Enthusiastic and implacable

The Telegraph and Argus looks at what's on during Easter at the Brontë Parsonage Museum:

A host of activities will be on offer to families at the Brontë Parsonage Museum during the Easter holidays.
The Haworth museum will present short guided walks, museum trails and ‘hands-on history’ sessions, from March 25 to April 9.
There will be a chance to meet some of the characters known to Charlotte Brontë in the 1800s.
These will range from her friends Ellen Nussey and the writer Elizabeth Gaskell, to Tabby the loyal family servant and even John Brown, Branwell’s drinking buddy.
Visitors are invited to join the characters to discover their take on the unlikely genius living in their midst.
Wild Wednesday returns on March 30 and April 6, from 11am to 4pm, when families can be creative in the holiday arts and crafts workshop.
The sessions are free with admission to the museum.
The latest talk to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth will be held on April 5 at 2pm, again free with admission to the museum.
The talk is entitled My Dear Master and will cover Charlotte’s passionate attachment to her teacher in Brussels, Monsieur Heger.
Visit bronte.org.uk for further information. (David Knights)

Onirik (France) reviews the French translation of Jolien Janzing's De Meester.

Brodant avec talent autour de cette parenthèse belge, somme toute encore assez mystérieuse, Jolien Janzing imagine pour nous une relecture des faits qui auraient amené Charlotte Brontë à rédiger son chef d’oeuvre, Jane Eyre. En effet, les parallèles sont nombreux entre les deux romans, ainsi apparaissent ça et là, à l’instar d’un palimpseste, tel détail ou tel fait qui font hausser le sourcil, le lecteur aguerri s’amusera à reconnaître les clins d’oeil.
Dans un style qui lorgne du côté de celui de son illustre modèle, la romancière a trouvé sa propre voie. Elle nous offre ainsi un instantané de la capitale belge durant cette période courte dans le temps, mais incroyablement présente dans la suite des événements. On y croise également le Roi Léopold, veuf de Charlotte, princesse de Galles et oncle du futur prince consort Albert, mari de la Reine Victoria, comme un rappel des relations étroites entre les deux royaumes.
Ce roman, passionnant de bout en bout, donne envie de se replonger dans les oeuvres des soeurs Brontë et leurs adaptations. Notez à ce sujet que les droits de ce livre ont justement été achetés par le producteur David P. Kelly (Fleur du désert, 2009), la famille Brontë n’a pas fini de nous faire rêver ! (Claire Saim) (Translation)

Jezebel discusses 'Our Obsession Over Unmasking Elena Ferrante' and brings up the Brontës when making several points.

Ferrante is right to be coy with the “I” of her novels. The “I” in fiction, that omniscient narrator, is rarely perceived as a neutral figure. Its gaps are filled with the author’s identity; women, more often than not, are perceived to be writing a lightly fictionalized memoir, with a few names changed for the sake of decency. In this line of thought, Villette’s Lucy Snowe becomes interchangeable with Charlotte Brontë. [...]
The continued search for the real Ferrante brings to mind Charlotte Brontë’s words to George Henry Lewes, the critic who revealed that Currer Bell was Brontë’s masculine pen name. “I imagine you are both enthusiastic and implacable, as you are at once sagacious and careless,” Brontë wrote to Lewes in a letter dated January 19, 1850. “You know much and discover much, but you are in such a hurry to tell it all you never give yourself time to think how your recklessness may affect others; and, what is more, if you knew how it did affect them, you would not much care.” (Stassa Edwards)

The Times also has an article on the same subject.

Västerbottens-Kuriren (Sweden) discusses women and mental illness and mentions Jane Eyre and its madwoman in the attic.

Mönstret i denna erotiserade genuspolitik är gammalt. En av de första att genomskåda det var Charlotte Brontë. I sin roman Jane Eyre (1847) riggade hon ett Vem-är-galen-test, smart inlindat i en romantisk intrig. Ungefär: tag en konstnärligt begåvad ung kvinna i behov av pengar, ge henne jobb som guvernant hos en folkilsk, stenrik men karismatisk man i behov av en fru. Installera hans förflutna på vinden i gestalt av en vacker men bindgalen första hustru.
Avgörandet lämnas till läsaren: Vem är galnast? Är det snälla Jane som står beredd att gifta sig med bigamisten eller galna Bertha som en vacker dag får nog och bränner ner hela skiten?
Litteraturforskarna Sandra Gilbert och Susan Gubar fick snilledraget att använda Brontës galna kvinna på vinden som symbol för de kvinnliga författarnas klaustrofobiska situation i 1800-talets kulturvärld. Sedan blev hon viral. Den galna kvinnan flyttade ner från vinden och bor numera i alla rum, i fiktion och verklighet. (Annelie Bränström-Öhman) (Translation)

The Lawrence Public Library Blog begins a review of the book Someday a Bird Will Poop on You by wondering about titles:

It’s hard to put a finger on what makes a great title, and like everything else about reading, it’s a matter of taste. Among the classics are the biblical ("East of Eden"), the ominous ("For Whom the Bell Tolls"), the elegant ("Beloved"), and the just plain weird ("Wuthering Heights" ... what does “wuthering” mean, anyway?). (Dan Coleman)

The Classic Literature section of About.com has an article on 'Individuality and Self-Worth: Feminist Accomplishment in Jane Eyre'. The Brontë Society Facebook page shares some images from the book The Brontës - Children of the Moors by Mick Manning and Brita Granström. Port MacQuarie Focus Magazine interveviews Ross Balbuziente, Heathcliff in the shake & stir production of Wuthering Heights now touring in Australia.