Shape-shifting with each reading

Keighley News presents John Hennessy's A Brontë Quizbook, first published on this blog at the beginning of the pandemic:

A quizbook has been published to help raise money for the Brontë Society’s Covid fund.

A Brontë Quizbook contains 400 questions to test people’s knowledge of Haworth’s famous literary family – their lives, writings and environment.

The book has been collated by John Hennessy, a member of the Brontë Society.

He has donated all copies to the Brontë Parsonage Museum at Haworth, for sale in the shop when it reopens and online.

Originally the questions were carried via the Brontë Blog in 12 separate quizzes.

“I wrote the set of quizzes at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis,” said Mr Hennessy.

“Now picture questions have been added and everything collated into book form.

“Every penny from sales will go into the society’s Covid fund.”

The book is published by WK Publishing and sells for £7.50, plus postage and packing for copies bought online.

The museum is currently closed but copies can be obtained at bronte.org.uk/bronte-shop/miscellaneous/627/a-bronte-quiz-book. (Alistair Shand)

The New Yorker explores Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway:

In 1916, Virginia Woolf wrote about a peculiarity that runs through all real works of art. The books of certain writers (she was speaking of Charlotte Brontë at the time) seem to shape-shift with each reading. The plot might become comfortingly familiar, but the emotional revelations within it change. Scenes once passed over as unimportant begin to prickle with new meaning, as if time itself had been the missing ingredient for understanding them. (Jennifer Offill)

Chronicles Magazine looks at Jane Eyre from a very specific angle and perspective:

Because many sexual mores have been thrown out the window, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is a refreshing reminder that commitment to sound, moral principles—particularly in matters of marriage and sex—pays off in the end. Postmodern society would likely call Brontë’s title character a prude, but the positive effects of Jane’s moral uprightness and patience are hard to argue with. (Annie Holmquist)

The Bishop of Bradford in The Telegraph & Argus reflects on 2020 and reminds us of the fact that

2020 is the 200th anniversary of the Brontë family’s arrival at Haworth Parsonage – a village where thousands died, poisoned by unclean water until an improvement campaign led by Revd Patrick Brontë forced the authorities to put in new water pipes. (Rt Revd Toby Howarth)

Things to do (hopefully) in Manchester next year, according to Manchester Evening News:

 Spring 2021 will see the opening of a new chapter for Elizabeth Gaskell’s House with the public launch of the celebrated author’s bedroom - recreated to reflect how it would have looked when she lived at the property.

Elizabeth Gaskell’s bedroom will add a new dimension to the visitor experience, revealing more of her character and life as an author in Victorian times. 

The grade II* listed property was restored in 2014, enabling visitors to discover how Elizabeth lived, where she wrote some of her most famous novels, where she entertained guests, including Charlotte Brontë and Charles Dickens, and the gardens she cherished. (Zara Whelan)

Otakukart recommends period romances currently on Netflix:

Jane Eyre (2011). Based on one of Charlotte Brontë’s epics, this 2011 remake of her beloved novel is everything fancy, fun, and incredible. Having Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, and Jamie Bell in the lead roles, it portrays the story of a young governess named Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska) who begins to develop a romantic bond with her boss Edward Rochester (Fassbender). Later on, she discovers that he is concealing a terrible secret inside him, which leads to a massive turn in the story. 

The Washington Post discusses the consequences of The Great Gatsby entering public domain:

There are abiding challenges with any try to enhance — or compete with — a revered textual content. The nervousness of affect can set off hysterical pastiche or castrate an creator’s creativity. But the greatest examples are neither parody nor fan fiction. Consider, as an example, “Wide Sargasso Sea,” Jean Rhys’s feminist interrogation of “Jane Eyre,” or “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” Tom Stoppard’s existential response to “Hamlet.” Both supply one thing ignited however not delimited by their supply. (Ron Charles)

Jessie Stephens on Mamamia thinks that

There's nothing worse than a book snob who thinks you should just re-read Jane Eyre until you die. 

We agree, there are other Bontë books as well.

Travel+Leisure lists locations on the TV series The Crown:

Wrotham Park might look a bit familiar – its film and TV credits are almost as long as the Queen’s Honours List. Highlights include "Bridget Jones’s Diary," "Gosford Park," "Vanity Fair," and "Jane Eyre" – and the good news is that the Palladian mansion is now available for private hire (dinner party for 120 guests anyone?) (Jonathan Thompson)

Thrillist lists some TV shows coming in 2021:

The Nevers

HBO

Joss Whedon created this HBO drama about Victorian women with supernatural powers—think Buffy meets, I don't know, the Brontës—but, embroiled in controversy, left the project in November after the season's 10 episodes wrapped. Olivia Williams, Laura Donnelly, and Ann Skelly play three of the so-called Nevers, while Nick Frost, Tom Riley, and Denis O'Hare also turn up.

Londra News (Italy) would love (who wouldn't?) to visit Yorkshire in 2021: 

Questa era anche la zona delle sorelle Brontë, celebri per i loro romanzi ambientati quasi sempre in Yorkshire. La loro zona viene ora chiamata Brontë Country e offre molto da vedere, se volete visitare lo Yorkshire non perdetela. (Lauren S Ambir) (Translation)

Ouest-France (France) presents the latest novel by Françoise du Clairais, Nionikan:

 « C’est un roman construit à partir de faits réels qui vous fera voyager, dans le temps et dans l’histoire, de Tahiti à la Nouvelle-Calédonie, jusqu’aux rives de la Loire, ce grand fleuve qui intimide », explique l’auteure. Il s’agit bien de témoignages, « loyalistes contre indépendantistes », où se mêlent l’amour pour la Nouvelle-Calédonie et l’amour romantique, à l’image des héroïnes du XIXe siècle. Un peu des Hauts de Hurlevent, d’Emily Brontë, avec en fond sonore, le tube de Kate Bush, Wuthering Heights, succès de 1978. (Translation)

Vnexpress (Vietnam) talks about Yorkshire. The Canal Educativo (Cuba) is airing Jane Eyre 2006 this week. Missmesmerized reviews The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins.