Haworth Represents Individual Expression

Keighley News gives more details about the refusal by the Bradford council to wind turbine applications in Brontë country:

The Oakworth turbine plan, whose applicant was Geoff Batley, would have been sited in the Worth and North Beck Character Area, and was refused because of the harm it could do to this landscape, famed for its links with the Brontë sisters. The decision said: “It would bring about negative visual impact from viewpoints that include publicly-accessible moorland associated with the Brontës. This has the potential to adversely affect a landscape that is internationally important in literary heritage terms, and which generates a significant amount of tourism.”

The Yorkshire Post looks into the ongoing Victoria Brookland exhibition at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, A Thousand, Thousand Gleaming Fires (until next July 29):

The artist has exhibited at the museum before, in 2007 with a show entitled Secret Self, and has a long-standing interest in the Brontës going back nearly 30 years. She says Haworth, for her, symbolises female creativity in isolation.
The title of the exhibition is taken from a poem by Emily Brontë, A Day Dream published in 1846. “Emily Brontë very much connects with the idea of making art outside of the establishment,” says Brookland. “I feel that Haworth represents ‘individual expression’ as opposed to the ‘art world’. So the idea of exhibiting there was very appealing to me.”
As preparation for both her 2007 exhibition and the current one, Brookland was invited to visit the museum and view the collection, and the artefacts she saw have had a significant influence on her work.
“The object that has had a most profound impact on my work is the dress in its case in Charlotte Brontë’s bedroom,” she says. “Items of clothing are so personal and evocative. The dress suggests themes of absence, of loss of freedom and restriction, of isolation and subjectivity. It also suggests to me all the literary heroines that I was so transfixed by as a teenager – Jane Eyre, Catherine Earnshaw, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Madame Bovary.”
Equally influential on Brookland’s work were the manuscripts in the museum collection – they have contributed to the appearance of the pen and ink drawings which feature handwriting, ink blots and inky fingerprints. “The manuscripts have a vibrancy about them that the printed page doesn’t have,” she says. “I want to convey that energy and life that you sense when you look at a manuscript.”

The List looks at Patti Smith's next gigs:

Death and loss continue to be powerful themes in Smith’s work, whether reflecting on great artists cut down before their time – she recently performed a show at the Brontë sisters’ home in Yorkshire – or the tragic deaths of her husband and brother.

The Star (Malaysia) talks about the success of E.L. James's Grey saga and the subject of fanfiction is brought up:

Known simply as fanfic, this genre of storytelling has actually been around for quite some time. Some even say Charlotte Brontë and her siblings pioneered it when they started writing fantasy adventures based on Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington – an actual person. In today’s world, that’s known as real-person fanfic – very popular among One Direction and Kpop fans. (Denielle Leong)

New York Times quotes from My Lunches with Orson. Conversations Between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles edited by Peter Biskind

When Richard Burton walks up to Welles’s table at Ma Maison to humbly ask if Elizabeth Taylor can come over and say hi, Orson brusquely brushes them off, even though he had been entranced by Taylor as a child, when they were both in “Jane Eyre.” Pointing to his pug nose — which he elongated with fake ­noses in “Citizen Kane” and “Jane Eyre” — Welles explains to Jaglom: “You have to do something to let them know that you’re not just a little creature. You have to be the ruler of the forest. People want me to be ‘Orson Welles.’ They want the dancing bear show.” (Maureen Dowd)

Portland Monthly Magazine interviews the comedian and writer Jackie Kashian:

Speaking of which, have you got your erotic fan fiction ready to go?
Yes I do. I am going to competitively fan-fic erotically. But I don't think I'm supposed to tell you my subject. There's two different rounds to the show and I'm doing the one where we have our fan-fic already written. There's also going to be topics from the audience, and competitors have a half-hour to come up with something. The last time I competed, I won with a mashup of J. Peterman catalog descriptions. … I thought about doing Wuthering Heights fan fiction, because I always wanted those two to date, instead of just living their horrible lives to get revenge. But I tried to reread it and it made me sad. It was like trying to watch Schindler's List on a Sunday afternoon. (John Chandler)

