erwachsene, die Harry Potter mit Freude gelesen und die enorme Fantasie von J.K. Rowling bewundert haben, werden auch an der gewaltigen Erfindungsgabe von Jasper Fforde ihren Spaß haben. Der Brite hat in seiner Romanreihe um die Agentin Thursday Next eine Parallelwelt erschaffen, ein England des Jahres 1985, in dem Literatur einen so hohen Stellenwert hat, dass es eine Spezialpolizei gibt – den Arbeitgeber der Romanheldin. Zugleich vermischen sich in jenem England Fantasie und Wirklichkeit. So kann im ersten Band der Serie, Der Fall Jane Eyre, Nexts Gegenspieler die englische Regierung damit erpressen, dass er Jane Eyre aus dem gleichnamigen Roman von Charlotte Brontë entführt. Klingt schräg? Ist es auch. Und unglaublich unterhaltsam, spannend und komisch. Die Thursday-Next-Serie ist ein ideales Geschenk für jemanden, der ein Faible für britische Literatur hat, Agentenstorys mag und Humor à la Monty Python und Douglas Adams schätzt. (Matthias Breitinger) (Microsoft translation)

Concert & Co (France) reviews the album Philarmonics by Agnes Obel:

Quand elle officie au piano et au micro, on se laisse transporter dans un univers étrange faisant jaillir des images de contes de fée aux atmosphères gothiques ou romantiques, un peu à la Emilie Brontë. Sorte de Hauts de Hurlevent mis en musique, les pièces écrites et interprétées par Mademoiselle Obel intriguent, font souffler un vent de folie et permettent de plonger dans une sorte de noirceur aussi élégiaque que fantastique. (Microsoft translation)

La Dépêche reviews the novel Les Roses d'en Julio by Rosie Guilhem:

L'intrigue, qui confine à celle du conte, se situe dans l'environnement quotidien de Rosie où l'on retrouve les deux énormes platanes devenus « la porte des âmes », un petit carrefour qui amène au bois maléfique d'En Guibaud, le plateau et les précipices d'En Julio envahis de brouillards et même de périodes de neige, des descriptions concises qui ramènent à l'atmosphère d'épouvante des sœurs Brontë. (Microsoft translation)

Le Figaro interviews actress Anne Hathaway who confesses some of her inspirations for her role in Love and Other Drugs:

Pour interpréter ce rôle, elle est allée chercher dans ses lectures quelques personnages féminins bien trempés : « J’ai relu Orgueil et préjugés, de Jane Austen, et les Hauts de Hurlevent, d’Emily Brontë. Il n’y a rien de mieux que la littérature anglaise pour décrire ce genre de femmes stoïques. » (Isabelle Girard) (Microsoft translation)

Knightleyemma posts about Wide Sargasso Sea 2006; The Prefecture of the East Administrative District of Moscow's website mentions a recent meeting-discussion with young students of Russia and Kazakhstan where the latter apparently mentioned Jane Eyre as one their preferred heroines.

Categories: Books, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Theatre, Wide Sargasso Sea