Jane Eyre in a slashed skirt

The Telegraph-Journal interviews the writer Joan Hall Havey:

Your favourite hero of fiction?
Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. It is the emotional depth of Jane's/Charlotte's passion that, even after 164 years, rises from the pages to touch readers' souls.

Variety talks about Goldcrest Finance and Andrea Arnold's future Wuthering Heights:

Goldcrest Finance, a joint venture with former Merrill Lynch banker Adam Kulick, started in 2006 backing Hollywood slates from the likes of Paramount, Summit and DreamWorks. But it has since switched its focus to investing equity into Brit indie pics including Andrea Arnold's "Wuthering Heights" and Margaret Thatcher biopic "The Iron Lady."  (Adam Dawtrey)

The Daily Crimson reviews the latest Stevie Nicks album. Discussing the Wide Sargasso Sea song:

Wide Sargasso Sea tells the story of two people who fall in love. They keep their distance because they do not trust each other. However, they still will make love. The song starts off with the first verse having an acoustic feel, then electric guitar kicks in catching your eat and makes you keep listening.  The song is one of the most descriptive on the whole album. You can’t help but picture these two people when listening. (Joe Tiner)

Somehow we don't think that baseball player Blake Griffin could be a Brontëite... but Jewcy has some hopes:

Who knows, maybe this will actually ignite more players to speak their minds, and we’ll find out Blake Griffin loves Jane Eyre or Jose Reyes is a self-proclaimed expert on The Stone Roses?  (Alex Eidman)

The National (UAE) talks about Schönberg & Nixon's new dance play Cleopatra, but mentions their previous work: Wuthering Heights.

Nixon and Schönberg's first collaboration was Wuthering Heights, originally intended for another dance company.
"I was quite new to the job and the chief executive said he had been sent this CD of a score for Wuthering Heights by Schönberg," Nixon says. "At first I was a little bit... I said, 'Well, who's that?' And he said, 'He is just the composer of Les Misèrables (sic) and Miss Saigon.' I thought, 'Oh my God!' Les Misèrables (sic, again) was my absolute favourite musical. So I listened to it and it was really beautiful music." (John Kelleher)

The Spencer Daily Reporter offers (obvious) advice for novel writers:

Romance novel heroines usually have trendy names, or names with unusual spelling. Is your hero the strong type? Then don't call him Percy! Does your heroine live in the period of the Brontë sisters? Avoid naming her Madison or Zoey.  (Jean Tennant)

The Boston Herald recommends Jane Eyre 2011 this Mother's Day:

This Mother’s Day take your mom to see “Jane Eyre.” A rare 2011 arthouse hit, the film, based on the classic 1847 romance novel by Charlotte Brontë, features Mia Wasikowska (“The Kids Are All Right”) and Michael Fassbender (“Inglourious Basterds”) as poor governess Jane Eyre and dashing, but gloomy master Rochester, respectively. The film, directed by Cary Fukunaga (“Sin Nombre”) may not be quite as wonderful or as atmospheric as the 1943 version with Orson Welles, Joan Fontaine and a 10-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, but it’s very good and your mother will love it.  (James Verniere)

Pointer Press reviews the film:

Cary Fukunaga’s film was enthralling, deserving a 4 out of 5 stars. The script was written well, and the actors brought the movie to life. The director changed it up a bit, starting the first few minutes of the movie taking place in the middle of the story; which keeps the audience puzzled and engaged. For those who are interested in seeing it, I would recommend reading the book first. The story is one that catches your attention, showing that you don’t have to be beautiful or rich to find love. (Amanda Meek)

And El Nuevo Día (Puerto Rico) has a very weird review. The film is quite good despite the story not being nice (!):

El filme presenta un reto particular para un crítico de cine. La dirección es más que acertada, la cinematografía exquisita y las actuaciones de primera, pero la trama dicta que esta cinta sea una experiencia cinematográfica melancólica y opresiva. (...)
En su esfuerzo por ambientar y capturar todos los detalles de esta historia, la producción ha creado un filme que sofoca la pasión memorable de Jane Eyre con melodrama y melancolía. (Juanma Fernández-París) (Translation)

Side2 announces the Norwegian release of the film next June 24th.

