Elegant and Graceful

Shanghai Daily gives details of the new Jane Eyre ballet which will be premiered in November:

The Shanghai Ballet will stage its version of "Jane Eyre" in which Mr Rochester's mad wife Bertha plays a major role.
The ballet will be staged at the Shanghai Grand Theater on November 18 and 19 as part of the Shanghai International Arts Festival.
It is choreographed by German choreographer Patrick De Bana, and stage sets and costumes are designed by Jerome Kaplan from France.
In her first appearance, governess Jane Eyre crawls out of a suitcase she takes to Edward Rochester's Thornfield Hall. In a dramatic scene representing emotional struggles, Jane Eyre, Rochester and Bertha struggle in vain to escape from a transparent glass box.
The ballet was inspired by the namesake Chinese stage version presented at the Shanghai Grand Theater last December.
"I watched the play, heard the lines and could not help picturing Jane Eyre as the heroine in ballet - elegant and graceful," says Xin Lili, president of Shanghai Ballet. "The conversations were just so suitable for pas de deux."
She discussed the idea with Shanghai Grand Theater and with Yu Rongjun, the scriptwriter of the Chinese drama "Jane Eyre." "Bana's choreography is quite modern, unique but not abstract. I think Chinese audience will like it," Xin says.
The score will be composed from existing works that will assist in telling the story of the young English governess who falls in love with her employer Rochester, who keeps his mad wife locked away in the mansion. The famous novel "Jane Eyre" by Emily Brontë (SIC!!!) was published in 1847 in London.
Mahler's works are strong candidates, according to Qian Shijin, artistic director of Shanghai Grand Theater.
The ballet script was written by Yu who also created the stage version. He agreed to write a very different ballet version.
"The script for a dance drama needs to be simple and condensed, but detailed as well," Yu says. "Ballet is an art on toes that requires an elegant, peaceful and calm altitude in creation. What I want to deliver is not only simple storytelling but also an atmosphere that lingers throughout the show."
In rounds of discussions with Bana, Yu created a script with a simpler structure than that of the play, one that emphasizes the three main characters - Jane Eyre, Rochester and his demented wife Bertha - and their emotional turmoil.
Bertha is almost never given a leading role in various adaptations of the work, so her appearance as a major character in this ballet is unusual.
"Jane Eyre has been popular in China for generations, but the long popularity also placed considerable restrictions on how we see the novel," playwright Yu says.
"Bertha is a mad women, but her existence is always a key to the relationship between Jane Eyre and Rochester," he says. "I did plan to have Bertha appear as major character in the previous drama, but failed. This time I will do it.
"I hope the story will be powerful rather than peaceful," Yu concludes. "I want this version of 'Jane Eyre' to slap the audience in the head, rather than just provide entertainment." (Zhang Qian)

Culturopoing (France) reviews Jane Eyre 2011:

Au-delà de l’aspect gothico-romantique, Fukunaga a également préservé les quelques touches à caractère surnaturel du roman, ajoutant à son film des moments presque angoissants, le mettant définitivement à part d’autres métrages du même genre et en particulier, ceux de James Ivory. Le réalisateur américain ne possède pas cette sensibilité anglaise assez particulière et qui laisse de nombreux spectateurs de marbre. Là où les films d’Ivory restent bien ancrés dans le réel, leur conférant ainsi une certaine lourdeur, Fukunaga embarque le spectateur dans une atmosphère autrement plus envoûtante à la lisière d’un film fantastique. Et signe sans doute la plus belle adaptation de Jane Eyre jusque là. (Marija Nielsen) (Translation)

The San Francisco Chronicle reviews The Bay of Foxes by Sheila Kohler:

Ultimately, though, the last half of the novel is so engrossing that we forget these infelicities. There is familiar ground — the Italian Riviera has featured before in stories such as "Miracles in America," as have moneyed Europeans with servants and grand houses — but we are a million miles away from Kohler’s Brontë history Becoming Jane Eyre, and the emotions here are headier and more complex. (Malcolm Forbes)

Something is wrong here: either the journalist didn't put it right or the Indian student genius with a record score in SAT and TOEFL is not such a genius after all:

An avid fan of Jan Eyre (SIC) and John Grisham, she believes that there is nothing extraordinary in her achievement "Yes, I am very happy, but I am like any other kid. I do like to study but I also play tennis and read fiction. My favourite authors are Jane Eyre (SIC!!!!), John Grisham and Jawaharlal Nehru," she says.  (Daily Bhaskar)

PopCrush discusses the clip of the song Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey.

Eventually, the pair [Lana and Jaime King], in a tragedy worthy of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’ for the digital age, reunite. It’s a haunting visual in more ways than one, and absolutely one worth watching more than once.  (Jessica Sager)

The Age lists a top ten of movies including Jane Campion's The Piano:

Jane Campion's lush 1993 love story borrows from the Brontës and adds a colonial setting, surrealism and a post-feminist viewpoint. (Jake Wilson)

The Express & Star asks several readers about Fifty Shades of Grey:

Student Holly Dodd says: “It seems we no longer have to be embarrassed about indulging in a little harmless erotica on the way to work – I was sat opposite a woman thumbing through a copy on the tube with perfect indifference the other day and couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, but certainly wasn’t offended. However, when I hear that the popularity of the book has inspired an adult fiction publisher to give classics such as Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice an erotic retelling I see fifty shades of red!” (Louise Jew)

Giles Coren jokes about the erotic retellings of classics in The Times:

I have listened to all sorts of literary snobs cry out at the crimes that have been committed against such texts as (obviously) Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice and said to myself, actually, no, this is a good thing. Literature is boring.

The Australian interviews the playwrights Angela Betzien and Leticia Caceres. The former says:

"I remember being very conscious of and disappointed by the landscape of my childhood. Central Queensland is not a particularly aesthetic area. It is beef country and the environment has been destroyed by land clearing and farming. I was reading the Brontës and I desperately wanted to be roaming the gothic moors of England. I looked around and I was so disappointed by my life."  (Sharon Verghis)

The National (UAE) reviews the English translation of Malvina or the Heart's Intuition (1816) by Maria Wirtemberska:

Fans of angst-filled romances might find something to appreciate in the familiar settings, provided they look past the purple prose and vacuous characters. If that fails, it might be time to dig up an old copy of Wuthering Heights.  (Noori Passela)

PRWeb informs about a book signing by Marta Acosta, author of Dark Companion:

The St. Louis County Library Foundation’s Reading Garden Event Series presents a special night for teen fans of paranormal fiction. Authors Lisa Desrochers, Kendare Blake, and Maria Acosta will read and discuss recent work on Saturday, August 18, 7:00 p.m. at Library Headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd. 

Au Feminin (in French) reviews several adaptations of Jane Eyre: 2011, 1944, 1983, 1996 and 2006.

Another model student and Brontëite in the Saturday Tribune (Nigeria); more Brontëites in Lakes Region Weekly; Les Soeurs Brontë (in French) compiles several portraits inspired by the two known portraits of Emily Brontë; Let's Fly Away, Marie-Poterie (in French), Najlepsze książki na deszczowe dni (in Polish) and Book Reviews review Jane Eyre; Romantic Historical Lovers includes Wuthering Heights 1992 in a personal selection of film literary adaptations;  Chef indienne, styliste pour moustaches, dresseuse de loutres. Et en plus elle lit (in French) reviews Agnes Grey; Diffuser.fm reviews Flea's Helen Burns EP; Hiromi-life posts about Wuthering Heights; Film jest kobietą (in Polish) reviews Wuthering Heights 2011.