Wuther-Free Zone

Broadway Buzz talks about the new performances of the Alloy Theatre production of William Luce's Brontë:

Maxine Linehan will make her off-Broadway debut as Jane Eyre author Charlotte Bronte in the Alloy Theatre Company’s production of Brontë: A Portrait of Charlotte. Written by William Luce, the solo play first premiered in 1983 under the title Currer Bell, Esquire and starred five-time Tony winner Julie Harris as Bronte. The off-Broadway revival, directed by Timothy Douglas, begins July 12 at the Actor’s Temple, with an official opening set for August 1.

The Times visits Heathersage:

Charlotte Brontë said it all in the opening line of Jane Eyre: “There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.” She stayed in Hathersage around the time she was writing the novel, and clearly knew about the sort of weather (“clouds so sombre ... rain so penetrating”) lashing my bedroom window at the historic George Hotel.
Brontë spent a month here with friends in the summer of 1845 and may have based some of Jane Eyre on what she saw: not least the novel’s name. The Eyres were a Hathersage family dating back centuries. In the parish church, high on a hill, are brasses to medieval Eyres: the men in flamboyant armour, the women in fur-trimmed gowns, and their children — up to 14 per couple — lined up like trophies. Outside, past a long, thin plot that supposedly marks the grave of Robin Hood’s Little John, the vicarage where Brontë stayed commands an exhilarating view up a rolling dale. I walk up it to North Lees Hall, a crenellated 15th-century manor house reckoned by some to have inspired Thornfield Hall, where Mrs Rochester banged pyromaniacally around in the attic. As in the book, one of North Lees Hall’s female owners went mad, was locked in a padded and died in a fire. Hearteningly, Hathersage hasn’t cashed in on its Jane Eyre connection. As yet, no yet, no one has set up a heritage centre called The Full Brontë; this is a wuther-free zone. Towering and glowering behind North Lees Hall, now run as a holiday let by the Vivat Trust, is Stanage Edge, a four-mile-long inland cliff strewn with boulders. Redefining ruggedness, it featured in a 2006 BBC Jane Eyre, as well. (Stephen McClarence)

Health Goes Strong discusses hiking in the moors:

Last week, I traveled with my friend Dana to the moors of West Yorkshire in England. We're both big fans of the Brontë sisters (authors of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights) and wanted to see the landscape that spawned these masterpieces of English literature. My goal was only to see the parsonage in the village of Haworth where the sisters grew up but Dana had a bigger dream - to hike miles across the moors and find Top Withens , an abandoned farmhouse that is rumored to be the setting for Wuthering Heights. (Barbara Kantrowitz)

Staragora (France) reviews Jane Eyre 2011:

Parallèlement, Cary Fukunaga a laissé une place majeure au féminisme en exprimant un message fort et impactant en valorisant l’égalité de la femme, en montrant les sentiments et la rébellion de Jane Eyre. La condition de la femme est également très représentée avec de nombreuses scènes émouvantes tournées dans le Château de Rochester, lieu principal de l'action. (Translation)

A film that the Sydney Morning Herald clarifies:

No, this is not ''Reader, I bedded him'' (as in the erotic new variant by Eve Sinclair), but ''Reader, I married him'', in the acclaimed version starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender. (Scott Murray)

The artist Catherine Moffat is a rare AnneBrontëite specimen:

When I take to my bed—whatever the illness—it’s a diet of the familiar that gets me through. I turn to my favourite Brontë—Anne, (not as self-indulgent as Emily and less self-satisfied than Charlotte). (Meanjin)

Zimbio interviews Haley Mary, frontwoman of The Jezabels:

What do you find inspiring, lyrically?
H: I find the music quite inspiring, actually, but I suppose if we're talking about themes, I guess...I'm a bit of a fan of old, eighteenth century gothic literature. Like, novels written by Ann Radcliffe and the Brontë sisters and that kind of thing. I said gothic, but I don't mean new age gothic, I mean romanticism and tragedy and all that kind of stuff. But also what that means is that it kind of ties in with sexuality and gender. Particularly female sexuality. (Alicia Diaz Dennis)

Examiner interviews the writer Lynn Cullen:

9. What three novels could you read over and over?
"Heat Wave" by Penelope Lively, "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë, and Ian McEwan’s "On Chesil Beach". These are my go-to books when I’m in a mental jam.   (Kayla Posnen)

Chestnut Hill Local interviews another writer, Justin Kramon:

CH Local: Where did the idea for your book “Finny” come from?
Kramon: The real idea came from old 19th century novels that I really liked – Dickens, Jane Austen, Brontë and Thomas Hardy. (Sue Ann Rybak)

KSL talks about board books and mentions Little Miss Brontë: Jane Eyre:

This is one of the greatest board book series out there. Designed to introduce the literary classics to the youngest readers, these books are delightfully fabulous. The two most recent, “Alice in Wonderland” and “Jane Eyre,” are marvelous, but also check out the first two, “Romeo and Juliet” and “Pride and Prejudice.” They are written by Utah’s Jennifer Adams and beautifully illustrated by the talented Alison Oliver. (Teri Harman)

Vestnik Kavkaza reports the screening of Wuthering Heights 2011 at the Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival (Armenia) last July 9th, in a non-competitive section (a film that Lach und Sachgeschichten in neoliberalen Sphären has seen at the München FilmFest); The Globe and Mail lists ten great literary endings, including the Wuthering Heights one; The Literary Ladies' Guide to the Writing Life posts about Charlotte Brontë; Peep into the Oyster reviews The Professor; Kerri Bennett Williamson posts about Jane Eyre; I just read... briefly posts about The Flight of Gemma Hardy; Revista Cultural Urbana (in Spanish) and Le Blog de Kat and Carnet de Lectures et autres futilités (both in French) review Jane Eyre 2011; Anna's Book Blog interviews Marta Acosta, author of Dark Companion; Foolscap & Ink thinks that Jane Eyre behaves with Adèle like Aunt Reed behaved with her.