Still among the best novels

The Times Literary Supplement proves that those best novels list are products of their time by printing an 1898 list. Luckily though, some things never change:

Sometime editor of the Illustrated London News, an authority on the Brontës and Napoleon, Clement K. Shorter was in the middle of a flourishing career when this list appeared in the monthly journal called The Bookman. He doesn't explain what exactly makes a book one of the "best", only that he has deliberately limited himself to one novel per novelist. [...]
60. Jane Eyre - 1847 - Charlotte Brontë
61. Wuthering Heights - 1847 - Emily Brontë (Michael Caines)

Indeed, anyone acquainted with Brontë history will immediately recognise C.K. Shorter.

Halloween tonight and local ghost Alice Flagg tells her story (via a ghostwriter) to Myrtle Beach online.

Ne’er once had one read the literature of the day. I could understand that Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” might not have captured their attention, though I quite idolized her spirit and loyalty. But they hadn’t even read any of Charles Dickens’ wonderful tales.
Then everything changed.
One day, mama and I went on a shopping trip. While she looked at various fabric and buttons for a new ball frock, I wandered outside to enjoy the warm breeze and sunshine. And even though I had been warned over and over about the dangers of freckles that could appear if I exposed by face to the sun, I could not resist.
As I stood with my head back and eyes closed, I soaked in warmth that made me think of Jane Eyre by the fire with her Rochester and it made me smile to myself. At least I thought I was smiling to myself.
“What thought has made you look so happy?” a male voice asked playfully.
I snapped my eyes open to face a somewhat rough-hewn young man smiling down at me. The sun glinted off his dark curls and I could see his kind brown eyes crinkling in a good-natured grin.
“Why,” I stammered, too stunned to be coy, “I was enjoying the warmth and thinking of Jane Eyre.”
“Ah,” he replied. “Now I understand. She is my sister’s favorite heroine.”
“You’ve read ‘Jane Eyre?’” I replied in blunt astonishment.
“Well, yes,” he said. “I had to read it to my younger sister. She’s been blind since birth.”
I was stunned into silence by this revelation, stunned that he could read and by his kindness toward his sister.

James Tully's The Crimes of Charlotte Brontë belongs to the Halloween spirit as well. Ziarul de Iaşi (Romania) has an article on it today.

The Dallas Relationships Examiner reviews the novel Conquistadora by Esmeralda Santiago and claims that,

Never before had I read a novel where the main character could simultaneously be both the antagonist and protagonist through the entirety of the story. Ana should be studied, dissected, and analyzed in the likes of Jane Eyre, Juliet and Tess of the d’Urbervilles for years and centuries to come. (Franchesca Guzman)

While this columnist from the Wetzel Chronicle doesn't seem to think much of e-book readers.

If you were reading an e-book and laid it aside it would be much different when you found it later.
As you turned it on to begin reading, the screen may glow brightly and then begin to fade. The last words you read, "Low Battery". The slick electronic device goes dark and cold in your hands. A book will never fade to darkness or grow cold as long as Tom Sawyer, Jessie Stone, or Jane Eyre await your return within the words of a book somewhere Through the Lens. (Chuck Clegg)

This Fraser Coast Chronicle (Australia) columnist has a theory on Victorian bonnets:

After the French revolution bonnets came into fashion. If you watch any of the BBC TV shows like Jane Eyre you will remember the women's face seemed to have be buried somewhere in the back of their bonnets. Perhaps this was to force the men folk to approach them directly from the front to show their intentions were serious. (Fred Archer)

Still in Australia, The Herald Sun has an article on this year's VCE exams.

English students had to analyse language use and complete essays on two texts.
They included Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, Shakespeare's Henry IV Part I and the poignant David Malouf novel Ransom. (Wes Hosking and Nathan Hewitt)

Here's one of the things that The Huffington Post thinks that 'Every First-Time Homeowner Should Know'.

Quirks Have Costs
Say you fall in love with the newly constructed condo with the huge-enormous windows. I know, you see yourself enjoying your morning coffee and newspaper bathed in streaming sunshine! Only on that first morning (the blazing light searing your eyeballs) do you realize that huge-enormous windows mean huge-enormous drapes. And only once you start to shop for huge-enormous drapes do you learn how shockingly expensive and hard-to-find large window coverings in unconventional dimensions can be. In other words, you must take the long view. If you adore the unique detail of fireplaces in every room, make sure you also adore stacking firewood and checking flues and befriending chimney sweeps. Know that romantic, crumbling cottages like something out of Wuthering Heights come with leaky windows and wispy insulation, so ask yourself if the fairytale aesthetic is worth it. (Amy Shearn)

Classics adapted for babies and toddlers are discussed by The Washington Times and The Hindu. The Brussels Brontë Blog posts on a recent talk on the Brontës by Dr. Sandie Byrne. Wuthering Hikes shares a few pictures of 'Autumn at the Brontë Parsonage, Haworth' on Facebook. The Brontë Parsonage Museum Facebook page posts about Emily's ghost.

Read More

Red Room - A review

• We are grateful to Unthank Books for providing with a review copy of this book
  

• Red Room: New Short Stories Inspired by the Brontës

• A. J. Ashworth (editor)

Stories by Elizabeth Baines, Bill Broady, David Constantine, Carys Davies,
Sarah Dobbs, Vanessa Gebbie, Tania Hershman, Zoë King, Rowena Macdonald, Alison Moore,
David Rose, Felicity Skelton and Simon Armitage.

• Paperback: 142 pages

• Publisher: Unthank Books (1 Nov 2013)

• Language: English

• ISBN-10: 0957289731

• ISBN-13: 978-0957289734

It is safe to say, I think, that most Brontë fans have felt for the Brontë birthplace and the lack of interest in it on the part of local authorities. Some of those fans went as far as creating the Brontë Birthplace Trust in the hope of one day finally acquiring the house where the most famous four of the six Brontë siblings were born. They are even planning a year-long exhibition in 2015 to mark the bicentenary of Patrick Brontë, his wife and two children arriving in Thornton.

A. J. Ashworth, member of the Trust, suggested publishing a short story anthology in order to raise funds for the cause and was charged with the mission. And thus Red Room. New Short Stories Inspired by the Brontës will hit the shelves come November.

The anthology reads very easily. It's quite a treat for any Brontë to read how the Brontës inspire other. At the back of the book there's background info on each writer as well as background info on each story so that readers can find out about the 'eureka' moment in the minds of the writers. And we honestly feel that there is a story for everyone and no one will finish reading this volume empty-handed.

The featured writers include: Elizabeth Baines, Bill Broady, David Constantine, Carys Davies,
Sarah Dobbs, Vanessa Gebbie, Tania Hershman, Zoë King, Rowena Macdonald, Alison Moore,
David Rose and Felicity Skelton. There’s also a poem by Simon Armitage.

It's hard for us to select a favourite short story. How can you choose between a husband and wife who 'took an Emily apiece [...] she choosing Dickinson, [he] Brontë' or a young woman who 'was prone to taking her cues from Brontë heroines'? What to pick: the epistolary exchange between Jane Eyre and Emma Woodhouse or the debate of Heathcliff versus Sherlock Holmes? Impossible to make up one's mind: a short story which includes first lines from the Brontë novels or a rewritten version of the last chapter of Jane Eyre. And more.

There are all wonderful, imaginative pieces. Reactions at the end of each story vary: the reader will be awed, moved, impressed, haunted or even in tears (both of laughter and sadness). We can't recommend this collection enough. It truly is one of the main releases of the Brontë literary year.

Worthy of mention as well is, of course, the stunning cover designed by Rachael Carver and made to look like one of those crossed letters the Brontës, among countless other letter-writers at the time, wrote.

There will be a series of readings and events in London, Norwich, Bradford, Manchester and Blackburn among others to celebrate the publication of Red Room in November. National press and radio coverage is expected.

None of the writers who have given a story towards the anthology have received a fee and Unthank - the publishing house - will be donating part of the proceeds. There's only you missing - will you consider taking this book home with you, having a cozy time reading it and contributing to a very worthy cause?

Read More

A white collar Heathcliff and other news

The Boar reviews the Loft Theatre production of Wuthering Heights.

So, as the curtain lifted on the sparse set, dominated by a lone, withered tree and sloping levels, I was uncertain whether my journey back to the moors after three years of avoidance would end positively. And yet from the moment the actors began speaking I was totally hooked. Each character was, I’m happy to say, exactly as I hadn’t imagined them to be when I read the novel; indeed their performances were so much more colourful and dynamic that I couldn’t help but be drawn in. Despite great performances from all of the actors, Danny Mackie stole the show for me, both perfectly foul as Hindley and charmingly simple as Hareton. His transformation was completely effective, as it must be mentioned, was that of Karen Brooks from Isabelle to her son Linton. This doubling up of characters was an interesting choice, and one which certainly added to the theme of bloodline revenge that the novel is so famous for.
Cathy and Heathcliff, played by Romy Alexander and James Allan respectively were equally well-suited to their roles, though I felt their use of Yorkshire accents at times detracted from the natural modulation of the voice and on occasion left lines devoid of emotion (though, I confess, the accents did make me homesick for my own Northern home!)  Nonetheless, their chemistry was undeniable from beginning to end.
I must give mention to the script, adapted from the novel by Lucy Gough, which made exactly the right changes necessary for this production to work. Gone was the opening introduction of Lockwood, with the flashback to Heathcliff’s childhood, yet Gough managed to keep the novel’s fluid concept of time through an opening scene between Cathy Linton and Hareton, and various flashbacks throughout.
In perfect alignment with this was the fluidity of the performance, unbroken by scene changes, which was ideal in keeping the pace of this fast moving story. I was also very impressed with the way in which the actors made use of levels on the stage. This was particularly poignant towards the end of the play, when the broad figure of Danny Mackie’s Hareton became almost insignificant as Heathcliff towered above him on a raised platform, asserting his dominance in the scene and altogether transforming the character status within the scene. Playing with status and superiority, the stage had sloping levels and a high raised platform which kept the whole thing dynamic and interesting from beginning to end. Coupled with interesting uses of lighting, sound and backdrop projections of thunder storms and grey skys, the atmosphere was sufficiently eerie to make the appearance of Cathy’s ghost on the stage quite chilling.
All in all, this is a fantastic production. There is nothing ‘amateur’ here, and the cast and crew alike can be commended on giving the full house a wonderful evening’s entertainment. It’s imaginative; it’s exciting; and it’s on your doorstep; it’d be rude not to go! One thing is certain: while I know that I will never read Wuthering Heights again, I cannot be sure that I won’t pop along to see this production another time. (Harley Ryley)

The Daily Mail has an article on the Tour de France passing through Yorkshire next year.

Leeds will host the Grand Départ on 5 July, with the stage taking the riders north through Otley, Ilkley and Skipton before heading to Harrogate.
Stage two see the riders heading west from York towards Haworth - the village that was home to the Brontë family - and passing through Holmfirth, the filming location for long-running BBC sitcom Last Of The Summer Wine, before reaching Sheffield.

A columnist from the SunSentinel has compiled a different list of scary movies:

So in celebration of the season, here are movies so chilling to everyman that they will send your guy into a panic the moment you hit "play": [...]
10. Tie: "Wuthering Heights" or "Jane Eyre" - any adaptation, any director, any time period. (Gina Barreca)

We know it's for fun, but we honestly find this kind of thing rather sexist. We know many men who enjoy the Brontës (or Little Women and Titanic for that matter).

The Herald (Ireland) quotes rather freely from Wuthering Heights.

The books on these shelves tell my own personal story. They chronicle the journey of my life. Sometimes, to quote a hysterical Cathy about Heathcliff, I think they are my life. (Carol Hunt)

The Village Voice reviews the film Diana.

In contrast, Andrews's Khan is almost comically unflappable, a white collar Heathcliff who doesn't give a hoot about titles. During his first visit to Diana's posh digs, he asks her to order takeaway and then turns on the telly to watch soccer. She swoons. We don't quite buy their odd romance as an eternal love, but after a decade and a half of using antique fish forks, we can see why she likes the guy. (Amy Nicholson)

ABC (Spain) lists the last words of several writers, among them Charlotte Brontë and her poignant  'I am not going to die, am I? He will not separate us, we have been so happy'. The Christian Science Monitor features the classics adapted for children (as recently featured by The New York Times as well). Daisy Dolls shows the shirt for her Rochester doll.

Read More

Home and Translations

More recent Brontë Research:

SKRIPSI Jurusan Sastra Inggris - Fakultas Sastra UM (Indonesia)
Thesis, English Department, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang. Advisor: Inayatul Fariha, S.S., M.A.

The Construction of Home in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre
Huda Fitri Amalia, 2013

Many researchers argue that spaces and places are important aspects that construct identity. People make sense of their self by attributing meanings to places; however, the meaning and significance in it are not permanent. They are renegotiated and reconstructed. Home, a place that has been given meaning, is claimed as an expression or symbol of the self as people indicate a sense of their identity through stories about where they are.It is a physical space that is lived and a space that is an expression of social meanings and identities. However, home always has multi-layered meaning to each individual but plays a vital importance to growth. It therefore triggers many researchers to examine the meaning of home and has been a very intriguing topic as it holds different meaning to each discipline of study.
Jane Eyre portrays a significant role of home in constructing an identity, in which self-existence, personal value, and self-worth are regarded. Jane’s condition of being an orphan, penniless, homeless, and woman complicate her construction of home as she has no memory, experience, or attachment to a certain place. Her condition pushes her further to be a victim of marginalization. As an orphan, her need to find and create a comfortable space therefore becomes urgent in order to experience the feeling of being home. Jane lives at five homes and each home gives Jane an opportunity to construct her identity by observing each home and its inhabitants. Therefore, she can make an attachment to each home, both positive and negative. Jane’s concept of ideal home is continually altered in each home and therefore allows her to develop an identity, both personal and social.
In Jane Eyre, home is not merely about physical space and architectural buildings. It is emphasized that space becomes home only when it is inhabited and given meaning and function, where people can establish their own self and ways associating to others. Furthermore, home is also connected to metaphorical investment, reinforcing the idea of home which is not always a fixed space. It is delivered through imagination, creativity, and symbolic meaning as Jane calls Rochester ‘my home’. The book challenges the idea that home is not always a physical space containing certain memories for its inhabitants. Jane Eyre also adds the characteristics of ideal home as a site for new possibility, productivity, and equality. Moreover, the book enforces the idea of ‘home’ as a perennial human need, even for the ‘homeless’.

Traducciones del franquismo en el mercado literario español contemporáneo: el caso de Jane Eyre de Juan G. De LuacesAutor/a: Ortega Sáez, Marta
Director/a: Hurtley, Jacqueline
Departamento/Instituto: Universitat de Barcelona. Departament de Filologia Anglesa i Alemanya

Abstract: The ongoing production of translations produced during the Franco regime begs the question of what the contemporary reader makes of a text generated over seventy years earlier. The thesis centres on the 1943 translation into Spanish of Charlotte Brontë’s renowned Jane Eyre, the labour of Juan G. de Luaces, who had established a name for himself as a journalist, poet and writer of prose fiction in 1920s and 30s Spain. Following the Civil War, Luaces became the country’s most prolific translator of literary texts from English into Spanish. An analysis has been set up to compare the 1943 translation and 2011 version, which reveals how gender issues, family models, religion, together with other ideological or rhetorical features were modified or suppressed in order to adjust to the regime’s dictates. Both cultural and sociological theories applied to translation have been drawn upon whilst a paratextual assessment together with an examination of the impact of censorship, generated by both self and state, have created an interdisciplinary approach which substantiates the comparative analysis and ultimately accounts for the manipulations in the 1943 version, echoed in the 2011 publication. 

And two reviews:

Jane, the Fox & Me by Fanny Britt (review) by Karen Coats
From: Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Volume 67, Number 3, November 2013
Translation, Authorship and the Victorian Professional Woman: Charlotte Brontë, Harriet Martineau and George Eliot by Lesa Scholl (review)
Annmarie S. Drury
Victorian Studies
Volume 55, Number 3, Spring 2013

Read More

Heathcliff: a depressive alpha male

The ticket desk at the Brontë Parsonage Museum might be moved next year, according to The Telegraph and Argus.

