The watercolours by John M. Burns are completely in keeping with the script adaptation. His artwork is beautiful, clear and always illustrative. His choice of colours and general style evoke even a period-look not at all unrelated to the traditional kind of drawing and colouring used by Mr Burns as opposed to other more modern techniques, such as the one used by Dame Darcy in her illustrations of Jane Eyre. As Bear Alley has noticed in his review, Burns's work tries to bring to life not only the main events but also the imagery of fairies and green men with which Jane is associated by Rochester or the many bird metaphorical allusions of the novel as well as Jane's drawings or dreams.He also later returned to adapt Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights once more with the same publisher We also reviewed it here:
Apart from recognising the merit of Seán M. Wilson's work, it's nevertheless a matter of justice to notice that what makes this adaptation memorable is the extraordinary work of John M. Burns. Talking about John M. Burns is talking about living history of the British comic industry. He has been working since the sixties and most notably he was the illustrator of the previous Jane Eyre adaptation (...).Sadly, much of Burns' seminal 60-year comics career now risks being lost to history. As little has been preserved or reprinted, his vast legacy remains tragically untapped Easier access to Burns' brilliantly composed art would enrich his rightful place amongst Britain's greatest artists.
Many of the adjectives can be used again. John M. Burns's vivid, highly-detailed illustrations (illustrate is a verb that doesn't make justice to his work, he doesn't illustrate, he recreates) helped by the concise, true-to-the-novel adaptation by Seán M. Wilson, make the story leap from the page. His works excels in many points but his vision of the death of Linton with an almost cinematographical dolly-up shot towards Edgar, ending in a extreme close up of his eyes is at the same time terrifying, moving and disturbing. The meticulous choosing of the palette of colours, the careful creation of the psychological profiles of characters (Catherine vs Cathy are a perfect example) shows the impressive work of John M. Burns.
What is it that makes Burns’ art so special? What is it that makes our loss of his long history so great? After all, Burns never seems to think of himself like an auteur. The final words he gave to that Illustrators special were “It’s only a job, after all.” Appropriate for an ethos of someone who grew up when comics was just a job and as something there on the stands one week and then gone another – years before the rise of graphic novels and the notion of the ninth art as, well, proper art to be preserved.
Keeley Ryan: What made you want to become a writer? Was it something that you always wanted to do?Art Daily presents the new Anne Brontë exhibition at the Brontë Parsonage Museum:
(...) Luckily my parents were very supportive and didn't tell me I had to become a lawyer or a doctor or something altogether more sensible. I definitely wasn't very cool about wanting to be a writer, though. I used to wear a bonnet (yes, an actual bonnet that tied in a ribbon under my chin) on Sundays for family walks, because I suppose I wanted to be Charlotte Brontë or Jane Austen and I thought a bonnet was as good a start as any. My younger sister was mortified. She refused to walk next to me. I'm glad to say I don't wear a bonnet any more.
2020 is the bicentenary year of Anne Brontë, author of ‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’ and ‘Agnes Grey’, and youngest sibling in the iconic literary family. To mark this, and the 200th anniversary of the family’s arrival in Haworth, the Brontë Parsonage Museum is hosting an exhibition dedicated to exploring Anne’s life as well as a strand of events co-curated with their creative partner for 2020, writer, journalist and broadcaster Samira Ahmed.The Telegraph & Argus highlights the refurbishing of the Great Victoria Hotel in Bradford:
Anne’s life and work have had much less exploration than those of her sisters. This new exhibition, ‘Amid the brave and the strong’, will delve into key elements of Anne’s life, from her childhood at the Parsonage, to how her legacy has been shaped by others since her death.
Throughout her life, ‘dear gentle Anne’ was considered the baby of the Brontë family, but she went on to write one of the first sustained feminist novels in English literature – ‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’. Although her work bears the familiar stamps of a classic Brontë novel, Anne’s strong moral beliefs led her to write for purpose as well as pleasure, something which shocked and excited her readers at the time. Anne was not to be deterred by criticism however, and right up to her death she had plans and schemes for the future. The exhibition tracks the course of her life and gives an insight into Anne’s personality and motivations, which reveal a strong, outspoken and complex genius.
An ‘Escape to Yorkshire’ deal offers guests a two-night stay with a meal. “There are so many cultural attractions in Bradford - the Alhambra, National Science and Media Museum and, further out, the Brontë Parsonage and Salts Mill. We’re a central location for people visiting the city and beyond, to places like Harrogate and the Dales” said Asma. “Bradford has changed so much; we get a lot of guests from across the world and they’re pleasantly surprised by what’s here. (Emma Clayton)The Telegraph (India) interviews the writer Joanne Harris:
She brings up V.S. Naipaul’s infamous interview when he had said that he didn’t find any female writer, not even Jane Austen, to be his equal, and she is very vocal about the difficulties of being a woman in the business of writing. “It’s never been easy for women authors and when you look at the reaction of some critics to even classic authors like the Brontës — the same things are being said now about the classics of tomorrow,” said Harris, who recently became the chair of the Society of Authors’ (the UK trade union for 11,000 writers) elected board of directors and charity trustees. (Anannya Sarkar)The Buxton Advertiser lists Peak District locations that have appeared in films:
DovedaleThe Nerd Daily recommends audiobooks:
The river bank used in BBC's 2006 version of Jane Eyre, and Dovedale was used in The Other Boleyn Girl 2008 and Robin Hood 2010. (Jessica Dallison)
My Plain Jane (The Lady Janies #2) by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi AshtonThe Daily Telegraph (Australia) quotes Anya Taylor-Joy saying about her role on Emma 2020:
A satirical retelling of Jane Eyre featuring Charlotte Brontë and a group of slightly inept ghost hunters, My Plain Jane is a hilarious tale of friends, ghosts, and love. While the story is rife with biting satire and hilariously ridiculous moments, much of the humour falls flat on the page. However, when narrated by Fiona Hardingham, the jokes land spectacularly and you will find yourself laughing through your read. (Kibby Robinson)
“It's going to be hard to top Emma,” she says, adding she would consider Cathy from Wuthering Heights. (...)Comics The Gathering reviews the first issue of Adler:
Perhaps Johnny Flynn could be her Heathcliff – the English folk singer, who is also playing David Bowie in the upcoming Stardust, is a revelation in the movie.
