The weekend will run from July 27 to 30. Some of the activities are free with admission to the museum, while others are paid-for and need booking in advance.Another upcoming event will take place at Bradford Literature Festival. In Keighley News:
Activities will begin on the Friday with the monthly Brontë Treasures talk, offering a unique opportunity for visitors to go beyond the security cord into the Parsonage Library for a close-up viewing of priceless items not on display.
A member of the museum’s curatorial team will share facts and stories about carefully-selected objects, offering a specialist insight into the lives and works of the Brontë family.
I Am Heathcliff, on Friday at 7.30pm, is the launch of a special commission for Emily’s bicentenary year, featuring 16 short stories inspired by Wuthering Heights.
A spokesman said: “These beautiful and arresting tales from some of the stars of modern fiction re-examine a character who lives in infamy as a tortured romantic hero – the unforgettable Heathcliff.
Kate Mosse, who has curated this collection, will be joined by fellow contributors Joanna Cannon, Juno Dawson and Louise Doughty to read from the anthology.
Painting in the Parsonage will be on the Saturday from 11am to 4pm, a drop-in workshop giving visitors a chance to join artist Vic Buta in recreating Branwell’s iconic portrait of his sisters.
Making Your Mark Online is a workshop for anyone wanting to know more about blogging, vlogging and podcasting, on Saturday from 10am to noon.
Lucy Powrie, Brontë Society Young Ambassador and acclaimed YouTuber, will lead participants through the world of online content, with tips for creating content, building a following and developing a brand.
Women, Gothic and Emily, on Saturday at 3.30pm, will look at the imposing houses, eerie doubling of names and wandering of unquiet spirits within Wuthering Heights.
The spokesman said: “Emily’s only published novel continues to cast a looming shadow over Gothic writing up to the present day.
“Novelist Katherine Clements and Beth Underdown discuss the impact of Wuthering Heights on their own writing, and how their work contributes to a continuing Gothic tradition.”
Katherine Clements is a critically-acclaimed novelist whose latest novel, The Coffin Path, is a ghost story set in the West Yorkshire moors.
Beth Underdown’s first novel, The Witchfinder’s Sister, last year won the Historical Writer’s Association Debut Crown Award, and was selected for the Richard & Judy Book Club.
This, That, and ‘The Other’, the headline event on Saturday at 7.30pm, is curated by Melanie Abrahams and features poets, musicians and wordsmiths offering their personal response to the themes central to Wuthering Heights and pertinent to Emily.
The spokesman said: “Join us to experience the thrill of performance, perfectly pitched speech, rousing wordplay and the art of Trinidad-style liming. “
The event features Patience Agbabi, John Siddique, Jay Bernard, Will Harris and Tobago Crusoe.
Sunday begins with Sketching Out Of Doors, workshops at 11am, 1pm and 3pm. Participants should meet outside the museum shop.
In Emily’s Footsteps begins at 9.30am, and is a challenging but invigorating walk through the “unforgiving landscape” of the Haworth moors.
The walk will be led by Michael Stewart, author of Ill Will, a new novel about Heathcliff, and the 14-mile route ties in with the Brontë Stones project.
Poetry at the Parsonage offers an Open Mic session from noon till 4pm, compered by Mark Connor and Gill Lambert.
Mark’s debut poetry pamphlet, Life is a Long Song, was published by OWF Press in 2015, and his first full-length poetry collection, Nothing is Meant to be Broken, was published in 2017 by Stairwell Books.
Gill Lambert is a poet, teacher, and creative writing facilitator from Yorkshire.
SMJ Falconry return to the Brontë Parsonage Museum with their birds of prey, on the Sunday from 10am to 4pm, in an event recalling Emily’s love of hawks.
On the Sunday, Lucy Powrie will repeat her workshop entitled Making Your Mark Online, but this time aimed at under 25s.
Lily Cole, the Brontë Society’s creative partner of 2018, will unveil her new film Balls at 7.30pm on the Sunday.
On display at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, and also at the Foundling Museum, London, Balls takes as its starting point Heathcliff, the foundling character central to Wuthering Heights, and explores links between the Foundling Hospital story and the much-loved novel by Emily Brontë.
To accompany the film, the Brontë museum will display objects from the Foundling Museum Collection. At the event on July 29, Lily will discuss her commission alongside Caro Howell, Director of the Foundling Museum.
On Monday, July 30, Emily’s actual 200th birthday, will be the event Emily Speaks, at 2pm.
Personal responses to Emily’s life, poetry and prose will be read by Bidisha, Hannah Lowe and Melanie Abrahams.
Their work spans journalism, poetry and oratory, and they share a common interest in social mobilisation through literature, explore Emily’s independence and self-determination in relation to the broader racial, cultural and social histories of the 19th century.
What Emily Means to Us is billed as a celebration of Emily’s work and legacy.
Lily Cole, Patience Agbabi and other guests perform readings of Emily’s work.
Folk group The Unthanks will announce details of their forthcoming Emily-inspired work and give a short performance from their repertoire. (David Knights)
The Brontë Society has teamed up with Bradford Literature Festival for Anne & I, beginning at 4pm in Parsons Field behind the Bronte Parsonage Museum, then moving to the nearby Old School Room.Messenger News reviews the performances of We Are Three Sisters in Wilmslow:
Writer Jackie Kay will unveil her work commemorating Anne Brontë, which was specially commissioned by the festival as part of the Brontë Stones project.
Jackie will read her work in Parsons Field, the site of Anne’s stone, then she will join journalist and broadcaster Samira Ahmed to explore the inspiration for Jackie’s work, her affinity with Anne Brontë, and what participating in the iconic project means to her. (David Knights)
Jennifer Brooks’ Anne, Isabelle Greensmith’s Emily and Melanie Beswick’s forthright Charlotte, reflect well the differences and similarities of the sisters.Scarborough is the place to be this summer, according to The Telegraph:
Their contemplation is knocked flat by the carryings-on of Lydia Robinson, Bramwell’s (sic) married mistress, played with erotic liveliness by Abby Cross. Her sexual energy bears down uncomfortably on the three literary sisters.
Her man appeal is only excelled by her cruelty.
The acting skills in this well-directed piece excel. Those who play the Brontë sisters illustrate well their captured, frustrated existence and, although three men cross their lives, they don’t succumb to love.
Whilst Branwell (Ted Walker) is freer than them, he turns to the bottle so that his life is also ruined.
Blake Morrison’s script is a bit wordy and his inclusion of the alcoholic doctor, well illustrated by Ian Fensome, affects the impact of Bramwell’s inebriation. (Matthew Calderbank)
Dominating the view is St Mary’s Church, whose graveyard houses the wind-weathered gravestone of Anne Brontë. The church, incidentally, serves excellent teas and coffees (and toasted teacakes) through the summer. (Stephen McClarence)The Times revies A View of the Empire at Sunset by Caryl Phillips:
Gwen, after a stalled career as a chorus girl, a nauseating whirl of “gentlemen” who pick her up and cast her aside when her “exoticism” bores them, prostitution, an abortion, a succession of squalid boarding house rooms, a failed marriage and increasing amounts of alcohol, will adopt the name Jean Rhys and eventually write Wide Sargasso Sea. But that pseudonym and literary success are not mentioned in Caryl Phillips’s downbeat fictional reconstruction of the author’s early life. (Siobhan Murphy)Andrew Bolt's column in the Herald Sun deals with Heathcliff:
Rereading Wuthering Heights for a "great books" series of podcasts I'm recording with the IPA. That so many women respond so strongly to the love of Heathcliff and Cathy is fascinating given that it is a love so annihilating. It's actually a morbid love, it seems to me, of self. I wish Nietzsche had written about it - a love that trashes all of the rules that civilisation demands and which he believed made us sheep. It is a love that destroys even the conventional accommodations that simply living with someone requires if you not to drive each other mad.Refinery29 recommends books for July:
Two hundred years ago this month, Emily Brontë was born in a tiny village in West Yorkshire. If you haven't read Wuthering Heights, what better opportunity to dive in and discover why it's a classic of English literature (if anyone's got that BDE, it's Heathcliff). (Elizabeth Kiefer and Katy Thompsett)Star2 reviews the YA novel The Queen's Rising by Rebecca Ross:
The opening pages of The Queen’s Rising bring to mind something the Brontë sisters might have written over a century ago – a genteel period piece about a young lady called Brienna who blossoms into womanhood through her studies, all under the tutelage of a master and a dowager. (D.L. Philips)Birmingham Express & Star interviews Caitlin Moran:
I went to Wolvo a couple of months ago - we always go and see if the person is in our old house to see if we can go in the garden.Atlanta Journal-Constitution explores the work of the artist Lola Brooks:
“But they weren’t so we just took selfies outside. I go back quite freely; I stand outside like Cathy from Wuthering Heights.”
