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Thursday, March 19, 2015

Thursday, March 19, 2015 8:02 am by Cristina in , ,    No comments
A.V. Club asks its contributors about what they are reading this month. One of them is rereading Jane Eyre.
Caitlin PenzeyMoog
Going on vacation last week I reached for a tried-and-true favorite: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. I read it four or five times through high school and college, so I hadn’t picked it up in at least four years. The story is interesting less for the plot itself than for how it can be seen in practically every romanic film I’ve ever seen. In broad strokes, Jane’s storyline is the storyline of most characters whose story is one of romance. It’s a cultural studies thesis just waiting to be written (maybe it has been already). But it isn’t actually the plot that makes Jane Eyre one of my favorite books that I continue to revisit. The real enjoyment is in Brontë’s rich, textured writing. She takes her time setting scenes, creating visually dense descriptions of Jane’s surroundings, be it the bleak girls school she attends or the bleak, lonely moors she finds a home in. (There’s a lot of bleakness in Jane’s life). Jane is a heroine so vivid and witty that seeing the world through her perspective is what carries the reader through the book. Written in 1847, it’s remarkable how enjoyable Brontë’s prose still is, full of pitch-perfect personal observations and stray analyses on the the world, and her place in it. Of course, some aspects are obviously dated, though what’s more baffling to me than Victorian era manners is Jane’s scarily steadfast adherence to religious rules. Still, it’s a proto-feminist book that’s fascinating in Jane’s attempts to navigate male-controlled society and the men who would try to control her, and how successful she is in asserting agency despite Victorian gender norms.
And this month too seems to be the last chance to catch Jane Eyre 1944 on Netflix as reported, among others, by The Huffington Post. Slate's Browbeat finds the film to be a 'good watch'.

Fashion Times (Italy) recommends Zeffirelli's take on the novel (although the article includes a picture from Cary Fukunaga's film) for a romantic evening.
Jane Eyre
Franco Zeffirelli dirigre una splendida Charlotte Gainsbourg nel riadattamento di uno dei capolavori di Charlotte Brontë. La protagonista è eroina romantica vista come una proto femminista che anticipa le rivoluzioni del ruolo della donna. Come non amare questa giovane ragazza e il suo coraggio di amare?? (Delia Berton) (Translation)
KUOW has an article on reading more books by men or by women.
Those men may produce work that resonates with me, but I’ve spoken to several women who just can’t relate.
“They’d throw you a lady like you’d throw a dog a bone,” said Jennifer Weiner, the New York Times bestselling author, referring to her own teachers in school.” You’d get your Jane Austen and a Brontë every now and then. But mostly genius wore pants.”
While Lifehacker (Australia) discusses creativity.
How often have you heard someone say that creativity is “something you’re born with?” Either you’ve got it or you don’t. But is there really any truth to these age old adages?
While most modern psychology textbooks often suggest there are some cognitive aspects associated with creativity that may be passed hereditarily, few would go so far as to suggest that there is some sort of creative caste you can be born into. But still the myth persists.
This might be in part due to famous artistic families like the Waugh family, who produced three of the greatest writers of the 20th century (Arthur, then Alec and Evelyn) or the Brontës. Nowadays, we’ve come to expect the children of celebrities and creatives to inherit their parents’ talents.
But studies will show you that creativity, while influenced by your family, is a skill we all inherently have, and one that can be fostered, grown and taught. (Jory MacKay)
The Independent has an obituary on cricketer Bob Appleyard, who died on March 17.
Yes, he was "a bloody-minded Yorkshireman", as his book was originally going to be called, but in the end it became No Coward Soul, from the last poem Yorkshire's own Emily Brontë wrote before she died of tuberculosis: "No coward soul is mine, No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere." That was perfect for Bob. (Stephen Chalke)
Finally, Den of Geek! reviews the 1980s film It Follows
The Universal horror movie aesthetic, which for decades inspired cinematic language from Britain’s Hammer studios to Rocky Horror Picture Show, and all the way to Scooby-Doo cartoons, continues to live on as an undying form. It isn’t really of a time or place, but of an amalgamation of anxieties that was first developed for audiences who also grew up reading Stoker, Shelley, and maybe a little bit of the Brontë sisters. (David Crow) 

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