Highly intelligent and ambitious

The Telegraph and Argus has a long article on Mary Taylor since the bicentenary of her birth is in three days, on February 26th.

This month marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the renowned feminist and businesswoman Mary Taylor.
Highly intelligent and ambitious, Mary Taylor is defined as a woman who broke new ground at a time when a woman's place was deemed to be very much in the home.
While other women were content to keep a lovely home and look after their men folk, Mary had other ideas. Far from her wings being clipped, she yearned to travel - and did - to countries as part of her educational journey and sharing her experiences with one of her dearest friends - the famous literary sibling, Charlotte Brontë.
The pair would often meet at Mary's home - Red House. The imposing red-brick abode in Oxford Road, Gomersal, was latterly a museum, closed to the public in December - a victim of budget cuts.
While travelling they still kept in touch through written correspondence - a legacy many historians have no doubt poured over during painstaking research to find out more about these famous friends.
Born on February 26 1817, this year marks the 200th anniversary of Mary Taylor's birth. Last year a range of events were planned and celebrated the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë's birth.
Information from the Brontë Society gives an insight into the life and characteristics of Mary Taylor; the fact that she was an early feminist of her time, somewhat rebelling against the role women were supposed to fulfill. [...]
There is a lot to be learned about Mary Taylor; how in middle age she travelled to Europe, despite often encountering disapproval from groups of men who believed it was inappropriate for women to travel alone.
Around that time the women's movement was gaining momentum. Mary began contributing articles to the Victoria Magazine which put forward her suffragist values and attacked a culture that failed to allow women the independence to earn their own living.
Although Mary didn't attract the same global attention as her literary pal, she did publish a collection of articles, The First Duty of Women. 'Miss Miles' her self-published and only novel was published in 1890.
The talk about Mary Taylor at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, Haworth, on Sunday February 26, is free.
On the same day in Mary's home village of Gomersal, flowers will be laid on her grave at St Mary's Church in Spen Lane, following the 9.30am service. (Sally Clifford)

Tonight is opening night for the stage production of Jane Eyre in Barcelona, Spain. El Periódico has an article about it, although it's a shame that Brontë is spelt Brönte throughout the text.

Abel Folk, que define a su personaje, Rochester, como "un hombre víctima del pasado y las convenciones sociales", reivindica "el discurso radical a favor de la mujer de la obra en una época en la que ni existía el feminismo". El éxito de la novela ayudó a Charlotte Brönte a revelar su verdadero nombre y a ser respetada en la vida literaria londinense pese a que al principio el sector más conservador consideró el texto altamente inmoral y peligroso por su espíritu revolucionario. "La óptica, la forma de ver a las mujeres no ha cambiado. La igualdad representa un problema para quien ha tenido el trono toda la vida", afirma Portaceli.
Esta es la primera vez que la directora trabaja con Folk y Gil, y también con Clara Peya, a quien no deja de alabar. "Es un monstruo", dice. Portaceli califica de "espectacular" el trabajo de la pareja protagonista, y eso que su idea original era contar con Clara Segura y Ramon Madaula, que no pudieron asumir el proyecto por exceso de trabajo. "Hay muy buena química entre Ariadna y yo", confirma Folk, que hasta ahora solo había coincidido con la actriz en alguna producción televisiva, como la miniserie 'Arnau'.
La escenografía es, básicamente, un gran espacio blanco. "Hay muy pocos elementos porque lo importante es lo que sucede, como en las obras de Shakespeare", afirma Portaceli, muy satisfecha con la adaptación de Anna Maria Ricart, "que va a lo esencial de la novela para explicar el viaje de Jane Eyre hasta la culminación del amor de igual a igual". (Marta Cervera) (Translation)

El Punt Avui features it too and reports that the full run is now booked solid.

Des d'avui i fins al 26 de març, Ariadna Gil i Abel Folk representen aquesta història carregada de superació, dolor i llibertat en què l'autora, Charlotte Brontë, va exorcitzar part de les seves limitacions com a dona. Ja no queden entrades disponibles a la venda.
Portaceli es va atrevir a fer una adaptació d'aquesta novel·la (“que coneixem la majoria de les dones que consumim cultura”) després de veure l'èxit de la versió dels vuitanta estrenada a Chicago. L'obra relata “una recerca de llibertat, que vol dir un viatge cap a la felicitat”. Brontë, que com les seves germanes signava amb pseudònim masculí per poder publicar, descriu una òrfena amb un gran instint de superació i un elevat sentit d'igualtat entre home i dona. És una heroïna del segle XIX que pateix i supera les adversitats de l'època. Per a la directora, Brontë és una autora molt moderna per la seva radicalitat en la seva presa de posició. A més, Jean [SIC] Eyre és una gran història d'amor: “L'amor és un motor de la vida.” (J. Bordes) (Translation)

Artezblai also talks about the production.

Flight Centre (Australia) tells about a road trip around Yorkshire.

Day 3-4: Leeds to Haworth
A pleasant 35-minute drive west of Leeds will take you to the pretty village of Haworth, which was where literary giants, the Bronte sisters, spent their short lives.
Their former home, the Brontë Parsonage Museum, is now a great visitors centre, but to get behind the minds of the three sisters – whose works included Jane Eyre, Agnes Grey and Wuthering Heights – walking around the village and its surrounding countryside is a must.
The local church holds the family vault, and the aptly named Brontë waterfalls was a regular stop on their walks. The adjacent moor to the parsonage is also said to have inspired Emily to write Wuthering Heights.
The famous sisters aside, the village itself offers plenty to while away a few hours, including antique shops, traditional Yorkshire tea rooms and souvenir shops. (Paul Ewart)

WWD discusses the fall collection of fashion designers Nicholas Alistair Walsh and David James Wise.

For fall, design duo Nicholas Alistair Walsh and David James Wise looked to the book-loving Brontë sisters — Charlotte, Emily and Anne.
“The Brontë sisters lived and worked in the village of Haworth, a short distance from Nicholas’ own home,” Walsh said. “This season, our girl is lovesick, consumed by her infatuation, coming apart at the seams.”
Walsh and Wise said their woman of the season is a spirited daydreamer and an escapist who wants a bit of fantasy in her life. [...]
Walsh and Wise wanted to fashion a wardrobe fit for Catherine Earnshaw — the female protagonist in Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” — as a lovesick teenager in modern day.
Taking cue from the silhouette of the Thackeray Dress — worn in Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre” — the designers revamped the 1850s style giving it an edgier tone with a black sheer floor-sweeping tulle gown with a soft polka-dot pattern.
They experimented with new embellishments such as soft velvet ribbons, seen neatly tied on the collar and affixed on the edges of sleeves of a long billowy white eyelet dress.
They added ruffle details to the sleeves to a full-length, floor-sweeping silk satin gown in a deep wine hue — in a bespoke print women in a garden. Ruffles were also implemented on a short baby-doll white tulle dress with a pastel blue embroidery emblazoned with phrases from “Wuthering Heights” across the chest. (Lorelei Marfil)

The Daily Mail carries on with its crusade against supposed 'mumbling' on TV, citing To Walk Invisible as an example (we have watched it several times now and we still don't find any mumbling).  Just Plain Suus posts about Wuthering Heights. Read & Relax recommends the novel Wild Island by Jennifer Livett, 'a novel of Jane Eyre and Van Diemen’s Land'. Independent People has a blog post full of lovely pictures of Haworth, the moors and the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

Finally, an alert for today, in Wellsburg, WV:

The Brooke County Public Library’s book club will meet at the library, 945 Main St., Wellsburg, at 5 p.m. Thursday to discuss “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë.