Sharp Protagonists

The Independent rejoices at the UK reopening of bookshops, starting tomorrow:

My father adores buying books. For himself, for my mum, for me, for everyone in the family as Christmas gifts – whether you wanted one or not – you get (at least) one. He never wanted me to have to leave my own home in order to read. In his own childhood, his only access to books came through visits to the library and he took enormous pride in stuffing our shelves full of the classics of Austen, Brontë, Dickens, Hardy, Stevenson and the rest, so I was spoiled for choice whenever I wanted to read. (Lucie McInerney)

The Hindustan Times celebrates the 100th anniversary of the great film director Satjayit Ray:

For me, Charulata stands for that beauty and that confusion. It stands for that imperfect and yet absolute perfect enchantment. It was like music that soothes your heart, yet causes your whole being to ache.
When I read Gunahon Ka Devta by Dharamvir Bharati and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, a certain melody and pain and enchantment occurred within me. I didn’t know how to describe it. I was discovering the treasures of literature and they were varied. (Vinay Pathak)

Cherwell and the case against literary snobbery against the romantic genre:

The romance novel is not only the Mills and Boon hardback and the ‘rapetastic’ bodice-ripper of the ‘70s, as Sarah Wendell describes them, but is also Jane Austen’s astutely observed drawing-rooms and Charlotte Brontë’s sharp protagonists. It is in their tradition that the teenage anguish of Sally Rooney’s 20-somethings and the sex appeal of E.L James’ decadent protagonists critique as well as capture our contemporary moment. (Dot Foster)

The Peterborough Examiner reviews the novel by Alka Joshi, The Henna Artist:

Like the winding lines of henna design, a book flows in different ways and for Joshi one particular literary source gave it oomph: “Jane Eyre,” to be precise. It actually figures into her own novel through some unsubtle allusions. Regarding her love for the eponymous character in the famed Charlotte Brontë novel, Joshi has said: “She may be an orphan with no money, charm or looks, but Jane manifests something far more important: integrity, intelligence and self-worth …” (Shinan Govani)

An anecdote on the Dear Mariella column in The Guardian:

I once had a boyfriend perfect in many ways apart for his inability to choose a drink in a restaurant. I promise that’s not a joke. In the course of any meal he’d start with a coffee, then perhaps an orange juice, then a Coke, or a tea and perhaps a glass of wine thrown in for good measure. I’d sit opposite him, paralysed with embarrassment as he called the waitress over yet again. In retrospect I understand that his tendency toward depression, diagnosed later, which made him appear brooding, interesting and Heathcliff-like to my 20-something self, was directly linked to his inability to make choices that satisfied him. (Mariella Frostrup)

Kurir (Serbia) and pseudonyms in literature:

Pozadina upotrebe pseudonima krije i činjenicu da su žene u društvu, kao i u književnosti, vekovima bile ugnjetavane, a pisanje se smatralo muškim poslom. Zbog straha od osude, žene su se skrivale iza muških imena. Tako se Oror Dipon proslavila kao Žorž Sand, poznati Džordž Eliot je zapravo Meri En Evans, a sestre Brontë su objavljivale pod imenima Karer, Elis i Ekton Bel. Milica Jakovljević pravo je ime naše književnice Mir-Jam. (Translation)

Diario de León (Spain) achieves a sic-hat-trick in a review of Mala Sangre by Helena Tur:

Pero en Malasangre, novela de época, de misterio y donde no falta una historia de amor, hay más de Charlotte Brönte (sic) y de la huérfana de su monumental Jane Eyre, y de Mary Shelley, la autora de otra novela inmortal como fue Frankenstein o el moderno Prometo (sic) , que de Asuten (sic), reconoce Tur a este periódico en conversación telefónica desde su casa de Mallorca. (Translation)

There's something that Mariana Enríquez loves more than Wuthering Heights according to La Tercera:

“Hasta el día de hoy la música sigue siendo lo que más me interesa. Yo escucho una canción perfecta, y me parece mejor que cualquier novela”. ¿Mejor que Cumbres borrascosas? –le pregunta la entrevistadora, Leila Guerreiro- “Totalmente”. (Pablo Retamal) (Translation)

Página 12 (Argentina) reviews the film The Souvenir by Joanna Hogg:

El complejo entramado que propone la directora, en el que se enlazan recursos como el registro fotográfico, el uso de distintas texturas fílmicas o la reproducción de diálogos epistolares, convierte a The Souvenir en un epígono cinematográfico del romanticismo decimonónico. No en vano es posible reconocer en la historia de Hogg ecos de La educación sentimental, última novela de Gustave Flaubert, o de Cumbres borrascosas, de Emily Brontë. Incluso ese carácter se vuelve literal en el rol central que juega la imagen del cuadro que da nombre a la película, obra del francés Jean-Honoré Fragonard, que a pesar de pertenecer a un período inmediatamente anterior, representa a la perfección el espíritu romántico del siglo XIX. Al mismo tiempo, su paleta de colores y el tratamiento de la luz parecen haber sido la referencia que la directora utilizó para la fotografía de la película. (Juan Pablo Cinelli) (Translation)

Augustin Trapenard shares his love for Wuthering Heights on Konbini (video in French):

Augustin Trapenard nous a reçus chez lui pour un Club Lecture un peu particulier. Dans les rayonnages de sa bibliothèque aussi fournis que ceux d’une librairie et entre deux acrobaties, il nous a parlé de son amour éternel pour Les Hauts de Hurlevent.

Another French writer with the same common Brontë passion is Guillaume Musso. On France Dimanche:

Plutôt qu'à la plage avec ses copains, le petit garçon passe des heures à la bibliothèque où travaille sa mère… Premier coup de cœur, à 11 ans : Les Hauts de Hurlevent, d'Emily Brontë. « J'étais chez mes grands-parents pendant les vacances de Noël, la télé était en panne, je devais combler mon ennui, a-t-il expliqué. Ça a été une révélation. » (Clara Margaux) (Translation)

The Brontë Babe Blog has a nice post on Branwell Brontë among other things.