Drawings on a fig leaf and a Regency bedstead

The Chicago Tribune welcomes the new edition of Julier Barker's The Brontës which is published in the US in August under the name The Brontës: Wild Genius on the Moors:

A new biography of the Brontë clan — those tragic, mysterious creatures who drifted through the mists and, fortunately for us, committed their visions to paper — marks a milestone in Brontë studies: At 1,200 ink-drenched pages, this book exceeds the combined weight of the Brontë sisters themselves.
That's just a hunch, of course; the mortal portion of the Brontës is no longer available to set on a scale. But it's a good bet because "The Brontës: Wild Genius on the Moors" (Pegasus) by Juliet Barker, scheduled to be published Aug. 15, is a gentle giant of a book, an impressively massive hunk of erudition. (...)
The arrival of "The Brontës" — upon which I've just embarked — inspired me to recollect other wondrously huge and compelling books and series, other meaty chunks of verbiage that arrive before our surprised eyes like meteors from some unfathomable distant place, hot to the touch and glowing with promise. (Julia Keller)

The Library Journal reviews this new edition:

British historian and literary scholar Barker (Wordsworth: A Life) has, after 16 years, produced a second edition of her massive and insightful work on the Brontë family. In addition to the two new subtitles, Barker has incorporated material from sources published since her first edition. She makes use of Margaret Smith’s three-volume Selected Letters of Charlotte Brontë, as well as Victor Neufeldt’s three-volume Works of Patrick Branwell Brontë. As Barker points out in her introduction, works like those are invaluable because much of Brontë scholarship prior to her own first edition was too often hampered by a lack of edited and published transcriptions. While the new source materials flesh out this impressive second edition, none of Barker’s conclusions have changed significantly since the first edition.
Verdict:  For such a dense and scholarly work, Barker has produced an engaging and readable study for serious fans or scholars of the Brontë family and their period of English history. Academic libraries will find this a useful addition to their collections if they don’t already own the first edition. If they have the first edition, they should consider this optional. (Felicity D. Walsh, Emory Univ., Decatur, GA)

Many news outlets discuss yesterday's press release presenting a new erotic retelling of Jane Eyre (and we are still a bit perplexed that regardless of the quality of the book no one is saying that this is not exactly a new, groundbreaking move):

'Reader, I married him'', the most famous line in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, might take on a slightly bluer hue when the 1847 novel gets an erotic rewrite this summer. (James Hall in the Sydney Morning Herald)

Jane Eyre Laid Bare, an erotic reimagining of the Charlotte Brontë classic, is set to hit the shelves this summer. It will explore the 'smouldering sexual chemistry' between Jane and Mr Rochester and the publishers hope it will tap into the booming erotic fiction trend. Would the novel benefit from the adult treatment? (The Guardian)

No heroine of Victorian literature is safe. A steamed-up version of Charlotte Brontë's masterpiece is going to be published in August, under the title Jane Eyre Laid Bare. (...)
But Jane Eyre Laid Bare – really? Could they not do better than that? Why did they have to tamper with that purest of protagonists, ruin her subtly sublimated sexuality and destroy her perfectly pitched internal monologue, which reads like thought itself? To ratchet explicit sex in there is infra dig. It's a betrayal of a more innocent era, and more decorous modes of expression. It's like going up to a classical work of art with a marker pen and drawing a cock and balls over the fig leaf. (Hermione Eyre in The Independent)

After the success of the book Fifty Shades Of Grey, featuring adult bondage scenes, Jane Eyre is to be sexed up for a modern audience. The lasting magic of Charlotte Brontë’s novel was that the passion was implicit. Jane tied by Rochester to his Regency bedstead? Reader, they’ll ruin it. (Amanda Platell in Daily Mail)

Also in The Times.

More news about the grant that Elizabeth Gaskell's house has received. As reported in the Manchester Evening News:

Campaigners have secured £1.85m to complete the restoration of the former home of writer Elizabeth Gaskell.
The villa in Plymouth Grove, Ardwick, where the famous author lived with her family for 15 years, is now a major step closer to being brought back to its Victorian glory.
Historians have been fundraising for more than a decade to preserve the unique landmark. The total restoration bill will come to £2.5m.
The house is where Elizabeth Gaskell wrote many of her novels, including Cranford and Wives and Daughters.
The first phase of work – costing £700,000 – to fix the leaking roof, drains and structural damage began in 2009.
The building’s distinctive pink paint was also stripped off and replaced with a period off-white.
But now campaigners will be able to restore the bedrooms and reception rooms and create a visitor learning area, thanks to the cash boost from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The Grade II* listed building was home to Elizabeth Gaskell from 1850-65. She lived there with her four daughters and husband and had many notable visitors, including Charles Dickens and Charlotte Brontë.
Janet Allen from the Friends of Plymouth Grove group said: “We are ecstatic. It’s been a hard road but this money will ensure the future of the building.
“It means it will be open to the public of Manchester to enjoy. The people of Manchester should be very proud because it’s one of very few writer houses in the north west.”
Sara Hillton, from Heritage Lottery Fund North West, said: “We are delighted to be able to support the restoration of Gaskell House.
“This building is hugely important to Manchester – both because of its association with Elizabeth Gaskell and as a rare remaining example of a Victorian suburban villa.”

Is Tanya Gold really comparing Gordon Brown to St John Rivers in The Guardian?

It is not only on the right. Sarah Brown was a good wife, all warmth and suffering and good clothes, Jane Eyre married to St John Rivers, with a charge account at Missoni. 

