St. John Rivers 'the clergydude' and other news

And more websites listing this year's new releases! Both the Colorado Daily and 2theadvocate mention Jane Eyre. The Colorado Daily includes a 'colourful' synopsis:

"Jane Eyre": Charlotte Brontë's semi-autobiographical novel about an orphan sent to live with mean relatives, then sent to live at a horrid boarding school, hits the big screen this spring. As an adult, Eyre's compelled to take a position as governess at a home where the bossman is both mean AND horrid, but don't worry -- she has a thing for bad boys. Stars Mia Wasikowska as Jane, Michael Fassbender as Rochester and Jamie Bell as the clergydude, St. John Rivers. (Jeanine Fritz)

2011 will also see the release of Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights, of course. JustJaredJr. reports that Kaya Scodelario - Cathy - is featured in V Magazine’s The Discovery Issue (out yesterday).

Both the Guardian and the Telegraph discuss sequels in connection with Frederick Colting's sequel of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Both cite Wide Sargasso Sea as an example of a good sequel:

But it is the case that some sequels have achieved literary success on their own merit. The best-known example is Jean Rhys's 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea, which acts as a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre – although Rhys's success is perhaps down to her not simply continuing a main character's story, but delving instead into the "unknown life" of a secondary character – in this case, Brontë's famous "madwoman in the attic". (David Barnett in the Guardian)

A sequel needn't be inferior to the original in quality: Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea revitalised Jane Eyre by telling the story of the mad first wife. (Philip Hensher in the Telegraph)

Tiffany Murray's Diamond Star Halo doesn't qualify as a sequel by any meand, but reviews of it keep on highlighting its 'Brontësqueness'. From The Independent:

Here, a more Brontësque vibe is at play. Many romances have started at Rockfarm, but it's the members of the American band, Tequila, that get under Halo's skin. After a summer at the studios these eight "honey-brown" cowboys bequeath an unusual parting gift - a jaw-droppingly beautiful baby boy. From the first, it's clear that this dark-eyed changeling - "part seal-pup, part bloody Heathcliff" - has all the makings of a future rock god. (Emma Hagestadt)

It's not as if we haven't seen our share of weird comparisons and mentions in reviews and the like but this comparison by MusicRemedy in a track-by-track review of Cornershop's And The Double O Groove Of is definitely one of the weirdest we have ever seen (and possibly expect to see in the future too).

9 Double Digit 3:38
Military again, until its slow build boils over with bass funk, as if the Brontë sisters came from an Indian cowshed (Jermy Leeuwis)

Confessions of a Readaholic, That's What She Read and MJ's Literary Odyssey all post about Jane Eyre. A Bit Bookish - One Girl, Too Many Books writes about April Lindner's Jane. Páginas com Memória posts about Wuthering Heights in Portuguese. And Flickr user Podenga has uploaded an image of Wuthering Heights.

Categories: Books, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, References, Sequels, Weirdo, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights