On covers, harpsichords and lots of other things

The Irish Times talks about the acquisition by the Fingal Co Council to decorate the  restored church which has become the Rush Library of eighteen paintings by Jonathan Barry, best known for his partnership with Wordsworth Classics in revamping some of their covers. Including Wuthering Heights:
Picture Credits: Heathcliff Returns, 1993 (oil on canvas), Barry, Jonathan (Private Collection  / The Bridgeman Art Library.

Jonathan Barry has been illustrating books for 16 years. He was brought in by the London publishers Wordsworth Classics two years ago to help revamp the covers of their paperback series. The publisher specialises in selling classic novels at prices which typically are no more than the price of a cup of coffee. Its books retail in Ireland for €2.99 for most titles. (...)
Most people have not read Dracula, Frankenstein, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Wuthering Heights or Great Expectations , but the names conjure up images in the mind’s eye more enduring than any words on a page. (...)
Wuthering Heights, his favourite book, has been Wordsworth’s bestselling title for two years. It appeared in an episode of EastEnders. Amazingly, his Dracula cover appeared in an episode of Coronation Street. (Ronan McGreevy)

Other Brontë-inspired paintings by Jonathan Barry include: Jane Eyre (2010) or Peniston Crag (1996).

David Yearsley's flu makes him compare Satyajit Ray’s Music Room with the party scene in Wuthering Heights 1939 where a lookalike of the great Wanda Landowska plays at the harpsichord Mozart's Rondo a la turca. In Counterpunch:

The scenes in the palace music room must be the best such performances ever captured on screen. Compare the final dance sequence, for example, with the silly set piece of, say, Wanda Landowska on harpsichord in William Wyler’s Wuthering Heights (with Laurence Olivier).  How frigid and foolish Western music is made to appear by such a comparison!

As a matter of fact, the harpsichord player was Mme Alice Ehlers, who was a student of Wanda Landowska.

Whatsonstage announces the upcoming revival of Polly Teale's Brontë by Shared Experience:

Shared Experience is reviving its acclaimed 2005 production Brontë for a UK tour this spring, including a stint at London's Tricycle Theatre from 5 to 30 April 2011.
The play, which evokes the real and imagined worlds of the legendary Brontë  sisters, is written by co-artistic director of Shared Experience, Polly Teale, whose previous plays for the company include Jane Eyre and After Mrs Rochester which both transferred to the West End.
Brontë opens in 1845, as Branwell returns home in disgrace. Plagued by alcohol and drug addiction, he has been dismissed from domestic service following an affair with the mistress of the house. As their brother descends into alcoholism and insanity, bringing chaos to the household, the sisters write.
How is it possible that three Victorian spinsters, living in isolation on the Yorkshire moors could have written some of the most powerful and passionate fiction of all time?
Brontë, which is co-produced by Shared Experience and the Watermill Theatre with Oxford Playhouse, is directed by Nancy Meckler and will also visit: Oxford Playhouse (24 March-2 April), Richmond Theatre (10-14 May), Theatre Royal Bath (17-21 May), West Yorkshire Playhouse (24-28 May), Glasgow Citizens (1-4 June) and Yvonne Arnaud Theatre (7-11 June). (Theo Bosanquet).

More reviews of Sebastian Faulks's Faulks on Fiction in either printed or audiobook format:

Faulks is adamant, however, that his book isn’t “a work of literary criticism, still less of scholarship”. Rather, he wants to understand why heroes such as Robinson Crusoe and Tom Jones and lovers such as Heathcliff and Lady Chatterley behave as they do. (Emma Lee-Potter in Daily Express)

In the Lovers section we get the usual suspects – Heathcliff, Tess Durbeyfield, Constance Chatterley – as well as Nick Guest, the hero of Alan Hollinghurst’s Booker-winning The Line of Beauty (2004). (Kevin Power in The Irish Times)

For me, Heathcliff tops the lovers, Winston Smith the heroes and Fagin the villains, but the snobs are the most entertaining: Emma Woodhouse, Mr Pooter, Miss Brodie and the inimitable Jeeves reminding us that "a gentleman's trouser bottoms should shimmer, not break on the instep of his shoes". By Jove, he's absolutely right. (Sue Arnold in The Guardian)

Faulks’s method is to nominate his character (Robinson Crusoe, Heathcliff, Lady Chatterley), describe them, and then offer a résumé of the story with shrewdly enlightening observations. (John Sutherland in Financial Times)