Having Jane Eyre be our introduction into this world was a brilliant choice. Given that the book is going to be filled with larger than life personalities, she gets to be the reader’s rock. And as she makes her way back into society the environment is just as new to her as it is to the reader. When she meets up with her prospective flatmate, Irene Adler, another piece of the narrative’s brilliance became apparent. The classic pairing of Dr. John Watson and Sherlock Holmes is nicely channeled by the pairing of nurse Jane Eyre and Irene Adler. The two have skills and personalities exclusive to them similar to Holmes and Watson. And, along the way, more characters will join with even more dynamics to add and explore. This gives the story a flair akin to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, especially with the focus on literary characters. (Jay Hill)Andrea Busfield in The Article reminisces about her passion for Timothy Dalton's Heathcliff:
It was the actor Timothy Dalton who ruined me for other men.El Independiente (Spain) has an article about the Brontës and their pseudonyms:
I was eight or nine years old, lying on the sofa, battling a fever and watching the afternoon matinee when it happened. The film was Wuthering Heights. Dalton was Heathcliff. And the die was cast.
Love was no longer heart-shaped sweets and posters of David Soul; it was a dirty-faced gypsy boy consumed by a girl called Catherine. Heathcliff’s love was bitter, greedy and eternal, and I had no sympathy for Catherine when she died. She betrayed Heathcliff and she betrayed love. She settled for less and she got what she deserved. I would never have married Edgar Linton. I’d have waited for Heathcliff.
I’ve spent a lifetime waiting for him.
Four decades on, and while recognising that Heathcliff is possibly not the greatest ambassador for love, I can’t shake the “all or nothing” ideal he represents. This probably explains why, at the age of 49, I’m alone and childless and possibly destined to remain that way, certainly as far as children are concerned.
Los hermanos Bell, la tapadera que permitió "existir" a las Brontë.Večer (Slovenia) quotes the anthropologist Dr Svetlana Slapšak:
En diciembre de 1847 tres hermanos imprevistos irrumpieron en la literatura desconcertando a críticos y lectores. Eran Currer, Ellis y Acton Bell. En el mismo mes habían publicado cada uno. Lo que más éxito tuvo, la que más reconocimiento consiguió fue la que les descubrió como una farsa. (Translation) (Loreto Sánchez Seoane)
Pisateljica je lani v Srbiji dobila nagrado za najboljše literarno delo za roman Ravnoteža (v slovenski izdaji Istomesečniki), ki je nastal že v devetdesetih letih, a ni mogel iziti prej zaradi parodije na pisatelja, politika in nacionalista Dobrico Ćosića. "Parodiram ga z velikim veseljem in sem na to ponosna," je povedala Slapšakova. Piše o razmerah v Beogradu v letih 1993 in 1994, času mobilizacij v vojsko, ko so se Beograjčanke povezale in skrivale moške ter se angažirale na demonstracijah. Glavna junakinja knjige tipka pisateljev roman, kot protiutež tej slabi literaturi pa si izmišlja svoj roman po vzoru pisanja sester Brontë, v romanu se torej prepletajo fiktivne in realne usode žensk. Sporočilo avtorice je, da ženske lahko ustvarijo svet, v katerem je mogoče tudi velike udarce preseči z ljubeznijo, drobnimi gestami, kot sta skupno pitje kave, druženje ob cigareti ... (Andreja Čibron Kodrin) (Translation)MundoPlusTV (Spain) announces that Les Soeurs Brontë 1979 is now available on the Filmin platform. Any resemblance to the actual summary of the film is purely coincidental:
Isabelle Adjani y Isabelle Huppert son dos de las tres hermanas Brontë en este suntuoso biopic que descubre la singular relación de las populares escritoras de Cumbres borrascosas.Noticias de TV (Brazil) also confirms that Jane Eyre 1996 is now available on Amazon Prime Video.
A principios del siglo XIX, en Haworth, en las landas de Yorkshire, las tres hijas de la familia Brontë: Charlotte, Emily y Anne tienen grandes dotes para la escritura. Charlotte, la mayor, y Anne, la segunda, se convierten en tutoras de las familias de los alrededores mientras que Emily, con comportamientos masculinos, prefiere seguir en las landas. Sus obras, rebosantes de vida y pasión, contrastan con la realidad que las envuelve, llena de discusiones con su padre y obligadas a cuidar de su demente hermano, Branwell. (Translation)
Charlotte (Jane Eyre), Emily (Cumbres borrascosas) y Anne (La inquilina de Wildfell Hall) conforman el tridente más impetuoso de la novela victoriana, huérfana sin sus heroínas y el paisaje de los páramos. La tuberculosis hizo estragos en la familia más literaria que en el mundo hubo. Haworth, la localidad del West Yorkshire donde vivieron, es hoy un santuario turístico en su memoria. (Ramón Vendrell) (Translation)Granma (Cuba) publishes the schedule of the 29th Feria Internacional del Libro de La Habana. Including the event:
1:00 p.m. Apócrifos, Drácula, El Tábano, Frankenstein, El sabueso de los Baskerville, Jane Eyre, La tía Tula, Los cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsis, Policíacos involuntarios, Teresa Raquin (ebooks, editorial Arte y Literatura). Presentador: Rafael Grillo. (Ricardo Alonso Venereo) (Translation)Página 12 (Argentina) discusses one of the first stories by Sylvia Plath, Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom:
Así, ya es imposible leer cualquier texto de Plath dejando de lado su mito. Sin embargo, hay que pensar que este cuento se escribió antes de que ella fuese redactora invitada de Mademoiselle, experiencia que recrea en La campana de cristal y, por supuesto, antes de conocer a Ted Hughes en Inglaterra, su Heathcliff, su sueño y su pesadilla. Esta es otra Sylvia: una alumna brillante, una joven triste y desbordada, una escritora en busca de su voz. (Mariana Enríquez) (Translation)ILB Live (Italy) contrasts a new Italian translation of Wuthering Heights by Monica Pareschi with a classical one by Enrico Piceni (1926):
Chiaro: quel che ha scritto la Brontë quello è, ma è notevole come la traduzione possa rendere l’esperienza della lettura affatto diversa. Per il pubblico di oggi l’edizione recente è più godibile, più “vicina”, e se questo lo si nota in un passo dai tratti anche piuttosto astratti (sono riflessioni teoriche o, in ogni caso, “emozioni”), l’impressione è a maggior ragione confermata nei dialoghi e nelle scene più agite.Il Reformista (Italy) finds echoes of Wuthering Heights in William Faulkner's Light in August:
Le domande che vengono alla mente sono quindi molteplici: se leggendo in traduzione si può avere, a volte, l’impressione di perdere qualcosa (la voce non mediata dell’autore), è vero anche che la traduzione di un classico si offre al lettore anche come una grandiosa opportunità. I Promessi Sposi, insomma, per noi italiani, avranno sempre la voce di un (immenso) scrittore dell’Ottocento. Cime tempestose, invece, lo possiamo (ri)leggere parzialmente “avvicinato” alla contemporaneità.