Improvements are planned at one of the Bradford district’s biggest tourist attractions.
The ticket desk at the entrance to the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth could be moved.
Ann Dinsdale (pictured), collections manager at the parsonage, said: “The ticket desk is right at the front door, so people have to queue outside and the weather is not always great! Also, there is only space for one person to man the desk. The idea is to move it into the foyer area, which will enable people to wait inside, and it will mean that at busy times we can have more than one person issuing tickets.”
If the plans are approved by Bradford Council, it is hoped to carry out the work in January.

The Telegraph and Argus also reports that Bradford Council is planning some cuts, but they won't affect the public toilet near the museum.

The Labour group would close all public toilets, except those in “high traffic tourist areas” which include City Park and City Hall, Brook Street, Ilkley, Brontë Parsonage and Saltaire. (Hannah Postles)

The Times's Leading Article of today talks about Yorkshire being third at the latest Lonely Planet's Best in Travel best region in the world ranking:

Really, though, an injustice has been done. Charming though Sikkim and The Kimberley no doubt are, do they boast an Andrew Marvell, a bunch of Brontës, an Alan Bennett or a Ted Hughes?

Janice Turner adds in the same newspaper:

South Yorkshire is neither the wild West Yorkshire of the Brontës' moors nor the refined North Yorkshire of Harrogate's spas and tearooms. It is - was, alas - the county's engine room. (...)
I love Scarborough, but despite its nickname, it's no "Brighton of the North". It's a saltier, less effete, more cussed town. The Yorkshire countryside is more the untamed, rain-lashed place of Heathcliff's wandering than the cosy hills of Last of the Summer Wine.

Via The New Yorker's Page Turner we have found a recent Poetry Foundation article on literary siblings.

For years, a tiny pub on the road between the English villages of Haworth and Keighley has been home to a peculiar rumor. The Cross Roads Inn was one of Branwell Brontë’s favorite haunts. It was at the Cross Roads that two of Branwell’s friends claim he read from a manuscript that featured the characters who would later appear in the novel Wuthering Heights.
Despite Charlotte Brontë’s insistence that her sister Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, the rumor that their brother Branwell penned the novel has persisted. In their various biographies, Juliet Barker, Daphne du Maurier, Lucasta Miller, and Fannie Elizabeth Ratchford all considered the possibility that Branwell was the true author of Wuthering Heights. Barker claimed to have identified a story of Branwell’s that influenced the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff; du Maurier pointed to poems written by Emily and Branwell as evidence of an early collaboration between the two that could have blossomed into Wuthering Heights.
The persistence of the rumor reflects the curious, cloistered upbringing of the Brontës, but also the more universal experience of siblings. Collaboration and competition between brothers and sisters exists no matter their vocations, but literary siblings challenge our assumptions of lonely genius, isolated writers alone at their desks. Patrick Brontë, father to the four artists, who raised them himself after their mother died, wrote: “As they had few opportunities of being in learned and polished society, in their retired country situation, they formed a little society amongst themselves—with which they seem’d content and happy.” (Casey N. Cep) (Read more)

AARP lists '21 Great Novels It's Worth Finding Time to Read' and among them is

10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Nathaniel Hawthorne hated the Misses Brontë, because they could do what he could not — write books that sing with authenticity and genuine suspense, and do so nearly 200 years later. (Jacquelyn Mitchard)

While BlogLive (Italy) selects the ten best alpha males in literature.

3. Heathcliff – da Cime Tempestose di Emily Brontë (genere: gotico, romance) – “Forse il mio primo eroe alpha, grazie alla mia insegnante di inglese per avermelo fatto scoprire tanti anni fa”. (Jill Shalvis) (Translation)

A columnist from The Daily Pennsylvanian highlights a rather different aspect of Heathcliff.

Sadness has its hecklers, too. But there’s a perverse glamorization of being down in the dumps that doesn’t exist for the truly content. Just look at Heathcliff or Batman or Daria. Would anyone like those characters if they were a little more upbeat? (Rachel Del Valle)

The Boar mentions the influences of singer Lydia Baylis.

“This next song is based on a John Dryden poem.” It’s clear from this introduction that Lydia Baylis isn’t your average performer. Following Lucy Mason‘s Coffee House Session of a fortnight ago, this latest Curiositea performance sticks to the same formula: one café, one guitar, and one outstanding voice. In many ways, though, Baylis is a very different artist to the Australian Mason. And with Virginia Woolf and the Brontë sisters among the Welsh singer’s other sources of inspiration, there’s a distinctly cerebral edge to her work, which she describes as “dark cinematic pop” during her post-gig interview with Boar Music. (Sam Carter)

El Faro de Vigo (Spain) looks at the local British colony established there in 1873.

La afición a la buena lectura, con autores literarios de moda como Charles Dickens, las hermanas Brontë o Lewis Carroll comienzan a tener también adeptos entre los jóvenes vigueses. Era costumbre en estos autores publicar sus novelas por capítulos mensuales en revistas, siendo esperadas con auténtica ansiedad por los jóvenes británicos asentados en la urbe. (José Ramón Cabanelas) (Translation)

The Vancouver Courier reviews the stage production Armstrong's War.

A recent graduate of U. Vic’s acting program, Byskov makes his Vancouver stage debut in Armstrong’s War, too. As a wounded Afghanistan war hero, Byskov is initially intense, angry and in denial about his mental state. What Michael does not need is a terminally chirpy, cheerful kid in pigtails reading teenaged mysteries or Wuthering Heights to him. (Jo Ledingham)

While the Missoula Independent recommends the local production of The Woman in Black.

 If you love Wuthering Heights or any other eerie old-timey book/BBS television series, you'll dig this. (Erika Fredrickson)

The Rhode Island Public Radio tells the story of a local medical center:

Their only hope: find a buyer willing to help turn the hospital around. And, like a country gentleman’s daughter in a Brontë novel, Landmark flirted with several suitors. There was Caritas Christi. RegionalCare Hospital Partners. Transition Healthcare. HealthSouth. Capella. Prime. None made it past the early hurdles.
Rhode Island’s Hospital Conversions Act requires state approval to turn a nonprofit hospital into a for-profit one. The process derailed a few deals. Delay followed delay. Hopes rose. Hopes fell.
Then, the most serious offer to-date came from the for-profit outfit Steward. But a bitter and public fight broke out between Steward and insurer Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island over the contract with Landmark. And Steward backed out at the last minute, too. But finally, like that heroine in a Brontë novel, it turned out that one of Landmark’s first suitors was the one all along: Prime Healthcare. Landmark president Richard Charest. (Kristin Gourlay)

Twaddle and Lisa Richards: Rock N' Roll Politics discuss Wuthering Heights, the latter deeming it 'The Best Unromantic Novel About Domestic Abuse and Greedy Revenge'. Reading Log posts about The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Entre montones de libros writes in Spanish about Agnes Grey. Also in Spanish, Curistoria posts about the rejection letters received by Charlotte Brontë. Wordpixelsblog discusses Justine Picardie's novel Daphne.

Read More

Literary scarves and gloves

The University of Maryland's Uloop has brought to our attention the Etsy shop Toriarts by Tori Tissell. Uloop describes it as follows:

Now you can always have your favorite book with you! Tori transfers excerpts of classics (Romeo and Juliet, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, etc.) onto scarves, gloves and pillows. The prices range from $2.50 to $45, garment depending. She even has the option for you to choose a book of your own. (Amanda Eisenberg)

And indeed there is a wide varity of Brontë-related items such as a Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights Light Weight Summer Book Scarf, Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre Writing Gloves, a Wuthering Heights Book Scarf. There was a Jane Eyre Book Scarf earlier today but it seems to have been sold now.

Perhaps it's time to start thinking of Christmas presents for your Brontëite friends.

Read More

Sit down and experience no fear

The Telegraph and Argus features In the Footsteps of the Brontës by Ann Dinsdale and Mark Davis.

The Brontë sisters’ lives and works were closely linked to the village and moors where they spent most of their time.
But a new book shows that Haworth was not the only inspiration for the novels that made them famous.
In the Footsteps of the Brontës traces the family’s journeys around the country during the 19th century.
As well as highlighting Haworth, Stanbury and Lothersdale, it features places like York, Scarborough, Wycoller and Todmorden.
The book is a collaboration between Bronté Parsonage Museum collections manager Ann Dinsdale – an experienced writer of books about the Brontës – and social historian and photographer Mark Davies.
Released by Amberley Publishing, the book features 94 pages of photographs and drawings from the times of the Brontës.
Each image is accompanied by a colour photograph of the same location in the present day.
Ann and Mark’s journey begins in Cambridge with the arrival of Patrick Brontë from Ireland, then follows him through his early career, courtship and marriage in places like Shropshire, Dewsbury and Thornton.
Much of the book concentrates on the Brontës’ time in Haworth, including well-known locations like the Brontë waterfalls, Top Withens and the Parsonage.
There are detours to places like Cowan Bridge, Todmorden, Mirfield, Birstwith and Southowram which played parts in the young lives of Charlotte, Emily, Anne, or their brother Branwell.
Ann said: “The photographs in the book provide a fascinating visual record of places that are associated with the Brontës’ lives and works.
“It was established from early on that the houses and settings of all the Brontë novels have real-life counterparts. Charlotte’s letters indicate that she would often take real people and places as a starting point for her fiction.” (David Knights)

The Independent imagines how several fictional characters would have reacted (or actually reacted in the books) on Twitter to the storm reaching Britain today.

@JaneEyre: Loud as the wind blew, near and deep as the thunder crashed, fierce and frequent as the lightning gleamed, I experienced no fear
@EllenDeanofWutheringHts: It was a very dark evening; the clouds appeared inclined to thunder, and I said we had better all sit down 

Luct Foster discusses the concept of the knight in shining armour aka The One in The Times. She has a more down to earth approach:

He makes me laugh, he's kind and generous to my family and friends, he can hold down a job, he doesn't do drugs, cheat, or gamble and every so often he hangs his wet towel up - without me asking. It's not Heathcliff and Cathy. It's not Mr Rochester and Jane Eyre. It's not Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. It's not even my mum and dad. But it's solid and it's real. And that's quite enough for me.

Examiner reviews John Boyne's This House is Haunted.

‘This House is Haunted’ by John Boyne is everything a classic ghost story should be. With its Dickensian prose, disappearing servants, crotchety groundskeeper, mysteriously absent owner, precocious children, wary townsfolk, dense fog, and howling wind, it’s like a cross between ‘Rebecca’, ‘Jane Eyre’, and ‘Turn of the Screw’. If there was a checklist of required elements to creating a “classic” ghost story, Boyne would have hit every single one. (Rory O'Connor)

The Bloor West Villager (Canada) tells the story of Colborne Lodge, a local house said to be haunted.

In 1969, a police officer was patrolling High Park when a figure appeared in one of the second-floor bedroom windows of Colborne Lodge, home of John and Jemima Howard, the original owners of Toronto’s famed park.
Entering the house, the officer crept up the stairs and into the room only to find it empty.
“When he came to check it out, there was no one there,” said museum co-ordinator Cheryl Hart.
In the documented case, the officer is said to have seen the ghostly figure of Jemima Howard, who died after a lengthy breast cancer battle in 1877, the first woman in Toronto to be diagnosed with the disease, Hart said.
“The story takes on a Jane Eyre-esque feel because Jemima died in that room,” Hart told The Villager at the lodge on a mid-October morning. “She had a good view of the tomb that John built for the couple.” (Lisa Rainford)

Bustle lists '7 things we want to do with Michael Fassbender'.

1. DISCUSS JANE EYRE IN A ROOM FILLED WITH MANY LEATHER-BOUND BOOKS
I’m sorry, did you think these were all going to be activities for his littler Fassbender? Sure, it’s famous, but we have brains and so does Fassy, which is probably why he made the absolute best Mr. Rochester in the history of Jane Eyre adaptations in 2011’s Jane Eyre.
We could just lounge among books, bathed in the soft glow of candlelight while Fassbender waxes poetic on his irresistible and perplexing character for hours. Yes, please tell me where you found inspiration for the dark pools of mystery that are Rochester’s brow-shrouded eyes. For some people, this is even better than a torrid spell of the horizontal mambo. (Kelsea Stahler)

World News Report has an article on producer Pamela Sherrod.

Sherrod began offering ghostwriting assistance after she wrote The Last Chapter in the Life of Mrs. Sammy Davis, Jr., and has a passion for helping people tell their stories. "You don't have to be a celebrity to have an important message," she says. "You never know who's carrying the next Wuthering Heights in their hearts."

A reader of Madmoizelle (France) selects Jane Eyre as one of her favourite books. Mr Rochester is the subject of The Writers Alley's '9 Qualities of a memorable character'.

Read More

Wuthering Heights 1967 released on DVD for the first time in the UK

Today, October 28th, sees the release of the uncut version of Wuthering Heights 1967 on DVD for the first time in the UK.

 Wuthering Heights 1967 DVD
The original 1967 uncut release. Wuthering Heights is a heartrending story of unrequited love and sibling rivalry. When the dark brooding orphan boy Heathcliff enters the Earnshaw household at Wuthering Heights, he is at first shunned by his new stepsiblings, Catherine and Hindley. Catherine s feelings toward Heathcliff soon change but it all ends in tragic consequences for everyone. The complete BBC Dramatisation Starring Ian McShane & Angela Scoular
First time release of DVD in the UK
Release Date: 28/10/2013
Format: DVD DVD
Product Ref: upe0219
Contains: 4 Discs
Duration: 200 Mins
Cast list: Ian McShane, Angela Scoular

This adaptation was released with a one-disc format in the US back in 2009. The four-DVD uncut edition released in the UK would appear to be about 15 minutes longer.

Read More

Italian Black Sheep

The Guardian talks about autobiographies and unreliable narrators:

A safer bet, in the quest for the higher truth about the self, was for the novelist to incorporate life into art. Dickens in David Copperfield was a pioneer of an artistic appropriation that would animate many Victorian classics. It's now forgotten that Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre was described on the title page of the first edition as a fictional autobiography. (Robert McCrum)

New York Times explores the world of board books for infants and toddlers:

While the BabyLit books do not try to lay out a complicated narrative of “Wuthering Heights” or “Romeo and Juliet,” they use the stories as a springboard to explain counting, colors or the concept of opposites. The popular “Cozy Classics” line of board books, introduced in 2012 by Simply Read Books, a publisher based in Vancouver, B.C., adapts stories like “Moby-Dick” and “Les Misérables” for infants and toddlers using pictures of needle-felted figures of Captain Ahab and Jean Valjean. (Julie Bosman)

The actor Charlie Hunnam is defined in this curious way by The Guardian:

News from the film of Fifty Shades of Grey: actor Charlie Hunnam correct has dropped out of playing Christian Grey (the Heathcliff your local Ann Summers would stay open late for) because he regained his sanity and self respect… oops, sorry, I mean he had other work commitments. (Barbara Ellen)

The Independent (Ireland) looks at Pierce Brosnan:

At 6ft 3in with Heathcliff looks, his slightly twisted nose makes him even more attractive. And of course every woman loves a screen bad boy; as he says himself: "Women respond very positively to the villains I've played." (Niamh Horan)

Il Giornale (Italy) publishes an Italian translation (by Silvio Raffo) of a stanza from Branwell Brontë's poem Caractatus (1830) and a brief biographical profile of the author, 'la pecora nera dei Brontë' (Brontë's black sheep):

Fin da giovanissimo, Branwell scrive poesie e prose di raffinata eleganza, dipinge quadri pregevoli e suona l'organo e il pianoforte. Ma nessuna di queste attività gli procura fama o riconoscimenti: il suo nome verrà sempre in coda alle altre Brontë. Non stupisce che, dopo aver dipinto un celebre ritratto di sé con le tre sorelle, una notte, in preda a una furia distruttiva, cancelli la propria figura dalla tela. Le sue poesie, del tutto ignorate in Italia, sono ora tradotte per la prima volta da Silvio Raffo, cui va il grande merito di aver rivalutato questo sventurato e infelice artista. Che visse gli ultimi anni murato in un'astiosa solitudine domestica, da cui la morte lo libererà nel 1848, a solo 31 anni. (Translation)

