The taming of the moody, wealthy man

Zimbio reviews a few films, including Belle by Amma Asante:

Inspired by a painting by Johann Zoffany, Belle is a coming of age tale set in 18th century British society that recalls the tales of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters. (Joe Robberson)

The German edition of CRI Online (China) praises the synchronisation work behind Jane Eyre 1970:

Der Film "Jane Eyre" aus dem Jahr 1971, in dem George Scott und Susannah York die Hauptrollen spielen, ist in China wohl bekannter als in vielen anderen Ländern. Sein Erfolg wird zum Teil der Synchronisation von Qiu Yuefeng und Li Zi zugeschrieben, die die chinesischen Stimmen von Edward Rochester und Jane Eyre lieferten.
Während eines Fernseh-Interviews vor mehreren Jahren hat sich Li Zi an die Zusammenarbeit mit Qiu Yuefeng erinnert.
"Es gab eine Szene, als Rochester zurück nach Hause kam und nach Jane suchte. Er hat fünfmal nach Jane gerufen. Ich war von seinen Gefühlen tief berührt. Es war, als hätte er mir das Herz geraubt. Er hat es leicht gemacht, mich in meinen Text hineinzufühlen."
Zhang Jian wuchs mit ausländischen Filmen auf. Der 40-Jährige war erst Grundschüler, als er "Jane Eyre" zum ersten Mal gesehen hat. Seitdem hat sich Zhang in ausländische Filme, genauer gesagt die Synchronsprecher verliebt. (Translation)

While La Voce della Russia (Italy) looks at good book-to-movie adaptations.

Ci sono le coppie: bel libro-bel film? Senza dubbio, ci sono tanti esempi. La versione cinematografica dei primi due volumi di “Harry Potter” di Joanne Rowling hanno conquistato il pubblico di tutto il mondo. La pellicola “Jane Eyre”, tratta dall'omonimo romanzo di Charlotte Brontё, è diventata classica come il libro. (Anna Fedorova) (Translation)

We suppose they mean Jane Eyre 1944.

The Chicago Tribune reviews a local stage production of The Sound of Music:

Based loosely on a true story, "The Sound of Music" reaches back into a literary tradition, at least as old as "Jane Eyre," of the smart, educated, penniless young woman who tames a moody, wealthy man with her virtue, compassion and intelligence. (Mary Schmich)

SoloLibri (Italy) reviews the Italian edition of Karen Kingsbury's The Bridge:

The Bridge “il ponte”, una libreria in cui sentirsi a casa. Quel luogo meraviglioso era diventato per Molly e Ryan il loro piccolo mondo privato, il loro nascondiglio segreto composto di logori pavimenti di legno di pino mentre pareti e porte si erano sformate e non erano più squadrate. Erano trascorsi così due anni indimenticabili, leggendo e rileggendo Jane Eyre di Charlotte Brontë, senza mai parlare dell’unica cosa che all’epoca sembrava così evidente “che avrebbe potuto fare la differenza”. (Alessandra Stoppini) (Translation)

The Telegraph and Argus announces that Keighley's seasonal bus timetable is back, which may be of interest to visitors going to Haworth in the coming months. The Brontë Parsonage Museum Facebook page shows 'the lovely Oonagh' helping with the conservation work on their copies of Blackwood's magazine. The Dragon's Cache discusses Anne Brontë and infatuation. YouTube user Jacqueline Medina has uploaded a video discussing the differences between Wide Sargasso Sea, the book and the  2006 TV adaptation. Mix & Fold reviews Regarding Jane Eyre by Susan Geason (1997). 

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Neurosis and Dogs

Two new thesis published by Lambert Academic and GRIN Verlag respectively:

Heathcliff's Neurosis: A Psycho- Marxist Interpretation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights 
Sahar Javaid
LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing (2 April 2014)
ISBN-13: 978-3659510656

This book posits Heathcliff’s (an individual’s) Neurosis in accordance with Psycho-Marxist interpretation of the novel Wuthering Heights; it substantiates the disorder created by ideology which emasculates the individual psychologically and sociologically. The research portrays the disruption which the society embarks on an individual. Individuals are governed by different ideological state apparatuses; rigid ideologies and ill treatment of society meted out to the individual by the people around him lead him to neurosis. The book is the study of Heathcliff under societal and economic pressures. He represents the people who are severely hit by certain obstacles in their childhood. The Neurosis, discussed in this research, is related to the unrest caused by societal disruption in the matters concerning strong economy, family name, gentle-manliness and wealth. Society demands these ideologies from every individual. When a person fails to achieve all the above mentioned royalties, he is reduced to a proletarian like Heathcliff.

Das Motiv des Hundes als Ausdruck von Ambivalenz in Emily Brontës "Wuthering Heights"
Victoria Hohmann
GRIN Verlag GmbH (14 April 2014)
ISBN-13: 978-3656636687

Im Folgenden möchte ich untersuchen, inwiefern sich das Thema der Ambivalenz innerhalb des Motiv des Hundes in Emily Brontës Werk „Wuthering Heights" findet und was diese Ambivalenz zum Textverständnis und zur Analyse der Hauptcharaktere beiträgt oder beitragen kann. Bevor ich sozusagen auf den Hund komme und zumindest einige der Hundemetaphern, - Vergleiche und - Allegorien des Romans vorstelle und analysiere, möchte ich auf die Bedeutung des Hundes in der Mythologie zu sprechen kommen. Dies erscheint mir wesentlich für ein umfassendes Verständnis in Bezug auf Hunde in der Literatur und das Thema der Ambivalenz, dass durch dieses Motiv ausgedrückt werden kann. Anschließend werde ich mich konkret den Hundefiguren und dem Hund als Verkörperung von Ambivalenz in „Wuthering Heights" zuwenden. In diesem Zusammenhang spielt auch die Beziehung der Autorin Emily Brontë selbst zu ihrem Hund namens Keeper eine entscheidende Rolle, da auch sie von Hassliebe geprägt war.

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A bit of a prig

The Telegraph and Argus reviews the book Art And Yorkshire: From Turner To Hockney, edited by Jane Sellars and reminds us of some of its contents.

In the world of coffee-table soft-backs, of which this book is an interesting example, the variety of Hockney’s art work is fairly represented and includes one of his youthful Bradford streetscapes as well as the 1983 joiner ensemble of photographs snapped at Ponden Hall – Thrush Cross Grange in Wuthering Heights.
Which brings me, briefly, to the Brontës, whose pictures figure almost as often as Turner’s (Turner wins 10-7, according to my fingers and thumbs). I don’t know if Charlotte really did paint Branwell out of the painting of the three sisters, but I wouldn’t be surprised. She could be a bit of a prig. (Jim Greenhalf)

This columnist from The Guardian should perhaps reread Jane Eyre.

we face a low-growth capitalism, combined with high levels of inequality and low levels of social mobility. If you are not born into wealth to start with, life, for even for the best educated, will be like Jane Eyre without Mr Rochester. (Paul Mason)

Of course by the end of the novel - or ever, really - Jane Eyre doesn't need Mr Rochester financially at all.

The Boar includes Jane Eyre 2006 among the best BBC period dramas.

Jane Eyre (2006)
This book has been adapted more times than anyone could possibly count, but the 2006 TV series captures the heart of Charlotte Brontë’s novel in my opinion. Then-newcomer Ruth Wilson (who went on to act in Anna Karennina and Saving Mr Banks) brings a slow-burning strength of character as the plucky heroine, and Toby Stephens’ performance as the brooding owner of Thornfield is pitch-perfect.
This production emphasizes the gothic horror of the novel, meaning that there are lots of shots of dark passageways and flickering candles. But it goes much beyond that, capturing Jane’s journey to maturity which is at the centre of the story. Try not to be distracted by occasional weird jerky camera movements or Mr Rochester’s bizarre hunting costume which makes him look like Rupert Bear. (Emily Nabney)

And The British Film Institute includes Wuthering Heights 2011 among the best British films directed by women:

Whatever the imperfection of the film’s second half, Wuthering Heights is a visionary piece of filmmaking, and a thoroughly modern adaptation. Redrawing Heathcliff from a vaguely exotic mysterious stranger to a most definitely black and fiercely resented outsider, Arnold strips back the trappings and distance of traditional costume drama. It is her work with director of photography Robbie Ryan that’s the real revelation though: together they create a natural landscape that brutally evokes the passionate cruelty at the gothic heart of the source material. (Jemma Desai)

We don't really get this statement from the New Zealand Herald:

After all, how hard could it be to transcribe 185-year-old letters if you've tackled novels by Charles Dickens and the Brontës. (John Cousins)

The Herald News features a local teacher who is to receive Mass Insight Education’s Partners in Excellence Teacher Award.

“The goal is, can they teach it back to me?” Tracy said, adding “There are different ways to access the text.”
Tracy’s point is illustrated by the different student projects seen sitting along the walls of her classroom. Those include trading cards of characters from “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë, a “Hamlet” playbill, another display showing MacBeth’s hands outlined in blood, as well as scrapbooks and other projects based on literary works. (Michael Gagne)

Revista Ñ (Argentina) interviews writer Mariana Enríquez:

Lo fantástico aparece del mismo modo que en Cumbres borrascosas : no sabés muy bien qué es Heathcliff, no es muy “persona”, es como un demonio… (Flor Codagnone) (Translation)

The Penguin drop cap edition of Jane Eyre is selected by Parade Magazine for their 'ultimate Mother’s Day gift guide'. A couple of Italian websites celebrate the 'festa del cane' by listing authors attached to their dogs, such as Emily Brontë: Blasting News and Books Blog.  A Dream of Books reviews Always Emily by Michaela MacColl and To Read, Or Not To Read does the same with Solsbury Hill. We Review It posts about Jane Eyre 2011.

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Whatever You Are, Be a Good One

Whatever You Are, Be a Good One
100 Inspirational Quotations
Hand-Lettered by Lisa Congdon
April 2014
Chronicle Books
ISBN 9781452124834

A quote book like no other, this thought-provokingWhatever You Are, Be a Good One is perfect for recent graduates, creative thinkers, and anyone looking for a little inspiration.
collection compiles the timeless wisdom of great original minds— from Marie Curie to Stephen King, Joan of Arc to Jack Kerouac, Oscar Wilde to Harriet Tubman—brilliantly hand-lettered by beloved indie artist Lisa Congdon. Readers will find enlightening insights (“Wisdom begins in wonder”— Socrates), stirring calls to action (“Leap and the net will appear”—John Burroughs), and stimulating encouragements (“Be curious, not judgmental”—Walt Whitman) beautifully illuminated on every page. A delightful reminder to get out there and make the most of life,

In the book, there is a Charlotte Brontë quote. From Jane Eyre, here is Helen Burns telling:

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A last night and a book

Your Erie has a short article on the last night of the local production of Jane Eyre.

It was an emotional ending for the director of the Center of Performing Arts at McDowell High School.
Today was the final performance of Jane Eyre, a play about the life of the first female hero in literature.
Michael Malthaner wrote the music and orchestration of the play, and this was his last production since he's retiring at the end of the year.
After the curtain fell at the end of todays performance, the students presented him with a special song.
There was hardly a dry eye in the auditorium.
Malthaner said this about the day "Any love I ever gave it was always returned 10 fold as it was tonight."
Malthaner says he plans to stay involved in community theater and still be an advocate for arts education.

Skånsen (Sweden) reviews Claire Messud's The Woman Upstairs.

Till skillnad från Charlotte Brontës galna kvinna på vinden som titeln anspelar på, ser Nora nämligen sig själv som en av de ”normala” osynliga kvinnorna i samhället. De som alltid gör vad de ska, men som ingen riktigt bryr sig om. (Sophie Lossing) (Translation)

tracydewedt has found a Jane Eyre edition, illustrated by Katy Mitchell.

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Wide Sargasso Sea on BBC Radio 4 Extra (again)

A new chance to listen to listen to Margaret Busby's adaptation of Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea on BBC Radio 4 Extra:

Wide Sargasso Sea (first aired on May 2004)
Read by Adjoa Andoh
Abridged by Margaret Busby

Monday to Friday, 2.30 PM

Monday, April 28  Episode 1
Tensions escalate amongst the former slaves on a Caribbean island.

Tuesday, April 29 Episode 2
Creole heiress Antoinette Cosway's mother marries an Englishman in Spanish Town, Jamaica.

Wednesday, April 30 Episode 3
Without her brother and parted from her mother, heiress Antoinette is sent off to school.

Thursday, May 1 Episode 4
Fresh from England, Rochester weds Creole heiress Antoinette and takes her to Dominica.

Friday, May 2 Episode 5Antoinette and Rochester's honeymoon develops into an intense love affair in Dominica.

Monday, May 5 Episode 6
Antoinette and Rochester's intense love affair in Dominica is threatened by rumour and betrayal.

Tuesday, May 6 Episode 7
Antoinette asks her old nurse Christophine to help restore her marriage.

Wednesday, May 7 Episode 8
Rochester accuses his new wife Antoinette of betrayal and their ravaged Eden falls apart.

Thursday, May 8 Episode 9
Antoinette returns to her faithless husband who now has control of her estate.

Friday, May 9 Episode 10
Rochester has imprisoned Antoinette in the attic of his English home.

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Jane Ears

Sue Cargill is a playwright and comics creator in Chicago who runs the awkwardphobic blog and is also the author of the following sketches for a Victorian Zine: Jane Ears (a Jane Eyre parody):

Distracted by unpleasant daydreams that involve Mr. Rochester with a pretty neighbor. Jane Ears is being slipshod on the job here. From Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. 3 1/3"X3 1/3". Croquil pen and india ink on paper

More here.

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The Brontë Parsonage couldn’t be a more perfect location

The Woolly Bike Trail initiative in Haworth will reach the Brontë Parsonage Museum. Keighley News explains:

Keighley people are being invited to decorate Yorkshire-themed bikes with wool.
Artist Cassandra Kilbride will run a workshop in Haworth next month as part of her Woolly Bike Trail.
Participants will be inspired by Yorkshire literary greats as they decorate one of ten bikes involved in the project.
They will draw on everything from the Brontë sisters’ work to Yorkshire-set novels, like The Secret Garden and Dracula.
The Woolly Bike Trail is part of the Yorkshire Festival 2014 – the arts festival that precedes the Grand Depart. (...)
Cassandra said: “I wanted the bikes as a full set to represent all the things that make Yorkshire so distinctive as a county, but more specifically for each bike to represent the town and community creating it.
“The Brontë Parsonage Museum couldn’t be a more perfect location to celebrate Yorkshire’s literary heritage.”
Workshops across the county are free and accessible to all ages, but a basic ability to crochet or knit is required. Wool and patterns will be provided, and booking is essential.
The Haworth workshop runs at the Brontë Parsonage Museum on May 27 and 28, from 10.30am to 1pm and 1pm to 3.30pm.
Visit yorkshireswoollybikes.co.uk for further information.