And talking about Gordon Brown's former self as Heathcliff, is this columnist of The Globe and Mail really suggesting a Heathcliff-like approach to girls?

What Novel Can Help Me Charm the Ladies?
That’s not really what novels do, I’m afraid. While there are undoubtedly occasions when pretending to have read a literary masterwork has assisted in certain intimate campaigns, this is not recommended practice.
That said, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights may provide some tips on bringing out your inner, irresistible Heathcliff (stopping short of the measures he ultimately takes, of course). In any case, mastering the charms of a Byronic hero (or even gaining familiarity with the phrase) might well make for an enticing hook while working the speed-dating circuit.  (Andrew Pyper)

The new reduced schedule of Oakwell Hall and the Red House has been approved and The Huddersfield Examiner gives the details:

Kimiyo Rickett, the council’s assistant director for communities and leisure, decided on the cuts this week after the matter was passed on to her by elected councillors.
The new opening hours will come into force on October 1 at Tolson Museum as well as Oakwell Hall Visitor Centre in Birstall; Dewsbury Museum in Crow Nest Park and Bagshaw Museum in Batley.
Ms Rickett has also decided to reduce the opening hours at the council’s two historic houses – Oakwell Hall and Red House in Gomersal.
Both Bronte-linked attractions are currently open from 11am until 5pm on weekdays and from midday until 5pm at weekends.
But the two historic homes will be closed on Mondays and Fridays throughout the year.
Oakwell Hall and Red House will be open from 11am to 4pm on winter Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and from 11am to 5pm on midweek days in the summer.
The attractions will open from midday to 4pm during winter weekends and from midday to 5pm during the summer.

Ms Rickett wrote: “This decision was made in order to reduce costs in line with a decision of the council to reduce the budgetary provision for museums and historic houses.
“This decision was made on the basis of minimising the impact on service delivery to the public, bearing in mind the times of day and days of the week they currently visit.
“The opening hours selected were also designed to minimise the loss of income to the service”. (Barry Gibson)

Howard Jacobson replies in The Independent to Simon Armitage's article in The Guardian about Michael Gove's plans on English curriculum:

We did "English" literature at school, and didn't as a consequence grow into nationalistic, flag-waving bigots who wanted no truck with literature from any other place. A number of us were Jewish. Englishness, as we struggled to understand it – and that meant wondering if there ever was or could be such a thing – neither menaced nor excluded us. And no one, I am pleased to say, thought we should be given Sholem Aleichem to read instead of Charlotte Brontë.

Precisely Simon Armitage writes in The Financial Times about the project Poetry Parnassus.

[Nassaria Suckoo-Chollette] grew up in the capital, George Town, daughter of an Indian-Jamaican father and a Caymanian mother. They did not own a television until she was 11, so she listened to The Clitheroe Kid on the radio, and read everyone from Enid Blyton to Emily Brontë. “I would read a book and my mother would talk to me and I wouldn’t hear her,” she says. “I’m very emotionally affected by what I read.” (Interviews by Natalie Whittle and Andres Schipani)

Are you thinking that your library needs a clear-out? Look at what has happened at the Manchester Central Library after such a thing:

Rare and valuable treasures have been uncovered by bosses as part of a major operation to catalogue more than 500,000 books from Manchester Central Library. The finds include a British classic and an illustrated guide to birds believed to be worth more than £5,500. Both were lost in the bowels of the library over time.
Staff discovered a copy of the first-ever Penguin edition of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights in paperback, which was bought in 1946 but was last accessed by anyone wanting to read Catherine and Heathcliff’s love story in 1972. (Manchester Evening News)

The Times discusses lies:

Pride and Prejudice tops the list of unread “favourite” books. Interestingly, less than half of the nation recognises Emily Brontë as the author of Wuthering Heights (quite a lot of people think that Kate Bush wrote it, which is at least honest, if hopeless). (Mimi Spencer)

La Nación (Argentina) recommends the DVD edition of Jane Eyre 2011 (in Argentina the film has gone straight to DVD):

Entre las múltiples aristas de la historia (con su mixtura de aspectos religiosos, erotismo contenido, comedia victoriana y terror gótico), la calidad del reparto y el impecable despliegue narrativo y visual que propone Fukunaga, Jane Eyre -que el sello AVH estrenó aquí de forma directa en DVD- surge como una opción más que tentadora en el mercado hogareño. (Diego Batlle) (Translation)

Aufeminin (France) is still waiting for the French premiere of the film.

ActuaLitté (France) reviews Thomas H. Cook's Chatham School Affair:

L'histoire se passe dans une Amérique blanche et puritaine, au milieu des années 20, dans la petite ville de Chatham en Nouvelle-Angleterre, près de Cap Cod. Entre falaises élevées, dangereusement escarpées et mer démontée, dans une ambiance chère à Emily Brontë, un adolescent, Henry Griswald, aspire à une autre vie, plus libre, plus passionnée. (Cécile Pelerin) (Translation)

Omroep Brabant (Netherlands) talks about an audition for a Jane Eyre production in November but reserved only to 70+ actors.

Joycebean reviews Wuthering Heights 2011 and Betraktninger (in Norwegian) does the same with the original novel;  onereadleaf posts about Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea; Buckettriper recommends a visit to Haworth and Brontë country; sheherazade2000 and Mille et un classiques (both in French) review Les Soeurs Brontë 1979; staserafilm (in Italian) reviews Jane Eyre 1996. Finally, A Literary Odyssey is giving away a copy of Shirley.