She added: “And we went down to this pub, that used to be the Bikers pub, and it was so rough. But now it’s selling oysters and champagne. (Rebecca Stanley)
But it is Brooks’ museum-quality, more conceptual pieces that plumb the depths of her obsessions, from the Napoleonic Wars, the Arts and Crafts movement and Victorian mourning jewelry to fairy tales, the gothic literature of Charlotte Brontë and the postmodernist Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. Her work explores the fascinating dips and bends in culture that — consciously or unconsciously — inform how we think about beauty and romance, death and love. (Felicia Feaster)Daily Pakistan talks about the Chinese TV drama Legend of Fuyao (扶摇) which apparently is very successful in Pakistan:
In order to believe and love, she embarked on a journey of adventure in five continents. Fuyao is a very brave smart girl and is like Jane Eyre or Cinderella in certain ways.Mother Nature Network in an article about wildfires:
Heathcliff isn't the only thing racing across the moors.Mondo Sonoro (in Spanish) interviews singer Javiera Mena:
Since June 24, wildfires have blazed across Saddleworth Moor, a hilly area that reaches up to 1,312 feet above sea level. CNN reports that the fire has destroyed 2,000 acres of moorland northeast of Manchester as of June 27. In the photo above, a full moon rises behind the burning moorland as the wildfire sweeps across the moors earlier this week in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, England. (Noel Kirkpatrick)
Álex Jerez: Se trata de un álbum más introspectivo pero a la vez has aprendido a hablar menos de ti y más de los temas comunes a todo ser humano.Le Devoir (in French) talks about the film Le retour du héros. Quoting the director Laurent Tirard:
Bueno yo creo que obviamente tengo más edad, como dicen ustedes “una edad” (risas), y David Lynch dice que no hay que tener una mente súper perturbada para hacer películas de gente súper perturbada. No hace falta ser un monstruo para crear un monstruo. Siempre perseguí esa capacidad de abstraerse de escritores como Emily Brontë que no llegó nunca a enamorarse y pudo escribir sobre el amor. Así que es eso, poder hablar de determinados temas sin necesariamente caer en la auto-biografía. (Translation)
« L’une de mes premières inspirations, c’est Jane Austen, notamment le roman Orgueil et préjugés. Je suis passionné par cet univers anglais avec ses personnages féminins très forts. Il y a aussi les sœurs Brontë et leurs personnages féminins à l’énergie débordante. Dans le film, il y a un côté Frankenstein ; le monstre devient plus gros qu’elle et la menace. Quelque part, Le retour du héros est sans doute le plus proche de mon premier film, Mensonges et trahisons et plus si affinités, qui parlait déjà de ce rapport entre créateur et créature, comment le premier était complètement dépassé par son personnage. » (Manon Dumais) (Translation)Observator Cultural (in Romanian) quotes from the novel Il corso dei destini incrociati by Marcello Caprarella:
"Dintre femei − da, le citesc şi le recomand elevilor şi elevelor şi pe acestea − îmi plac Irène Némirovsky şi Natalia Ginzburg, dacă vorbim de autoare din secolul al XX-lea. Dintre clasicele romantice, am o predilecţie pentru Jane Austen şi Madame de Staël. O ador pe Emily Brontë. Dar nu le suport pe Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf şi Susan Sontag, motiv din care merit cu siguranţă lapidarea. " (Lavinia Similaru) (Translation)El espectador (Uruguay) interviews the writer Felipe Polleri:
"Qué libro Cumbres Borrascosas. Siempre envidié ese libro." (Translation)La voce di New York (in Italian) interviews another writer, Emanuela Canepa:
Isabella Zuppa: Quale romanzo ha segnato la tua vita? E quale tramanderesti alle nuove generazioni se potessi salvarne uno soltanto?Several Barcelona newspapers announce the return of the successful Jane Eyre production by Carme Portaceli next January at the Teatre Lliure-Gràcia. Prole Art Threat reviews Villette. No Strings Attached posts about Wuthering Heights. Książkowir (in Polish) reviews Shirley. Il Regno dei Libri (in Italian) reviews The Three Brontës by May Sinclair. AnneBrontë.org publishes the post '29th June: A Life Changing Date For Charlotte Brontë'.
“Oddio, non posso farcela… Non riesco ad assumermi la responsabilità di sceglierne uno solo ed eliminare il resto, sia pure solo come gioco letterario. Posso rispondere alla prima parte della tua domanda però, perché indicare un romanzo che ha segnato la mia vita non implica che ce ne sia stato solo uno. Scelgo il primo in ordine di tempo, avrò avuto quattordici anni o giù di lì: Cime tempestose. Da allora quel paesaggio, quel clima, quel senso desolato di egoismo feroce e di tempesta, li porto dentro come corollari irrinunciabili dell’amore. Credo sia stato un vero imprinting”. (Translation)
Marriage and the position of women in Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre
by Michaela Dlouhá, 2018
Charles University in Prague
The thesis aims to explore the position of women in the Victorian era, particularly with regard to marriage, and to see how this is reflected in these two novels - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. The theoretical part explores the legal and social situation of women in the early nineteenth century and the practical part firstly analyses the novels separately to see how both authors reflect the realities facing women of the era. The last section of the practical part offers the overall comparison of the two chosen novels and examines differences and similarities in the central messages and in the final achievement of independence, equality and justice.
Mad or Misunderstood? A Study of the Different Portrayals of Mr. Rochester's First Wife in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea
by Hedd Törntorp
University of Lund, 2018
Jane Eyre (1847), written by Charlotte Brontë, remains a classic, 170 years later. Mr. Rochester’s secret wife locked away in an attic, Bertha Mason, is the antagonist in the novel. However, in Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) written by Jean Rhys around a century later, the character has been rewritten as Antoinette Cosway. This essay examines how Bertha and Antoinette are written and investigates the aspects that come into play in the authors’ different portrayals. This research is combined with biographical and historical criticism. The authors’ lives and own words are discussed in relation to their works, while at the same time carefully separating biography from fiction. The essay also discusses how Wide Sargasso Sea is written as a response to the racial and colonial themes in Jane Eyre. The changing conception of mental illness from the 19th to 20th century is also considered, as are the responses of various critics. The essay will illustrate how the characterization of Bertha and Antoinette responds to the cultural contexts from which the novels arose.
Characters and landscape: Towards new expressions of subjectivity in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights
by Jessica Valentina Herrera Avelin
Universidad de Chile, 2017
Musician-writer Kate Bush, novelist Jeanette Winterson and former boxer Frank Bruno are among those participating in the Bradford Literature Festival 2018, in association with Provident Financial Group, where over 500 speakers will feature across more than 400 sessions. [...]The New York Times recommends nine new books, including
One of the festival’s special commissions this year includes a public art installation celebrating the Brontë sisters from Kate Bush, Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay and Jeanette Winterson. The project features four new, original works of writing engraved onto stones set into different locations in "rugged" Yorkshire, the landscape of such novels as Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. The journey to visit all four points is approximately eight miles and believed to have been the route the sisters themselves often took between their home in Thornton and the family parsonage in Haworth.
Of the four commissioned pieces, three of the works (by Bush, Duffy and Kay) respond to one of the Brontë sisters each (Emily, Charlotte and Anne, respectively), while the fourth (by Winterson) responds to the Brontë legacy as a whole. Several other special events are also programmed at the festival in homage to Bradford’s historical connection to the Brontë sisters, this year focusing on the bicentenary of Emily Brontë. (Katherine Cowdrey)
A View of the Empire at Sunset, by Caryl Phillips. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27.) Set in England, France and the Caribbean, Phillips’s fragmented novel uses the difficult, lonely life of the half-Welsh, half-West-Indian writer Jean Rhys (author of “Wide Sargasso Sea”) to explore themes of alienation, colonialism and exile. “In this meshing of Phillips as writer and Rhys as subject all the great themes of Phillips’s fiction cohere,” our reviewer, William Boyd, writes. “That the novel succeeds so well is a tribute to Phillips’s mastery of tone.”Daily Mail reviews it briefly.