The Tour's Grand Depart visit to Yorkshire next summer is also celebrated in The Blackpool Citizen (and other local newspapers):

One of the highlights of stage two will be the town of Haworth, near Keighley, best known as the home of the Brontë sisters. The Brontë Parsonage Museum is preserved as a memorial to Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, who lived in the house in the early 19th century. The town is also on the edge of the wild moors known as Brontë Country, especially with reference to Emily Brontë's famous 1847 novel, Wuthering Heights. Riders will also negotiate Haworth's cobbled Main Street.

Gloucestershire Echo interviews the author Jacqueline Wilson:

“I was at the [Foundling] museum in London and they said to me, half jokingly, what they’d really like is for me to write a book.
“I thought about it and it just popped into my mind. “When I was a child I loved reading about girls at boarding schools.
“I loved the first part of Jane Eyre when she was sent away. Maybe that was an influence on me with Hetty Feather.
“I always liked that sort of grim atmosphere where girls somehow make friendships and battle together and Hetty has a strong sense of social injustice.” (Jonathan Whiley)

Women writers at The Telegram & Gazette:

Yet, beyond those women we studied in high school or college — dwelling within a list dominated by male writers — too few readers are aware of female writers, contemporary or not, beyond Eudora Welty, Harper Lee, the Brontës and Jane Austen. (Ann Connery Frantz)

The Nation (Pakistan) explores the history of the Gothic novel:

The trend of writing Gothic novels rose up with novels like The Italian and Melmouth the Wanderer being published during the early years of the 18th Century. Brontë’s Wuthering Heights also carried Gothic elements in it which made her novel more praiseworthy. (Ruvindra Sathsarani)

Kashmir Times (India) reviews the book My Accidental Jihad by Krisna Bremer:

One day while jogging in North Carolina, Krista, a graduate student, met an older Libyan man, Ismail. He was not exactly the person she'd envisioned as Prince Charming. He was graying of hair and yellow of teeth, not to mention that he struck Krista as utterly foreign, completely other. But when she was with him, she felt herself relax, as though she were settling into a deep pool of water. She felt at home. And then, to paraphrase Charlotte Brontë: Reader, she married him. (Kelly Blewett)

Albenga Corsara (Italy) talks about the #ilmiopersonaggio initiative:

La grande letteratura ci ha lasciato nel cuore personaggi da cui tutti sono affascinati: un recente sondaggio su twitter, lanciato con l’hashtag #ilmiopersonaggio, ha individuato come personaggi più amati dal pubblico Jane Eyre, protagonista dell’omonimo romanzo di Charlotte Brontë, e Edmond Dantes, il vendicativo Conte di Montecristo di Dumas, che hanno prevalso su Lolita, il capitano Achab, Aureliano Buendìa e Jean Valijean. (Betibù) (Translation)

Tina's Book Reviews interviews the writer Justine Erler:

What are you currently reading?
Anything Jane Austen, and of course, the Brontë sisters. Wuthering Heights is my particular favorite, but any dark, brooding gothic romance from classic literature will do.

A mention of Wuthering Heights in an article about properties in The Sunday Times;  Homo Literatus (in Portuguese) posts about Jane Eyre.

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Go Local and Auditions

Today is the Go Local day at the Brontë Parsonage Museum:

If your post code is BD20, BD21 or BD22 then why not come along to the Brontë Parsonage Museum this Sunday absolutely free.
The refurbished historic rooms now have new interpretation and we have recently installed touch screen virtual tours of the Parsonage, as well as an especially woven  rug for Revd Patrick Brontë’s study.
In addition you will see our refurbished admissions area, redeveloped shop space with our spring merchandise and our new Contemporary Arts Space currently showing works by Cornelia Parker responding to the Brontës' literary legacy – the exhibition Parker at the Parsonage, closes next week, so it is a last chance to see the exhibition.
In 2013, over 500 local residents enjoyed the Parsonage for free, so we hope you will join us this year on Sunday 27 April 2014.
Executive Director Ann Sumner commented: ‘It was a pleasure to meet so many local residents last year and we look forward to seeing you again now that we have transformed the admissions process. Please do remember to bring proof of your post code with you as you will need this to gain entry’. 

And if you are around Stafford, TX, maybe you could be interested in this:

Jane Eyre Auditions at the Ford Bend Theatre
This is production will be part of FBT's Action Reaction Troupe (A.R.T.) players, comprising of acting students ages 8-18.
All actors 8-18 are welcome to come to the cold-reading audition. Upon casting, there is a $200.00 fee, payable at the first rehearsal. Students in the troupe will receive acting class instruction built into the rehearsals, while working toward putting on a full-length production show.
For more information on what sets the A.R.T. players apart from other FBT productions, please click here.

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Sweeping epics

Keighley News promotes the Go Local on Sunday campaign:

A group that markets Keighley and the Worth Valley to visitors is encouraging residents to check out attractions on their own doorstep.
The Brontë Country Partner-ship is promoting this weekend’s Go Local Sunday event.
People living in postcodes BD20, 21 and 22 will be able to gain free entry to a range of local visitor destinations.
Participating attractions are East Riddlesden Hall, Police & Forensic Science Museum, Museum of Rail Travel, Ingrow Loco Museum, Keighley & Worth Valley Railway (one round trip), Brontë Parsonage Museum and The Passionate Brontës’ Guided Walks.

Also in the local newspaper, Haworth is proud to offer an exhibition inspired by the Tour of France Grande Depart:

The Other Side showcases the work of four internationally-acclaimed artists from around the Yorkshire route of the Tour de France.
It aims to highlight 21st-century Brontëland creativity rather than the traditional view of landscapes and literature.
The Other Side is at the Dam-side Gallery in Jacobs Lane, and has been organised under the banner of Worth the Tour as part of the Yorkshire Festival Fringe.
A spokesman said: “The ‘other side’ of the Worth Valley’s creativity is different to the familiar picture postcard Brontë landscapes and traditional Olde Worlde Haworth depictions.
“Instead of looking nostalgically into the past, this exhibition is facing forward with a 21st-century vision, flavoured by the global perspectives of the individual artists.” (David Knights)

And we have also the monthly Brontë Parsonage Museum column in the newspaper:

We celebrated the Brontë Film Season at the end of March and beginning of April to coincide with the Bradford Film Festival.
We enjoyed viewings of Wuthering Heights (1939), Jane Eyre (1943) and Devotion (1946).
These three films, when they were released, attracted many visitors to the Parsonage, and since then have rarely been shown on the big screen. So it was a real treat to be able to see them in a cinematic environment!
We enjoyed an event on April 2 in association with Bradford’s Cartwright Hall exhibition – Rossetti’s Obsession, Images of Jane Morris – which finishes on June 1. Jan Marsh, the author of Jane and May Morris; Dante Gabriel Rossetti, painter and poet and current president of the William Morris Society; and Juliet Barker, award winning biographer and author of The Brontës and The Brontës: A Life In Letters, discussed the letter writing of Jane Morris and the Brontë sisters.
Jan Marsh began the event with a fascinating introduction to the life of Jane Morris, which provided an excellent foundation for the conversation to begin. Jan and Juliet discussed the letters of the women, highlighting the similarities and differences between them.
An interesting point they discussed was the tone of the letters. Charlotte Brontë often consciously adopted a masculine style, whereas Jane Morris was much more conventionally feminine in her style of writing. (Read more) (Hermione Williams)

The Wharfedale Observer reviews the book  Haworth, Oxenhope & Stanbury: From Old Maps by Steve Wood:

According to the Haworth Village House Repopulation Plan of 1851, the Rev Patrick Bronte’s neighbours included butchers, a tailor, wine merchants, a druggist and a number of combers, handloom weavers and at least one “twister” – John Rushworth.
That was also the year that those responsible for public health accepted the Rev Brontë’s appeal for a local board of health to be set up to look into the village’s sewage and supply of fresh water.
In April, 1850, an inspector had called at the village to investigate its sanitary condition. What Benjamin Herschel Babbage found was stomach-turning.
In the vicinity of the Black Bull Inn, he said: “I found the night-soil from the privy emptied itself into a heap immediately below the druggist’s larder window, while the pigsty was below the kitchen window. Upon inquiring at the druggist’s, I was informed that the contents of the midden-stead (dunghill) frequently came up as high as the sill of the larder window and that 20 loads had been removed from it about three weeks before my visit.
“A woman living in this house said she was always poorly and the stench from the midden-stead and pigsty so bad she frequently was not able to eat her meals.”
No wonder the village wiped out most of the Brontë family, leaving old man Brontë blind and daughterless in the parsonage opposite the graveyard. (Read more) (Jim Greenhalf)

Broadway World (Toronto) talks with Vern Thiessen, who adapted Wuthering Heights for the stage in 2010, about his new work, an adaptation of Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage. We don't totally agree with him when he says:

Technical challenges aside, a big attraction in adapting Maugham's work was the ease with which his language translates to the stage. "I was struck by how modern it felt," Thiessen recalls, "particularly Maugham's dialogue. He's a playwright, and his words are fresh, earthy, gritty; the dialogue feels very contemporary. While adapting Brontë, you can't put words in actors mouths - they don't feel right on the stage of today - but Maugham's dialogue translates very easily." (Catherine Kustanczy)

Spear's begins an article about underrated books with a reference to the classics:

Moving, entertaining, inspiring and all-consuming, classic books define the literary landscape. From sweeping epics such as Brontë's 'Wuthering Heights' to understated gems like Chekov's 'The Lady With The Little Dog', the classics retain relevance into old age. (Romy Van den Broeke)

Wall Street Journal reviews Cat Out of Hell by Lynne Truss:

Truss uses this fantastic premise to spin an unruly tale in which horror and humour keep floating in and out, putting the reader on an emotional roller coaster. The moment you start to relax and allow yourself to feel amused by the adventures of a pair of immortal cats, violence and fury erupt. The effect, often, is akin to that of reading a 19th century gothic novel, such as Wuthering Heights, where ghosts and grisly thrills do not prevent you from breaking into fits of giggle. (Somak Ghoshal)

Ilkley Gazette pays tribute to the theatre manager and director Walter Swan:

 Yvette Huddleston, who worked at the Playhouse with Walter, added: “Walter really was the best friend a person could hope to have. He was kind, generous, funny, intelligent, interesting and interested. (...)
We collaborated on many projects – we wrote three stage plays together, the most recent of which was a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights (which we also co-directed) staged at Ilkley Playhouse last summer before transferring to the Minack Theatre in Cornwall where it played to sold out audiences for every performance. (Claire Lomax)

British Vogue talks about Jessica Brown Findlay, now on BBC's Jamaica Inn:

You could write a book on the subject of weather in English literature. A niche study, it would include everything from the sweating summer of The Go-Between to the plot-contriving downpours inflicted upon Austen's girls, the cheek-cracking storms of King Lear, and all that wuthering in Wuthering Heights. (This being England, chapters on inclement weather would outnumber any containing sunshine four to one.) (Charlotte Sinclair)

Grimsby Telegraph interviews the new author Rebecca Mascull:

Rebecca, who counts Raymond Carver, Margaret Atwood, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, Amy Tan, Isabel Allende and JD Salinger among her inspirations, says finally securing a publisher was "a dream come true".

Los Andes (Argentina) is clearly right when it says

Es probable que la ganadora de GH no haya reflexionado sobre el condicional y sus nuevos usos, sobre la relación histórica de su prosa con la de las hermanas Brontë[.] (Gabriel Dallas) (Translation)

 Adevărul (Romania) interviews the theatre director Mihai Măniuţiu:

Mirela Sandu : Cum vedeţi pe lângă acest festival, viitorul teatrului? Care sunt următorii paşi în construcţia acestuia? MM : Regizori importanţi, texte de succes, consolidarea continuă a trupei şi creşterea ei valorică. Când spun spectacole importante şi de succes, mă refer, de pildă, la Idiotul după Dostoievski, care e în momentul acesta marele succes de public, la La răscruce de vânturi după Emily Brontë, Sânziana şi Pepelea de Vasile Alecsandri, Cei doi gentlemeni din Verona de William Shakespeare, la Hamlet de William Shakespeare, la Războiul Clovnilor de Eli Simon, la Panglica lui Moebius de Robert Cohen etc. (Translation)

A curiosity. What's the name of J.K. Rowling's production company (which is now in the news as it will create a series based on A Casual Vacancy)? Bronte Film & Television Ltd.

Hjerte, Smerte (in Norwegian) reviews and compares Jane Eyre 2011 and Wuthering Heights 2011; English Historical Fiction Authors posts about the places where the Brontës look for inspiration; scotomata (in Polish) discusses a theory about how Heathcliff could have obtained his fortune published in the Eric Hobsbawm book Wiek rewolucji. 1789-1848; Libro Libertate (in Spanish) briefly posts about Wuthering Heights.

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Installations and Poems

An installation in Vancouver which pays tribute to Emily Brontë:

Thru the Trapdoor
Presented by ON MAIN with the partecipation of VIVO Media Arts
Artistic Director: Paul Wong
Producer: Rick Erickson
April 22 – 26
Tuesday Apr. 22, 8 – 10 PM
Wed-Fri Apr. 23 – 25, 12 – 8 PM Free
Saturday Apr. 26, 8PM – 2AM 

We read in the Vancouver Sun:

The exhibition is full of numerous strong pieces that could stand on their own in a white cube anywhere.
One of my favorites is Dear Emily by Katherine Coe. It’s a room with the pages of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights hanging from the ceiling. What was completely unexpected was the smell of honey. It’s produced by the pages which have been dipped in beeswax. In the early 19th century, the novel would have been read at night to the light of beeswax candles. The soft lighting recalls a different era as it makes the yellow pages glow as if lit by candlelight. The installation includes a soundtrack of music and fragments of the text. There’s a chair to sit in and take in the sights, sounds and smells of Dear Emily. (Kevin Griffin)

And a book of poems which includes Anne Brontë as a character:

La Insistencia del DañoFernando Valverde
Visor Ediciones
Colección Visor de Poesía
Fecha de edición 2014
ISBN 978-84-9895-860-7

Granada Hoy (Spain) interviews writer and poet Fernando Valverde:

-Con poco más de 30 años firma un libro en el que la muerte planea como una gaviota. ¿De dónde nace todo el dolor que se concentra en las páginas?
-De la realidad. La muerte y la enfermedad son algo que está ahí, que marca nuestro comportamiento y cada una de nuestras decisiones. No creo que la edad sea completamente decisiva para poder sentir la cercanía de la muerte. Es más, tal vez la cercanía de la muerte a una edad temprana la muestra como algo más trágico. Uno de los primeros personajes del libro es un fantasma, Anna Brontë, una joven que muere en Scarborough junto al Mar del Norte, donde ha acudido con la esperanza de curarse de una tuberculosis. Su destino es más trágico que el de la anciana que se va convirtiendo en sombra. (G. Cappa) (Translation)

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A bonding experience

Keighley News reports on the Easter activities at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

Youngsters – and parents – had an eggs-traordinary time at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth.
They served-up some cracking creations during an egg-themed workshop, led by community artist and former Parsonage employee Rachel Lee.
Visitors had the chance to decorate hard-boiled eggs using a range of materials.
“It was buzzing – there were lots of children there,” said Susan Newby, the museum’s education officer.
“We had all sorts of fantastic designs, from angry birds to Daleks!”
The session was among a host of Easter holiday activities staged by the museum, including talks, a churchyard challenge and a chance to view some of Charlotte Brontë’s possessions.
Events continue today with an opportunity for people to write their own stories or poems and create illustrations.

