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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Here's a round of Twilight influences for you. From The Atlantic:
Appropriately enough, Meyer's explanation for the genesis of Twilight begins like a fairytale: It came to her in a dream. Her dewy-eyed protagonist Bella Swan and her brooding, sparkly male vampire Edward Cullen have a romance deliberately modeled on the kind written by Charlotte Brontë and Jane Austen more than 200 years earlier; their courtship is characterized by obsessive devotion and physical chastity. (Scott Meslow)
The Fort Leavenworth Lamp states the obvious:
The story isn’t as deep as another famous dark, ill-fated romance, Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre,” which is one of my favorite novels. Jane Eyre is a much stronger protagonist, and the struggles and challenges she must overcome give the story a lot more emotional heft. (Ashley Bergner)
The Thao Van Hoa (Vietnam) mentions Wuthering Heights among the classics that shaped the saga.

Onto more influences as the Washington Post reviews Alice Munro's collection of short stories Dear Life and comments on the first story.
Men are generally negative fields of force in these 14 rueful stories, with women seemingly only in their planetary orbit. Consider Miss Vivien Hyde, who in the last months of World War II goes to a remote northern sanitarium to teach children stricken with tuberculosis. In this Jane Eyre situation, she meets Dr. Fox, her “preoccupied future employer,” and finds that he is “the sort of person who posed questions that were traps for you to fall into.” And though over the next few weeks Dr. Fox gives her signs that he thinks she is “a bother and a fool,” he invites her for dinner in his cold, book-strewn house and at the end of the evening kisses her forehead “with hasty authority.” (Ron Hansen)
Christian News Wire has a press release about the book Seventh Dimension - The Door by Lorilyn Roberts and its author is revealed as a Brontëite.
"I spent two years developing the plot," says Roberts, "as part of my Masters in Creative Writing. I love the classics, particularly books by Charles Dickens, Fydor Dostoevsky, Emily Brontë, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. I hoped to provide an entertaining story that would evoke deep spiritual longing." 
News Letter has an article on how the classics bridge the gap between a grandmother and her granddaughter
“My granny and I both enjoy the classics – Jane Austen; the Brontë Sisters; Little Women by Louisa M Alcott is our absolute favourite. She also read The Catcher in The Rye which I’m studying for A-level along with The Outsider by Camus and poetry.
“I would lend granny books or she would lend me books and we would discuss them after dinner or over a cup of tea. Sometimes we go for lunch and gran tells me about the courses she goes to, like her English literature course, what they’d learned that day, what the craic was. We’re very close – definitely.
“I live about five minutes away and try to call in to see her most days after school.”
Joan and Emily find their perspectives on a particular book are broadened by their conversations.
“I think we have similar tastes in literature though we don’t always agree”, says Emily, “but I appreciate getting her opinion on things – it’s really helpful. It’s great to swap books with each other and have a shared interest that brings you closer together.”
The Flintshire Chronicle reviews the Chester Theatre Club production of We Are Three Sisters.
But amid the sadness, humour seeped into much of the play, particularly from Mary Pemble as Tabby the housekeeper, John Mackay as the Teacher and Veronica Herd as odious Mrs Robinson, pursuing the infatuated Branwell.
And Danielle Carrington as Anne, Laura Smith as Charlotte and Rose Elliott as Emily Brontë, all excelled as the yearning sisters in their prim Victorian frocks, revealing their differences as clearly as their sisterly intimacy.
Mention must be made too of the set design (Tony Kemp, Jane Barth) and particularly Jill Kemp’s excellent artwork. (Jan Bengree)
Miladysboudoir posts about a trip to the Brontë Parsonage Museum and Haworth while Fellowshipofthening discusses Ponden Hall on YouTube. Fred Bell Paintings has a portrait of Emily Brontë.

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