Aspirational Comparison

The Smithsonian announces the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë this year:

200th Anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s Birth

English novelist and poet Charlotte Brontë is best known for writing Jane Eyre, a book she authored under the pen name Currer Bell. Reception of the book upon its release in 1847 was mixed, but when speculations arose that a woman wrote it, sales soared. Today the work of fiction remains a classic, and Brontë and her famous family are inextricably linked to the landscape of Yorkshire’s sweeping moors.
To commemorate Brontë and all of her literary achievements, the Brontë Society and Brontë Parsonage Museum in England will be hosting a series of events to mark the 200th anniversary of her birth. The celebration begins on February 1 with the opening of a year-long exhibition called “Charlotte Great and Small,” curated by Tracy Chevalier, author of the novel The Girl with the Pearl Earring. The exhibition will feature Brontë-inspired contemporary art by Ligia Bouton, Serena Partridge, and Tamar Stone. The National Portrait Gallery in London will also feature artwork by the Brontës all year. On April 21 (Brontë’s birthday), a day of special talks and activities will be held at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, where Charlotte lived alongside her novelist sisters, Emily and Anne. (Jennifer Nalewicki)

Also in The Smithsonian, a conversation with Patti Smith:

One dreams that we could meet these people that we so admire, to see them in their lifetimes. I’ve always had that drive. Why do people go to Assisi, where St. Francis sang to the birds and they sang to him? Why do people go to Jerusalem, to Mecca? It doesn’t have to be religion-based. I’ve seen Emily Dickinson’s dress and Emily Bronte’s tea cups. I went to find the house where my father was born. I have my son’s baby shirt because he wore it. It’s not more or less precious to me than St. Francis’ slippers.

Keighley News publishes the results of its own photo contest. Guess what, Top Withins is in the winner:

A stunning shot of a famous moorland scene above Haworth has secured top spot in the Keighley News photographic competition for a keen amateur snapper.
Paul Jones' fantastic photo of Top Withens, the ruined farmhouse reputedly the inspiration for the location of Emily Brontë's classic Wuthering Heights, scooped most public phone and text votes in the contest.
Mr Jones, 46, from Rosslyn Grove in Haworth, set off at 5am one day in the summer to capture the dramatic sunrise.
"I was lucky that the conditions were just right," he said.
"I've been up there before and couldn't see anything for mist.
"You can walk to Top Withens every morning and not get what you're looking for. It's pot luck.
"But everything that day was spot on and I was really pleased with the result."

Los Angeles Times talks about the legendary film editor, Anne V. Coates:

Coates told me in 2009 that she discovered the magic of cinema when she saw William Wyler's beloved 1939 version of "Wuthering Heights."
"I fell madly in love with Laurence Olivier like everyone else did," she said. Her uncle, the famed British movie producer J. Arthur Rank, wasn't thrilled when he discovered she wanted to get into the family business as an editor. "He thought I was interested in the glamour and sleeping around with the stars," Coates noted. "Being a rather religious man, he was trying to clean up all of that behavior. I had to persuade him I was really interested in making movies." (Susan King)

The Independent's search for the best coming-of-age novel is discussed in this article:

Many on this list have a happy ending but no character comes through their journey without immense suffering first, such as in the case of Pip’s shame over his poverty and parentage in Great Expectations, and Jane’s orphanage experience in Jane Eyre. In this narrative arc lies the embedded message that growing up is a messy – even ugly – business, even if outright tragedy is averted by the end. (Arifa Akbar)

Also in The Independent, an interview with the author Cheryl Strayed:

Which fictional character most resembles you?
That's a hard one. If I were flattering myself, I would say Jane Eyre. It's an aspirational comparison. She was a pretty cool woman. Also, Alice Munro's character Del in Lives of Girls and Women. She is basically me, I so identified with her. (Oscar Quine)

The Hindu talks about the writer Cythia Ozick:

As she grew up a book that remained by her side was the famous “Little Woman…”. Later it was “Jane Eyre” who could reproduce the same sense of displacement, longing and belonging that fairy tales inspired. “Reading is life…marks on paper that translate into meaning and engages the imagination and the inner moral force that we are equipped with at birth…” (Sudhamahi Regunathan) 

Contactmusic imagines some of the books that could be in Emma Watson's book club 'Our Shared Shelf', part of the He for She campaign:

2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë - Having studied English Literature at two of the best universities in the world, she inevitably racked up a good reading list of classics. In fact, she even went as far as tell French websire Madame that her favourite authors were the classics she studied, including the Brontë sisters. And what better female character to absorb oneself in than Miss Eyre? A plain, abused and talented young woman who finds happiness despite her intellectual attitude. (Holly Williams)

InStyle agrees with that.

Cineuropa (Italy) reviews the Portuguese film Amor Impossível:

Ad analizzare la trama, si scoprono varie influenze letterarie, dal classico di Emily Brontë Cime tempestose a Oscar Wilde, la cui opera La ballata del carcere di Reading — che ha ispirato una canzone del film di Fassbinder Querelle — si converte qui in una melodia in portoghese dal tono profetico: "Ogni uomo uccide ciò che ama". (Vitor Pinto) (Translation) 

20 Minutes (France) held an open chat with the writer Anna Todd, of After fame:

Marthe: Quels sont les auteurs qui vous inspirent ?
Jane Austen, les soeurs Brontë, Cassandra Clare. (Translation)

BookRiot shows you how to throw a Jane Eyre birthdy party.The Sisters' Room (in Italian) reviews the recent Italian new edition of Shirley. Leggeremania (also in Italian) posts about Wuthering Heights.