Keighley News also comments on the recent Charlotte Brontë doodle created by Google. And still locally and continuing with the controversy about the guide that didn't mention the Bradford attractions at all, The Telegraph and Argus highlights all the good things that Bradford has to offer.

Now here's an interesting tidbit gleaned from a review of the play In the Garden from the Chicago Sun-Times.

[Sara] Gmitter — who spent 15 years working behind the scenes at Lookingglass as a stage manager, teaching artist and director of the company’s young ensemble — makes her mainstage debut with “In the Garden.” (She is currently adapting Charlotte Bronte’s final novel, “Villette,” for Lookingglass.) (Mary Houlihan)

A funny anecdote told by Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner to the New York Times:

Are you a book keeper or discarder?
Obviously a keeper. I recently gave my son my high school copy of “Wuthering Heights” for his English class, forgetting that a friend had drawn a penis on the cover. It was a bonding experience. He loved it — the book, I mean.  

And another mention of quite another edition of Wuthering Heights in the New York Times as well:

A friend bought Ms. Fairstein a first edition leatherbound copy of “Wuthering Heights” to celebrate the completion of her novel “Death Angel.” (Joanne Kaufman)

Flavorwire reviews the forthcoming compilation of Muriel Spark's essays, The Informed Air.

 In the earlier essay, she describes her movement from writing about 19th-century novelists like the Brontës and Mary Shelly to writing her first novel, the result of convalescence, a publisher’s suggestion, and her entry into the Roman Catholic Church, a decision that changed her view of life. (Elisabeth Donnelly)

The Boston Globe features Val McDermid's Northanger Abbey:

The modern update means that Cat has read Jean Rhys’s “Wide Sargasso Sea” as well as “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” and her fascination with horror, fantasy, and the supernatural in fiction is naturally fed by contemporary YA tomes of “Harry Potter,’’ “The Hunger Games,’’ and, above all, the vampire-infested “Twilight’’ series. (Daneet Steffens)

The Daily Mail reviews briefly the screen adaptation tie-in edition of Daphne Du Maurier's Jamaica Inn:

‘If you ask me any questions I’ll break every bone in your body,’ he roars, twisting Mary’s arm up her back. Oo-er! It’s like Wuthering Heights on steroids. (Val Hennessy)

The Journal Sentinel describes Colin Firth in The Railway Man as follows:

Soon, he sheds his shaggy mustache and becomes Colin Firth, staring at the waves like Heathcliff on the moors. (Duane Dudek)

Act I reviews The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. O Prazer das Coisas writes briefly in Portuguese about Charlotte Brontë's The Secret. It's Jane Eyre 2006's turn on Effusions of Wit and Humour. Interesting Literature lists five fascinating facts about the Brontë sisters.

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Wuthering Heights in Shelton

An alert from  Shelton, CT:

Plumb Memorial Library
Retro Reads — Friday, April 25, 6 p.m. This new book group considers classics from youth: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë this month. Read or re-read and share opinions and snacks, a reader’s Happy Hour; new members welcome, copies of the book available. (Via Shelton Herald)

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Overlooking Haworth

The Telegraph and Argus reports that a directory of places to visit in the North has left out places like the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

The National Media Museum, stunning Saltaire and the Brontë Parsonage –they’re all attractions which draw thousands of visitors to the district, but it seems none are worthy of mention in a directory of places to visit in the North.
Miffed tourism staff at Bradford Council have now written to thomson local to find out why the city has been snubbed on its ‘Places to Visit’ page for the North of England. [...]
“There is not one item in it which is actually in Bradford, in spite of us having the National Media Museum right in the middle of the city centre. Instead it has attractions called Pot House Hamlet and Hall Hill Farm – probably very nice but not a patch on the NMM, Brontë Parsonage or Salts Mil.” [...]
No-one from thomsonlocal was able to provide a comment. (Julie Tickner)

Impact has compiled a list of '5 romantic literary quotes' which includes one from Wuthering Heights.

3. “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” Wuthering Heights; Emily Brontë
One cannot beat the beautiful and graceful employment of words Brontë was capable of. When I read this quote personally, I feel rather relaxed and tranquil which allows the potency of the love to radiate through, as if the very words were mingling with our breathing before it strikes home, into the very centre of our hearts, which ends with a sigh of desire for the very same result to occur to our own souls. (Radhika Chond)

And another list: this one compiled by Female First and showing their top 5 Mia Wasikowska films.

- Jane Eyre (2011)
Jane Eyre has been told many times on the big and small screen, and yet Cary Fukunaga's version is one of the best adaptations of the much-loved Charlotte Brontë novel.
At the time, Wasikowska was still a relative newcomer on the global film stage, and yet her Jane Eyre has such elegance and poise - it really was a terrific performance from her in the central role.
Michael Fassbender takes on the role of Rochester, and together the pair sizzles. There is a real spark of chemistry between them, which makes this fascinating literary relationship really work.
Jane Eyre may be a well told tale, but Fukunaga, Wasikowska and Fassbender make this story seem new and full of life. It really was a terrific interpretation of a great book. (Helen Earnshaw)

The Telegraph has an article on the importance of teaching Shakespeare properly and reminds us of the fact that,

Innogen and Beatrice are as real as Jane Eyre or Eliza Bennett, and while an author reveals their characters’ mind through all manner of prosaic tools, in the hands of a playwright one can only divine character from the things they say, that are said about them, or, indeed, the things that are left unsaid. (Ben Crystal)

Coincidentally, the Brontë Parsonage Facebook page has a few pictures of their own tribute to Shakespeare yesterday.

Still on the topic of education, The Stoke Sentinel reports that,

Teenagers have been set the ultimate literary challenge – to read more than 60 books from a list before they are 20.
Staff at Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College compiled the list so they could help expand students' general knowledge and get them to indulge in a passion for reading.
But their initial plan to pick 20 books soon grew into a much more ambitious project.
Now students can choose from 61 different titles, ranging from children's classics and coming of age novels through to great works by Charles Dickens, DH Lawrence and JRR Tolkien. [...]
Popular choices included The Great Gatsby, Wuthering Heights and Nineteen Eighty Four. (Kathie McInnes)

And the Llanelli Star features the Stepney Women's Institute:

President Carol Jones said: "This group has gone from strength to strength, learning on their journey with floral art and jewellery demonstrations, talks on the Brontë sisters and the history of hats, with a large collection on display and to try on.
"All out members are of different ages and have various career backgrounds, living within the Llanelli area."

This columnist from Alabama discusses naming your child after literary characters:

What would you name your child if you didn’t care what anyone else thought, and if you knew the potential ramifications of a crazy name wouldn’t affect the child?
Under these circumstances, if I had a girl I might name her something a bit sappy, like Jane Eyre Vollers. Go ahead and roll your eyes. In this alternate universe, I don’t care what you think. (Anna Claire Vollers)

Alyssa the Bookworm posts about Wuthering Heights. Endless Books reviews Margot Livesey's The Flight of Gemma Hardy. Effusions of Wit and Humour now discusses Jane Eyre 1997. BuzzFeed gives 21 Reasons Why Jane Eyre is The Most Revolutionary Literary Heroine Of All Time. Fictionminded has a new Jane Eyre 2011 gif.

