Pumping Iron and Tea Part(ies)

Several newspapers carry the news of the death of the British actress Sheila Burrell (1922-2011) (see The Telegraph, The Times or The Guardian, for instance). On this blog we remember her for her small role in Jane Eyre 1996 as Lady Eshton (picture).

The World Book Night organisers (the next edition will be 23rd April 2012) have asked readers to nominate their top ten most beloved books. The list of the top 100 has been released and includes:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Selected by 209 people.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Selected by 161 people.

It's almost a year until the next Olympic Games in London and The Independent publishes how various athletes are preparing themselves. Like Zoe Smith, weightlifter:

"I was struggling with my A-levels and my training. Obviously, they're both very important, but I thought, 'I've only got one shot at the Olympics in my home country; why not give it my all?' So I decided to put my studies on hold for a while, just until after the Games, and concentrate completely on weightlifting for a year. Hopefully, I can give a great performance at the Games and then I'll probably continue with my studies."

Smith had been studying A-level English literature, French and art at Townley Grammar School in Bexleyheath in Kent. Instead of poring over Jane Eyre and The Importance of Being Earnest, she has been pumping iron next door to Brontë Country on the campus of Leeds Metropolitan University. (Simon Turnbull)

We are not really sure if Charlotte Brontë would like to be in this company but in the Washington Examiner we read (context: you know the Allen vs Wasserman Schultz controversy),

That is indistinguishable in tone from the writings of Brontë and Austen, as in: "Your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form the groundwork of disapprobation on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike."
The world would be a better place (and much, much more literate) if there were more people like Allen West and Charlotte Brontë. It would be a better place, too, if every department of race/gender studies were shut down immediately, and every "professor" therein put to work cleaning toilets. (Noemie Emery)

Fascinating oximoron, indeed as gender and postcolonial studies mark one of the most important critical reappraisals of Charlotte's works. Really, we don't see Charlotte in the Tea Party frontline. And please, stop to compare the original, witty and incisive prose of Charlotte Brontë with the amorphous carbon copy of Mr West. Enough is enough.

Another sweeter Tea Party has been held in Fremantle, Australia:

Jane Eyre Tea Party
Celebrate the release of the new film adaptation of Jane Eyre at Fremantle Library. Join us for a luscious morning tea with scones, jam and cream. Dress for the occasion, enjoy selected readings by Marlish Glorie and test your knowledge: prizes courtesy of Universal Pictures International Australasia. RSVP required.

Pictures of the event can be found here.

The Void reviews the film Captain America saying

Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is peevish, a word culled from Wuthering Heights to describe the kind of Brooklyn guy who gets beaten up in every alleyway in town and has a list of ailments longer than his arm preventing his enrolment in the WWII US war effort. (Johnny Messias)

Certainly, peevish is used in Wuthering Heights but also in Dickens, Fielding, Washington Irving, George Eliot or Shakespeare.

Hey You Guys.co.uk! talks about the upcoming British release of Jane Eyre 2011; Deadline Hollywood seems convinced that the Wuthering Heights 2011 will be at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival, but the film is not yet in the published lineup:

A good number of the Toronto titles will have first premiered at Venice, likely including Steve McQueen's (Hunger) second film, Shame, and Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights, which both have some Oscar potential, at least on paper. (Pete Hammond)

E-Verse Radio considers Wuthering Heights 1939 one of the top five worst adaptations of a classic book.

Categories: In the News, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Wuthering Heights