Sharing Jane's Journey

Mind-blowing revelations in Digital Spy. Owen Cooper, who plays  young Heathcliff in the upcoming Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights adaptation:

Appearing on This Morning during the week, the young star was asked by Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley what it was like working with the A-List Barbie star.

"I see her all the time and I speak to her all the time, but I don't really have any scenes with her," he said, revealing that fans won't get to see the two sharing the screen together. (Joe Anderton)

Wow. Who could imagine that?

The Pasadena Now interviews Jeanne Syquia, who plays Jane Eyre in the current Pasadena production of Jane Eyre:

Jeanne Syquia is becoming Jane Eyre. Not for the first time today—she’s been Jane since morning, will be Jane until evening, has been steeping herself in Jane for months. When we speak about her preparation for the role, Syquia mentions how the character might even change her physically. “I was thinking about this the other day. I was thinking about how I’m going to have better posture after this play.” But physical transformation is merely the beginning of her journey into Charlotte Brontë’s complex heroine.

“As I was reading the novel, there were just so many passages that jumped out to me where I thought, oh, I know that feeling, or I’ve felt that way before.” (...)

It might seem curious that a novel written in 1847 about an orphaned governess in Victorian England would continue to resonate powerfully with audiences in 2025. But it emphatically does. Syquia believes the character speaks directly to contemporary concerns.

“I think that it’s a very modern sensibility,” she offers, for Jane to push back “just because the world has told me in various ways that I need to behave a certain way or sound a certain way or look a certain way or check off certain boxes.”

That modern sensibility she references has become a cultural flashpoint in recent years—the pushback against rigid categorization of identity, the rejection of traditional boxes that society provides for self-definition. 

“But we live in a time where people are saying, ‘Hey, why do we have to — I don’t actually have to check off those boxes,” Syquia observes,

“My experience is bigger than those boxes.”

This reading of Jane Eyre—not merely as a Gothic romance or a period bildungsroman, but as a radical text about self-determination—has gained traction in recent years. But Syquia’s interpretation feels particularly thoughtful because she approaches Jane not as an icon or a symbol, but as a human being negotiating impossible circumstances. (...)

As our conversation draws to a close, I ask Syquia what she hopes audiences will take away from the production.

“Well, I hope they go on the journey,” she says, simply. “I hope they are interested to go on Jane’s journey with her.” (Peter Latham)

The most beautiful sentences of English literature in Festivaltopia. Number one is:

 1. "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."

Emily Brontë's powerful line from Wuthering Heights is a hauntingly poetic expression of deep, soul-binding love. This sentence captures the essence of a connection that goes beyond the physical realm, suggesting a shared spiritual essence between two individuals.

The use of "souls" emphasizes a bond that is both profound and eternal, highlighting the idea that true love is rooted in understanding and unity. It is a sentiment that resonates across time, as readers are drawn to the notion of finding a soulmate who mirrors their own essence.

Brontë's words remind us that love can be an all-encompassing force that transcends the boundaries of individuality. (Fritz von Burkersroda)

Global Comment recommends the works of Brontë sisters:

To close March, the month of women, with a flourish, we bring you the works of the Brontë sisters, an example of the struggle for equality in the world of literature.

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë

Although many recognize the novel for the love story, Jane Eyre is much more than that. Charlotte tackles other deep issues such as the condition of women, social inequality, religion and education that may be of interest to many readers today. Which is why it is seen as one of the first feminist books. Certainly, the gothic literature elements are also a draw for many readers.

Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë

The narrative style creates powerful imagery through vivid, poetic prose. Readers looking for a complex plot with fascinating and contradictory characters will be delighted. They will definitely be swept away by the visceral plot that explores death, human nature and intense destructive love.

Agnes Grey, Anne Brontë

A thought-provoking novel about the status of women, social inequalities and the limited opportunities for women in Victorian society. The story is still relevant today as it explores through complex characters the social difficulties and the eternal search for happiness. (Edgary Rodriguez R.)

Thought Catalog makes a list of films to watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon:

Jane Eyre 2011

What it’s about: The young governess Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska) takes a job under the watchful, brooding eye of Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender), whose waistcoat is big and full of secrets. A muted, pastel color palette provides the perfect backdrop for their bad romance to rupture and flourish.

Why it’s perfect for rainy spring Sunday afternoons: Jane and Mr. Rochester are melancholy for various reasons, mirroring your mood as you contemplate the Excel sheet awaiting you tomorrow morning. As a bonus, this is set in the mid-19th century, making you nostalgic for a time period in which you never lived. The realization that you are trapped in this dull, waistcoat-free present may make you sip your cappuccino all the more wistfully. (Evan E. Lampert)

Rowan Pelling mourns for the disappearance of boarding schools in The Telegraph:

So many books I’ve loved unlock British history and our national temperament – in particular our stiff upper-lip and fortitude – by taking an unsentimental look at boarding school life. Jane Eyre wouldn’t linger long in the imagination had she not triumphed over the hideous deprivations she endured at Lowood School.

Vogue (Spain) presents the new novel of Aixa De La Cruz: 

Como Violeta, la protagonista de su nueva novela, Aixa de la Cruz (Bilbao, 1988) devoró entre los 10 y los 14 años todos los folletines románticos decimonónicos que cayeron en sus manos: “Los leía con la voracidad con la que ahora vemos Netflix”. Tal vez por eso quiso escribir ella uno. Acarició durante mucho tiempo la idea de una reescritura de Cumbres borrascosas, una historia romántica de muchos capítulos. Y, si en Todo empieza con la sangre (Alfaguara) el lector sigue los pasos de Violeta, contagiándose del pulso acelerado de su corazón y sintiendo sus vientos interiores que parecen siempre cambiantes, este no tarda en comprender que bajo esa piel que quiere erizarse y herirse, abrirse al otro, palpita una búsqueda todavía mayor. (Alba Correa) ( Translation)

Many other Vogues also deal with Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights one way or the other. Vogue Italia or Vogue France (with a list of Wuthering Heights film adaptations)

The Brontë Society of Japan posts about the recent Kansai branch gathering:

The annual conference of the Kansai Branch of the Brontë Society of Japan took place on 21 March at Kindai University Higashi Osaka Campus , where two members presented their research.

Following the research presentations by the two Kansai chapter members, Pauline Clooney, author of "Charlotte & Arthur" and founding member of the Banagher Brontë Group, gave a talk via Zoom from her home in Ireland.

And the Brontë Parsonage Museum informs that one of the items auctioned recently is returning home:

We are absolutely delighted to share that we were successful in our bid and will be welcoming this artwork to the Museum for the first time! 

Emily's watercolour titled 'The North Wind' was created in 1842 whilst she and Charlotte were studying at the Pensionnat Heger in Brussels.