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Female Identity, Upbringing and Forgery of Identity

New Brontë-related scholar papers or thesis:

Using French to construct British female identity : Defoe's Roxana, Brontë's Villette, and Fowles' The French lieutenant's woman
Toste, Jenny
California State University, Fresno, 2014

This thesis uses a narratological approach to explore how female identity in British literature is constructed through the use of French. It primarily explores how John Fowles uses French in the postmodern novel The French Lieutenant’s Woman to dramatize Sarah Woodruff’s existential journey toward authenticity. In refraining from defining who Sarah is, Fowles gives her the freedom to continue to pursue her true self, both now and in the future, offering her continued authenticity in her female identity. In order to appreciate Fowles’ accomplishment with identity, this thesis first studies the use of French in Daniel Defoe’s eighteenth-century novel The Unfortunate Mistress (“Roxana”) and in Charlotte Brontë’s Victorian novel Villette. In Defoe’s work, France provides the opportunity for Roxana to change her identity and become a mistress seeking wealthier and wealthier men, which leads to her moral demise. Roxana becomes trapped, though, by her definition as a fallen woman and becomes a warning to other women, as well as to Britain in its relations with France and construction of national identity. In Villette, Lucy attains a new, successful identity in French-speaking Belgium as she learns to balance Reason and Feeling, dramatized by her respective use of English and French language. Although Lucy achieves an authentic identity, her potential is limited by her final definition as a widow and school director.

 "Make a Man of Him": The Question of Upbringing in Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Bondesson, Rebecka
Linköping University.2014

Behandlar synen på barnuppfostran i Anne Brontës The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Argumentet är att huvudkaraktären, till skillnad mot de traditionella idéerna rådande i 1820-talets England, antar ett progressivt förhållningssätt till barnuppfostran. Det visas även att romanen presenterar en möjlig bakgrund till hennes långt framskridna idéer vad beträffar erfarenheterna som har influerat hennes utveckling. Ytterligare en dimension tillförs uppsatsen i och med ett didaktiskt kapitel som behandlar frågorna varför och hur man bör använda sig av The Tenant of Wildfell Hall i undervisningen av Engelska i den svenska gymnasieskolan. 

The forging and forgery of identity in G.K. Chesterton’s The Club of Queer Trades and Charlotte Brontë’s VilletteBethany Dahlstrom
The Victorian,  Vol 2, No 1 (2014)

Perhaps one of the most interesting topics in modern society is how someone’s identity comes to be developed and defined. This is not a concept that is exclusive to the 21st century, however, and at the beginning of a fight for women’s rights in the 19th century, literature emerged which cultivated the on-going idea that identity is something that is malleable. This is seen in G.K. Chesterton’s Sherlock Holmes-esque The Club of Queer Trades and Charlotte Brontë’s Villette. In these novels, the reader is introduced to two characters, male and female respectively, who establish for themselves an identity that seems to change and fit whatever suits their needs in the moment. In this paper, I seek to examine how each character both forges their identity, and, through deception, creates a forgery of their identity, questioning how this process carries over into modern society. 

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Ballad-worthy Wuthering Heights

USA Today's Happy Ever After has writer Eleanor Moran share her top 10 love stories. One of which is

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Lots of the great romances have heroes who are total arses, and this book is no exception. Heathcliff's a world of trouble and Cathy's not much better, but you'd have to have a heart of stone to not be transported by their torturous romance. No wonder Kate Bush thought it ballad worthy. (Joyce Lamb)

The Daily Princetonian interviews a sophomore tennis player:

DP: What’s been the best class you’ve taken at Princeton?
EH: ENG 345, with Jeff Nunokawa. 19th Century Fiction. I liked his lectures a lot. He was always very interesting.
DP: From that class or any other, what’s been your favorite book that you’ve read here?
EH: Probably Jane Eyre, in 19th Century Fiction. I had never actually read it. So I got a chance to and then write a paper about it. It was one of my favorite books. (Andrew Steele)

I Am Writer... Hear Me Roar! posts about Jane Eyre while A Liberated Life discusses 'Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë and Free Will'. Effusions of Wit and Humour reviews the 1983 adaptation of the novel. The Brussels Brontë Blog recommends the local exhibition Vivre au Quartier Royal 1800-2000 Du Coudenberg au Mont des Arts at the BELvue museum, where there are images of the Quartier Royal Charlotte and Emily knew. The Brontë Parsonage Blog has a review of Red Room: New Short Stories Inspired by the Brontës. The Brontë Parsonage Facebook page shares a picture of the sampler Emily Brontë finished when she was 9 and also the news of the installation of ' two new interactive kiosks in our exhibition room' as well as a museum app in the making.

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Jane Eyre in Erie

Tomorrow, April 24, a world premiere high school musical will take place in Erie, PA:

Jane EyreComposer: Michael Malthaner
Lyricist: Charles Corritore
Playwright: David Matthews

Starring: Payton Tevis, Luke Weyand, Hannah McLaughlin, Eli Kerr, Emily Holmberg, Leah Sulecki.

McDowell Center for the Performing Arts, Erie, PA
April 24, 25,26 7.30 PM
April 27 2.00 PM

We read on Your Erie:

It's a story about the first female hero in literature, and the students at McDowell Intermediate School are bringing it to the stage.
The play is based on the Charlotte Brontë novel but is localized for the play.
Michael Malthaner wrote the music and orchestration, Charlie Corritore from the Erie Playhouse wrote the lyrics and David Matthews wrote the book for the play.
Malthaner, who is the director of The Center Of Performing Arts at the school says this will be his last production and added “I hope to do more in the community theater and still be involved in arts education and bring on new challenges."
Jayne Eyre (sic)will take to the stage this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 2pm.

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In praise of Villette

Yesterday, on Charlotte Brontë's birthday, her novel Villette got a vindication. From The Huffington Post:

This year, on Charlotte Brontë’s 198th birthday, it’s time for me to finally admit a secret that’s been haunting me for some time. I think Jane Eyre, Brontë’s masterpiece, is kinda overrated. I know what I’m saying sounds radical. It's one of the great Victorian classics -- and trust me, I would never advocate for totally dismissing this beloved novel. When I first read Jane Eyre as a teenager, I fell passionately in book love with it, and I was inspired to make the rounds of the Brontës, inhaling Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Emily’s Wuthering Heights, and Jane Eyre, over and over again.
Jane Eyre spoke to my very soul, summing up all the adolescent angst that had plagued my uneasy transition into young adulthood. The Brontës and Jane Austen initiated me into the world of classic literature, but Jane Eyre was the book that felt most viscerally true and resonant. So it was with surprise that I realized, upon rereading it some years later for a college course, that I no longer found the novel virtuosic in its verisimilitude. It seemed maudlin, overwrought, almost absurd at points, and the triumphant finale of Jane’s marriage to the deeply flawed Mr. Rochester troubled me. Reading A Room of One’s Own, I agreed with Virginia Woolf’s assessment that Brontë’s anger at the restrictions she faced as a woman weakened her control as a writer, leading to unevenness and bizarre shifts in tone throughout Jane Eyre. Studying the racist, colonialist and anti-feminist implications of Rochester’s imprisonment of his “mad” Creole wife Bertha Mason caused me to further question my formerly high regard for the book. For the same course, I read Villette for the first time, and I found myself wondering why Brontë’s fourth novel hadn’t achieved greater fame than the second novel I now found so patchy and weak. [...]
Villette, of course, is not itself free of mixed messages about female empowerment. But it offers an alternate and equally valuable narrative, one with equally compelling lessons that hold true for women today. Villette bears a certain Brontëan resemblance to Jane Eyre -- gothic mysticism, spiritual intensity, bursts of passionate lyricism, a plain heroine making her way in an unfriendly world -- but is in many other ways its inverse. Jane Eyre works in sharp black and white, while Villette works in psychological and even factual grey areas. Where Jane’s specialness is stipulated, despite her poverty and plain looks, the heroine of Villette, Lucy Snowe, is an unassuming figure who spends the majority of the novel as a quiet observer. Jane insists on her own agency, while Lucy is reactive at best. Yet it is Lucy who truly breaks free of the expected domestic fate.
A more psychological and subdued novel, Villette features a young woman struggling with the internal conflicts most of us grapple with here in the real world. With the high melodrama turned down, the nuance is turned up. [...]
Despite my troubled history with Jane Eyre, my love for the novel will always endure. Villette, however, contains subtle, poignant pleasures that deserve acclaim at least on par with its more attention-seeking counterpart. To celebrate Charlotte Brontë’s birthday, let’s all give Villette a little more respect. (Claire Fallon)

The Telegraph has a report of the celebration at the Brontë Parsonage Museum together with an appeal from the museum curators:

Curators at the Brontë Parsonage Museum are appealing to local people to search their attics for hidden scraps of manuscripts, letters and belongings that might shed new light on the Brontë sisters.
The museum, in Haworth, Yorkshire, is marking Charlotte Brontë’s 198th birthday by giving visitors a rare chance to examine the author’s possessions, letters and manuscripts up close in the museum’s research library, instead of viewing them behind glass.
But staff believe there are still undiscovered treasures hidden in attics that may have been given away to villagers by her family.
Millions of book lovers have made a pilgrimage to the Parsonage Museum, known around the world as the home of the Brontë sisters.
Museum spokeswoman Susan Newby said: “We are appealing for people to rummage in their lofts and attics for anything that may have belonged to the Brontës that might reveal even more about them.
“They were a generous family and gave away a lot of possessions to their servants. It would be wonderful if there was a real gem of a poem or letter lurking out there that we don’t know about.”
Ann Dinsdale, the museum's Collections manager added: "We know there are a lot of letters and manuscripts still waiting to be discovered. We don't know where they are. They are more likely to be books they wrote as children. We don't believe there are any undiscovered novels still out there, although you never know.
"There are poetry manuscripts by Emily Brontë that are missing. We did a campaign a few years ago to persuade people to come forward with items they might like to donate. Recently we were given a collar that belonged to one of the Brontë's dogs complete with a dog hair, and we also had a child's bodice worn by one of the sisters.
"A few years before that we were given a big collection from Canada from a descendant of Arthur Bell Nicholls, Charlotte's husband and that included a miniature manuscript which was incredibly exciting." (Keith Perry)

The Washington Post's ComPost also celebrated Charlotte Brontë's birthday:

The question of “What Would Jane Do” — you would never dream of asking this question of her sister Emily’s Heathcliff or Cathy — remains relevant today, and the advice that comes from asking it remains remarkably sound. (Alexandra Petri)

As a way to celebrate, New Republic shares 'an appraisal of Charlotte and Emily's unique brilliance from 1918'.

According to this columnist from La Nación (Argentina), once you read Little Women and Jane Eyre you can't help but go on to read Mills & Boon sort of books.

Las niñas se abismaban en Mujercitas de Luisa May Alcott, que luego se prolongaría en Jane Eyre de Charlotte Bronté [sic], y en los inevitables libritos de Corín Tellado. (Rolando Hanglin) (Translation)

A couple of reviews of the new TV adaptation of Jamaica Inn mention the Brontës:

Deepest, darkest Cornwall, brought back to me tales of  school trips, not enticing but could be exciting? After all we’ve had other great adaptations on moors; Jane Eyre, Hound of the Baskervilles; but in Jamaica Inn even the moor isn’t that interesting. (Kate Bellamy in Metro)

There were beautiful moments of picturesque Wuthering Heights-reminiscent moors, with Mary standing, Cathy-esque, amidst the sound of the wind blowing in the grass. (Alex Hoskins in the Cheddar Valley Gazette)

Effusions of Wit and Humour reviews Jane Eyre 1998. Reading, Writing, Working, Playing recommends Jude Morgan's The Taste of Sorrow. YA Book Shelf posts about Michaela MacColl's Always Emily.

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Twenty-First Century Perspectives on the Brontës

A new scholar book with Brontë connections:

Twenty-First Century Perspectives on Victorian Literature
Edited by Laurence W. Mazzeno
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
978-1-4422-3233-4 • Hardback
March 2014

Victorian literature’s fascination with the past, its examination of social injustice, and its struggle to deal with the dichotomy between scientific discoveries and religious faith continue to fascinate scholars and contemporary readers. During the past hundred years, traditional formalist and humanist criticism has been augmented by new critical approaches, including feminism and gender studies, psychological criticism, cultural studies, and others.
In Twenty-First Century Perspectives on Victorian Literature, twelve scholars offer new assessments of Victorian poetry, novels, and nonfiction. Their essays examine several major authors and works, and introduce discussions of many others that have received less scholarly attention in the past. General reviews of the current status of Victorian literature in the academic world are followed by essays on such writers as Charles Dickens, Alfred Tennyson, Thomas Hardy, and the Brontë sisters. These are balanced by essays that focus on writing by women, the development of the social problem novel, and the continuity of Victorian writers with their Romantic forebears.
Most importantly, the contributors to this volume approach Victorian literature from a decidedly contemporary scholarly angle and write for a wide audience of specialists and non-specialists alike. Their essays offer readers an idea of how critical commentary in recent years has influenced—and in some cases changed radically—our understanding of and approach to literary study in general and the Victorian period in particular. Hence, scholars, teachers, and students will find the volume a useful survey of contemporary commentary not just on Victorian literature, but also on the period as a whole.

Includes "Victorian Romanticism: The Brontë Sisters, Thomas Carlyle, and the persistence of Memory by Laura Dabundo and Over", "Covert Narrative Structure: A Reconsideration of Jane Eyre" by Katherine Saunders Nash and "Matrimony, Property, and the "Woman Question" in "Anne Brontë and Mary Elizabeth Braddon" by Amy J. Robinson.

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Beyond Charlotte's Doodle

The Independent talks about the new Jamaica Inn BBC adaptation:

“It’s a perfect fusion of gothic romance and a young woman’s rite of passage in the vein of Twilight and Wuthering Heights”, says Emma Frost, who has adapted Du Maurier’s 1936 novel. (Gerard Gilbert)

The Sussex Express talks about the opening of the Arlington Bluebell Walk:

Hailsham town crier Geoff Rowe formally opened the Arlington Bluebell Walk last week.
At the opening on Thursday (April 10) he read Emily Brontë’s bluebell poem and led a toast to spring 2014.
The Arlington Bluebell Walk, which takes in three working farms, has raised thousands of pounds for Sussex charities since it first opened in 1972.

Business Telegram talks about the WattPad website:

You and your Uncle Max can publish their fiction and nonfiction on WattPad, an online site. It also has hundreds of free classics such as "Jane Eyre," "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and Sun Tzu's "The Art of War." The website, Wattpad.com, draws 15 million readers a month. And posts more than 1.5 million new stories.