In Wide Sargasso Sea, the novelist Jean Rhys pulled off an audacious — and outstanding — act of literary revisionism, imagining how Bertha, the prototype madwoman in the attic, ended up locked in Rochester’s mansion in Jane Eyre.The Times on Florence Welch, alma mater of Florence+The Machine:
In a novel full of echoes of Wide Sargasso Sea, Caryl Phillips imagines the story of Rhys herself, who came to England from Dominica in 1906 to live with an aunt before going to study acting in London.
Just like Bertha, his Rhys is trapped: in a dank, depressing city of cheap bedsits and predatory men, through which she drifts like a tattered leaf on the breeze.
Dependent on various men for money and, more and more, booze, she exists in scenes that often feel more like a series of painterly tableaux, becoming increasingly a passive onlooker to her own unhappy life. Phillips’s novel ends before Rhys discovers her voice as a writer, yet in this curiously inert, colourless novel, you struggle to hear her voice at all. (Claire Allfree)
When Welch hit it big in 2008 with the irrepressible Dog Days Are Over she was an arresting but familiar figure, reminiscent of that kid who was always first on the dancefloor at the school disco, spinning around to Wuthering Heights before collapsing on the gym mats. (Will Hodgkinson)Bustle recommends several new books too, including My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows.
Five words: Jane Eyre retelling with ghosts. (Cristina Arreola)Hypable reviews it more extensively:
My Plain Jane is a retelling of Charlotte Brontë’s most famous novel, but it’s so much more than that. In the hands of The Lady Janies (authors Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi Ashton), Jane Eyre’s story becomes one not of duty and romance, but of adventure, friendship, and ghosts. It also answers the interesting question “What if Jane Eyre had the ability to see ghosts?”Memphis Flyer begins a review of the novel The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton as follows:
With that prompt in mind, this novel takes off on a wild adventure with interesting turns and familiar faces who get caught in some unfamiliar situations. Take what you *think* you know about Jane Eyre and Charlotte Brontë and throw it out the window.
You’ll enjoy My Plain Jane so much more if you do.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m fascinated by history and most classic literature. (I say *most* because I’m not a Jane Austen fan and Pride and Prejudice does nothing for me. #SorryNotSorry) I love reading stories with rich historical contexts and learning more about cultures through fiction.
*But* when a piece of historical fiction expertly pulls off an idea that at first seems too crazy to work (like Jane Eyre seeing ghosts or women fighting in the infantry during World War II)? I’m in. I have no trouble letting go of my historical accuracy hat and just enjoying myself. [...]
The paranormal-ness of it all also adds a whole lot of humor. Since not everyone has the ability to see ghosts, it’s comical to read a scene between characters (both humans and ghosts) where only a few people interact with both the living and dead, leaving others lost and confused.
The ghosts’ behavior is also quite entertaining. While some, like Jane’s best friend Helen Burns, are relatively tame, others have quite the personality to them. Of course, the ghosts’ personalities almost directly reflect how they were when they were alive, but their ethereal state allows them more leeway to do what they want, when they want.
The plot, however, isn’t as variable as the ghosts. It can be quite predictable at times (especially for fans of Jane Eyre), but, honestly, it’s about the journey, not the reveals and twists. Retellings are fun because of the comparison factor, not because there are new and interesting major OMG moments. Seeing how the characters come to certain conclusions and watching them discover things that we, the reader, already know is a lot of fun. If you’re someone who thirsts for character development, even at the expense of plot twists, you’re going to love this book.
Grace Poole, Mr. Brocklehurst, Mrs. Fairfax, Edward Rochester, Helen Burns… All of the most notable characters from Jane Eyre get quite a bit to do in this retelling. However, while they’re all recognizable and similar to their counterparts in the source material, they all have unexpected character twists in this. So, while we as readers may have an idea where the story goes, their new character traits take it in different and surprising directions along the way. [...]
Many times, the Brontës (namely Charlotte and her brother Branwell) are used as stand-ins for groups of minor characters which allows them to be directly involved with the story without sacrificing anything. Their involvement in this way allows the reader more time to invest in the characters they know rather than just introducing and under-developing an onslaught of minor characters we’ll never see again.
The Brontës’ inclusion also creates a couple of levels of meta within the story. One one level, we’re given a front row seat to watch Charlotte Brontë craft her classic tale as it unfolds in “real” life before her. This is interesting in that we’re called upon to think about why certain elements of My Plain Jane‘s “real world” didn’t make it in or were changed for her novel. The second level is that, now that Charlotte is a major part of the story, her shift into being a character frees up space for the Lady Janies to become the narrators and make all of the asides and sassy comments that they want to.
Speaking of Charlotte, though: I love Charlotte. Though Charlotte Brontë was a real person, the Charlotte character is more malleable within the context of this story because she doesn’t have abide by certain story and character beats like Jane does. We have very little literature-based information about Charlotte, which allows the authors to really play with her and develop her more. Plus, like us, the readers, she’s the true outsider — not Jane — and so we’re learning about the world alongside her. Honestly, she’s more of the main character than Jane Eyre and I think I love her most. [...]
And, to enhance that sass, there are a ton of really witty and clever pop culture references. I’m talking references to everything from Jane Eyre‘s contemporaries (like Wuthering Heights‘s Heathcliff and Catherine) to Harry Potter to modern day events like the most recent U.S. presidential inauguration and “Nevertheless, she persisted.” The inclusion of so many pop culture references would take away from the story and the atmosphere of a lesser novel, but the Lady Janies’ skillful writing and world-building help make each reference flourish in its context.
In case you couldn’t tell, I had a blast reading this book. My Plain Jane, like My Lady Jane, perfectly balances historical accuracy and atmosphere, romance, adventure, and pop culture references. Though there are many Jane Eyre retellings out there in the world today, they just don’t compare to this one. It’s more than worth the read. (Danielle Zimmerman)
Let's talk about voice in fiction. Sometimes what's meant by voice is the author's style. Think of Hemingway, Joyce, Nabokov, Faulkner, Graham Greene, Virginia Woolf. Their styles are so much their own voices that they changed the way we read fiction. And then there is the voice of a particular novel, which often means an idiosyncratic first-person narrative. Think of The Catcher in the Rye, The Color Purple, Portnoy's Complaint, Jane Eyre, or Lolita. (Corey Mesler)The Sisters' Room has a post on a walk to Ponden Kirk.
An alert from the Brontë Parsonage Museum:Parsonage Unwrapped: A Day in the Life of a Museum Assistant
29.06.2018, 7:30 PM
Ever wondered how we prepare the Museum for visitors each morning, or how we ensure the collection is cared for and preserved? Come along to this special event and meet members of our team who can give you a glimpse behind the scenes at the Museum.
The unfortunate irony of Brontë: The World Without is that a play about three of the world’s most compelling storytellers lacks an interesting narrative itself. [...]The Bangladesh Post has selected 'Four inspirational characters in literature', including
Mand is less concerned with the sisters’ inner worlds than with their outer ones – the “without” of the title. Hence, we get details about looking for employment (usually as governesses), adding up household expenses and, when they start getting published, who gets better reviews. (Charlotte’s Jane Eyre is universally beloved, while Emily’s Wuthering Heights is trashed and Anne’s Agnes Grey ignored.)
All of that is fine in a Wiki-entry way. But Mand (Between The Sheets, Caught) never convinces us of the women’s imaginations and storytelling skills. The Brontës’ works must be in the public domain. Why not try out some passages on us, if not in dialogue – as it seems the sisters were secretive about their work – then in monologues?
There’s also little sense of place – strange, since the Yorkshire moors figure prominently in a lot of the women’s fiction.
And the musical choices – Chopin one moment, Regina Spektor the next – are disorienting.
What we’re left with is a thin slip of a play that serves more as a showcase for the fine acting ensemble ([Beryl] Bain [who plays Charlotte] is particularly commanding) than a look at three essential voices in 19th-century literature. (Glenn Sumi)
Jane EyreJane is indeed an inspirational character, but this description of her is, we think, way off the mark.
