Jane, moral linchpin

John Mullan's 10 of the best is devoted to governesses. In The Guardian:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Brontë's narrator and heroine is the queen of governesses. After a miserable childhood, clever, plain Jane is hired by Mr Rochester to teach his ward, Adele ... and soon establishes herself as the moral linchpin of the household.

The Guardian also talks about the booming of cheap classics editions:

"I think the big reason has to be recessionary," said Philip Stone, charts editor of the Bookseller. "Publishers of more expensive classics such as Penguin, Oxford University Press and Oneworld haven't enjoyed that kind of growth from their classics this year."
Stone pointed to the £1.99 Wordsworth edition of The Great Gatsby, up by 232% year-on-year to 11,550 copies sold, and to the £1.99 Wordsworth edition of Jane Eyre, up by 59.5% year-on-year.(...)
"The UK readers' appetite for the classics does not seem to diminish. The steady stream of TV and film adaptations continues to fuel interest, and I think the psychology behind our current success is exactly the same. When the present-day shopper goes on Amazon to look for, say the book of a new film adaptation like Jane Eyre, our edition will invariably make an early appearance in the listing because of the price, and if you click on it, then another eight or so of our titles pop up in the 'people who bought this also bought' section, and at only £1.99, the temptation to pop a couple more in your basket is very strong," he added.  (Alison Flood)

Wordsworth Editions' current top 10 bestselling titles in the UK:
1 The Great Gatsby
2 Wuthering Heights
3 Jane Eyre

Also in The Guardian, the pleasures of re-reading:

I will always love Jane Eyre for the escape it gave me as an awkward 14-year-old stuck in Paris with an elderly aunt who was supposed to be teaching me French but who retired to bed for much of every afternoon. It comes with an intense sense memory – if not quite the the sort of pleasure that Barthes was talking about. (Claire Armitstead)

The Irish Times talks about the flaws in biographies:

[Dr Éibhear] Walshe also points to Elizabeth Gaskell’s biography of Charlotte Brontë, published in 1857, as evidence of how a biographer can allow personal preferences to get in the way of fact. “Her portrait of the Brontës’ father is quite negative, and she says as children they were never given meat, which implied they were undernourished. Yet he pointed out afterwards that there was always a meat press in the house. Biographers use materials and shape them to their idea of what artists should be, often based on their own work. A biography in a way is a version of the person who writes it. When you are writing you have to be very careful of that.” (Brian O'Connell)

In the same newspaper we found this comment about Creoles:

Napoleon’s Josephine was a Creole, as was Rochester’s mad wife in Jane Eyre, and some have dabbled in voodoo practices and the casting of magical spells, using “gris gris” dolls.

Today's Zaman (Turkey) reviews Jane Eyre 2011:

With vigorous acting from Wosikowska (sic) and Fassbender and sensitive yet raw directing from Fukunaga, “Jane Eyre” transforms Brontë’s classic story to a level of awe-inspiring and crisp filmmaking, all the while never forgetting what Brontë’s true intentions were. (Emíne Yildirim)

The film is one of the best of the year chosen by the International Business Times; The Philadelphia Enquirer thinks that Michael Fassbender was 'an impeccable Rochester'.

The Wall Street Journal reviews Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt:

A finalist for the National Book Award this year, Mr. Schmidt again weaves together with a light touch a dozen or more narrative elements, from baseball and painful family dynamics to the Vietnam War, "Jane Eyre" and, of course, the work of James Audubon. "Okay for Now" is a sometimes funny, often heartbreaking story of the possibility of everyday transformation, even of the unlikeliest characters.  (Meghan Cox Gurdon)

National Post talks about the books that we haven't (and probably won't) read:

There are scores of books I have not read, and it saddens me to think that I will never read most of them. I have not read War and Peace, nor Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment or pretty much any of the Russians. I have read Pride and Prejudice, but that’s it for Austen. I’ve read To The Lighthouse, but not Mrs. Dalloway, though I have seen The Hours (but I haven’t read that, either). I’ve read Dubliners (well, most of it) and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, but haven’t even attempted Ulysses and was scared off by the first page of Finnegans Wake. The only Brontë sister I’ve read is Emily. (...)
Instead of looking at our shelves and collapsing under a sense of hopelessness, perhaps our unread books should be cause for celebration. After all, there will always be another book to read.  (Mark Medley)

The Aberdeen Press and Journal describes a visit to Haworth:

On Sunday, the bus crossed the Yorkshire dales, passing villages full of brick-built houses and chocolate-box cottages that once housed mill workers and miners, before heading for Haworth, a beautiful village famous for being home of the Brontë family.

Postcard-pretty, it looks similar to the cobbled steep street used in the famous Hovis advert, when a young lad pushes a laden bike up a hill to the strains of a brass band playing Dvorak’s New World Symphony.

Haworth and its railway station have been used as settings for many films and TV shows including, The Railway Children starring Jenny Agutter. Just thinking about the scene in which she cries: “Daddy, my daddy” at the station brings a lump to the throat.

There are charming tearooms, antique shops and a superb vintage store, the Rose Apothecary – a museum-like shop which smells wonderful and is packed floor to ceiling with sweets and treats from the past.