Dr. Tony Shaw talks about the Manchester blue plaque devoted to the place where Charlotte Brontë began the writing of Jane Eyre. Finally, an alert from Madrid (Spain):

Escritores en imágenes: Las hermanas Brontë
Lunes 21 de abril.
Fundación GSR- Casa del Lector
19:00h. - Auditorio.
Entrada libre hasta completar aforo.

Las hermanas Brontë, de André Téchiné (1979). VOSE. Digital. 115’

Sinopsis
Patrick Brontë, pastor de la iglesia anglicana desde 1806, se casó en 1812 con Mary Branwell. El matrimonio se instaló en Yorkshire, donde nacieron Charlotte, Emily y Anne: las hermanas Brontë. La película traza una semblanza de la reprimida educación victoriana que sufrieron las escritoras, víctimas las tres de una difícil existencia. Sus obras literarias, tan apasionadas y sensibles, contrastan con la realidad de sus vidas, dominadas por las discusiones con su padre y el cuidado de su hermano menor.

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Charlotte Google Easter Doodle Birthday

Exactly what the title says. Google shows this Doodle on April 21st 2014 for honoring Charlotte Brontë on her 198th Birthday:

Happy Doodle Birthday, Charlotte.

EDIT: The Doodle has reached the newspapers with brief surveys on Charlotte Brontë's life and/or Jane Eyre synopsis: The Guardian, The Independent ("Reader, they doodled her"), The Irish Independent (Al Arabiya, Daily Express, Washington Post, The Tarboro Times, ActuaLitté (France), România TV (Romania), Timlo (Indonesia), NotizieIN (Italy) ...

Nevertheless we don't know exactly which doodle The Mirror is commenting on:

The illustration shows a mum and her young son and daughter, all three of whom are putting the pedal to the metal. (Chris Richards)

And we have other websites who also celebrate her birthday: The Scotsman, Other Words,  Mysask, صحيفة الاقتصادي (Yemen), 24СМИ (Russia), RTVSlo (Slovenia), Trollheims Porten (Norway).

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One Hundred Years in the Heights

The Telegraph & Argus talks about one of the activities that will take place at the Brontë Parsonage Museum next month:

Keighley people are being invited to decorate Yorkshire-themed bikes with wool.
Artist Cassandra Kilbride will run a workshop in Haworth next month as part of her Woolly Bike Trail.
Participants will be inspired by Yorkshire literary greats as they decorate one of the ten bikes involved in the project.
They will draw on everything from the Brontë sisters’ work to Yorkshire-set novels like The Secret Garden and Dracula.
The Woolly Bike Trail is part of the Yorkshire Festival 2014, the arts festival that precedes the Grand Depart.
The bikes will be exhibited through the summer in Huddersfield and Sheffield, then will return to the places they were created for display for further 12 months.
The workshop runs at the Brontë Parsonage Museum on May 27 and 28 from 10.30am to 1pm, and 1pm to 3.30pm. 

The Austin Chronicle reviews the latest film version of Flowers in the Attic:

 It's undeniably Gothic, but in the same way that Twilight is – as a very fetish/masturbatory excursion. This is PG incest fap material, and it has such an anti-pay off (bar a phenomenal Bursytn shrieking melt down on a stair case) that it could be seen as a disaster. Instead, it's enthralling, because it's an insight into the thinking that says Jane Eyre is a great romance, or has made a disease vector like Count Dracula into a swoon-worthy leading man. (Richard Whittaker)

The Yorkshire Post interviews the Hebden Bridge Trades Club promoter Mal Campbell and how he attracted Patti Smith to play there:

 In his email to her agent, Mal recounted the history of the Trades Club and cannily mentioned the area’s literary heritage. “I knew she likes a good pilgrimage, so I mentioned the Brontës and Sylvia Plath. A couple of hours later her agent said, ‘I think this might work’. It was a proper drop your sandwich moment.” (Duncan Seaman)

The Economist pays tribute to the figure of Gabriel García Márquez and compares Wuthering Heights to Cien años de soledad:

The “magic” in his novels, especially his most celebrated one, really consists of highly imaginative tricks. His narrative structures and chronological drive actually resemble those to be found in “Wuthering Heights”—not a bad book to model yourself on, whatever tradition you are writing from. Emily Brontë's extraordinary mid-19th-century saga is partly about what humans cannot escape from, their family and biological “code”. “One Hundred Years of Solitude” is also a drama of genealogy, relishing the successive patterns of desire and frailty passing through a single family. (J.W.)

Not everybody, nevertheless, is pro-García Márquez. Check this article by Kevin Myers in The Sunday Times, Brontë mention included.

Bianca Bosker in The Huffington Post is prepared for the imminent future:

 Yet another sci-fi scenario seemed more probable: Half of us are prepared for the dawn of artworks by computer Picassos, Brontës and perhaps even Baryshnikovs that can pass for human creations.

Diario XXI (Spain) interviews the writer Lena Valenti:

¿Has escogido el inicio del siglo XIX para ubicar la acción por un motivo especial?
Seguramente podría haber escrito otra historia distinta en otro escenario, pero me interesaba mucho ubicarla en ese momento histórico por toda la carga que acarreaban las mujeres de entonces. Además, estaba Jane Austin (sic) en vida, escribiendo ‘Orgullo y prejuicio’, las hermanas Brontë y es el momento en que surgen las primeras sufragistas y yo quería que esta novela fuese una oda al feminismo. (Herme Cerezo)(Translation)

Lise Huret on Tendances de mode (France) loved Jane Eyre:

Quel livre vous a le plus marqué ?
Jane Eyre. Découvert au tout début de mon adolescence, ce roman de Charlotte Bronté m'a totalement chavirée. Au fil de ses pages, j'ai appris ce que le mot "passion" signifiait réellement. Des années plus tard, ce livre fait toujours intrinsèquement partie de moi. Il me suffit de fermer les yeux pour me retrouver à Thornfield Hall en train de guetter le retour de Mr Rochester...  (Translation)

Avvenire (Italy) portrays the Italian edition of Jane, the fox, and me:

 Le Figaro l’ha definito “una piccola perla grafica tutta da scoprire”, il New York Times lo colloca “tra i dieci migliori libri illustrati del 2013”. In effetti con Jane, la volpe & io  - approdato nella collana Contemporaea di Mondadori (16 euro) – Fanny Britt per i testi e Isabelle Arsenault per le illustrazioni realizzano un romanzo grafico di grande leggerezza e poesia, nonostante il tema sia di quelli drammatici e urticanti come il bullismo. Helene, la protagoniosta, è una ragazzina timida e sensibile caduta del tutto senza motivo, gratuitamente come spesso avviene, nelle grinfie di una banda di bulle spietate.  Compagne di scuola che la sbeffeggiano pubblicamente dandole della grassona e della puzzona: le ingiurie più crudeli e dolorose che possano esistere. Invece di reagire Helene si rintana in se stessa, trovando sollievo nella lettura del suo romanzo preferito, Jane Eyre, con la cui protagonista sente di condividere il dolore di vivere. E non è poco in una quotidianità fatta di solitudine e mortificazioni. Cosa c’entra la volpe nel racconto - anche lei, come le pagine dedicate Jane Eyre unica nota di colore in una storia in bianco e nero tendente al seppia – lo si deve scoprire nella lettura, accompagnando la ragazzina nella fatica di affrontare una gita immaginata come un’ulteriore fonte di umiliazioni. Invece… Dagli 11 anni. (Rosanna Sisti) (Translation)

Unsocializedt is not very convinced by the Irish Brontë legacy tourist investments;  Books Tell You Why posts about Charlotte Brontë.

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