The Westmoreland Gazette presents the upcoming Keswick Film Festival programme which includes a talk by Kay Mellor (co-writer of Jane Eyre 1997):

FILM lovers are in for a treat at this year’s Keswick Film Festival.
Running from February 10-13, director Jack Gold will answer questions following the screening of his film Red Monarch and highly-regarded TV and film writer Kay Mellor will be on hand to talk about her career.(...)
Parallel to being a scriptwriter, Kay was also a television actress, and appeared in her own adaptation of Jane Eyre (1997) and in other series such as the comedy drama Stan the Man (2002) and in Gifted (2003). (Adrien Mullen)

National Post asks writer Lorna Goodison about Caribbean authors or Caribbean-related subjects:

Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea — Impeccably written. After reading it, you will never read Jane Eyre the same way again.  (Mark Medley)

The Lawrentian makes a wise (no pun intended) comment about the controversial J.A. Symington:

When I'm home, my lust for more books is insatiable; maybe it's just my boredom that conveys me almost daily to the bookstore, from which I never return empty-handed. These I add to my already overwhelming book collection, imagining that my bedroom somewhat resembles the stash of J.A. Symington - the legendary bibliophile who stole manuscripts from the Brontë Parsonage in the 1930s - and making it even more impossible to choose what to read next. (Bridget Donnelly)

Screenwriter Rebecca Collins begins her interview in the Twin Cities Daily Planet with a Brontë joke:

What's your job?
"I recently ran away from Thornfield Hall, where I served as governess...wait, that's Jane Eyre. I'm a marketer/writer/thinker for hire; my last gig was at the Minnesota Film & TV Board. Closeted screenwriter."

The Utah Statesman reviews Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca:

From the first paragraph, I was hooked. "Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again" is widely regarded as one of the most famous opening lines in 20th-century literature, and sets the story up as a novel in constant suspense. While the novel was not Du Maurier's first, it is certainly her most popular. While the novel was first published in 1938, the writing can be compared to older works such as "Jane Eyre" and "Emma." (Kellyn Neumann)

A Reader's Ramblings interviews author Kate Cann:

What are your favourite books, or books that have inspired your writing?
** My husband thinks I endlessly rewrite Jane Eyre! I love that book - her courage and passion and clear-sightedness.

El País (Spain) talks about juvenile literature:

El nombre es nuevo. El fenómeno, un clásico. ¿O no regalaron Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, las hermanas Brontë, Lewis Carroll, Alejandro Dumas o Jane Austen libros que rompieron fronteras entre generaciones de lectores? (Tereixa Constenla) (Microsoft translation)

Also in El País-Babelia Winston Manrique Sabogal chooses Nelly from Wuthering Heights as one of his favourite narrators.
 
La Nación (Argentina) has an article about bookcrossing:

El que lo encuentre puede leerlo, pero luego debe pasarlo a otra persona", escribió Jazmín López en la dedicatoria de Jane Eyre, de Charlotte Brontë, que dejó en el Jardín Botánico, y que fue tomado por una pareja a los pocos minutos. (Dolores Moreno) (Microsoft translation)

Siglo XXI talks about triangles in literature:

Las relaciones triádicas son un lugar común en la literatura, el cine, la televisión, la música… Dice el refrán que tres son multitud, pero otras obras maestras como Cumbres Borrascosas de Emily Brontë también se hicieron célebres apoyándose en la transgresión que los triángulos amorosos suponen como eje motriz de la narración. (Sonia Herrera) (Microsoft translation)

Cope (Spain) talks about the Spanish translation of The Taste of Sorrow by Jude Morgan:

Y el segundo es “El sabor de las penas”, de Jude Morgan, editado por Alianza. La vida novelada de las tres hermanas Brontë, escrita en el más puro estilo decimonónico. La rectoría de Haworth, regentada por Patrick Brontë, se halla en unos páramos azotados por vientos, enfermedades y muertes prematuras, donde vive aislado este severo viudo con sus hijas María, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Emily y Anne, y su único hijo, Branwell. Allí viven entre penalidades, de las que escapan con mundos imaginarios y con la escritura. (MM Ramos) (Microsoft translation)

El Mundo (Spain) also talks abou the Spanish translation of Fabrice Gaignault's Dictionnaire de littérature à l'usage des snobs : Et (surtout) de ceux qui ne le sont pas (published in 2007):