Another great character is Jane Eyre from the book with the same title by Charlotte Brontë. This is a great way to describe the mid-19th century woman. Jane Eyre is the embodiment of simplicity and plainness. Being a plain and humble character Jane Eyre is a great read for children, as a closer look to Jane Eyre will show one how to be humble and generous at the same time. (Md Saifuddin Al Quaderi)
Removing Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name from this one award is not removing her books or altering the material in any way that would be “whitewashing”—it is recognizing that the content in the books does not hold up to the ideals of the organization or award now, hence it being renamed. We rename things all the time.Los Angeles Review of Books features Araminta Hall’s Our Kind of Cruelty.
If people were advocating for Wilder’s books to be re-edited or banned I’d have more a problem with that because (a) banning books never works and (b) the books should be allowed to be capsules of their time and give the reader insight into the ideologies of the author.
Any of us who are fans of “classic” works are familiar with navigating the space of understanding that something can be “of its time” but still perpetuate harmful stereotypes. I can still love The Secret Garden and A Little Princess and recognize that those books are filled with imperialism. I can adore Jane Eyre and find is suspect that their madwoman in the attic is a Creole woman. (Princess Weekes)
The implication that what follows will also be a love story is both true and misleading, which sets the novel’s tone and identifies its central paradox: “[H]ow do you show someone that what they believe to be true is really not the truth?” This is, essentially, a love story; a story about love. It’s no starry-eyed romance, but a love story in the tradition of Wuthering Heights or Caroline Kepnes’s You, in which love manifests as darker, more obsessive, with lovers prepared to burn down the world that would keep them apart, even if they self-destruct in the process. Or, as the narrator of this book declares: “[S]ometimes two people need each other so much it is worth sacrificing others to make sure they end up together.” (Karen Brissette)Geek Dad reviews the book You Are Awesome by Matthew Syed.
Chapter 5 includes case studies of Jay-Z, Mozart, Serena Williams, David Beckham, and the Brontë sisters. (Robin Brooks)Independent reviews the film Patrick.
Sarah has just started teaching English at the Grange Hill-like Daneman High School and is struggling to discipline her unruly class. She is also on the lookout for a new boyfriend.Le Figaro (France) has a subscribers-only article on The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë by Daphne du Maurier.
She has two potential candidates, a sleazy, narcissistic vet who spends too much time watching Game Of Thrones and talking about himself, and a sympathetic but mysterious dog-loving older man who seems like Richmond Park’s answer to Rochester in Jane Eyre. (Geoffrey Macnab)
En 1960, Daphné du Maurier, à travers le portrait de l'oublié de la famille, brosse le portrait en creux des célèbres sœursAnd finally, more about Lily Cole's film Balls on the Brontë Parsonage Twitter:
Dans la famille Brontë, on demande toujours les filles, surtout Charlotte et Emily, un peu moins Anne, trois étoiles filantes de la littérature anglaise, parfois le père, le révérend Patrick Brontë qui éleva la fratrie après la mort prématurée de la mère Maria, et rarement le frère. Il s'appelait Branwell et était celui dans lequel le révérend mettait tous les espoirs de la famille. Ses sœurs le vénéraient. (Françoise Dargent) (Translation)
Lily Cole directing on set of her new film 'Balls'.— Brontë Parsonage (@BronteParsonage) June 27, 2018
Tickets for the premiere screening on Sunday 29 July available https://t.co/xYR8WGxBcE@furyfilms_ltd @FoundlingMuseum @rrunews @lilycole #LilyColeBalls pic.twitter.com/BFZ0tEjjel
It's all over the Internet, an intense promotional campaign for this YA Jane Eyre derivative:My Plain JaneToday, June 28, the authors will be presenting their book in Tempe, AZ:
by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
Harper Collins, HarperTeen
ISBN: 9780062652775
June 2018
Move over, Charlotte Brontë. The authors of the New York Times bestselling My Lady Jane are back with an irreverent spin on Jane Eyre—a tale of mischief, romance, and supernatural mayhem perfect for fans of The Princess Bride or A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue.
You may think you know the story. Penniless orphan Jane Eyre begins a new life as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she meets one dark, brooding Mr. Rochester—and, Reader, she marries him. Or does she?
Prepare for an adventure of Gothic proportions, in which all is not as it seems, a certain gentleman is hiding more than skeletons in his closets, and one orphan Jane Eyre, aspiring author Charlotte Brontë, and supernatural investigator Alexander Blackwood are about to be drawn together on the most epic ghost hunt this side of Wuthering Heights.
The Lady Janies: Jodi Meadows, Cynthia Hand, and Brodi Ashton: My Plain Jane
7PM Thursday, June 28
Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, AZ
With this crew of authors at the helm, don’t expect a simple retelling. In the opening pages of My Plain Jane, we meet not only Jane but also her friend Charlotte Brontë, both of whom are students at the infamous Lowood School. As a young aspiring author, Charlotte is working on her “Very-First-Ever-Attempt-at-a-Novel” and thinks Jane will make the perfect heroine in her story.This book is also the first recommendation on a list of '5 Reads For Fans Of Jane Eyre' on Buzzfeed.
Jane has the ability to see ghosts, which convinces the very attractive supernatural investigator Alexander Blackwood that she would make a fine addition to his Society for the Relocation of Wayward Spirits. But Jane rejects the job offer and instead sets off to fulfill her destiny by securing the governess position at Rochester’s Thornfield Hall. Off she trots with a ghostly Helen Burns at her side, who proves to be a fantastic comic foil for Jane.
Anyone who loves Brontë’s classic novel will find this supernatural, romantic sendup to be clever and hilarious. At the end of the story, Charlotte reads from her future novel, and Jane approves: “Your readers will eat it up.” Charlotte nervously admits that she doesn’t have any readers yet, but it’s a sure bet she’ll have a lot more after readers finish My Plain Jane. (Deborah Hopkinson)
My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi MeadowsThe list also includes
You may think you know the story of Jane Eyre, where she meets and falls in love with the mysterious Mr. Rochester and they live happily ever after. But does this actually happen? Everything is not what it seems when this classic book gets a new makeover in My Plain Jane. Aspiring author Charlotte Brontë and her ghost-seeing friend Jane Eyre are front and center in this Gothic ghost story full of supernatural mayhem. (Stephanie Andrews)
Wuthering Heights by Emily BrontëHypable interviews writer Brenda Clough.
Heathcliff has always been in love with Catherine Earnshaw. But when she rejects his love, he turns into a monster. His mission in life is to win her back, but he is slowly losing himself in the process. A love story not like many others, it's a tale of how two people fall apart and discover the dark side of love. (Stephanie Andrews)
Kind of switching gears a little bit — what do you think it is about Victorian literature that still captivates audiences today? Well, you know, the Victorian writers were really the masters of character. They’re the masters of things like… You know, think about Charles Dickens. God, we all still watch A Christmas Carol every single year in December. He was able to create — some of the great storytellers of our language, lived during that period. It’s incredible. They’re finally getting it to where other people other than white people with titles could write books. So you had people like Charlotte Brontë writing Jane Eyre. And you know, finally you could really have books about women’s feelings — you could really get it out there. Finally you were able to get it really real. And so things became much more vividly colored and vividly described. (Karen Rought)Inspired by Sally Bayley's memoir Girl With Dove: a Life Built by Books, The Times looks into Britain’s 'lost children'.
At 14, inspired by Jane Eyre, Sally stopped eating, escaped to a doctor and asked to be taken into care. (Rachel Sylvester and Alice Thomson)Beyond Eden Rock posts about the book too.
'Cumbres borrascosas', de Emily Brontë: es la única novela de la autora y, sin embargo, su nombre ha pasado a la historia de la literatura por inmortalizar este clásico inglés con una estructura narrativa sorprendente. Es, al mismo tiempo, historia de amor e historia de odio, pues la novela narra uno de los amores más pasionales y trágicos que se recuerdan con dos personajes inolvidables: Catherine y Heathcliff. (C. I. Z.) (Translation)In a subscribers-only article, La Nueva España (Spain) interviews Xandru Fernández, who has translated the poetry of Emily Brontë into Spanish:
Lo que más me sorprendió de la poesía de Emily Brontë fue su aliento pagano.Comics Kingdom asks several cartoonist about where they find their inspiration.