A visit to the Brontë Parsonage Museum, which sits on top of the hill next to a graveyard and church, is a must.

It was fascinating to see the dining room where sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne did most of their writing, penning classics such as Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and Agnes Grey.

Along with everyday objects they used, there are superb drawings created by the talented siblings, and a selection of clothes they wore, including the tiniest, most exquisite pair of boots.

With the wind howling outside, it was easy to imagine lovelorn Heathcliff storming across the moor.

We did it from the bus – not so romantic, but definitely more comfortable. (Susan Welsh)

The San Francisco Chronicle and the Montreal Gazette review Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton:

In eight panels, her "Dude Watchin' With the Brontës" says more about one branch of the 19th century novel than many doctoral theses. After you read "Hark! A Vagrant," you'll never be able to look at "The Great Gatsby," Nancy Drew or "Jane Eyre" the same way again, and that's what makes Beaton's Web comic worthy of this handsome permanent edition. (Michael Berry)

Her compact demolition of Wuthering Heights works on at least three levels: it's gut-clenchingly funny, it takes a sacred cow down a peg or two, and it makes you want to read the original again. Teachers, take note: Kate Beaton could be your perfect aid. (Ian McGillis)

Financial Times interviews Jenni Murray:

Do you have more than one home?
Wuthering Heights, a house in the Peak District and Wuthering Depths, a rather basic basement in north London. (Hester Lacey)

On CTV News they compare online shopping vs in-person apps:

I get lost in bookstores. And by lost, I mean I tend to spend too much time browsing the "classics" section. (I picked up Jane Eyre, which, as an English major, I'm embarrassed to admit I've never read.) After finding books for both men on my list I use the time waiting in line to look up the location of my next stop. (Andrea Janus)

The Washington Post talks about Kate Bush:

British singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 53, but to many people she remains permanently frozen in amber at 19, dramatically wandering the moors in the video for “Wuthering Heights,” the song that launched her career and those of a thousand imitators. (Allison Stewart)

More Spanish news outlets review or publish articles about Jane Eyre 2011. We have positive reviews in La Vanguardia, La Semana, TCM, Diario de Jerez, Diario Vasco, Intereconomía, Dirigido, slithersmusiczine, COPE Valencia. Articles about the Brontës in 20 Minutos and Diario de Sevilla, about the recent Brontë fever in EFE and La Opinión de La Coruña, or recommending a visit to Brontë country in La Vanguardia. An interview with Cary Fukunaga in La Huella Digital. Cinemanía lists Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights among the most versioned books in history. DeCine21 discusses the poor results in the Spanish box office. Finally La Gaceta publishes a bizarre article where Jane Eyre is celebrated (only) as a Christian heroine with no other nuances.

Toute la Culture (France) publishes a bad review. In Germany a lukewarm review in unser Lübeck; an interview with Mia Wasikowska in Die Presse and Negativ Film gives away the novel and the original soundtrack just for German residents.


La Nación (Argentina) traces a profile of the writer Minae Mizumura:, author of A Real Novel:

Cuenta Mizumura que le sirvieron tanto el tono del clásico inglés ( Cumbres borrascosas fue el modelo estructural para partes del argumento) como el de las novelas japonesas que hoy se consideran clásicas. Más adelante el libro ofrece otra voz -la equivalente a la de "Nelly" de Brontë, aquí "Fumiko"- y su modestia en japonés se expresa mediante fórmulas honoríficas tradicionales que ubican al otro en una posición superior siempre, y por eso demoran la explicitación de ciertos asuntos sensibles, como si la narradora corriera una cortina para suavizar los aspectos y amortiguar los ruidos. (Anna-Kazumi Stahl) (Translation)

Koaci interviews the Gabonese writer Charline Effah:

Je découvris ainsi plusieurs romans dont celui qui réveillera ma fibre de lectrice, les hauts de hurlevent d’Emily Brontë. (Emma) (Translation)

Sydsvenskan ends its review of Slutstation rättspsyk by Sofia Åkerman and Thérèse Eriksson with a Brontë mention:

Forskningen säger att självskadarbeteenden ökar i slutenvården, men ändå fortsätter man att spärra in. De är ingen massa, de rättslösa kvinnorna på rättsspyk. Men berättelsen om deras öde säger väldigt mycket om vår tids inställning till den jobbiga, gränslösa kvinnan. Då och då blir hon modern i kulturen, men samtidigt visar hon ständigt på hur omodern vården är. Den galna kvinnan i ”Jane Eyre”, för evigt inspärrad på Mr Rochesters vind.  (Malena Rydell) (Translation)

A Brontëite student in The Greene County-Record; A Blog of One's Own reviews Wuthering Heights; 2011; My first, my last, my everything! (in Swedish) reviews Jane Eyre; Poesía inspiradora (in Spanish) talks about Jane Eyre (novel and the latest movie); Dead White Guys reviews Erin Blakemore's The Heroine's Bookshelf ; Books-Silence reviews in Polish Shirley. Finally an alert from the Brussels Brontë Group:

Saturday 10 December 2011 : Christmas lunch and entertainment by members of the Brussels Brontë Group.