Also in Italy, at the Tale e Quale Show one of the participants sang Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights:

Discorso analogo per Clizia Fornasier, attualmente al cinema con il film “Aspirante vedovo“, in cui divide la scena con Fabio De Luigi e Luciana Littizzetto. L’attrice non veniva considerata come una papabile candidata alla vittoria e questo perchè vista ancora acerba come cantante e interprete. Dopo una tranquilla esibizione in versione Olivia Newton John in Grease, ecco che, anche per lei, è arrivato il trionfo con Gigliola Cinquetti la scorsa settimana e la consacrazione con Kate Bush ieri sera. La Fornasier, come potete vedere nel video, aiutata da unascenografia spettacolare e da un atteggiamento da donna spiritata, ha cantato “Wuthering heights“, una performance davvero molto apprezzata dalla giuria. Che ve ne pare di queste due rivelazioni? (Giada Valleriani on Gossip ETV) (Translation)

City of Book Reviews interviews the author Carla Woody:

What books did you love growing up?
My mother read to me a lot as a young child. I remember lying with my head in her lap and listening to stories: Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, a series called Mother West Wind’s Neighbors and many more. It was comforting and probably why I’ve always loved books. Jane Eyre was a favorite when I hit adolescence.

Atlas Shrugs reviews Jane Eyre 1944;  Curled Up with a Good Book posts about Joanna Campbell Slan's The Death of a Dowager (The Jane Eyre Chronicles); Mewsings reviews I Walked with a Zombie 1943; Theatre From The Back Seat reviews the Wuthering Heights Phoenix Theatre production in Coniston.

Read More

Half Term at the Parsonage

Alerts from the Brontë Parsonage Museum for next week:

We have lots of fun activities for all the family this half term!
Please follow the links and check out what you can do at the Brontë Parsonage this half term!

Tuesday 29 October 11am- 4pm
The Big Draw: Drawing Tomorrow

This year’s Big Draw theme is ‘Drawing the Future’. Come and be inspired by the current 'Capturing the Brontës' exhibition, this playful exhibition is a surreal look at the past and future, taking influences from the Brontës, their pets and Victorian visitors to the Parsonage. With local artist Vic Bhuta you can come and create your own vision of tomorrow.

“Since its launch in 2000, The Big Draw has successfully supported the Campaign for Drawing’s aims by encouraging everyone to draw. Big Draw events highlight the power of drawing to help people see, think, invent and take action.” For more information please visit the Big Draw’s website here

Wednesday 30 October, 11am – 4pm
Create your own Visitorian!
Inspired by the Capturing the Brontës exhibition. Why not bring in a tiny photograph of your pet to make your own Visitorian pet portrait?
Free with admission to the Museum.

Thursday 31st October, 11:30am - 3:00pm
Halloween!
Join us on our Halloween guided walks if you dare!
Explore Haworth churchyard, discover some of its darkest stories and listen to Tabby in the kitchen telling tales of local folklore surrounding this traditional festival.

There will be 3 walks commencing at 11.30am, 1pm and 2.30pm
Free with admission the the museum.

Saturday 2nd November, 11.30am, 3.30pm
Silk Painting Workshop 
Paint your own beautiful little silk painting to take home with you; inspired by Charlotte’s botanical water colours. Materials are all supplied, and no special skills are needed.
This workshop is suitable for all ages. Two workshops are available: 11:30 am and then 3:30pm.
Free with admission to the Parsonage.

More information: Keighley News.

Read More

There are Complications

Eric Jong selects for The Huffington Post '6 Books Every Smart, Sexy Woman Needs To Read':

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The story: A younger woman comes to serve as governess in an English country manor -- and falls for the mysterious owner of the house.
Why it inspires: "There is so much about this book that was revolutionary. You have a heroine who is plain, but she's clever. Also, Jane is a woman who speaks her mind -- she doesn't lie to please the establishment, or to please men."

 Dave Astor admits to his Jane Eyre addiction in The Huffington Post.

But can I stop mentioning Jane Eyre in blog posts? No. that novel focuses on the ultra-compelling relationship between the never-married Jane and the once-married Rochester. If ever a person needed another chance in the love department, it was Rochester. But there are complications... (Which can occur when, um, a first spouse is still in the picture.)
In some cases, a character needs to time-travel to Charlotte Brontë's century before a positive new relationship happens -- an approach even trickier than online dating!

Several Québecois news outlets carry the news of a new award for Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault's Jane, Le Renard et Moi, the 8e Prix du livre jeunesse des Bibliothèques de Montréal:

Publié aux Éditions de la Pastèque, ce «journal intime rétrospectif» de Fanny Britt est la première bande dessinée que conçoit le duo. Le récit montre comment des enfants armés de méchanceté font la loi dans les cours d'école. Pour échapper à ses bourreaux, la jeune Hélène se réfugie dans l'univers de Jane Eyre, le premier roman de Charlotte Brontë publié en 1847. (Canoe)

Also in Le Devoir.

Clio Barnard describes Wuthering Heights 2011 like this in The Guardian:

a brilliant and much-misunderstood version of Wuthering Heights.

The Guardian talks about the rise in private tutoring:

In Victorian Britain, educated women whose families were unable to support them – like Jane Eyre, or Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair – worked as governesses, teaching the children of wealthy families, and they were prized overseas. (Daniel Cohen)

The Herald talks about book editors.

When we read their books, they are in that sense entirely raw. A better word, of course, would be brilliant. Moliere, Montaigne and Milton were all published without amendment by an outside hand, unless that of a compositor correcting a typographical error. Jane Austen, the Brontës and George Eliot wrote, rewrote, and sent in their work, which went to press by and large unchanged, as did most of the immortals of the 19th century and earlier. (Rosemary Goring)

The Bradenton Herald publishes a picture where

Teacher Melba Huggins, standing at left, follows along as Dyaisha Jordan, seated at center, reads a passage from the novel Jane Eyre as she works to improve her reading comprehension with other students in an after-school tutoring and mentoring program at the Kelly-Brown Career Development Center in Palmetto.

On Milwaukee interviews a local chef, Missy Harkey:

Lori Fredrich: How do you spend your free time outside the restaurant?
MH: I do cook a lot. I do a lot of experimenting at home; you can take your time and really get things right. I also read. I like the Classics. I'm a Jane Austin (sic) and Jane Eyre girl. "Pride & Prejudice" with Colin Firth is untouchable. He's been my crush for over a decade.

Impact Magazine discusses Mills & Boon novels and makes the following (not very original and also quite wrong) comment:

Yet we must keep the purpose of these romantic novels in sight: to entertain. Reading trashy romance is just like watching bad soaps on TV – easy entertainment. We could say that the issues of fantasy and a lack of realism could be projected on to any work of romantic literature, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ or ‘Jane Eyre’; the soaps of the 19th Century? (Eve Wersocki Morris)

The Leamington Observer mentions the performances of Lucy Gough's Wuthering Heights at the Loft Theatre:

Director David Hankins said: "Long before the Twilight saga stirred the emotions of a new generation Wuthering Heights embodied the eternal pull between good and evil, dark and light, and heaven and hell. It is a story of love, obsession, vengeance and tragedy on an epic scale." (Janine Abuluyan)

The Journal (Kingston, ON) reviews the play The Woman in Black:

It’s reminiscent of Wuthering Heights in love and bad luck, grudges and vengeance, eerie moors and impenetrable fog and of course, haunting ghosts.
One crucial difference is that the murderous ghost of Jennett Humphrey never finds eternal rest in The Woman in Black, whereas Heathcliff and Cathy live happily ever after, in a way, in Wuthering Heights.

