A vivd picture of 19th Century Haworth

The Stevens Point Journal announces a student performance of Jane Eyre (adapted by Helen Jerome) in Rosholt, WI:

The Rosholt High School Drama Department will present “Jane Eyre,” a play by Helen Jerome based on the classic novel by Charlotte Brontë, at 7 p.m. today [for yesterday, May 3] and Saturday in the auditorium at Rosholt High School, 346 W. Randolph St., Rosholt.
The production includes a cast of 28 students in grades six through 12. It is directed by Kathryn Kawleski.

The Telegraph & Argus carries an article about Ann Dinsdale's new book At Home with the Brontës and the  paperback release of The Brontës at Haworth:

So much has been written about the Brontës, you might wonder what could be said about them that hasn’t been said before.
But local expert Ann Dinsdale has found enough material for two quite different books drawing on the famous family of writers.
The Brontës at Haworth is published by Frances Lincoln while At Home with the Brontës is from Amberley Publishing, both costing £14 99.
In the first book Ann, the librarian at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, presents a thorough, comprehensive account of the Brontës and the people and places that shaped them.
She considers the family and their work within the social and historic context of Haworth, and explores how the village came to be a world-famous literary shrine.
Ann traces the story of each family member, explores their novels and poetry, and presents a detailed picture of Haworth in the mid-19th century.
The book is beautifully illustrated with rarely-seen images from the Haworth archives, including drawings by Charlotte and Emily, and haunting pictures by photographer Simon Warner.
While Ann creates a vivid picture of 19th century Haworth, she doesn’t romanticise the place. (...)
At Home with the Brontës has been published to coincide with a new exhibition at the museum which focuses on the building and those who lived in it.
Ann explores the impact of the Brontës’ home on the sisters’ writing and what it was like for their successors living in a literary shrine. (...)
Ann uses a variety of sources, mostly unpublished, to portray the stories.

The New York Times reviews The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud:

Reading the title of Claire Messud’s latest novel, anyone of a literary turn of mind will immediately think of the madwoman in the attic, the 19th century’s best-known “woman upstairs.” In “Jane Eyre,” Bertha Mason was the first wife of the master of Thornfield Hall, who shut her away and, in so doing, opened the door to more than a hundred years of impassioned feminist criticism. This connection is entirely intentional, as Messud quickly makes plain. “We’re not the madwomen in the attic,” argues her “reliable,” “organized” protagonist, a teacher named Nora Eldridge, referring to unmarried women like herself, “numerous” in their 20s and 30s, “positively legion” in their 40s and 50s. “We’re the quiet woman at the end of the third-floor hallway, whose trash is always tidy, who smiles brightly in the stairwell.” Outwardly they may seem “benignant” (to use a Brontëan word), but inwardly, Nora declares, they seethe. “People don’t want to worry about the Woman Upstairs,” she reflects. “Not a soul registers that we are furious. We’re completely invisible.” In time, she will resolve to “use that invisibility, to make it burn.” (Liesl Schillinger)

Deb Amlen is thrilled with today's New York Times Saturday Puzzle because

What makes their puzzles worthwhile are the nuggets of gold in both the entries and the cluing. It’s hard to limit myself to a few entries, but I particularly liked THIS IS TRUE, NURSE RATCHED, RIP VAN WINKLE, RACONTEURS, SKATE KEYS, DEAD LETTER, HOWDY DOODY, SOLAR LAMP and ANNE BRONTË.

Coincidentally, yesterday's Quiz Crossword in The Mirror also contained a Brontë question:

 Author of the novel Wuthering Heights; published under the pseudonym Ellis Bell 

Just Press Play and Edge Boston review Wuthering Heights 2011:

This adaptation brings new insight into the story of Wuthering Heights and will urge viewers to pick up the book and read it again, searching for this intense and dark world that they missed when they read it in high school. Arnold set out to create a new take on this beloved classic, and that’s exactly what she has done. The film has a slow pace that emphasizes that this is about more than just plot; this film is a character study of the classic figure of Heathcliff. Fans of Emily Brontë’s novel—or fans of period pieces in general—should enjoy this nuanced exploration of the novel and its themes. (John Keith) 