On the blogs, as usual, there are some reviews: Just Everything Else, ScreenForum, The Makin Movie Blog.

The Times talks with the Bangladeshi writer Tahmima Anam:

She is certainly deeply in love with English literature. I meet her having just attended a screening of the new movie version of Jane Eyre, and [Tahmima] Anam interrogates me keenly about it. Is the Rochester appropriate? Is the Jane too pretty? Nineteenth-century novels are deeply popular in the subcontinent, the restrictions of Victorian Englishwomen echoing those of many in traditional societies now. “People can relate to Jane Eyre’s story so much even now in Bangladesh,” she says.  (Janice Turner)

How to mention Jane Eyre in an article about slashed skirts? Lisa Armstrong has the answer in The Times:

Same goes for a woman trying to come over like Jane Eyre in a slashed skirt.

The Racy Writer interviews the author Hazel Osmond:

How did the idea of Who’s Afraid of Mr Wolfe? come about?
I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of people who are hiding things. It probably comes from reading Jane Eyre when I was a girl. I have a thing about wolves too, especially lone ones.

Clarín (Argentina) reviews the performance of Frédéric Chaslin's Gypsy Dance (from his Wuthering Heights opera) by the Orquesta Estable del Teatro Colón:

En el medio, interpretaron Gipsy Dance, una danza orquestal que forma parte de la ópera Cumbres borrascosas , basado en la novela homónima de Emily Brontë, que el mismo Chaslin compuso en 2009.
En perfecto castellano, el compositor contó al público que Gipsy Dance fue inicialmente concebida como una pieza para piano solo, en Tokio, poco antes de que se desencadenara el tsunami que afectó dramáticamente a Japón. “Es la primera vez que se toca (en su versión orquestal) y quiero dedicársela a mis amigos japoneses”, dijo.
Con una estética estrechamente ligada a las bandas de sonido para películas -Chaslin reconoce que escribió Cumbres Borrascosas usando por completo el vocabulario musical de las películas-, esta obra tipifica un cambio de enfoque estilístico en su carrera: el deseo de llegar a un público más amplio. Luego de haberse dedicado a componer y dirigir obras de vanguardia cuando oficiaba de asistente de Barenboim y Boulez, volcó sus provocativos cuestionamientos en el libro Music in Every Sense publicado en 2009. Entre otras cosas, además de referirse a Boulez como un “gendarme” que emplea tácticas de “terror” hacia otros compositores, propone rehabilitar el género operístico valiéndose de las técnicas que Hollywood emplea en sus filmes. (Laura Novoa)  (Translation)

La Vanguardia (Spain) interviews the author and film director, Jordi Esteva who chooses Emily Brontë and Jean Rhys among his favourite writers. Robadonne Magazine (Italy) recommends a visit to Yorkshire and seems to believe that Brontë country is an actual toponym:

Nello Yorkshire ritroverete le verdi e rigogliose colline celebrate dalle sorelle Brontë nei loro famosi romanzi, tra i quali Cime tempestose e Jane Eyre, e da cui prende il nome anche la Contea che si trova poco più a sud. (Translation)

La Gaceta Mercantil (Argentina) publishes an article about Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and another one about... James Tully's The Crimes of Charlotte Brontë (a bizarre resurrection of a novel which we thought was buried and forgotten).

Le Point reviews Robert Goolrick's A Reliable Wife:

Paysages désolés, nichés entre ceux d'Emily Brontë et ceux de Henry James, âmes torturées, trahisons amoureuses, confusion des sentiments... Un moment de lecture fort, pour roman d'amour sombre, sensuel, magnifique. (Marine De Tilly) (Translation)

A local Brontëite in Lakeland The Ledger. The Daily Telegraph (Australia) also carries a poignant story with a Wuthering Heights reference; Associated Content posts an article about the use of settings in Jane Eyre: A Woman Trapped by the World Around Her; A Literary Odyssey posts about Wide Sargasso Sea;  Reading Tales reviews The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë by Syrie James. Finally, the Brontë Parsonage Blog announces the upcoming visit to the Parsonage of the writer Blake Morrison, part of the Contemporary Arts Programme.

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