Alejandro Gándara writes in El Mundo about passionate narrators:

El narrador de Salter recuerda mucho a Carraway, el que cuenta la historia de Gatsby: una fascinación inmensa por lo que no podrá sentir jamás, pero sobre todo una atracción irresistible por el misterio. Hay antecedentes: está también el Lockwood de "Cumbres borrascosas", o el hombre de la veranda que habla de Axel Heyst en "Victoria", de Joseph Conrad. Los seres apasionados, inconscientes muchas veces de la hipnosis que provocan, proyectan siempre la sombra alargada de un mirón. (Translation)

An alert from Tandil, Argentina:

Hoy a las 20 en Zoom Espacio de Arte (Montiel 565) se podrá ver I Walked with a Zombie (1943) de Jacques Tourneur. (El Eco de Tandil)

Read More

Amparo Soler Leal. In Memoriam

Several Spanish news outlets announce the death of the Spanish actress Amparo Soler Leal (1933-2013). None of them, though, mention that in her prolific and brilliant career she impersonated no other than Emily Brontë on a TV Spanish 70s show. The name of the show was Los Libros and it was devoted to several masterpieces of the Spanish and universal literature. On May 21, 1974 the episode "En la vida y en la muerte" (In life and in death) was broadcast. It was devoted to Wuthering Heights. Apparently (we have been unable to trace any copy it is available here), Amparo Soler Leal played Emily Brontë and Jack Taylor was Branwell Brontë (it was even suggested an incestous relationship between them). The episode also included some dramatized scenes from Wuthering Heights where Charo López played Catherine and Carlos Ballesteros was Heathcliff. These are the details:

En la Vida y en la Muerte
Directed by Alfonso Ungría
Writer: Salvador Maldonado
With Amparo Soler Leal, Jack Taylor, Antonio Casas, Yelena Samarina, Nelida Quiroga, Charo López, Carlos Ballesteros

Sources and more information:
Clásicos y Modernos. La serie Los Libros y la Televisión de la Transición by Luis Miguel Fernández.
ABC. 16.05.1974. Review of En la Vida y en la Muerte.

Read More

Improvisation and Classic Cinema

A couple of alerts for a Saturday:

1. Improvisational comedy in Ashland, OR:

The Hamazons
Saturday, October 26th
Playwright Public House, 258 A Street, Ashland
8:30 pm
Enjoy a beverage and some pub faire while The Hamazons spontaneously create scenes and stories based on audience suggestions and inspired by the season of tricks and treats - all completely improvised.

Ashland Mail Tribune adds:

Improvisational comedy meets Gothic romance when The Hamazons perform an unscripted tale inspired by such films as “Jane Eyre,” “Wuthering Heights” and “Rebecca.” Expect mystery and hilarity from these warrior princesses of comedy — Cil Stengel, Eve Smyth and Kyndra Laughery .

2. A screening of Wuthering Heights 1939 in Ontario, Canada:

The Marie Dressler Foundation
Vintage Film Festival

Saturday 26 October 2013      Capitol Theatre - Port Hope

2:00 PM Wuthering Heights (1939) Olivier, Oberon - Dir: Wyler 104m Sponsors: Lynn Hardy - RBC Wealth Management, Dominion Securities

(Via Northumberland View) 

Read More

“We can pity the sad events in their lives, but I also want to celebrate their resilience and their successes"

The Keighley News has further news on the Brontë film planned for 2016.

A multi-million pound budget is being sought for a new film exploring the lives of Haworth’s legendary literary sisters.
Yorkshire-based Clothworkers Films has revealed an estimated cost of £10 million for its planned biopic about the Brontë siblings – Charlotte, Emily and Anne.
The production company says the film will be the world’s first English language project of its kind, though it is not yet ready to announce which actors will play the lead roles. The film is due to be released on April 21, 2016.
Director David Anthony Thomas, himself a lifelong Brontë fan, said: “We’re looking forward to announcing the first cast members as soon as possible.
“I spent quite a lot of time around Haworth and on the moors during breaks from pre-production of our last film.
“It’s very beautiful and it’s a shame many Brontë adaptations have chosen to use other counties, such as Derbyshire, as a backdrop.”
He anticipates the film could emulate the success of previous productions in increasing the numbers of people visiting Brontë country, and is encouraged by the global media interest in the film.
Explaining the enduring appeal of the Brontës, he said: “I think much of it has to do with the raw talent of the women, their very modern ideas and the greatness within the novels themselves.
“Their passion is clearly evident in their work and their unique voice is, amongst other things, a result of their literal distance from other prominent authors of the time.
“Their own story is so incredible, and their hidden identities caused a stir on both sides of the Atlantic, which generated interest that has lasted to this day.”
Despite the sisters’ tragically short lives, he is not expecting his film to be entirely bleak.
He said: “Although anyone familiar with the story will understandably be expecting to shed a tear or two, I think there’s much more to the story than that.
“We can pity the sad events in their lives, but I also want to celebrate their resilience and their successes. All three sisters were happy at some point, and all three were widely celebrated and revered in their lifetimes.
“It’s very important to me to remain faithful to the siblings and their stories where previous attempts have failed. But in order to produce a large production intended for the international market, we need to make sure it’s accessible to the layman and functions as a complete work.” (Miran Rahman)

Still locally, Simon Calder from The Independent goes cycling in Brontë country in anticipation of next year's Tour de France passing though the area.

By the time they get to Haworth, the cyclists will be almost halfway through the second day and on the verge of some really challenging stretches. It seems the route through the Brontë sisters' home village will stick to the cobbles (though if a summer shower should intervene their slick tyres may not adhere too well).
The riders will not pause to take tea, browse in the bookshops or imbibe at the Black Bull Inn (which proved the downfall of Emily's and Charlotte's brother Branwell). But the non-competitive cyclist should pause, if only to visit the Brontë Parsonage Museum, where the tragic tales behind the heroic writing are told.
"Wuthering" in my dictionary is defined as a wind blowing strongly with a roaring sound, which is certainly what it sounded like on the descent to Sladen Bridge, passing the Wuthering Heights pub – which, curiously, is in a valley. A sharp left along Reservoir Road takes you past a man-made lake flanked by castellations, with a citadel rising from the steely surface.
At Oxenhope, a tight right pops you on to the A6003, also known as a long, tough slog. "I avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward," as Charlotte Brontë once said. Fortunately, Rob Wormald caught up with me on a lovely, expensive bike and kindly slowed down for long enough to tell me that he belonged to a cycling club called Sheffrec, and was cycling the entire two-day journey according to an early release of the map.

WhatsOnStage gives 3 out of 5 stars to Peter McMaster's take on Wuthering Heights, now playing at Battersea Arts Centre.

Instead of slavish adaptation, McMaster offers his audience a multi-faceted meditation on the experience of modern man, taking the problematic and conflicted masculinity of Heathcliff as its implicit catalyst. This startling version of the classic novel is, as McMaster himself puts it, an encounter between the text and its interpreters; the performers "meet the story as ourselves and as men". The atmosphere and character of the novel are evoked more than its plot, which is only offered in a whirlwind telling right at the start, communicated as much through vivid choreography as through storytelling.
This is literature refracted through both pop cultural and personal lenses. We get blasts of Kate Bush, joyously paired with the iconic dance moves that appear in the music video, while elsewhere the volatile relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy is superseded by reflections on boyhood or contemplations of what it means to be a father. The narrative is always looked at from the edges, be that through the perspective of Heathcliff's horse or via a process of cultural memory. It's inventive, fragmented and frequently off-the-wall.
While there is a grain of silliness that runs through the piece, embraced most unapologetically when performing Kate Bush's gloriously ridiculous choreography, at times the bitter contradictions of contemporary masculinity emerge with all the dark intensity of Brontë's brooding romantic hero. In the most painful and powerful of these, one performer stands in sad, stoic silence as he is assaulted with a violent torrent of questions, posed with escalating frustration and volume. It is a potent staging of internal discord, at the same time as voicing just some of the many demands thrown at men by modern society. At another point, all four performers cough as though trying to wrench up their very guts, with the suggested desire of expelling something buried deep within.
The tonal inconsistency of the show – veering from the daft to the devastating, the profound to the banal – creates interesting tensions, chiming with the inner conflict acknowledged by the performers. At times, however, this can feel like a collection of sketches rather than a cohesive whole, while it demands a fairly thorough knowledge of Brontë's text to navigate the performance's thematic leaps. Whatever its flaws, though, this riff on Wuthering Heights offers an intriguing approach to adaptation, suggesting the riches of scribbling in the margins. (Catherine Love)

The Independent gives it a 3 out of 5 as well.