Rather than focus on race, Arnold chose to examine more thoughtful issues like class, and the loss of innocence. Our unrequited lovers are drawn together by mutual alienation from society. This pair would have been rejected based on their recklessness and inequality of station regardless of their races.  (Kitty Drexel)

Marlo Thomas in The Huffington Post lists several women 'who passed as men' in pursuit of their dreams. The Brontës are included although technically they didn't try to pass as men, but avoided being recognised as women, which is not exactly the same. The quote is full of mistakes: the publishers knew nothing about their identity and it was Charlotte who made their identities public after Emily and Anne died:

Charlotte (pictured), Emily and Anne Brontë all became writers at a young age. Their first work, simply called Poems, was released under their pen names -- Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell -- because their publisher  feared that using their real names could hurt the company’s reputation [WRONG!]. After many attempts to have their novels published, all three sisters finally found success in 1847 -- with Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, Emily’s Wuthering Heights and Anne’s Agnes Grey. All three books were met with praise [WRONG!]; and only after they reached their literary acclaim did the sisters reveal their true identities. [WRONG!]

The Vernon Morning Star reviews the latest album by Depeche Mode, Delta Machine:

The 13th album with 13 songs – the lords of the lugubrious are back with synth-rock that Lord Byron and the Brontë sisters would crave. (Dean Gordon-Smith)

Another music album reviewed with Brontë references is Deerhunter's Monomania. Here is The Independent (Ireland) review:

First of all, a quick psychology lesson. Monomania is a term from 19th-century psychiatry to describe partial insanity. It peppers classic literature from Balzac, Dostoevsky and Brontë's Wuthering Heights and is now also the title of the fifth album from self-described 'ambient punk' pioneers Deerhuntert. (Eamon Sweeney)

New York Magazine's The Cut talks about the myth of the 'younger woman':

Charlotte Brontë may have pulled a mythic romance out of the liaison of Rochester (“perhaps he might be 35”) and Jane Eyre (18). But the second wave to feminism rather took the air out of that balloon. By 1978, when Jill Clayburgh gave an iconic performance in An Unmarried Woman, it was the older woman left behind who was the focus of sympathy. (Michelle Dean)

The Boar asks some writers about their own bookshelves:

Josh Denoual
Looking at my bookshelf I realise I am a book hoarder. I’ve built an impressive collection of books I’ve never even opened – yes I’m looking at you Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake. From the top shelf, there’s a lot of classics: Hardy, Brontës, etc. (...)
Lillian Hingley
Considering that I share my bookshelf with my twin sister, there is a bit of a dissonance between the representations of my personality in the physical presence of my book collection. Therefore, if we subtract the eccentricity of the likes of the science fiction of Piers Anthony and invasion of Sherlock DVDs, I’d like to think that my bookshelf, from Emily Brontë poetry to A Clockwork Orange, demonstrates a multiplicity of tastes from the dystopian to the more ‘classical’ English literature canon, whatever that indeed means. (Michael Perry)

Exeposé reviews Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier:

Like Wuthering Heights, the nature of the inn is highly important for the development of the novel – its presence is brooding, unsettling and dark. (Conor Byrne)

The Hindustan Times's Live Mint traces a profile of the actor Dilip Kumar:

Abdul Rashid Kardar’s Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966) is a petered down Wuthering Heights. As Shankar, he had to find Heathcliff’s dark beats in Naushad’s music and Shakil Badayuni’s lyrics (Koi sagar dil ko bahalata nahin ; Phir teri kahani yaad ayi ). (Sanjukta Sharma)

Style (Italy) recommends Jane Eyre 2011:

Jane Eyre di Cary Fukunaka (2011) perché come avrete capito si basa sull’omonimo romanzo di Charlotte Brontë. Bellissimi da vedere insieme sono Mia Wasikowska e Michael Fassbender anche se Mia non possiede quella magia che sprigionava da Charlotte Gainsbourg, nella versione di Zeffirelli del 1996. (Valinautoironica) (Translation)

jaffareadstoo... has visited Haworth and the Parsonage;  Delirious Documentations posts about the Classical Comics Jane Eyre adaptation; Paper Trail is reading April Lindner's Jane; timelordsandwizards reviews Jane Eyre.