Discover reviews Rabid: A Cultural History Of The World’s Most Diabolical Virus by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy:

It’s a delightful read spanning the stories of Odysseus and American frontiersmen, of the Brontë sisters and Stephen King, and of Christian saints and vampires. (Rebecca Kreston)

El País (Uruguay) reviews Jeffrey Eugenides's The Marriage Plot:

Algo así, en esa línea, viene a plantear Jeffrey Eugenides con su tercera novela, La trama nupcial (2011), extenso relato de estudiantes en el que también planea la sombra femenina de cierta literatura inglesa (Austen, las Brontë, George Eliot) pero leída bajo la lupa feminista de teóricas estadounidenses como Susan Gubar y Sandra Gilbert, o bajo la del semiólogo y crítico francés Roland Barthes. (Mercedes Estramil) (Translation)

Las Horas Perdidas (Spain) talks about I Walked with a Zombie 1943:

El libreto de [Curt] Siodmak, en el que también metió mano Ardel Wray, recoge un artículo periodístico que no era muy del agrado de Lewton a quien se le ocurrió la brillante idea de mezclar el contenido del mismo con la historia de ‘Jane Eyre’, la novela de Charlotte Brontë. (Translation)

SoloLibri devotes an article to A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf:

La Woolf passa in rassegna i più noti autori del tempo, e si sofferma sulle grandi scrittrici, che, grazie al loro carisma, si sono sapute imporre, aprendo le porte all’evoluzione che ci ha condotti fin qui. Jane Austen, Emily Brontë e Charlotte Brontë sono solo alcuni dei nomi che l’autrice analizza e commenta con entusiasmo e preparazione. (Astrea Celene) (Translation)

Gadzeto Mania (Poland) talks about Helen Burns's death in Jane Eyre:

Do “Jane Eyre” podchodziłem jak pies do jeża. Smutna historia okrutnie traktowanej przez życie Jane miała malutkie światełko nadziei w postaci przyjaciółki Heleny. Dziewczęta związuje przyjaźń tak wierna, że długo by szukać w historii literatury równie pasjonującego opisu bractwa dusz.
I nagle Helena umiera. Kona obejmując rękami szyję Jane. Szkoła z internatem w którym przebywały, padła ofiarą epidemii tyfusu. Byłem zdruzgotany. Dziś jestem wdzięczny autorce, bo właśnie takie historie uczą nas pokory do wszystkiego, co mamy i będziemy mieli w życiu. (Mariusz Kamiński) (Translation)

Fluttering Butterfiles interviews the author Sam Hepburn:

Which author would render you speechless if you were to meet unexpectedly?
As far as dead ones go I think it would have to be Charlotte Brontë. I once made a two part drama documentary about her life and it is almost impossible to believe that anyone who led such a narrow, cheerless existence could have written such powerful books.

Another interview with a writer. Man Loves Authors talks with Cassandra Pierce:

Q: What qualities do you think are important for the hero in a romance? Are there types of men you prefer to write about?
A: I like a strong, dark alpha guy who has a vulnerability of some sort. I always say that Wuthering Heights was my first and best literary inspiration, and of course that’s because of Heathcliff. There’s a little Heathcliff in every successful romance hero, I think, and mine are no exception. They have to be larger than life and a little dangerous. Maybe that’s why I am so into vampires.

Almada Newspaper (in Arabian) reviews Jane Eyre 1944; the Devils Lake Journal things that Jane Eyre 2011 was 'terrific';  The Miami Hurricane informs that last year a course devoted to Jane Eyre was proposed at the University of Miami but was finally refused; I Solemnly Swear reviews Wuthering Heights; the Brontë Parsonage Facebook publishes a curious picture of a 'grotesque' at the top of Haworth Church tower.