A contributor to
The New Arab writes about the impact
Wide Sargasso Sea had on her life.
In the late 1970s, books by Black and Asian writers were not provided in school, so I was unaware that they existed. I read these books when I was about fifteen. However, it was the novel of the story of the other Mrs Rochester, a Creole woman, in the 1966 book Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys that had the most impact. The story covered Antoinette’s traumatic youth, her attendance at a convent school with other young Creole girls, and later her marriage of bribery to Mr Rochester, who was desperate for money. Her husband renamed her ‘Bertha’, eventually taking her to England from Jamaica, only to imprison her in their home.
The novel responded to colonialism written from a female perspective. In Rhys’ novel, Antoinette is caught in an oppressive society in which she does not fully belong – either to Europe or Jamaica. Wide Sargasso Sea explores the power of relationships between men and women and encompasses feminist themes through an emphasis on female characters, non-conformity and embracing new ideas about women’s standing in society.
I could certainly identify with Antoinette’s feeling of not belonging and of battling against preconceptions, not just as a child, but today. That feeling of not quite belonging and having to justify that I do belong; the way in which my mother felt displaced coming to Britain to join my father, and our struggle to integrate with our neighbours and neighbourhood, school, and British society. (Rabina Khan)
There's a rather different mention of
Wide Sargasso Sea in an article about
The Sopranos in
The Spectator:
[Producer David] Chase did something extraordinary in The Sopranos. He did what Jean Rhys did to Jane Eyre with her prequel novel Wide Sargasso Sea, which is really an extended piece of criticism in the form of a memoir by the first Mrs Rochester: he managed to make the original source material look naive. (Tanya Gold)
Northern Life Magazine has a lovely, long article on Maria Brontë (née Branwell). Yesterday marked the 200th anniversary of her death.
Years later, in 1850, as an adult and sadly by then Maria’s only surviving child, Charlotte was handed a bundle of letters by her father. They were the letters written by Maria to Patrick during their courtship nearly forty years earlier. Charlotte wrote to a friend that “It was strange now to peruse, for the first time, the records of a mind whence my own sprang… and at once sad and sweet to find that mind of a truly fine, pure and elevated order… There is a refinement, a modesty, a gentleness about them indescribable”, before wistfully adding “I wish that she had lived, and that I had known her”.
Patrick Brontë, as a published author of poetry and prose, is usually credited with being the parent from whom the girls inherited their literary talent. On discovering her letters, it seems Charlotte came to appreciate that their mother possessed a similar enthusiasm and aptitude for writing, which she too passed down to her daughters. This seems a positive and wholly appropriate way in which to remember Maria Brontë on the bicentenary of her death. (Margaret Brecknell)
Muse discusses some book-to-film adaptations such as
Wuthering Heights (2009):
It’s no secret that Wuthering Heights is my favourite book. I will however admit that it’s complex plot, multiple narrators and the fact that half of the characters share the same name makes it a tricky initial read. For those looking for a more accessible version I would highly recommend the 2009 series with Tom Hardy as Heathcliff. It might be the fact that the leading actors are married in real life, but the chemistry between them is undeniable and as passionate as I imagine it to be from the book. Although there are some big differences, like the complete removal of the younger generation, this is definitely a series to binge. (Elizabeth Walsh)
The family sex bomb, Mary, is having a racy affair with a famous TV medic, Mike, who keeps promising to leave his wife and kids. Mike arrives during a snowstorm and climbs in through a window looking heroically dishevelled. ‘It’s like Wuthering Heights,’ sighs Catherine, instantly smitten. (Lloyd Evans)
Para [Marian] Herrera, la poesía es la musa de sus libros, la música y las experiencias personales. Bajo la guía de poetas como Pablo Neruda y Charles Baudelaire, junto a la escritora Emily Brontë, la joven escritora ha creado historias de romance, traición, desesperanza y búsqueda de la identidad propia, arropadas en los géneros de drama, fantasía y young adult. (Irene Acosta) (Translation)
La Nación (Argentina) tells the remarkable life story of an 82 year-old woman.
Cuando llegó a Jujuy, Gillian hablaba malayo y holandés, por eso la mandaban como oyente a una escuela rural, con los hijos de los trabajadores de la caña de azúcar. “En el ingenio había varios profesionales ingleses que educaban a sus hijos pupilos en colegios ingleses en Buenos Aires. Pero al Northlands no entrabas si no sabías el idioma. Sin embargo, cuando nos presentaron y contaron nuestra historia, miss Brightman, la dueña del colegio –y a quien estoy eternamente agradecida– dijo: ‘Estas chicas ya sufrieron bastante, es hora de darles una mano’. Y nos tomó bajo sus alas. Todos los días nos buscaba después de clase para enseñarnos inglés con Jane Eyre y David Copperfield, y en seis meses aprendí el idioma”, cuenta sobre la prestigiosa institución educativa bilingüe que todavía queda en Olivos, a tres cuadras de su casa. Y que en ese entonces estaba a tres días en tren de sus padres, en San Salvador de Jujuy. (Ana van Gelderen) (Translation)
Finally, a sad announcement from the
Brontë Society concerning the
Another World event:
Due to circumstances beyond our control, Another World will no longer take place as planned.
We apologise for any disappointment or inconvenience caused.
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