Physical Experience

Keighley News gives the Brontë Society's opinion on the alleged portrait of Emily Brontë to be auctioned next week:

The Brontë Society has cast doubt on claims a painting being auctioned in Northampton this month is a portrait of the famous literary figure Emily Brontë.
Ann Dinsdale, collections manager at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, said the society doubted the provenance of the oil painting and would not be bidding on it next Thursday.
“We are not 100 per cent convinced it is Emily. There isn’t enough provenance on the painting and there is an element of doubt about it,” she said. “There are two portraits of Emily, both in the National Portrait Gallery, and they don’t bare [sic] a striking resemblance to this one. The experts are saying the woman in the painting is wearing the kind of clothes Emily would have worn, which probably thousands of other women of that period were wearing. They have done a huge amount of research on that painting but we are still not convinced.”
But art experts, who have assessed the picture, say there is strong evidence to suggest it could be of Emily Brontë.

Town Topics discusses the work of William M. Thackeray. About Thackeray and Charlotte Brontë:

Writing under the cover of her pen name Currer Bell, Charlotte Brontë dedicated the second edition of Jane Eyre (1847) to Thackeray, giving him the lion’s share of a long, lavish preface, “a man whose words are not framed to tickle delicate ears,” who “comes before the great ones of society” speaking “truth” with “a power … prophet-like,” the “satirist of Vanity Fair” hurling “the Greek fire of his sarcasm.” She “sees in him an intellect profounder and more unique than his contemporaries have yet recognised.” After dismissing the commentaries comparing him to Fielding” (“he resembles Fielding as an eagle does a vulture”), she writes: “His wit is bright, his humour attractive, but both bear the same relation to his serious genius, that the mere lambent sheet-lightning, playing under the edge of the summer cloud, does to the electric death-spark hidden in its womb.”

Best to step back from that one. Give it space. No wonder Brontë was let down when she met the eagle in person. Instead of the prophet’s “Greek fire” and “sheet-lightning,” she found “an unwilling idol.” According to a witness in Monsarrat’s biography, “The more intense she became, the more mundane were his responses.” Still recuperating from a near-fatal illness, Thackeray saw “the trembling little frame, the great honest eyes” of “a little austere Joan of Arc marching in upon us and rebuking our easy lives and morals.” Brontë was looking for the man possessed of the audacity to conceive the heroine of Vanity Fair, whose first act is to toss the gift of Johnson’s Dictionary out the window of a coach at the feet of a Dickensian caricature of sentimental goodheartedness. In the words of the same observer of the Brontë-Thackeray conversation, Thackeray, “with characteristic contrarity of nature … insisted on discussing his books very much as a clerk in a bank would discuss the ledgers he had to keep for a salary.” Brontë was looking for a man with a mission while Thackeray, “with many wicked jests refused to recognize the mission.”

Had the big man (he was 6’4) assumed the Promethean dimensions of his “serious genius,” however, Brontë might have faulted him for arrogance, which seems to have been the case on another occasion, described by the same witness, when she treated him to a face-to-a-face litany of his shortcomings, against which he defended himself, as she puts it, “like a great Turk and heathen — that is to say, the excuses were often worse than the crime itself.”

You don’t have to read far in any account of Thackeray’s life before you once again wonder why Andrew Davies or some other BBC mainstay hasn’t written it up for a miniseries. The Brontë episode alone would make for fascinating theater, as would young William’s embattled school days, his adventures in Paris, and the poignance of his marriage to a woman who descended into madness after bearing their third child. (The coincidental resemblance of Thackeray’s doomed marriage to Rochester’s in Jane Eyre led to spurious gossip about a Brontë-Thackeray affair.) (Stuart Mitchner)

The Miscelany News talks with Stephen Rooks:

With a career that spanned from 1981 to 1991, Rooks danced with the Martha Graham Company. One of Rooks' favorite roles with the company was in "Deaths and Entrances," a ballet about the Brontë sisters. Rooks played one of the central male characters, Poetic Beloved, a guiding, older brother figure to the female leads of the ballet. "The movements were rhapsodic. It was the deepest expression of the kind of dance I wanted to do. The ballet was neo-classic because we wore period costumes, which was unusual for modern dance," said Rooks. (Shruti Maniant)

The Guardian recalls an Oxford interview by Kingsley Amis with a Brontë reference:

"What novel would you take on a train journey?"
Erm.
Lucky Jim?
Of course not.
"Wuthering Heights!" I hear myself shriek.
"Why?"
Because I've prepared some parrot answers on it. I deliver them to bits of furniture and a piece of curtain. I seem to be swallowing marbles. I drone on about pathetic fallacies and thanatoid visions – just the kind of bilious bollocks the world's greatest satirist needs to hear from a callow wanker on a sofa. (Fielding)

The Independent features a curious initiative:

As both a film buff and aspirant foodie, I love the news that Rowley Leigh, the genius chef of Café Anglais fame, is doing food at the Odeon Whiteley's plush new Lounge cinema.
It doesn't mean you're expected to tackle the Lancashire Hotpot in the dark while watching Wuthering Heights. He promises "a playful, grown-up take on classic film food to be enjoyed from the comfort of your seat". But classic film food is popcorn, hotdogs or Maltesers. (John Walsh)