If you’re imagining a stage version of a cosy tea-time telly adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic, think again. Experimental theatre-maker Peter McMaster leads this troupe of four young, Scottish men in delivering a gutsy, gusty gale of a performance. Sometimes it’s comically bonkers, sometimes it’s tender, and sometimes it delivers a high octane howl that captures the doomed intensity of the novel.
If it achieves this, however, it’s not by staying at all faithful to the source; there can’t be more than a page or two of text used. The all-male company intersperse elements of the story with meditations - presumably from their own lives - on masculinity, be that childhood memories of gentle interactions with their fathers or hopes for their own futures. We’re introduced to each actor in turn, with brief personality sketches: this one has addictive tendencies, that one’s an introvert, this one is in an 11-year relationship; that one enjoys masturbating. Later, there’s a barked litany of questions about modern male identity and sexuality, going on for pages, asking about everything from porn consumption to fantasies about other men.
At the beginning, we’re asked to “bear with it” and “be honest”, and by being honest and baring all (literally, at one point) themselves, the company largely carries the audience with them. The fact that they puncture proceedings with humour helps; they’re clearly aware of the heightened ridiculousness of some scenes, and get us firmly on side (and face up to a looming pop-cultural ghost) with a downright hilarious choreographed group dance to Kate Bush’s barmy hit “Wuthering Heights” early on.
With only a few candlesticks and a couple of intentionally terribly-fitting dresses for props and costumes, this is poor theatre, imaginatively staged with a fearless physicality. And as if the cross-casting wasn’t enough, they also spend quite some time playing horses: Heathcliff’s steed as a main narrator offers an equine view on human affairs. Their trotting and snorting is another source of comedy, albeit one that veers a bit too far towards Monty Python at points.
The more personal, devised, expose all your hopes’n’fears stuff can totter into over-indulgence, and how these segments relate to the story of Cathy and Heathcliff often remains obscure. Presumably, Heathcliff as classic alpha male, dark, angry and brooding, was taken as a jumping off point for their explorations of masculinity. But trying to make such connections gives your brain a good workout; this Wuthering Heights makes you smile, but it also keeps you on your toes. (Holly Williams)

Another take on Wuthering Heights is currently on stage at the Loft Theatre in Leamington. The Kenilworth Weekly News reviews the production:

Compelling, devastating, exhilerating, brutal and passionate, this brilliant stage adaptation of Emily Brontë’s celebrated novel is one of the best pieces of theatre I have seen for a long time. [...]
The setting of the wild and rugged Yorkshire moors is conveyed in a simple, but very effective manner, as the basic props of an unruly tree and two raised sections are brought to life wonderfully by the changing sounds, lighting and use of characters’ movements. One scene that particularly stands out to me is when nurse Nelly (Maddy Kerr) battles an imaginary storm with the way she moves her body. We feel the chill of the battering wind along with her.
The dangerously destructive power and strength of emotions is conveyed so well in the characters of Heathcliff (James Allan) and Catherine (Romy Alexander). Like Romeo and Juliet, the couple are star-crossed lovers and fated to only find peace together in death. “I am Heathcliff”, says Catherine - and anyone lucky enough to be in love will know exactly what she means. The electricity between the two on stage is utterly convincing.
But when Heathcliff cannot have “his” Catherine, all he has left is hate. And though we resent Katherine’s choice of a higher class life, we see her transported to such a state of despair that all we want is for her to be reunited with “her” Heathcliff. Director David Hankins calls this adaptation, by Lucy Gough, “tremendous” and he and the rest of the Loft team have absolutely done it justice. (Sundari Cleal)

The Huffington Post features the book Life in Five Seconds: Over 200 Stories For Those With No Time to Waste, put together by the design and advertising firm H-57. One of the 200 stories is Wuthering Heights, which you can see pictured here (source). It completely ignores the second half of the novel, though.

The Washington Times reviews Jo Baker's book Longbourn.

Charlotte Brontë, though she despised the lack of passion in Jane Austen’s fiction, nonetheless produced a novel — “Jane Eyre” — whose characters have invited similar treatments. Among these, Jean Rhys’ “Wide Sargasso Sea” (1966) changed the way critics look at “Jane Eyre” by showing its events from the point of view of Mr. Rochester’s sidelined wife. It’s unlikely that “Longbourn” will have the same radical effect on “Pride and Prejudice,” though it could suggest that readers whose imaginations have gently rambled the Bennets’ world might take a more strenuous approach. Certainly, of the many literary rethinkings of Austen’s work, “Longbourn” is one of the most engaging and rewarding. (Claire Hopley)

Female First interviews writer Mary Robinette Kowal with focus on her book Shades of Milk and Honey.

The book has been compared to Jane Eyre and Jane Austen, so how does that make you feel? The Austen comparisons delight me, because I was actively creating an homage to her work with the first book. The Jane Eyre comparisons surprised me, to be honest, but in hindsight it's easy to see why people make the connection. Both Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë created the romantic leads in the Byronic vein. I suspect any time you have a period novel with a brooding male lead that those two authors will be invoked. What is interesting to me is how very different Darcy and Rochester are. Darcy seems afflicted with serious social anxiety and clings to rigid conventions as a sort of safety net. Rochester on the other hand, flouts social conventions left and right. What they have in common is wealth and the smoldering eye. (Lucy Walton)

Impact Nottingham discusses Mills & Boon novels and claims that,

Yet we must keep the purpose of these romantic novels in sight: to entertain. Reading trashy romance is just like watching bad soaps on TV – easy entertainment. We could say that the issues of fantasy and a lack of realism could be projected on to any work of romantic literature, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ or ‘Jane Eyre’; the soaps of the 19th Century? (Eve Wersocki Morris)

Den of Geek! finds similarities between Dracula and two of the Brontës' creations.

Because what is Dracula, if not a big softie? A Byronic hero in the same bloodless vein as Heathcliff or Lord Rochester. (David Crow)

Calling Mr Rochester Lord Rochester makes him sound more Gothic, doesn't it?

PolicyMic reports more similarities too, albeit between Jane Eyre and Harry Potter.

Sciences Po Paris is a school of social studies that has forged the French political elite for over a century. The last four French presidents studied there (although Nicolas Sarkozy never made it through to graduation). It is prestigious, highbrow, and very serious. This fall, Sciences Po is offering a new class called “Literary, Psychoanalytic, and Political Approach in Harry Potter.” [...]
Throughout the course, [François] Comba compares the books with other works of literature that, he argues, have influenced J.K. Rowling. Harry’s childhood at Privet Drive is studied in parallel with the early years of Jane Eyre in Charlotte Brontë’s novel, and the scene where Harry defeats the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets is compared to the work of Ludovico Ariosto, a 16th century Italian poet. (Marie Telling)

The Telegraph discusses cheating:

Lots of people cheat, all the time (it’s difficult to get exact figures – they veer between 25 and 70 per cent for women, and 40 and 80 per cent for men some of the time), yet infidelity remains the deadliest of sins. We are obsessed with it, yet have somehow created a series of complicated and convoluted rules and narratives that films, books, television programmes, celebrities and the media have to follow to make cheating acceptable: [...]
3. If you’re married to someone in a lunatic asylum/attic who is showing no signs of recovering from the unnamed mental illness that renders them either comatose or psychotic at all times. (see: Downton Abbey, Jane Eyre). (Rebecca Holman)

Surely the whole point of Jane Eyre is that it is NOT acceptable, isn't it?

Listing '11 Psychological Stories That Will Make You Worry for Your Sanity', Flavorwire considers that Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca is

A book that could have been written in the time of the Brontë sisters (Jason Diamond)

IndieWire's The Playlist looks at '12 Celebrated Novelists-Turned-Screenwriters And How They Fared', which of course includes Aldous Huxley and his script for Jane Eyre 1944.