Era poeta porque en su época y su entorno eso era la literatura seria; la dignificación de la novela había empezado, pero no se había consumado. (Tino Pertierra) (Translation)
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Stephanie PiroThe Big Smoke (Australia) has an article on '‘Gatsbying’ and other lit-based dating terms we might have made up', including
I find inspiration everywhere, from my family to my cats, my library job, pop culture... you name it! I do a lot of literary-based cartoons, and sometimes I get the odd idea like a lightning strike, where I feel compelled to create something like this "Six Chix" cartoon that combines Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" with the end of the classic film "Casablanca." Who knows where that idea came from? It's always fun to be able to bring a crazy idea to life! (Jen)
Heathcliffing. That someone won't shut up about their ex.Yesterday both Brontë Babe Blog and AnneBrontë.org celebrated Branwell's birthday.
Poetics of Dislocation: Comparative Cosmopolitanism in Charlotte Brontë, Flora Tristan, and Toru Dutt
Author: Jagannathan, Meera
University of Houston
2018
This thesis explores three women writers from nineteenth-century, who used the genre of autofiction to transcribe their familial trauma and dislocation to reconstitute themselves with the help of their empathic readers. Charlotte Brontë's novels, Jane Eyre and Villette, Flora Tristan's memoir from her travels to Peru, Pérégrinations d'une paria, and Toru Dutt's novella, Le journal de Mlle d'Arvers are the focus of this study. Brontë's heroines, Jane Eyre and Lucy Snowe, Tristan's champion of the oppressed, "the pariah," and Dutt's heroine, Marguerite, are auto-portraits of the women writers themselves. The protagonists articulate their trauma through an aesthetic of wounding, which effectively transfers the burden of testimony onto the readers. Their narrative strategies rely on narration and transference for what Freud calls an "abreaction," or working through. This transference conscripts and coopts the reader into becoming a collaborator of their autofiction. Reading these three writers together offers the reader a unique opportunity to read particular moments in nineteenth-century Europe as experienced by both the metropolitan and the colonized. They were deracinated from their own communities, which made them cosmopolitan by default. Their travels to distant places mark them as exiles, but at the same time the new geographic spaces reorder their interior worlds and helped them comprehend the disenfranchised other. It is evident when reading their letters that their traumas led them to become agents of change, particularly regarding the status of women in society. I study how their individual trauma led them o engage with the collective trauma of gender, which they effectively transfer to the empathic readers through their texts. I suggest that through their masked, textual selves, they transformed their intensely traumatic, idiosyncratic experiences into public battles about women's status in patriarchal societies.
Images of Race and the Influence of Abolition in Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights
Tolbert, Laura E.
The University of Alabama
Charlotte and Emily Brontë’s masterpieces, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, respectively, reflect the sisters’ life-long investment in the abolitionist movement. Despite being written over a decade post-abolition, the novels’ retrospective settings lend weight to the sisters’ usage of distinctive language associated with the rise of slavery in the British West Indies and the subsequent push for its elimination. This language, largely centered around the characters of Bertha Mason and Heathcliff, seems to support an antislavery stance on the part of the Brontë sisters. A conflict arises, however, when considering that Bertha and Heathcliff are raciallyOthered within the texts, and their aggressive and immoral behavior does nothing to redeem or flatter their characters. Indeed, the language in both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights leave the novels supporting the antislavery discourse of the early nineteenth century while also unsympathetically portraying stereotypical and derogatory representations of racially-Othered individuals. The Brontës’ antislavery sentiments, it seems, are not necessarily free of racial prejudice, but neither is the abolitionist rhetoric that influenced the novels. This project draws upon historical context to trace the major developments in abolition into the nineteenth century, including various sides of the debate and how rural areas throughout England influenced how the movement came to be organized on a national level. Furthermore, biographical information on the Brontës helps contextualize their personal involvement in the abolitionist movement, while an analysis of select works from their juvenilia shows how their knowledge of the movement inspired their writings from an early age. This background lays the foundation for a reading of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights that details how the conflicting sentiments of these novels are ultimately indicative of Charlotte and Emily Brontë’s awareness and participation in the abolitionist movement.
"Jane Eyre". Problemas de traducción de la novela romántica inglesa
Casadesús Hernández, Cristina
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Facultat de Traducció i d'Interpretació
2017
Analysis and comparison based on two different translations (one from Juan G. de Luaces and the other one from Carmen Martín Gaite) from one of the most renowned works of the Victorian literature: Jane Eyre from Charlotte Brontë. Based on both translations, which date back to two really different periods and political situations, and taking different problems —both cultural and linguistic—, I have been able to appreciate and analyse the different translation options that each translator has chosen in each case, and I have tried to give an explanation and give the reason why the translator has made that choice. Once all the translation problems' examples, in which I have been working in this work have been analysed (sometimes well solved, but in other cases, not really), I have come to a final conclusion, which has turned to be pretty obvious and reasonable.
The performances are all great. All three actresses bring life to their characters and have a spot on sisterly chemistry with one another. Beryl Bain brings wisdom and strength to the character of Charlotte Brontë. It is clear the character feels the weight of her family on her shoulders, and when her eyesight declines, we really only hear about it from the other characters. Charlotte's focus is always on the family and/or her writing. As Emily, Jessica B. Hill takes on the challenge or portraying a bit of an enigma. There is limited information out there about the reclusive author of "Wuthering Heights" and there are some who believe that the information that is available is a sort of re-imagining of Emily by Charlotte. The choice is made in this production to explore Emily's struggle with anxiety. She has a panic attack when she discovers that her sister has read her poetry, and based on how her sisters react, we are to assume that she has struggled with this before. There is also mention of her becoming ill whenever she has tried to leave home for a period of time. It is interesting that when Emily has a coughing fit due to Tuberculosis later in the play, it initially presents quite similarly to her panic attack-perhaps causing some confusion to her siblings about what is actually wrong. The way this is presented amplifies the idea that throughout her entire life, Emily was plagued with struggles and health issues that those around her did not quite understand. Hill's portrayal of Emily is that of a tortured yet brilliant and loving soul who writes because she has to-to the point where she does not even (initially) need to have her work seen by anyone.Vulture has an article on 'The Radical Self-Sufficiency of Mia Wasikowska'.
As Anne, the youngest of the three sisters, Andrea Rankin plays the role of baby of the family very well. She is close with Emily but they still playfully fight, and her emotional distance from Charlotte seems to come from a place of insecurity in her fear of being compared to her. Rankin brings humour to the role as Anne impatiently awaits Charlotte's return so that the three sisters can open a piece of mail and find out if a publisher has chosen to go forward with any of their books. She tugs at the heart strings as she desperately tries to carve her own place in history.
The first half of the play is primarily an introduction to these three characters and their dynamics with one another. It ends with them realizing that perhaps their passion for writing could help bring in the money they desperately need for their father's eye operation. The second half has them all feverishly writing and jealously eyeing the reviews that they each are (or are not) receiving. The competitiveness of each woman is fascinating to observe. Whereas the competition seems to spur Charlotte on, it sends Emily into an introspective tailspin wherein she focuses on, and collects the most scathing reviews of "Wuthering Heights". What is devastating is that had she not gotten sick, that tailspin likely would have eventually produced another classic novel. Anne just wants to be noticed, her fear being that she will not be remembered at all. These emotions are all very relatable and each sister's respective struggle resonates with the audience in different ways.
I will note that this play will likely be best enjoyed by a rather specific audience-those who have an interest in the lives of the Brontë sisters, but do not know a great deal about them. I personally fit that description perfectly, but there will be some folks who may not find the content to be quite as captivating. Others may contest the characterization of these women, based on the ideas they have previously formulated on their own. (Lauren Gienow)
In a run of period pieces — Cary Fukunaga’s lyrical rendition of Jane Eyre in 2011, and then in 2012, downer Mrs. Doubtfire riff Albert Nobbs and the audacious bootlegger epic Lawless — she exposed what festered below the genteel surfaces of the past. Sometimes, it was a personal hardship; she approached Charlotte Brontë’s text with an understanding that it’s a tragedy far more frequently than it is a romance, wearing her stern countenance like armor she removes only for her Michael Fassbender–played Rochester. (Jane Eyre earned her a comparison to Isabelle Huppert in the pages of Time, her spiritual godmother in prickliness.) (Charles Bramesco)Bolsamanía (Spain) reviews a production of Lucia de Lammermoor at the Teatro Real.
El montaje no prescinde de la escena final del cementerio, la muerte de Edgardo, que podríamos enlazar con el inicio, Lucia durmiendo en la cama del psiquiátrico, otra vez a punto de revivirlo todo en un bucle interminable. Por eso, Lucia no solo dialoga con Marie, sino con Emma Bovary o Anna Karenina, dos novelas donde aparece la ópera, pero también con la loca del ático de Jane Eyre o la señora Dalloway, con un coro de mujeres que, desde la historia, nos dicen que no son histéricas, sino que están rotas. (Jorge Dioni) (Translation)Jane Eyre's Library shows a part of her Jane Eyre collection. Literary Leisha posts about Alexa Donne's Brightly Burning.
A new Brontë book just published:The Brontës Treasury
Jane O'Neill
Carlton Books
Published June 2018
ISBN 9780233005546
The Brontës Treasury is a collection of fascinating facts about one of Britain's most lauded literary families.
It looks at the lives and works of the sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne) in a time of great social change, and explores the influence of their surroundings on their books. Divided into chapters on their family life, works, historical context and legacy, The Brontës Treasury reveals why novels such as Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights have intrigued, inspired and shocked millions since they were first published over 170 years ago.
This quirky volume looks at the facts and myths of their life and times. The book reveals little known stories about the family, including the provenance of the surname Brontë, why the siblings all died so young, the passionate love that influenced Villette, and much more.
Even with a stellar three-member cast pulling out all the stops to realize the ambitions of playwright Jordi Mand, Brontë: The World Without ultimately comes off as a well-intentioned production with lofty goals – a mixed blessing that just misses the mark.Another look into the lives of the Brontës is the book Infernales, la hermandad Brontë by Laura Ramos summed up today by El litoral (Argentina).
In itself, the playwright’s desire to reimagine the lives of 19th Century English novelists and poets Charlotte, Emily and Anne (to a somewhat lesser extent) Brontë is laudable, truly worthy of unique theatrical and historic examination. Sadly, this was an era in which motivated and talented women in all walks of life, with or without social status or money, were simply ignored. [...]
While unquestionably a talented writer, though less acclaimed than either Charlotte or Emily, sister Anne is likely the Brontë posing the greater challenges for an actor tasked with the role of her portrayal. So Andrea Rankin deserves high marks for her oft-times boisterous and lively performance, exhibiting qualities befitting a younger woman.
Rankin may appear at times relegated to an easy chair off to the side and far from centre-stage activity, but her presence is nonetheless always felt. Closer to Emily, she is still very much a pivotal character central to the exploration of the Brontë mystique.
With the use of effective albeit slow pacing, director Vanessa Porteous capably guides the trio through the play’s five key moments between January 1846 and January 1849, dates marking specific events relevant both to their lives and career aspirations. The blend is one mixing perfunctory scenes of tribulations and accomplishments.
Mand unquestionably did a masterful and extensive job of research, unearthing intriguing aspects showcasing the Brontë women’s lives, examining the socio-economic constraints of 19th century while dutifully reminding today’s audiences of just what brilliance existed within the walls of this rather bland little family home in Haworth in the west riding of Yorkshire.
There are, however, several fronts on which the production falls short. For example, the reliance upon the location of one meagre, functionally furnished family room, wherein the scenes of the greatest activity range from frantically penning their work on available chairs, chesterfields and even the floor to jostling about frantically to see who will open various rejection or acceptance letters that arrive in the post.
Sequences of drinking seemingly endless cups of very weak tea, judiciously dividing the occasional sweet cake amongst the three, delving into despair over self-doubt and worrying about the state of Branwell’s declining health and their father Patrick’s medical issues accounts for much of the focus, perhaps too much so.
So one wonders about some missed opportunities along the way: perhaps offering a greater insight into Charlotte’s motivation for Jane Eyre; occasionally shifting the locale outdoors to the wild moors where Emily would often wander to commune with nature or even revealing – possibly through imaginative supposition – just how she created the infamous Heathcliff, the “monster” of her Wuthering Heights.
Although musical interludes featuring works from modern composers like Regina Spektor were welcome and appropriate, given the subject matter, decreasing the decibel level and the length of each number was in order to provide a complement to the dialogue rather than a fill-in for those moments of silence.
Brontë: The World Without is an adventurous, though not fully realized outing exploring a unique cultural phenomenon featuring a talented cast, director and playwright. Even with its hits and misses, the production is still worthy of a night out at the Studio Theatre, particularly for those eager to take another look at these three fascinating sisters. (Geoff Dale)
La orfandad es un filón literario. El Mowgli de Kipling, el Twist de Dickens, el Mishkin de Dostoievski, la Eyre de Brontë, los hermanos Bartra de Marsé… También el apócrifo Lazarillo de Tormes y el Potter de Rowling. Maltratados, desamparados, los huérfanos se enfrentan con angustia a un mundo incomprensible, hostil o aterrador. Personajes literarios magnéticos, sus odiseas iniciáticas han conmovido a millones de lectores. (Translation)Press Herald reviews the novel Tangerine by Christine Mangan, who
plays with familiar tropes, but she deploys them with wit, insight and precision. She hides some literary Easter eggs in her prose, including tips of the hat to the Brontes, to Shirley Jackson (penning tales of paranoia back in Vermont), and to expatriate writer Paul Bowles, author of “The Sheltering Sky.” (Michael Berry)And just so you know, Mystic Medusa claims that,
Charlotte Bronte had her Moon/Saturn conjunct the Pluto of Mary Shelley.Blue Mountains Gazette tells how 'Woodford gets ready to host Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever' while Mirror shares previously unseen pictures of Kate Bush taken at the time of her Wuthering Heights success (or rather 1980). And finally, 'Wellington, Waterloo and the Brontës' on AnneBrontë.org.
The Mighty Oak. With texts by Shakespeare, A A Milne, Emily Brontë and Samantha Harvey read by Siân Phillips and Joseph Mydell. Music includes works by Verdi, Smetana and Britten.
A new biography (or essay) on Emily Brontë from a contemporary perspective.Emily Brontë ReappraisedWe don't know who is to be blamed (publishers? publicists?) but using a disputed (fake news painting?) portrait of Emily Brontë on the cover is not the best way to be taken seriously in our humble opinion.
A view from the twenty-first century
Claire O'Callaghan
Saraband Press
ISBN: 9781912235056
Publication date: June 15, 2018
Emily Brontë’s incomparable Wuthering Heights is, for many of us, one of our most cherished novels, with the character of Heathcliff being the ultimate romantic hero – and villain. It is a work that has bewitched us for almost 200 years. But Emily herself remains an enigmatic figure, often painted unfairly in a negative light.
So Emily Brontë Reappraised conjures a new image of the great writer by looking at her afresh from the vantage point of the new millennium. It’s a biography with a twist, taking in the themes of her life and work – her feminism, her passion for the natural world – as well as the art she has inspired, and even the “fake news” stories about her. What we discover is that she was, in fact, a thoroughly modern woman. And now, in the 21st century, it’s time for the real Emily Brontë to please stand up.
"My Plain Jane" tells the story of "Jane Eyre" as if the main character was a real person who attended the Lowood school for girls alongside Charlotte Brontë. Besides throwing the author into the story, "My Plain Jane" adds one other twist to the classic novel — Jane Eyre can see ghosts.Perspective of a Writer also reviews the novel.
These ghosts include her deceased childhood best friend Helen Burns, whose ghost still follows Jane around though Jane is now 18 and looking to become a governess. Charlotte is Jane's living best friend who's always scribbling away in her notebook and looking for something exciting to write about.(...)
Despite sometimes mocking Brontë's book, "My Plain Jane" still manages to honor Bronte's genius and acknowledge that "Jane Eyre" is compelling, well-written and ahead of its time. Through Charlotte's character, readers are able to see what obstacles Bronte was up against in her life and how, through tenacity and intelligence, she was able to overcome them.
"My Plain Jane" carries on the Monty Python-like, tongue-in-cheek, anachronistic humor of its predecessor, and amps it up a notch with references to "Harry Potter," "Lord of the Rings," "Princess Bride" and, of course, "The Sixth Sense." There are even a couple implicit jabs at America's current president.
If there is a complaint it is that, just as with "My Lady Jane," the narrators of "My Plain Jane" can be heavy-handed in their comical asides, often pulling the reader abruptly out of the story, preventing a truly submersive read. (Michelle Garrett Bulsiewicz)
Liz Nugent admitted she "only recently started reading non-fiction", name-checking I Found My Tribe by Ruth Fitzmaurice and Matchstick Man by Julia Kelly. But her top five were all fiction, and included Banville's The Book of Evidence, Perfume by Patrick Süskind, Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights - Liz first read it in Leaving Cert, which is the ideal time in my opinion - and Pat McCabe's The Butcher Boy. (Darragh McManus)The Press Herald reviews Tangerine by Christine Mangan:
Mangan plays with familiar tropes, but she deploys them with wit, insight and precision. She hides some literary Easter eggs in her prose, including tips of the hat to the Brontës, to Shirley Jackson (penning tales of paranoia back in Vermont), and to expatriate writer Paul Bowles, author of “The Sheltering Sky.” (Michael Berry)Image discusses The Great Gatsby among other books:
I know it was a product of its time, blah blah blah, but if Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters could dream up a collection of flawed but deeply compelling female characters over a century before, he could have dredged up some character (any character!) for the supposedly irresistible Daisy. (Lauren Heskin)The Sunday Herald interviews the writer Leila Aboulelah:
We meet four days after Ramadan, and as she prepares lunch she is still revelling in being able to eat and drink during daylight hours. The chocolate biscuits we take with our coffee are left over from the Eid celebrations, when fasting ended. As is obvious from her work and attire, Aboulela is a devout Muslim, as spiritual as Marilynne Robinson or – to use her examples of writers whose work is rich in religious meaning – Muriel Spark, Dostoevsky or Charlotte Brontë.Le Point (France) talks about paperbacks:
Filipacchi avait raison, le livre aussi allait croquer dans le grand gâteau de la culture de masse. Un demi-siècle plus tard, Philip Marlowe, Emily Brontë, Homère et Hercule Poirot étaient dans toutes les poches. (Marine de Tilly) (Translation)Le Monde interviews the writer Tatiana de Rosnay:
Pascal Krémer: Enfant, vous étiez constamment plongée dans les livres ?La Información (Spain) mentions Jane Eyre:
(...)Mais c’est la littérature anglo-saxonne qui a façonné mon imaginaire. L’envergure de la nature qui y est décrite, le côté macabre d’Edgar Allan Poe, les secrets des sœurs Brontë… Quand j’avais 11 ans, toujours, pour Noël, ma mère m’a offert Rebecca, de Daphné du Maurier. Cela m’a fascinée… Cette noirceur ! L’absence de fin, cette espèce de fantôme qu’on ne voit jamais, et le manoir traité comme un personnage...
Hay otros precedentes entrañables como el ama de llaves de Manderley y Rebeca, Jane Eyre y la loca esposa de milord Rochester recluida en un torreón[.] (Andrés Castaño) (Translation)Handmade in Haworth posts some nice pictures of the Brontës' quilt. William Smith Williams posts about William Smith William's memorial in Kensal Green Cemetery.
A new edition of a biography first published in 2003 will be published next month:The Brontë FamilyEDIT: The Brontë Babe Blog posts about this book.
Passionate Literary Geniuses
by Karen Kenyon
Endeavour Media
ISBN 9780822500711
Pub Date 01 Jul 2018
The authors of such literary classics as Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Agnes Grey, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë were extraordinary not only because they were successful female writers in Victorian England, but also because they were sisters.
Growing up, all three sisters’ writings were significantly influenced by each other, but perhaps most importantly by their troubled brother, Branwell.
This fascinating account of each sister’s unconventional life, astounding talent, and tragic death draws readers into the minds of the gifted authors whose passionate tales have enthralled readers for more than a century and whose voices still resonate with modern readers.
The new edition comes with a brand new introduction from the author herself, as well as some new pictures interspersed with those from the original edition.
Unfortunately, what’s actually made it to the Stratford stage is a dull non-drama that smells of a commissioning process gone completely awry.
Brontë: The World Without does indeed show us a world without – without conflict, without characterization, without substance or style.
Without a clear reason for existing on stage, beyond the brand appeal of the Brontës.
Playwright Jordi Mand gives us scenes as flat as roadkill from the lives of Charlotte, Emily and Anne, all set in the parlour of their father’s parsonage. (...)
The one thing everyone who walks into Brontë: The World Without should know is that Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë were writers. It seems perverse to try to make the entire first half of a play ride on suspense over whether or not they will even try.
Overheard at intermission: “I hope somebody stabs someone with a quill in the second half.”
No such luck. (J. Kelly Nestruck in The Globe and Mail)
There are several episodes of them physically writing (not the most compelling of stage actions) and we witness them deciding to publish their work and — in the production’s most well-realized moments, captured in Kimberly Purtell’s lighting — placing their books on a shelf with love and pride. But what are they writing about, why are they writing it, and how does this connect to their limited life possibilities?The History Wardrobe's Gothic for Girls performance and the rest of activities at the recent Brontë Society Summer Festival are discussed in The Telegraph & Argus:
Perhaps the thinking of Mand, Porteus, and dramaturge Bob White was that the substance of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights is too well-known to merit bringing it into the frame. But what ends up filling that space are overextended passages about tea being too hot or cold, about who’s going to open the envelope that’s arrived in the post, and — most depressingly — about who loved who better and who’s jealous of whom. Sure, these women were human too, and vulnerable and perhaps needy — but because we don’t have access to their creative voices, what we’re left with is the stuff of ordinary life, which is not particularly dramatic. (Karen Fricker in The Toronto Star)
Gothic for Girls took its audience back to the 18th century to explore the origins of gothic novels.Upcoming events at the Parsonage in Keighley News:
It highlighted the gothic elements of the works of Emily and Charlotte Brontë, before moving forward through the centuries to examine how the gothic tradition has influenced literature, fashion and culture right up to the present day.
The presentation featured a fabulous array of original costumes and accessories, as well as readings from well-loved writers.
The Brontë Mastermind Challenge was billed as a fun-filled evening of fact and fiction with participants competing to be named the ultimate Brontë obsessive.
Lucy Mangan checked whether the quizzers knew their Haretons from their Huntingdons, their Weightmans from their Smith Williams.
Lucy Mangan is a columnist for Stylist magazine, a features writer and the author of five books.
She recently co-presented a BBC documentary about the Brontë sisters.
Carol Dyhouse delivered the annual lecture, taking as a starting point an 1847 review in The Athenaeum that found Wuthering Heights ‘a disagreeable story’ and complained of ‘the eccentricities of woman’s fantasy’. (David Knights)
If you'eve ever wondered why many of the signs around Haworth feature Japanese characters, and why Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is so popular in Japan, then July 1 is a good time to visit the museum!The Virginia Gazette really likes the Williamsburg Players performances of Jane Eyre. The Musical:
The day starts with a calligraphy workshop, led by Japanese calligrapher Misuzu Kosaka. Places are limited, and tickets cost £20/£17.50. Call 01535 640192 or visit our website.
Following the workshop, we have two free events in Haworth Old School Room: a talk by Damian Flanagan, a Japanese culture specialist, who will explore why Wuthering Heights is so popular with Japanese readers; and the opportunity to witness a Japanese tea ceremony, perhaps the most elegant of Japanese traditions.
July 1 is a busy day for us, as we’ve also teamed up with Bradford Literature Festival, and on Sunday there will be a Brontë-inspired manga workshop in Bradford city-centre aimed at teens – so we really are going all-out Japanese that weekend!
The workshop in Bradford is 11am-1pm and tickets cost just £7/£3 and are available from bradfordliteraturefestival.co.uk
We have a free Tuesday talk on July 3, and this month, we look at the few experiences Emily had in the world outside the Parsonage, and explore what home meant to Emily.
We then have another joint event with Bradford Literature Festival on July 8 as part of its Brontë Stones project. The Anne Stone will be unveiled on Sunday, July 8, and to celebrate we’re delighted to welcome poet Jackie Kay and broadcaster (and avid Anne-fan!) Samira Ahmed to Haworth.
The event will begin at 4pm in Parson’s Field behind the Parsonage, and then move into Haworth Old School Room. Tickets are available from Bradford Literature Festival, and are priced £8/£5.
Finally, if you’re aged between 16 and 25 , and want to gain some insight into what it is like to make a living in the creative arts industry, then apply for a place on our two- day workshop, which takes place on August 6 to 7.
Starting from a theme of ‘stormy weather’ in the apt setting of the museum on day one, you will have the opportunity to make, create, perform and present new work at Leeds Library on day two.
You will be supported by professional artists Sai Murray, Tobago Crusoe (of Paddington fame!), Melanie Abrahams and Gabriele Zuccarini who work in literature, spoken word, curation, music, graphic design, film and production. (David Knights)
Thank you to the Williamsburg Players for their outstanding production of “Jane Eyre, the Musical.” A large cast of wonderful voices. All ages had big parts and each player carried their role wonderfully. Congratulations to the director, cast and company that produced a splendid show — and thank you! It was enjoyable from beginning to final notes. Thank you, orchestra, you were invisible but perfect.The Times reviews Helen Dunmore's Girl, Balancing & Other Stories:
Great writers are always great readers, and Dunmore’s literary meditations are illuminating. In Grace Poole Her Testimony we get the story of Jane Eyre retold by the servant who cared for Mr Rochester’s mad wife — someone who is never heard, but whose voice here is convincing. (Kate Saunders)The Telegraph lists some of the Brussels-Britain mutual influences:
3. Educating CharlotteWell, technically it is the BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts which stands more or less in the Pensionnat Heger's place.
It was at the Pensionnat Heger, Rue d’Isabelle, where Charlotte Brontë met her tutor, Constantin Heger. She quickly became besotted with him and Heger was the inspiration for many of Charlotte’s male love interests, from Monsieur Paul Emanuel in Villette to Mr Rochester himself. The school was demolished in 1909, replaced by Brussels’ Palace of Fine Arts, but there is a memorial dedicated to the sisters and the Brussels Brontë Group (thebrusselsbrontegroup.org) organises talks and guided tours about the Brontë connection to Brussels. (Marianna Hunt)
So it comes as no surprise that Haddon has often stolen the limelight in period blockbusters, from Elizabeth and The Other Boleyn Girl to Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice. Its terraced gardens are equally ancient and newly planted by Chelsea darling, Arne Maynard. (Gill Charlton)The New York Times reviews A View of the Empire at Sunset by Caryl Phillips:
There’s another overlap between Rhys and Phillips: Both have used the work of the Brontë sisters, Charlotte and Emily, to explore the themes that are so close to their hearts. In “Wide Sargasso Sea,” Rhys appropriated “Jane Eyre” and imagined an early Caribbean life for Mr. Rochester’s insane wife, Bertha (renamed Antoinette Cosway). Similarly, Phillips seized on the “Wuthering Heights” character of Heathcliff in his novel “The Lost Child,” in which the young man is the illegitimate offspring of Mr. Earnshaw and a former slave. Both novels use the Brontë fictions to explore the role of the outcast in society and the various forms that imperial, patriarchal oppression — both unthinking and intentional — can take. Consequently, there is a real sense of inevitability about “A View of the Empire at Sunset.” In this meshing of Phillips as writer and Rhys as subject all the great themes of Phillips’s fiction cohere in the difficult, dislocated, lonely life of Gwen Williams. (William Boyd)Publishers Weekly presents My Plain Jane:
Hand, Ashton, and Meadows follow up My Lady Jane (about Lady Jane Gray) with another tongue-in-cheek novel about a famous Jane—this time, Jane Eyre. In this take on the classic, Jane and Charlotte Brontë are good friends from school, and as Jane’s story unfolds, Charlotte records every moment of it—at first writing it as a murder mystery, then a romance. Jane can also see ghosts, and the Society for the Relocation of Wayward Spirits determines that she is a rare Beacon (someone who can control ghosts), offering her a high-paying job. The chapters switch among the handsome young Alexander, a member of the Society; Charlotte, who convinces Alexander to give her a temp job (and who falls for Alexander); and Jane, who spurns her job offer, heads off to Thornfield, and falls for Rochester. The authors’ prose holds all the flavor of a juicy period novel yet with the addition of numerous, witty asides. The narrative is full of wry humor—at one point, Jane thinks to herself about Rochester, “He was everything she’d ever dreamed about. Tall. Dark. Brooding”—and laugh-out-loud commentary. The authors’ affection for their source material is abundantly clear in this clever, romantic farce.Oldham Evening Chronicle has an interesting alert for next July in Manchester:
Local winners of Lyceum Theatre Oldham's first ever One-Act Playwriting competition will see their plays performed on stage during Greater Manchester's biggest Fringe Festival next month. (...)The Guardian reminds us of some of the highlights of Newcastle's Great Exhibition of the North:
The second prize goes to locally born and bred Bob Pegg. Researching for another project, he discovered that Charlotte Bronte and Karl Marx were both in Manchester on the same day in 1846.
His play – The Salutation - imagines a meeting between these two great minds, using historical facts as well as dramatic licence to explore how their conversation may have gone.
One of the highlights of the 80-day event is a family-friendly exhibition featuring more than 200 items on loan from the UK’s leading museums, galleries and private collections. Star exhibits include a spacesuit worn by the Sheffield-born astronaut Helen Sharman; a rare miniature book created by Charlotte Brontë; and the last piano played by John Lennon. The show, at the Great North Museum in Newcastle, includes a special event where children can learn how Postman Pat is animated. (Helen Pidd)A curious event taking place today in Gorzów (Poland) includes an Emily Brontë poem put into music. Wyborcza Gorzów explains:
Wartością tego spektaklu jest muzyka wykorzystująca wiersz brytyjskiej pisarki romantycznej Emily Brontë „Come, Walk With Me”/"Chodź, chodź ze mną” – skomponowana przez Piotra Ślęczka (kompozytora, absolwenta Akademii Muzycznej w Katowicach).Kristeligt Dagblad (Denmark) recommends summer readings:
Etiuda „Wrażenie 1147”/Spotkanie z prawnuczką mieszkańców willi, niedziela, 24 czerwca, godz. 13, ul. Wał Okrężny. Wstęp wolny. Reżyseria: Magdalena Janowicz i Julia Adamczyk, Obsada: Kasia Kałuska, Marian Lewandowski, Muzyka: Piotr Ślęczek, Recytacja: Ela Kuczyńska. (Translation)
Villette by Charlotte BrontëLa Voce di New York (in Italian) reviews the film A Quiet Passion:
Historien handler om den unge Lucy Snowe, der bliver lærerinde på en kostskole i Frankrig, og som repræsenterer en blanding af korrekte engelske manerer og et sprudlende og længselsfuldt indre liv. Romanen er vidunderligt skrevet i et dunkelt mystisk sprog og fylder sin læser med både håb, drømme og vemodig realisme. (Sørine Gotfredsen) (Translation)
La passione più forte resta però naturalmente quella per la poesia. E’ la poesia a dare un senso alla vita di Emily Dickinson, anche se non successo e riconoscimento sociale. La poetessa volontariamente reclusa amava le Brontë, e detestava Longfellow. (Marco Pontoni) (Translation)Siempre! (México) reviews the film The Shape of Water:
Pero Elisa es una Jane Eyre que se arroga su derecho a construirse su lugar en el mundo. (Translation)Viaţa Liberă (Romania) reviews the novel Morgen by Marius Chiru:
Străfulgerări de frumuseţe literară într-o atmosferă întunecată, gotică, personaje bizare ori fermecătoare, deosebit de bineîntr realizate fiind şi cele feminine (Soţia, Margarethe, Hannelore, nebuna ucigaşă), deşi nu se insistă, o dragoste la fel de stranie între Rogerius şi Margarethe, dincolo de moarte, -un fel, dar cel care, hamletian, rămâne în memoria cititorului, este Rogerius, un îndrăgostit blestemat din specia unui Heathcliff, câteodată un pic instabil psihic, dar după ceea ce i se întâmplă, este normal… de anormal[.] (Translation)L'Humanité (France) interviews Augustin Trapenard:
Tout de même très fier d’avoir à la fois étudié et enseigné dans cette école, Augustin Trapenard déballe : « Un jour, j’aimerais bien terminer ma thèse », dont le sujet n’est autre que son livre de chevet : les Hauts de Hurlevent, écrit par Emily Brontë, romancière britannique. « C’est une histoire d’amour furieuse où la littérature est envisagée comme une forme de réinvention du monde par le truchement des mots », dit le journaliste, avec les yeux qui brillent. (Andy Miller and Kadiatou Sakho) (Translation)Libreriamo (Italy) lists books to reread including Wuthering Heights; Evie's Blog reviews Jane Eyre.
