"She Should Live in the Attic of a House That Burns Down"

The Boston Globe reviews the latest book by Jamaica Kincaid, See Now Then:

And, in a moment that leaves a lasting wound on their son, he tells Heracles, “I don’t love your mother anymore, I love another woman . . . we were always so incompatible.” Using an unmistakable literary reference to the Creole “madwoman in the attic” in “Jane Eyre,’’ he continues, “she is strange and should live in the attic of a house that burns down, though I don’t want her to be in it when that happens, but if she was in it when the house burned down, I wouldn’t be surprised, she is that kind of person.” (Jane Ciabattari)

The Post & Courier announces a workshop production of Parhelia by Arlene Hutton in Charleston, South Carolina:

Pure Theatre is staging a workshop of the new play “Parhelia” by Arlene Hutton, whose work has been produced off- and off-off-Broadway and at theaters across the United States, in London, and Edinburgh.
Hutton was inspired by Anton Chekov’s “Three Sisters” but has focused instead on the Brontë sisters and their lives outside their literary fame.
In the play, the Brontë siblings have a craving for intellectual pursuits. Charlotte, Emily and Anne are young women who struggle to find meaning in the life they’ve been given.
Bonded, and with their ingenious but unstable brother Branwell, the siblings face the agony of love, loss, rejection and hope.
“Parhelia” is a five-year exploration of the volatile lives of the sisters, who today are recognized as some of the most evocative authors to contribute to classic literature.
“Parhelia” will play Feb. 26-March 10. Tickets can be found at www.puretheatre.org or via phone at 723-4444. (Stephanie Harvin)

The Arizona Daily Star reviews Orwell's Cough among others by John Ross:

Orwell's cough was tuberculosis - a contagious disease that also ravaged the entire Brontë family. (Tom Beal)

The Guardian's On My Radar asks novelist and playwright Deborah Levy about her cultural highlights:

Paula Rego: Witty and bold, her art often puts a spin on fairy tales, such as Red Riding Hood, using narratives told from a female point of view. They are full of children, women and animals, all looking as feral as each other. In the show you can see that Rego has made her own language as an artist, it's bold and unique. She also reinterprets mythical figures and characters from literature, like Jane Eyre. (Gemma Kappala-Ramsamy)

An unexpected Brontë quote is to be found in this article on Greater Kashmir:

The goat-tracks ended up at the vastness of Kungawatan- ‘a sequestered forest glade, with scents of flowers around’ to quote Charlotte Brontë, Yes; I was tired, but not at heart;”- It was aroma of some flowers that had caused some kind of intoxication. (ZGM)

The quote is from Charlotte Brontë's poem The Wood (published in 1846):

These massive roots afford a seat,
Which seems for weary travellers made.
There rest. The air is soft and sweet
In this sequestered forest glade,
And there are scents of flowers around,
The evening dew draws from the ground;

The Indian Express finds that young readers do not read enough classics:

While my generation of Austen fans encountered and grew to love her in their teens, for young readers in India, there is an unappealing whiff of the ancient about the imaginative universe of 19th century England. They would much rather read JRR Tolkien and Stephenie Meyer than Dickens and Brontë. (Amrita Dutta)

The Llanelli Star talks about the Hull Truck production of Jane Eyre touring the UK:

 Playwright Laura Turner, who wrote the new adaptation, said: "I've loved the novel ever since I first read it when I was about 13 and I can remember the world Charlotte Brontë creates so clearly.
"There's something completely enthralling about Jane — she's such a fascinatingly complex character, so full of contradictions in her dreams and ambitions, that she feels real in a way characters in books don't always.
"I think at the centre of Jane Eyre is a dilemma we can all identify with — whether to follow our head or our heart."
And director Nick Lane said the group was looking forward to performing in Llanelli's new theatre.
"Over the past three years we've done literary adaptations for small venues, so this will be a bit different," he said.
"The benefit of having a small cast is everybody's got something they can really get their teeth into.
"If you have a larger cast you get a few actors playing smaller roles and getting a bit frustrated."
And he said many of the themes of Jane Eyre were very relevant today.
He said: "Head versus heart, imagination and the theme of being trapped within a male-dominated society — not as much as in this time, but still fairly so.
"It's a love story, but it's one Jane decides on her own terms."

The Day (Connecticut) comments on the latest developments on Downton Abbey, Jane Eyre-ish plot included; the Brontë Sisters remembers Tabitha Aykroyd who died on a day like today in 1855; The book trail posts about Jane Eyre; Hawzah Book is a supporter of the Branwell-wrote-Wuthering-Heights conspiracy theory; Nada Humano me es ajeno... (in Spanish) reviews Jane Eyre 2011; Evangelicals Now talks about the latests Brontë film adaptations; Katie O'Book on YouTube didn't like Jane Eyre. Finally ArtFund lists seven literary landmarks, including the Brontë Parsonage:

A former residence of not one but three writers, this refurbished Georgian parsonage was once home to the Brontë sisters. With original furnishings, personal relics, paintings, books and manuscripts, the museum is a fitting monument to Britain's greatest literary family.