Di questo e di molte altre curiosità sul tema della traduzione (e anche nello specifico del romanzo) abbiamo chiacchierato con la traduttrice Monica Pareschi. (Valentina Berengo) (Translation)
La ragazza al centro dell’opera di Faulkner era stata messa incinta da uno sconosciuto di passaggio e, con tutta l’ingenua disinvoltura della sua gioventù, aveva deciso di ritrovarlo. A questo filo tematico, sempre tragicamente attuale, se ne intrecciano molti altri. Il nodo irrisolto delle origini oscure viene incarnato da Christmas, mulatto allevato in un orfanotrofio e poi adottato dal severo contadino McEachern, il quale, inoculandogli disprezzo e rancore, lo ha trasformato di fatto in un assassino. Si sente, in quest’anima nera, la presenza di Heathcliff, protagonista di Cime tempestose, un altro classico appena ristampato da Einaudi, anch’egli abbandonato da piccolo. Ma Faulkner, rispetto a Emily Brontë, è ancora più spietato, come se la solitudine umana non potesse essere lenita nemmeno dai languori paesaggistici del North Yorkshire, le cui brughiere stemperavano la tensione rivendicativa delle generazioni incapaci di scrollarsi di dosso il male ereditato. (Eraldo Affinati) (Translation)Le Devoir (in French) quotes film director Céline Sciamma:
Rencontrée au Festival de Toronto, la cinéaste se montrait fière de son beau film : « Le cinéma, c’est l’invention d’un monde », disait-elle. Céline Sciamma se frottait pour la première fois à la production d’époque. « Mais c’est le même métier avec ou sans la lourdeur des décors d’hier. J’essaie de faire des films les plus contemporains possible de toute façon. Tourner à Quiberon dans le Morbihan, côte sauvage de la Bretagne française, conférait un côté romantique au film comme dans Les hauts de Hurlevent d’Emily Brontë. La nature y est à la fois hostile et désirable, en appel de liberté. Et on n’avait pas besoin d’effacer numériquement des lampadaires… C’est une sorte de huis clos sous l’air du large. » (Odile Tremblay) (Translation)Power of Positivity includes a Charlotte Brontë's quote in an inspirational quotes list.
The supermodel Lily Cole has backed a comic strip version of Emily Brontë’s classic novel Wuthering Heights as a way to persuade a new generation of children to love the gothic tale of a passionate but doomed love affair.
Cole — whose appointment as “creative partner” by the Brontë Society in events to mark the bicentenary of Emily’s birth caused a scholarly row earlier this year — is to talk about the novelist at the Barnes children’s literature festival in London next month.
“Emily Brontë is an inspiration for me because of her novel, Wuthering Heights. I read it when I was at school . . . it created an alternative reality,” Cole has said. She has read the book “multiple times”.
As well as having the original text when she appears at the festival next month, Cole has asked the organisers to make available a “graphic novel” of the book, published by Classical Comics, for an event aimed at children aged nine and over.
This version is on sale in the Brontë Parsonage museum shop, run by the Brontë Society, which is where Cole spotted it. (...)
This weekend some experts reacted with disdain, claiming that such books dumbed down the classics.
Alan Smithers, professor of education at Buckingham University, said: “I do think it is underestimating children to have this version of Wuthering Heights on offer at a literature festival. Many nine-year-olds will be able to read the real thing with great pleasure.” (Sian Griffiths)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte BrontëThe Guardian interviews Mira Robertson, author of The Unexpected Education of Emily Dean
When, in 1847, the publisher George Smith received the manuscript of Jane Eyre,m he began to read it on a Sunday morning, and described later, "The story quickly took me captive. Before twelve o'clock my horse came to the door but I could not put the book down… before I went to bed that night I had finished reading." Brontë’s romantic tale brought together a crucible of gothic elements – crumbling house, orphaned governess and mysterious Byronic hero. Angela Carter once wrote “of all the great novels in the world, Jane Eyre veers the closest towards trash.” (Vicky Allan)
What you were reading while you wrote it: The novel’s protagonist, Emily Dean, is desperate to read Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, as she’s heard from her arch nemesis at school tha march, a second-hand Christmas present from her father. I reread both books while writing the novel and despite Emily’s view, was awed once again by George Eliot’s masterpiece. I loved Jane Eyre too! t Mr Rochester is the most romantic hero ever. But instead, she’s stuck with George Eliot’s Middlemarch, a second-hand Christmas present from her father. I reread both books while writing the novel and despite Emily’s view, was awed once again by George Eliot’s masterpiece. I loved Jane Eyre too!Also in The Guardian, a review of the film Beast:
[Jessie] Buckley is on phosphorescent form as flame-haired islander Moll, a twentysomething misfit who is still firmly under the thumb of her domineering mother. While her siblings have long since spread their wings, Moll remains trapped within the family home, helping to care for her ageing father, rigidly controlled by her choir-mistress mum, Hilary (Geraldine James). When Moll meets gun-toting woodsman Pascal (Flynn), his Heathcliff-like charms awaken passionate responses, encouraging Moll to break away from her suffocating home life. (Mark Kermode)The Daily Mail does a Holland boat tour:
Sail on one of Riviera’s new all-suite ships, the five-star Emily Brontë, which offers stylish interiors and spacious cabins all with river views. The ship carries just 169 passengers. (Monty Don)Cassino Informa (Italy) on writers' rooms:
Questo è il tavolo delle Sorelle Brontë, ed una delle stanze del Brontë Parsonage Museum, la casa (oggi un museo) dove le sorelle Bronte vissero tra il 1820 ed il 1860. Haworth è un paesino della contea inglese del West Yorkshire, un luogo fuori dal tempo e dallo spazio dove ci si dimentica di stare nel 2018 ma si ha la sensazione di vivere nel 1800 e respirare le atmosfere che ispirarono Jane Eyre e Cime Tempestose. (Martina Salvatore) (Translation)Vanity Fair (Italy) interviews Margaret Atwood:
Caterina Soffici: Perché è importante un narratore al femminile?Lonesome Reader reviews Wuthering Heights. Camryn Daytona posts about the Jane Eyre Manga adaptation. The Brussels Brontë Blog continues mapping Brussels in the Brontës' times. Now cultural places.
M.A.: «Il racconto dell’ancella è narrato da una donna, non una cosa così usuale quando uscì. Le donne sono poco più della metà della razza umana: sarebbe davvero molto strano se non ci fossero narratori femminili. Infatti, quando il romanzo si sviluppa tra la fine del Settecento e l’Ottocento, man mano che le lettrici aumentavano, anche i narratori femminili diventavano comuni, benché i romanzi fossero scritti per lo più da uomini: pensiamo ad Anna Karenina o Madame Bovary. Alcuni dei personaggi femminili più longevi, come Jane Eyre, sono però stati scritti da donne. E anche molti protagonisti delle fiabe sono donne. A volte mi piacerebbe scoprire come sarebbe una storia se cambiassimo il genere». (Translation)
Helena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo’s Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls (Particular Books, £20) is a collection of 100 potted histories of women who have helped their fellow females to travel one step further along the path to equality.Best Books read by Irish writers in 2017 in The Irish Times:
Each biography is accompanied by a stunning full-page portrait and alongside the household names (Elizabeth I, the Brontë sisters, Hillary Clinton) are a 19th century warrior called Lozen, Japanese empress Jingu and Italian Formula One racer Lella Lombardi. Parents will learn nearly as much as their offspring. A simple idea, brilliantly executed. (Emma-Lee Potter & Charlotte Heathcote)
I love how Lyndall Gordon thinks and I love the clarity and reach of her writing, combining imaginative audacity with scholarly scruple. Her Outsiders, a collection of portraits of George Eliot, Emily Brontë, Virginia Woolf, Olive Schreiner and Mary Shelley, builds into a lucid meditation on how certain writers become lighthouses for each other. (Joseph O'Connor)
[My] highlights were Another Country by James Baldwin, The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth, The Captive Mind by Czeslaw Milosz, Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. (John Kelly)New Republic reviews The Collective Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick, selected by Darryl Pinckney:
Hardwick gave herself some breathing room, herself arguing about the available published evidence of literary greatness, and not necessarily women’s abstract capacity to achieve it, though her dismissiveness of Austen, the Brontës, and George Eliot is unequivocal. (Michelle Dean)The Village Voice talks about the film series Goth(ic) at the Metrograph in New York:
From Frankenstein to Heathcliff, the monthlong “Goth(ic)” portrays the movies’ handling of the sinister literary genre. (...)Wuthering Heights 1939 will be screened on December 23 and December 24.
Instead of writing a “realistic” novel, or an unserious fantastical romance, Walpole tried to do both: How, he wondered, would real people react to ludicrous or fantastic events? Countless authors, from Mary Shelley to the Brontë sisters to Bram Stoker, spent the next 150 years attempting to answer that question. (...)
Indeed, the Gothic movement on the page was largely pioneered by women (Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley, Charlotte and Emily Brontë), and has always been concerned with marginalized people. (Morgan Leigh Davies)
Shortly thereafter, she purchased five acres in Marin County that had been a chicken ranch. Honoring her friend the Irish folklorist Ella Young who often dressed like a robed Celtic Druid, and another lesbian writer, Emily Brontë of Wuthering Heights, Gidlow christened this neglected property below the Muir Woods National Monument, Druid Heights. (Gil Troy)Real Simple recommends the Classical Comics take on Wuthering Heights:
John M. Burns' beautiful watercolor artwork tells the heart wrenching story of Heathcliff and Catherine in this visual retelling of Wuthering Heights. Though the book was shortened to fit, it uses much of Brontë's original text and dialogue. (Hannah Norling)Dagens Nyheter (Sweden) chooses books for children:
Men ibland saknar man de vanliga människorna, och jag tänker allt oftare på Charlotte Brontë som skrev ”Jane Eyre” för att visa att en bok kunde ha en hjältinna som inte var strålande vacker. (Lotta Olsson) (Translation)Le Point POP (in French) talks about Alfred Hitchcock and Rebecca 1940:
Signé par la romancière britannique Daphne du Maurier (dont Hitchcock a déjà transposé au cinéma La Taverne de la Jamaïque, édité l'an passé en vidéo par Carlotta), ce récit gothique, dans l'esprit des sœurs Brontë, baigne dans une atmosphère victorienne. (David Mikanowski) (Translation)9Colonne (in Italian) reviews Vite che sono la tua. Il bello dei romanzi in 27 storie by Paolo DiPaolo:
A volte, anche solo una visione o un gesto. Altre volte, una storia che somiglia alla tua. Da Tom Sawyer al giovane Holden, da Jane Eyre a Raskòl’nikov e ai personaggi di Roth, la magia dei grandi libri, guide strane, insolite, spiazzanti: tutto questo in “Vite che sono la tua. Il bello dei romanzi in 27 storie” di Paolo Di Paolo (Laterza). (Translation)Las Provincias (Spain) talks with some writers about their first readings:
Además de los cuentos de toda la vida, incluía relatos más desconocidos que pertenecían a la tradición rusa, a la nórdica... Tenía también cuentos de hadas, de 'Los Cinco', 'Los Hollister'... Recuerdo la ocasión en que me regalaron 'Estudio en escarlata'. Y luego estaban todos los libros de mi madre de la colección Reno: 'Rebeca', 'Cumbres borrascosas', 'Jane Eyre'... En mi casa no había una gran biblioteca, pero todo lo que había, lo leía. (Pilar Adón) (Translation)Twilight Time reviews Wuthering Heights 1970. Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks reviews the Manga edition of Jane Eyre.
Whereas Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights hold secure places in the English literary canon, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall has always been regarded as something of an enigma. The first reviewers, in 1848, wrestled with a book that sometimes reads like a Christian conduct book, and at others goes far beyond the norms of Victorian respectability in its presentation of alcoholism, physical and mental abuse, and acts of adultery.Daily Mail interviews the writer Jacqueline Wilson:
These reviewers had no idea that “Acton Bell”, the pseudonymous author, was the steady Anne, the younger Brontë sister, who had held firmly to a more orthodox Christian faith than her sisters’ as she witnessed the descent of her beloved brother, Branwell, into addiction to drink and drugs in the last three years of his life. (Michael Wheeler) (Read more)
[What book] would you take to a desert island?Den of Geek! lists several 'forgotten' John Williams soundtracks. Including the one for Jane Eyre 1970:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. I first read it when I was ten or 11 and have read it many times since — it never fails to delight me.
Said to be Williams' own personal favourite, this exquisitely wrought delight combines everything that is great about his music: emotional sincerity, memorable thematic ideas and a mastery of orchestral tone that takes the breath away. Williams captures the Gothic and rustic aspects of Charlotte Brontë's novel magnificently, the ultimate rejoinder to those who define him through Star Wars and nothing else. (Sean Wilson)According to The Z Review, Victorian Gothic is the new black:
After Dracula, my all-time favourite of the genre is Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Made famous for children of the 1980s by pouting songstress Kate Bush, it was a very dark tale set in, you won’t be surprised to learn, Yorkshire. (P.C. Dettmann)Paste Magazine reviews the film Mal de Pierres:
The majority of this story is told through a long flashback, which begins with Gabrielle as a much younger woman—a task not even Cotillard can play convincingly—who harbors a serious crush on a local schoolteacher. He lends her a copy of Wuthering Heights, which might be a warning sign if not for Gabrielle’s blinding desire. (Jake Kring-Schreifels)Pseudonyms in The Atlantic:
The trend is ironic, Gamerman pointed out, because the history of fiction is littered with women writers adopting male or gender-neutral pseudonyms to get their work published, from the Brontë sisters to J.K. Rowling. (Sophie Gilbert)Entrepreneur urges you to make a better use of your time:
On average, a person spends a whopping 23 hours per month on social media on their phone. And all those hours you spent on Facebook and Instagram translates into a whopping five novels you could have read, including The Handmaid’s Tale, Jane Eyre, To Kill a Mockingbird and more. (Rose Leadem)Being motherless in The Davis Clipper:
Then there’s Anne Shirley, Jane Eyre and even Cinderella – all motherless success stories. (Peri Kinder)A passing comment in Libreriamo (Italy):
Un po’ meno allegro il destino delle sorelle Bronte: la casa in cui crebbero era circondata da ben tre cimiteri e, nonostante il luogo fosse dichiaratamente agghiacciante, loro lo adoravano. (Translation)Diario de Ibiza informs of the death of the painter Sarah Nechamkian who illustrated in 1947 a Wuthering Heights edition (by Saturn Press). UpsideDown Books reviews the 2008 Classical Comics edition of Jane Eyre. W.W. Norton UK posts on Medium an excerpt of John Pfordsherer's The Secret History of Jane Eyre. Finally, the Brontë Society Facebook Wall celebrates the 89th anniversary of the Brontë Parsonage Museum's opening in 1928.
1. Masterpiece Comics by R. SikoryakRepubblica (Italy) features actress Alba Rohrwacher, who reads Jane Eyre in a new Italian audiobook.
If you don’t know where to start when it comes to the classics, this book is a great launching pad. Sikoryak parodies the gamut, from Dante to Brontë. [...]
6. Jane Eyre The Graphic Novel by Charlotte Brontë adapted by Amy Corzine, illustrated by John M. Burns and Terry Wiley
A team of talented artists, working with Classical Comics, collaborated to make this beautiful adaptation of one of Brontë’s most enduring works. (Trish Parsons)
“Leggi una pagina e quella pagina già esiste, a prescindere dalla volontà che tu vuoi imporre a quel testo. La letteratura è più forte, fa di te un tramite per esistere”, dice Alba Rohrwacher in una pausa in sala di registrazione, di fronte alle telecamere che Emons ha voluto puntarle addosso per sapere che cosa del romanzo l’abbia stregata.There is also a video interview with the actress.
Non che sia stato facile. All’inizio quella ragazza maltrattata dalla zia, umiliata nel terribile collegio dove studiava per diventare insegnante, un luogo da incubo simile al collegio dove due delle sorelle della Brontë furono sterminate ancora bambine dalla febbre tifoide, l’aveva persino irritata: “La sua integrità, il suo restare fedele a se stessa, il suo andare avanti senza spostarsi mai, in alcuni momenti mi ha fatto rabbia, quella integrità sembrava trasformarsi in ottusità, volevo dirle cedi, dimentica… E invece aveva ragione lei, proprio comportandosi così è riuscita a coronare il suo sogno d’amore”.
Dopo seicento pagine Alba Rohrwacher, come le milioni di lettrici che ancora sospirano insieme a Jane Eyre per Rochester, uomo selvaggio ed enigmatico, con un terribile segreto nascosto nelle stanze dell’attico della casa, finisce con il dire: “Ho fatto questa traversata oceanica insieme a Jane e mi sono riconosciuta in lei. A cosa può aspirare una donna? A credere fortemente in qualche cosa e passando attraverso un oceano di dolori, peripezie e rinunce, arrivare a ottenere ciò che si è sognato all’inizio della propria avventura”. (Stefania Parmeggiani) (Translation)
Take about a dozen of the freshest faces and emerging talents on the Windy City musical theater scene and have them revisit the entire 2001 Broadway season songbook in concert. [...]Which we still find unfair, by the way.
While Suessical was a hit that year, the next show featured was decidedly not. Jane Eyre the Musical brought Charlotte Brontë’s most popular character to life in a musical drama that played just 36 previews and 209 performances. While this show struggled to find an audience, for one night “Sirens” was lovingly revisited by Lauren Paris & Matthew Hunter. (Stephen Best)
Rounding out the club is Jen (Sierra Jolene, in a sweet, wistful performance), a shy bookworm type with a surprisingly scandalous past who’s never gotten over her childhood crush on Heathcliff. (Lisa Jensen)More from the stage as The News-Press features Lab Theater's 'Burn This'.
“Burn This” is special, she says, partly because it was one of the first U.S. plays to feature an openly gay character.The National (Arab Emirates) has an article on 'one of the most cherished literary treasures of the Arab world': the Mu‘allaqāt.
“No one writes outsiders as well as Wilson,” she says. “His characters are fully dimensional and flawed. They are real and layered.
“He is such a literate playwright. In this play there are references to Chekhov, Nordic myths, Wagner, Norman Mailer, John Waters, Puccini, Springsteen, Wuthering Heights and Poe. He doesn't tie things up in pretty boxes. He leaves you guessing.” (Charles Runnells)
Comprising around 571 abyat (lines), the Muaallaqat were composed by accomplished authors of the pre-Islamic era, including: Imru’ Al Qays, the wandering king; Tarafa, a pleasure-seeking youth; Zuhayr, a moralist; Antara, a black knight and Heathcliff-like romantic hero; the centenarian Labid; grief-stricken knight Amr ibn Kulthum, a regicide who laments over loss and grief; and Al Harith Ibn Hillizah, a leper who offers a tribal commentary.The Times has an obituary for The Dowager Marchioness of Anglesey, who
Together, they offer insight into a colourful and forgotten time. (Rym Ghazal)
was born Elizabeth Shirley Vaughan Morgan in 1924, being named after Charlotte Brontë’s heroine.And the sexist remark of the day comes from Portland Tribune. Behold:
Portland Public Schools boys are still significantly less likely to graduate high school in four years than their female counterparts. [...]Daisy Does Reviews posts about Wuthering Heights.
Physical activity is a huge part of boys' learning and processing, agrees Janet Allison, a Portland-based consultant.
Allison says teachers need gender-specific training on what boys need to succeed. A former elementary teacher, she found success having recess before desk lessons, providing hands-on activities, using clear behavior expectations and clear explanations of why this is relevant to boys, as well as an understanding that certain concepts — such as emotions and human relationships — are going to be more difficult. For example, boys may struggle much more with "Wuthering Heights" than they would with a sports biography, but that doesn't mean they aren't good at reading. (Shasta Kearns Moore)
The Brexit vote and the subsequent fall in sterling’s value has led, it is reported, to a sharp increase in tourism. I thought of this as we struggled through people crammed into the excellent Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, West Yorkshire, the other day. Haworth is a tiny village (population 6,379) that was so poor two centuries ago that raw sewage ran down the main street. Now, it has created a flourishing industry from being the place where the Brontës’ novels were written.
BBC4's Woman's Hour has a discussion of Wide Sargasso Sea, celebrating its 50th anniversary:Love and betrayal and madness: it's 50 years since Jean Rhys' masterpiece Wide Sargasso Sea was published. It tells the story of the first Mrs Rochester, the madwoman in the attic of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. Dr Laura Fish, senior lecturer in creative writing at Northumbria University and author Julia Rochester talk about the novel and its impact.The List reviews the Dyad Production's Jane Eyre. An Autobiography as seen at the Edinburgh Fringe:
Sole performer Rebecca Vaughan pours her soul into making Jane an emotionally sympathetic hero for the audience to follow, and while her rendering of the supporting cast is sometimes less nuanced (Rochester only ever seems to growl or bellow; the peasantry is caricatured as a set of ee-by-gum yokels), they're at least distinct and easily recognised. Writer / director Elton Townend-Jones has done a good job of condensing the novel into 90 gripping minutes, and the staging – an off-white backdrop and couch, transformed by lighting cues – is elegantly simple. (Niki Boyle)RTÉ informs that Happy Valley will have a third season and mentions something about Sally Wainwright's To Walk Invisible:
The cast of Happy Valley also includes Rebellion's Charlie Murphy as police officer Ann Gallagher. The Love/Hate star recently reunited with Wainwright for an upcoming one-off drama about the Brontë sisters for BBC One, To Walk Invisible. Murphy plays the youngest sister, Anne, with the biopic telling the story of how Anne - author of the acclaimed novels Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - and sisters Emily and Charlotte came from obscurity to become literary icons.The Irish Times has advice for book clubs:
Another theme which emerges, perhaps unsurprisingly, is wine.Sparknotes's SparkLife has a couple of questions for your English class:
“Book club without wine would be Heathcliff without Cathy, Oscar minus Lucinda, Holden without his ducks in Central Park,” says Helen McClements. (Freya McClements)
14. Why was Heathcliff such a tool? (...)MyRepública reviews the Classical Comics' Wuthering Heights version:
17. Could Emily Brontë have possibly come up with a LESS euphonic name than Thrushcross Grange? (Elodie)
A favorite book of many readers, this classic tale of wild, passionate and intense love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff is presented as a full-color graphic novel, featuring beautiful hand-painted watercolor art work. The traditional approach taken to the art in this book creates a wonderful sensory experience that is certain to engage any reader. Another positive here is the fact that the graphic novel stays true to the original novel. It utilizes all the authentic text and dialogue. This graphic novel was specifically designed to encourage readers to enjoy classical literature. They also offer alternative text versions to cater for different readership levels.Bustle on books to share with the ones you love:
And I just recently gave my boyfriend a copy of Jane Eyre, just in case he turns out to have a secret wife hidden in the attic. (Charlotte Ahlin)The Guardian reviews the pilot episode of I Love Dick, based on the Chris Kraus novel, created by Jill Soloway:
Soloway has called Kraus’s book “the invention of the female gaze”. It’s a puzzling sort of compliment. I Love Dick was published in 1997. If it “invented” the female gaze, what were the Brontës and Virginia Woolf up to? I Love Dick’s real innovation was to make the intellectual thrills of feminist criticism the engine of a novel – and to heighten that novel’s reality through Chris’s pursuit of pleasure. (Judy Berman)Vogue on the new season of BBC's Poldark:
The latter gave the directors ample opportunity to focus on their hero’s more desirable attributes – there was, for instance, the moment Ross set his scythe to his crops in the hot sun, his bare muscled chest oiled and flexed, Heathcliff-style locks framing his lion-like features. Not forgetting, too – and how could we? – the sun-drenched naked sea swimming scene. (Emily Sheffield)South Coast Register talks about a local school program for encouraging students to read:
He said the students get to choose from thousands of titles, many of which are included on the Premier’s Reading Challenge list.Well, we hope that some of them will choose Jane after all.
“The children choose what they want,” he said.
“We could give them all a Jane Eyre and make them read it but they probably won’t enjoy it and won’t want to read again.
“We need to make reading and literacy fun and enjoyable. (Robert Crawford)
It made me think about Wuthering Heights. OK, not a rom-com, but bear with me. Heathcliff is the wild outsider who liberates Cathy and shows her she has a dark side. But in the end she marries boring, solid, wealthy Edgar. She refuses to leave her comfort zone. That’s why they end up miserable. In the screwballs, the heroines are Heathcliff. (But without all the tiresome bashing of heads into trees and gnashing of teeth. And definitely without hanging puppies.) They drag the men into chaos, and the chaos is the relationship. Because love has to be a bit chaotic, it has to be a bit messy. (Samantha Ellis)Wuthering Heights features on a list of maternal childbirth death featured in novels on Project-Syndicate; Fernweh's Call posts about Villette.
The problem with the popular literary heroines is they’re all, however flawed, wholemeal 19th-century characters. Having been force-fed the greats in school, my prevailing thought was: “I know they were different times and the suffragettes hadn’t happened yet, but why are they all so wet, especially that Tess of the d’Urbervilles?”The Whichita Eagle lists several new and notable books at the local Eighth Day Books:
Am I outing myself as a thicko by saying I enjoyed Jane Eyre, the book, but Jane the person was chronically dreary?
“The Brontë Cabinet: Three Lives in Nine Objects” by Deborah Lutz (W.W. Norton, $27.95) – A detailed biography of a literary family that has enthralled readers for nearly two centuries. Victorian literature scholar Deborah Lutz illuminates the complex and fascinating lives of the Brontës through the things they wore, stitched, wrote on and inscribed.The BBC Radio 4 programme Something Understood talks about institutions and reads from Jane Eyre among others:
Mark Tully discusses the impact and the power institutions have in our lives. From corporations, banks and armies to schools and hospitals, whatever we think of them, institutions are an enormous part of our lives. So how do they influence us and how should we live with them?The Independent talks with Stephen Kelman, short-listed for the Man Booker prize:
In conversation with Professor Simon Wessely, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a leading researcher into mental health in the military, Mark Tully investigates the positive power of institutions as well as the dangers of institutionalisation.
There's music from Henry Priestland, the Buena Vista Social Club and the Band of the Grenadier Guards and readings ranging from Charlotte Bronte to screenwriter William Styron.
The readers are Polly Frame, Peter Marinker and Francis Cadder.
Producer: Frank Stirling
August 9, 6:05 AM; 11:30 PM
It was while growing up there that Kelman, who was born in 1976, decided he wanted to become a writer: “From the age of six, I was a prodigious reader. As a child, I didn’t understand most of Wuthering Heights and The Mill on the Floss but I knew I wanted to write stories. I kept writing but I studied marketing at university, in part because I had this rather high ideal that I’d find my voice as a writer in my own time.” (Max Liu)Berliner Morgenpost (Germany) interviews the actress Kate Mara:
Durften Sie als Kind keine Comics lesen?La Folla del XXI Secolo (Italy) reviews Il segno del telecomando by Biagio Proietti and Maurizio Giannotti:
Nein, das war es nicht. Ich habe mich damals eher für so Klassiker wie Charlotte Brontës "Jane Eyre" begeistert. Und ich liebte alte Filme. Ich möchte immer noch eine Rolle spielen, die in einem ganz anderen Jahrhundert angesiedelt ist. (Rüdiger Sturm) (Translation)
Erano i tempi in cui potevi vedere Delitto e castigo in prima serata, Il dottor Jekill e Mister Hyde con Albertazzi, Piccole donne, Cime tempestose, Il romanzo di un giovane povero, La cittadella di Cronin interpretato da un grande Alberto Lupo. (Gordiano Lupi) (Translation)Lovelybooks (in German) reviews Wuthering Heights. The Facebook wall of the Sezione Italiana of the Brontë Society posts a acouple of images of Maddalena De Leo visiting Penzance with a descendant of the Branwell side of the Brontë family.
As a teenager, I worshipped John Cleese and Stephen Fry and dreamed of being part of a writing or performing troupe. But I also revered Charlotte Brontë and George Eliot, so in tandem with forging a career as a standup, occasional actor and comedy writer, I’ve also been trying to write novels.Also in The Guardian, a review of These Are the Names by Tommy Wiering:
The opening chapter’s title “The Thing Itself” introduces a sense of timeless, elemental human battles, conjuring King Lear’s unaccommodated man in the pitiless storm. The steppe is a symbolic presence, like Hardy’s Egdon Heath or Emily Brontë’s moors, but without their sense of physical place. This landscape, like Lear’s, is often metaphorical; the migrants pass through “the thicket of horrors”, recalling Dante’s midlife “dark wood”. (Phoebe Taplin)A reader from the Ilkley Gazette defends the maintenance of the Ilkley Literature Festival (The District Council is proposing to cut completely its annual grant):
Finally, let me point out that the Brontë sisters of Haworth, but a stone’s throw away from Bradford, and J B Priestley, the acclaimed author and playwright of Bradford, bear witness to the literary heritage of the district. (Sylvia Mann)Lisa A. Phillips writes in Cosmopolitan about a dark phase of her life:
Another thing I wish I'd realized was that my pursuit of him wasn't really about him. It was all about me and my needs. Stalking is narcissistic.The Independent's Bonus Track features the infamous 1978 Top of the Pops cover of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights:
That sounds awful. At times, I was awful. But one of the best things about writing Unrequited was that I discovered women who used the self-centeredness of unrequited love not to stalk but to change their lives for the better. Romantic obsession inspired dancer Isadora Duncan, writer Charlotte Brontë, and Mary Wollstonecraft, one of the founding mothers of feminism, to create their greatest works.