It’s clear from his screen credits from this period, that studios could think of nothing better to do with Huxley, the famous British novelist, than put him to work on adaptations of other famous British novels, and so he contributed to the Greer Garson/Laurence Olivier “Pride and Prejudice,” which is a very charming if willfully inaccurate version of the Jane Austen classic, and the Joan Fontaine/Orson Welles “Jane Eyre,” which is again an enjoyable watch, even if it does take many liberties with the Charlotte Brontë novel. How much Huxley had a hand in these heavily Hollywoodized films is debatable, however his one produced, solely-authored screenplay gives us more of a taste of what he brought to the table. 

Broadway Wold Atlanta reports that a production of The Mystery of Irma Vep opened last night at NTC. Il Sussi Diario (Italy) reports that X-Factor participant Violetta Zironi's favourite book is Jane Eyre. Kirsty Wark is featured on the Brontë Parsonage website: at the Brontë Society Annual Literary Lunch and interviewed by Ann Sumner.

Read More

Provicialism and Censorship

New Brontë-related papers just published:

Rethinking Provincialism in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Fiction: Our Village to Villette
Josephine McDonagh
Victorian Studies
Volume 55, Number 3, Spring 2013

Despite the resurgence of critical interest in categories of place in literature, especially relating to debates about regionalism and cosmopolitanism, the term “provincial” remains relatively uninterrogated. In this essay I explore the term as it is evoked in recent critical writings, but also as it was used in the mid-nineteenth-century context, specifically in relation to Charlotte Brontë and her last novel, Villette (1853). In the nineteenth century, “provincial” was a term that derived less from topography than from print, and it encompassed a particular form of modernity. A fuller understanding of the category helps to explain its persistence within literary history and its specific significance within the imagined geographies of Brontë’s work.

Villette, de Charlotte Brontë. Un caso de censura religiosa en la España de 1996
María Teresa Fernández Martínez
Revista de Traducción e Interpretación. Universidad de Granada
Vol 24 (2013)

El presente artículo expone el análisis realizado sobre la traducción al español de la novela Villette, de Charlotte Brontë, publicada por la editorial Rialp en el año 1996. El trabajo demuestra cómo en esta traducción se ha censurado gravemente la obra original expurgando de ella todos los elementos anticatólicos que contiene. Se pretende probar también cómo este trabajo de censura ha destruido el significado de la novela, dado que en ella el enfrentamiento entre el catolicismo y el protestantismo, y el triunfo de este último sobre aquel, es un eje fundamental que da sentido a toda la obra. Finalmente, en el curso de la investigación se descubre cómo la traducción supuestamente original sigue de cerca una traducción previa de 1944 manteniendo la censura que ya se daba en ella e incluso aumentándola.

Read More

Never enough Brontës

The Telegraph and Argus reviews the book In The Footsteps of the Brontës by Mark Davis and Ann Dinsdale.

A few months ago, I took a call from an irate reader who wanted to sound off about the frequency with which the Brontë sisters featured in the paper.
I was reminded of his Friday lunchtime fulminations when looking through In The Footsteps Of The Brontës, a book of contrasting pictures and extended captions by Haworth photographer Mark Davis and Ann Dinsdale, collections manager at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
If that gentleman should skim this, let me assure him that this latest addition to the library of Brontë books – out just in time for his Christmas stocking – focuses on the places that Anne, Charlotte and Emily knew, rather than the books they wrote.
Each one of the 90 pages contains two or more images, most of them photographs, showing past and present. The book’s front cover, repeated inside, shows the parsonage at Haworth. In the first picture, the nine front windows are curtained, whereas in the second they have been replaced by blinds.
Neither picture reveals the place as the Brontë family knew it. To get an idea of that, you have to turn the page for a monotone picture of the parsonage, without the end extension that was added after the Brontës were dead.
Intriguingly, this photograph, showing three men in stovepipe hats, two women and a girl, recalls an early photograph of the parsonage during the Brontës’ lifetime that was published years ago in a newspaper colour supplement.
The tantalising suggestion was the young women in the picture were the three sisters and that the sad-looking lanky figure in the big hat was their brother Branwell.
If that photograph was evidence of anything, it was that the life, the legend, of the Bronte family continues to fascinate probably more than anything any of them wrote, Wuthering Heights included. (Jim Greenhalf) (Read more)

We don't think that 'irate reader' will be the one posing this question to Mr Know-It-All in the York Dispatch.

Q: I would like to read all the novels by the Bronte sisters. Where can I get a list? -- F.L., Mesa, Ariz.A: All together, the literary sisters wrote seven novels. Emily wrote "Wuthering Heights"; Anne wrote "Agnes Grey" and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall"; and Charlotte wrote "Jane Eyre," "The Professor," "Villette" and www.myriadtheatreproductions.com"Shirley."
There were six Bronte children -- five girls and one boy, though the two oldest sisters died as children.
For many years, the sisters wrote under the pen names of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, retaining their actual initials. (Gary Clothier)

BFMTV (France) features the book La mort des grands hommes by Isabelle Bricard.

Si nombre de femmes et d'hommes célèbres sont morts de maladie comme les sœurs Brontë, d'autres ont péri de faim comme l'écrivain Nicolas Gogol, qui, sous l'emprise d'un religieux, se soumit à un jeûne mortel. Quant à Machiavel, il avala, semble-t-il, trop de pilules purgatives à l'aloès. (Anne-Laure Baulme) (Translation)

Still in France, Le Figaro reviews the exhibition Anywhere, Anywhere Out of the World at the Palais de Tokyo.

L'âme du spectateur est invitée à quitter le temps d'un instant son enveloppe charnelle. Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, complice de Philippe Parreno, apporte son aide dans cette escapade avec sa Bibliothèque clandestine, parfaite pour filer à l'anglaise entre les livres de Charlotte Brontë et de Bret Easton Ellis. (Mathieu Rollinger)

PolicyMic shares 'Powerful Life Lessons From a Six-Time Jeopardy Champion Who Lost it All'.

By 3:55 p.m., things had started to turn sour. My timing was way off; my mind was growing cloudy. My legs were starting to ache.
I would read the category — “Writing Teams,” for example. I would read the clue — “Glass Town is an imaginary place in the early collaborations of this famous trio of sisters.” I would come up with my response before Alex finished reading the clue — the Brontës, of course. I would do a split second confidence check of my response to make sure I felt comfortable buzzing in. I would prime my thumb, careful not to buzz in too early and risk being locked out. I would wait for precisely the right second, attuning myself to the crisp cadence of Alex’s voice and then mash down on the black plastic signaling device that was nestled snugly in my sweaty palm, clicking away repeatedly with my thumb.
And then, I would slam into a brick wall. My competitor would ring in before me with the right answer. Alex would give him a pleased nod, or smoothly say, “That’s right,” or give him an emphatic “Yes!” (Jared Hall)

Vintage Vinyl News comments on Morrisey's Autobiography:

The first book ever published by Penguin Classics, normally the domain of Jane Austin, Emily Bronte and Oscar Wilde, that was not previously published has hit the top of the book charts, even outselling the latest Bridget Jones novel which was expected to be a long-term number 1. 

Winnipeg Free Press announced something that took place last night (sorry we are a bit late reporting it!).

And for something completely different, head down to the Manitoba Conservatory of Music and Arts for a Halloween lunchtime concert Friday at noon. Voice teacher and tenor Dr. Martin Wilson will do his best to scare you with excerpts from popular musical theatre shows.
"I've chosen pieces that play up the Halloween theme. I'll sing songs from Phantom of the Opera, Jekyll and Hyde, The Secret Garden and some Sondheim shows, Sweeney Todd and Company, as a middle-aged man with commitment issues. That could be the scariest of all," Wilson said with a laugh.
Also planned is a number from Jane Eyre, right after Rochester has been blinded.
"It has lots of pathos," Wilson explained. (Gwenda Nemerofsky)

Esther's Narrative suggests: 'OMG Everyone Go Out and Read Anne Brontë RIGHT NOW' with which we wholeheartedly agree. The Brontë Parsonage Facebook page shows a 'watercolour still life of wild roses' by Charlotte Brontë.

Read More