Figuras perfectamente reconocibles como el lúgubre Lovecraft, la pareja formada por Jane y Paul Bowles o escritoras como Dorothy Parker y Sylvia Plath, conviven con el complejo y escurridizo B. Traven, la intrépida Annemarie Schwarzenbach, amante de Erika, la hija de Thomas Mann y a quien Carson McCullers dedicó su novela 'Reflejos en un ojo dorado', o el enigmático Patrick Branwell Brontë, el hermano desconocido de las célebres hermanas, genio precoz que sirvió como modelo para el Heathcliff de 'Cumbres borrascosas'. (Emma Rodríguez) (Microsoft translation)

Página 12 (Argentina) reviews Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry:

Y es ahí donde reside el principal encanto y encantamiento de esta novela: Niffenegger invita a conocer la vida doméstica de los vivos-muertos (como alguna vez lo hizo Anne Rice con los muertos-vivos) mientras, a lo largo de la velada, respira en la nuca de las memorias de Emily Brontë, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, M. R. James, Sheridan Le Fanu, Edgar Allan Poe y siguen las firmas y espíritus. (Rodrigo Fresán) (Microsoft translation)

Rodrigo Fresán is also the author of the review of the latest film by the Coen Brothers, True Grit , in ABC. The Brontë reference is unavoidable:

A Heathcliff como el forastero que retorna a Cumbres borrascosas para vengarse y reclamar lo que considera suyo. (Microsoft translation)

Journal du Jura (Switzerland) talks about writer Elisabeth Jobin:

Chez elle, pas de grande vocation, ni de grands encouragements, ni à l’école secondaire de La Neuveville, ni au gymnase français de Bienne. «Cela vient de ma passion de la lecture dans l’intimité des grands auteurs anglais et américains, comme Emily Brontë, ou Raymond Carver ainsi que celle des contemporains», confie-t-elle par téléphone entre deux cours au campus de l’Uni d’Huddersfield, partenaire anglaise de l’Uni de Berne. (Microsoft translation)

Paris Match doesn't seem very fond of the British Royal family:

Le prince de Galles, David, celui qui deviendrait Edouard VIII, était tout aussi inculte que son père (l’inculture est une tradition extrêmement vivace dans la ­famille royale, même de nos jours, et si George VI ignorait qui étaient les sœurs Brontë – sa fille Elisabeth II crut longtemps que Dante était le nom d’un cheval, avant de demander s’il s’agissait du jockey), mais il ­menait une vie de fêtes et, surtout, il n’était pas marié à 41 ans. (Stéphane Denis) (Microsoft translation)

Topzine (Czech Republic) carries an article praising Wuthering Heights:

Přeneste se s námi do viktoriánské Anglie, v níž žila a tvořila Emily Brontëová. Slavnou se stala díky svému jedinému románu Wuthering Heights (1847), v českém překladu Na Větrné Hůrce. Odpočiňte si u praskajícího krbu se skleničkou červeného a začtěte se do tohoto poutavého příběhu.  (Read more) (Judith Libigerová) (Microsoft translation)

Pravda (Russia) discusses Christian literature's inclination to books about death and suffering instead of celebrating love:

О. Голосова:

— Есть, например, Шарлотта Бронте, "Джейн Эйр". Если читать эту книгу без купюр, то она посвящена на две трети любви и на одну треть молитвам героини Богу о том, чтобы Он наставил ее в этой любви. Как мы помним, Джейн была влюблена в женатого человека. Это, безусловно, христианская книжка, ее можно посоветовать всем. (Ольга Гуманова, Татьяна Бархатова) (Microsoft translation)

Finally, an alert from the Australian Brontë Association:

5 Feb 10:30am Sydney Mechanical School of Arts
Christopher Cooper & Christine Alexander -The Brontës and Bewick's History of British Birds
Christopher will talk about Thomas Bewick's life and work and will show a short video. Christine will speak of the influence of the book on the art work of the Brontës — their drawings and paintings. The talk will be illustrated and also include reference to Jane Eyre and other writings by Charlotte and Branwell.

The Drum talks about the controversy about the published pictures of Sally Bercow, wife of the Speaker of the House as "some kind of Westminster/Wuthering Heights mash up picture". On CatParty there are some book covers and videos related to Wuthering Heights; Rush That Speaks reviews Maureen Corrigan's Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading!; McMarthy Musings has a rather bizarre feeling towards Jane Eyre 2011; Arte Barrato posts an interesting crossover between William Shakespeare's Sonnet XXXII and Wuthering Heights original illustrations by Dale Witting; live through books... reviews The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Keeping Busy posts about Jane Eyre.

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Books, Brontëites, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Theatre, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights