Eliot is Provincial, the Brontës are Regional

The Guardian makes a case for George Elliot's 'provincial' novels:

With Eliot’s bicentenary next week, it remains a mystery to those who love her best just why she will have fewer parties, presents, candles and cakes than her near contemporaries, the Brontë sisters. It can’t be the off-centre setting. The Brontës’ novels are stuffed full of dialect, and Heathcliff hardly speaks the King’s English. Livesey suggests that it may be because “while Eliot is provincial, the Brontës are regional”. Regional, in this case, takes on a sense of romantic isolation, of gothic strangeness, of swooping depth and height. Eliot’s Midlands, although only 100 miles away from Haworth, are in every sense “flat”. The landscape is level and so, by and large, are the emotions. Eliot’s characters grow and change through tiny increments and as a result of constantly rubbing up against one another over time. This is a supremely relational art, grounded in the ordinary and the everyday, and all the more powerful for it. (Kathryn Hughes)

The Telegraph regrets the non-existence of a George Elliot cult, even on her 200th anniversary:

It is a truth universally acknowledged that there’s no word to describe a person who really loves George Eliot. While Bleak House readers might be Dickensians, and Austen fans get to be Janeites, there’s never been an easy way to articulate the cult of George. Unlike Brontë (thanks to Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights) or Trollope (via the Pet Shop Boys’ Can You Forgive Her?), she’s never made it on to Top of the Pops. (Sophie Ratcliffe) 

Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights is also mentioned in this editorial of Consequences of Sound:

It’s been 30 years since the release of her masterful record The Sensual World, an album that likewise uses song as a vehicle for exploring and commenting on literature — in this case James Joyce’s Ulysses, as well as (less prominently) William Blake. This was not without precedent for Bush, whose breakout hit, “Wuthering Heights”, surely one of the strangest songs to ever hit No. 1 on the UK charts, evoked the tormented sorrow of Emily Brontë’s novel of the same name. Even if you haven’t read the novel, the lines “Heathcliff, it’s me, Cathy/ Come home, I’m so cold” will no doubt still strike a chord due to Bush’s acrobatic phrasing and her melody, which constantly winds back on itself. (Tyler Dunston)

The Emily Brontë rose is back in the news. Now across the pond in The Herald (Everett, WA):

“Emily Brontë” — Flowers on this vigorous rose are 3½ inches across and soft pink with the smaller inner petals a deeper rich apricot for a total of 100 petals on each bloom. The fragrance starts out a delicious tea-rose scent that over time becomes more old rose with hints of lemon and grapefruit. (I bet you are salivating now!) (Steve Smith)

Walking the Sewri Christian Cemetery in Bombay you can find an unexpected Brontë-related link. Mid-day shows a picture:

One-time sheriff of Bombay, and former editor of the Bombay Gazette, James Taylor's memorial was one of the standout graves on the trail that included a roundel. He was a suitor who had proposed to English classic writer Charlotte Brontë, who wrote Jane Eyre.

The Guardian interviews Mia Wasikowska:

Kate Kellaway: Your parents are photographers… Have you inherited their visual sense?
M.W.:I have been obsessed with photography and taken photos from the perspective of an actor on set. Filming Jane Eyre, they even sewed a secret pocket into the bustle of my skirt for my camera.

The actress is also mentioned in connection with her role in Jane Eyre 2011 in the Daily Mail and The Irish Times.

GraphoMania (Italy) lists several British writers you should read:

Le sorelle Brontë: Charlotte, Emily e Anne
Una vita non fortunata per queste incredibili penne che non ebbero la fortuna di invecchiare, chi per malattia chi per complicazioni dovute a una gravidanza difficile. Ma che ebbero la determinazione di dedicarsi alla scrittura in tempi in cui non era concesso alle donne. Ebbene, le tre ragazze firmarono i loro romanzi ognuna con uno pseudonimo maschile: Charlotte, sorella maggiore, scelse Currel Bell; Emily preferì Ellis Bell; la minore Anne optò per Acton Bell. Come si può notare, mantennero le iniziali dei veri nomi.Tre grandi scrittrici inglesi, tre classici della letteratura vittoriana dell’800.
Jane Eyre. Capolavoro pubblicato nel 1847 e scritto da Charlotte, è un romanzo di formazione la cui voce narrante è quella della protagonista Jane, la quale racconta in forma autobiografica il suo percorso di crescita interiore, morale, spirituale, dando spazio a sentimenti ed emozioni. In molti lo hanno definito un personaggio così intenso da sembrare reale, vivo, mai banale nella sua passionalità e determinazione.
Cime tempestose. Questo invece è l’unico romanzo di Emily, un classico della letteratura inglese pubblicato anch’esso nel ’47. Storia di una passione distruttiva tra un uomo e una donna, di gelosie e spirito di vendetta, di vulnerabilità, il tutto narrato dalla governante di una delle famiglie dei due innamorati. Una curiosità: una rara copia del romanzo, è stata venduta all’asta a Londra per l’equivalente di 162.000 euro!
Agnes Grey. Questo invece è il primo romanzo della giovane Anne (siamo sempre nel 1847). Una famiglia subisce un pesante tracollo finanziario e la più giovane delle figlie, Agnes, comincia il suo lavoro di governante. Un ambiente mondano a cui apparteneva, ora è visto con maggiore distacco e lucidità dalla protagonista, la quale – voce narrante – porta il lettore all’interno delle sue riflessioni e del cambiamento morale. (Susanna Trossero) (Translation)

Actualitté (France) rehabilitates the novel Les Ensablés by Marion Gilbert:

Traductrice avec Madeleine Duvivier, pseudonyme que s’était choisie sa sœur, elle a donné à lire en français Charles Dickens, P. G. Wodehouse et Charlotte Brontë. (François Ouellet) (Translation)

Trouw (Netherlands) interviews the poet Lévi Weemoedt who tells this anecdote:

“Veel later heb ik nog eens boek gestolen van een collega-leraar. ‘Wuthering Heights’ van Emily Brontë. Waarom? Gewoon, omdat die man een vreselijke eikel was.” (Tien Geboden) (Translation)

A quite simplistic article about siblings in La Razón (Spain):

Los escritores, claro, también tienen hermanos, y muchas veces son también escritores. El caso más célebre son las hermanas Brönte (sic). Emily, la mediana, escribió «Cumbres borrascosas»; Charlotte, la mayor, «Jane Eyre» y Anne, la pequeña, «Agnes Grey». Las pequeñas siempre son las más sufridas y ha sido sepultada por el prestigio de la rivalidad de las otras dos. (Carlos Sala) (Translation)

L'Opinion (France) reviews Dictionnaire égoïste de la littérature mondiale by Charles Dantzig:

Cette discussion avec lui, les amateurs de littérature pourront aussi l’avoir désormais au sujet des écrivains étrangers, puisqu’il publie cet automne la suite du Dictionnaire, sur la littérature mondiale cette fois – « mondiale » plutôt que « étrangère », j’imagine que ça sonne mieux. Que pense-t-il d’Ambrose Bierce, d’Italo Calvino, d’Edgar Poe ? De Faulkner, de Joyce, de Nabokov ? De L’Amant de Lady Chatterley, des Hauts de Hurlevent ? (Bernard Quiriny) (Translation)

Manchester Stained Glass posts about a 'tenous'  link between Stained glass workshops for the New Year, Jane Eyre, The Peaks and Hathersage Parish Church.