Nouse interviews James Northcote (Linton in Wuthering Heights 2011) and talks about the film:

However, although ‘rough and intense’, Arnold’s interpretation is not traditionally ‘gothic’ in the same way that the novel is. In the book, Cathy’s ghost is alluded to as early as Chapter One, and the supernatural becomes increasingly prominent as the story progresses. In Arnold’s film, this is replaced by a more physical strangeness – for example, we see Cathy, as a child, licking blood off a wound on Heathcliff’s back. James Northcote, who plays Edgar Linton, mentioned this when speaking exclusively to Nouse: “Although I can’t speak for Andrea, I think the film is so physical that the only experiences of the supernatural that there are are shown as normal things that happen, rather than extraordinary or magical. They’re just physical experiences, as much as eating or drinking or dying.” This may explain why the film leaves us with such a disturbed feeling – in the world of Cathy and Heathcliff (which is literally cut off from civilisation), horrific, primal acts like these are considered normative.

East Anglian Daily News talks with the writer Sally Gardner:

Then, at the age of 14, she learned to read. “Not brilliantly, but it did involve comprehension and taking it in.” It’s something of a mystery why it should have been then, but perhaps it’s because there are periods in a dyslexic’s life when the brain changes and it is possible to decode.
She remembers the book – a big Bronte omnibus – and the precise story: Wuthering Heights. (Steven Russell)

The Times Higher Education complains about the the errors on Google Books:

He went on to have a good deal of fun with the many strange anomalies: 115 hits for Greta Garbo and 325 for Woody Allen in books said to date from before they were born; editions of Jane Eyre classified under history or antiques and collectibles; Sigmund Freud listed as an author of a guide to an internet interface. (Matthew Reisz)

The Daily Beast reviews Ann Patchett's State of Wonder:

We’re not talking about fiction that imagines what happened to Jane and Rochester after Jane Eyre ended, but a more sophisticated approach that embraces the essence of a great work—its themes and characters, even its literary style and opening line—and allows that to infuse the new work. (Caryn James)

We don't know if Charlie Sorrel on Gadget Labs knows a lot about ebooks, but we do know that his taste in books is questionable:

Finally, the “beautiful new classic covers for public domain books.” Who cares? It’s not going to make Jane Eyre any less boring.

Back Stage discusses the possible nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Michael Fassbender is a strong candidate:

Fassbender, who depicts a sleazy sex addict in "Shame," was noteworthy in a gritty film that might not be to all tastes, but he earns points for many great recent performances—in "Jane Eyre," "A Dangerous Method," and "X-Men: First Class," among other films. (Simi Horwitz)

Virginia Beach Publishing Examiner interviews the author Sheila Danton:

Can you tell us a little about yourself and how long you’ve been writing?
I’ve been writing since I was small. I was a strange kid with a vivid imagination and could project  myself into all sorts of scenarios. At one point, I was mostly a wild horse who loved tossing his mane about and snorting. Then I became a little ghost howling around the home of a lost love. Can you tell I adored Wuthering Heights? No wonder my parents were worried.

The Dayton City News lists the best films of the year:

Starring Michael Fassbender, “Jane Eyre” turns Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel into a visually beautiful and thematically complex film. Mia Wasikowska further solidifies her strong, engaging presence on screen as the film’s titular character. Director Cary Joji Fukunaga delivers a film with powerful visuals and scenery, such as the daunting Rochester mansion, that help create this Gothic wonder.   (Bridget Ameche)

Time Magazine also places him in the 2011 movie performances top ten:

In Jane Eyre he plays the broodingly sensual Rochester to Mia Wasikowska's sympathetic governess. (Richard Corliss)

EDIT (thanks to alert reader Cheshire Cat):  as well as Mia Wasikowska:

Charlotte Brontë's heroine, a tough, sensitive soul lashed by grim fate and the torrid moor winds, has been played in movies by Joan Fontaine, Susannah York, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Samantha Morton. But never has an actress shown Mia Wasikowska's composure to face both icy adversity and fiery romance (in the person of Michael Fassbender's Rochester). Offscreen, this 22-year-old Australian, who made a powerful impression as a suicidal teen gymnast in Season 1 of HBO's In Treatment and as a deadpan dreamer in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, is a friendly sort in a blond pixie cut who could pass for Michelle Williams' kid sister. But when in character, she becomes a mirror into a rich interior world. Her Jane betrays neither glumness nor self-pity; she observes even Rochester, whom she secretly loves, with the poised intelligence of an extraterrestrial visitor. This illuminating stillness is a gift shared by few English-speaking actresses. Her mentor might be the French star Isabelle Huppert, high mistress of revealing a soul without making faces. Hollywood will do itself a favor if it writes new stories on her blank-slate face; if it finds the strength and mystery in Wasikowska that Rochester did in Jane. (Richard Corliss)

Brisbane Times has asked several media celebrities about their favourite 2011 films:
Best film: Jane Eyre:

Mia Wasikowska was in the best Jane Eyre yet, even though they deleted my favourite lines. Helen Morse was glorious in Eye of the Storm. So was Judy Davis. And Snowtown was gruelling but excellent.

Uptown Magazine describes Jane Eyre 2011 as a 'prestige' film; qualia and other wildlife posts about Wuthering Heights 2011; Molly Ringwald discusses the Jane Eyre/Rochester relationship.