Thirty years ago next month, the last of those Top of the Pops compilation albums was released. For those lucky enough to be too young to remember them, the albums had nothing to do with the BBC programme of the same name and could not feature the original versions of hit singles. Anyway, in researching whether this might make an interesting article, I listened to some of the songs covered and was disappointed to find most were reasonably well done. And then I came across the Top of the Pops version of Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights”. Is this the worst cover version ever? Decide for yourself…. (Simmy Richman)The Boston Herald films listing includes Fifty Shades of Grey:
Part “Cinderella,” part “Beauty and the Beast,” part “Jane Eyre” meets “Story of O,” the film is based on the 2011 fangirl fiction best-selling sensation by pseudonymous Brit E.L. James, and it is a giggle-inducing letdown after all the heavy-breathing build-up in a media desperate for something people want to hear about.The South China Morning Post reviews the audiobook release of Kate Atkinson's Human Croquet:
First published in 1997, but new to audiobook download, Kate Atkinson's second novel confirmed what her prize-winning debut, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, boldly announced: she's a major literary talent. Our narrator is Isobel Fairfax, who sounds like a Bronte heroine and speaks like one too: "Francis Fairfax, lately ennobled by the Queen, was in receipt, from the Queen's own hand, of a great swathe of land north of the village, on the edge of what remained of the forest." (James Kidd)The Independent (Ireland) writes about how movies based on novels dominate the Oscars:
Classic fiction has provided the springboard to Oscar victory for many an adaptation, from Emma Thompson's screenplay for Ang Lee's version of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility to the 1940 Best Picture win for Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. (Edel Coffey)Scroll.in lists several graphic adaptations of classic novels:
Emily Brontë's only novel has been adapted into a comic book by John M. Burns and edited by Sean Michael Wilson. This work, like other adaptations by publishers Classical Comics, comes in two versions - abridged 'original text' and paraphrased 'quick text'. The latter is aimed at children, and fans of the novel will most enjoy the former. (Shreya Ila Anasuya)The St George and Southern Utah Independent reminds us the latest performances of Jane Eyre. The Musical at the Brigham's Playhouse:
Our production of the musical drama Jane Eyre is heading into the final two weeks of its run—that means you only have a few more performances left to see this superb cast in such a heartfelt show. The Brigham’s Playhouse experience is complete with mouth-watering confections, Brigham’s Brew Root Beer, and our famous fudge and fresh baked cookies, not to mention a fabulous live orchestra and Broadway-caliber talent in the best seats Southern Utah has to offer. Don’t miss your chance to see the endearing tale all ages will love.The Mary Sue vindicates the educational potential of videogames:
From pop art to poetry, most art forms have found a foothold on school curriculums. But even as tech advancements allow video games to grow ever more expansive in theme and visuals, it’s unlikely that Child of Light will be knocking the Brontës off the reading list anytime soon. You can study Skyrim in Texas, but while Rice University remains in the minority, it does prove that the tides are turning in gamers’ favour. Trouble is, outsiders looking in rarely get past the gore and misogyny of some of the more infamous exponents. Regardless of media hyperbole surrounding sex and violence in video games, there are plenty of titles willing and able to teach you a thing or two. (Elisabeth O'Neill)
Aunque sus editores le emparentan literariamente con la Jane Eyreo (sic) de Charlotte Brontë, lo cierto es que se trata de una historia que pretende y procura envolver a quien se adentra en ella, para ello, Aparicio se vale de algunos mecanismos, unos más efectivos que otros. “Quería dotarla de esa especie de realismo mágico. Ese halo que tiene de misterio, romántico, pienso que una historia de este tipo en esa época en Asturias tiene una carga emocional muy fuerte”. (Karina Sainz Borgo) (Translation)El País (Spain) mentions the use of pseudonyms by the Brontës:
La autora de Cumbres Borrascosas, Emily Brontë, publicó la novela, considerada hoy día como un clásico de la literatura inglesa, con el varonil nombre de Ellis Bell (apellido que también utilizaron sus dos hermanas para ocultar su verdadero sexo). (Clara Ferrero) (Translation)Il Fatto Quotidiano and Firenze Post review Faust Marlowe Burlesque mentioning Wuthering Heights. Just Another Day in Paradise reviews Wuthering Heights.
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| Brontë Society collections manager, Ann Dinsdale, with the parasol (Source) |
A silk parasol that belonged to Charlotte Brontë has returned ‘home’.The Irish Times gives more details on the Jane Eyre-Breathe In connection:
And its arrival at the Parsonage Museum has fulfilled a long-held dream for 96-year-old Edith Calder, whose family emigrated to Canada from Oxenhope – together with the parasol – in 1927.
For years she had wanted the item to head back to the one-time family home of the Brontës, but the parasol was wrongly thought to have an ivory handle and therefore couldn’t be imported.
However, a new assessment showed the material was in fact bone, and paperwork was quickly processed to transport the prized object back to the UK.
It is now on display in Charlotte’s old bedroom.
“We can’t thank Edith enough for her generosity gifting us this precious family treasure,” said Professor Ann Sumner, executive director of the Brontë Society and the Parsonage Museum.”
The parasol – in dark brown, fringed silk – passed to Mrs Calder’s family after it was given to an ancestor by Martha Brown, the Brontës’ maid, as a token of thanks.
Brontë Society chairman, Sally McDonald, said: “Thanks to Edith Calder, we can reflect on what an extraordinary journey this parasol has made across oceans and back. We are delighted visitors to the museum and society members alike can all enjoy this special story.”
Early on in the latest film from gifted tyro Drake Doremus, it is revealed that the young heroine, an English student visiting the US, is carrying a copy of Jane Eyre in her baggage. There are a few thematic connections between book and film.The Huffington Post reviews the Dizzie Miss Lizzie's performances of The Brontës at the New York Musical Theatre Festival:
Like poor Jane, Sophie (Felicity Jones) has been dispatched to a distant location where she catches the eye of a brooding older man. And Breathe In does, in its later crockery-smashing sequences, allow in a little vintage melodrama. But fans of the last collaboration between Jones and Doremus (the utterly charming Like Crazy) need not fear that the director has lost his bearings. (Tara Brady)
A rock and roll musical about The Brontës, that famous trio of writing siblings? Bring it on. Dizzy Miss Lizzie's Revue is a loose-limbed collective that takes those talented sisters as an excuse for this very casual stage show. They have energy to spare but a lot more effort was put into their general banter than the actual story they're trying to (sort of) tell and it shows.The Reader Organisation recommends Little Miss Brontë's Jane Eyre board book:
The conceit, such as it is, is to have the Brontës sisters and their brother tell their stories. Sometimes we get morose comments about illness and lack of attention, other times we get rundowns of plot, still other times we get silly jibes about how boring Jane Eyre is or how no one ever reads The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. It has an intentional juvenile air with siblings sniping at each other and the band piling on the in-jokes. But that sort of thing works much better when you sense a deep appreciation or at least understanding of the work being parodied and poked fun at. Here, the jokes never stray deeper than the sort of one-liner even the most casual observer might come up with.
Essentially, the siblings line up at microphones, trade jokes and sing their songs. Too often, the songs are only vaguely related to the subject at hand. Gillian Shelly has charisma to spare as the Gypsy, but even she can't make sense out of vague nonsense like "Breathe In," an early mood-setter that leaves you wondering what all this has to do with the Brontës.
(...)On the rare instance where song and story are actually linked, it works! Because "God Knows" really does dive into the emotions of the drunkard Brontë brother known as Patrick Branwell, actor Matthew Schleigh has the show's best moment. (Michael Giltz)
It’s never too early to introduce your little bookworms to the classics – particularly when they’re as beautifully produced as Jane Eyre, from the BabyLit™ range of literary board books.The celebrity tabloids also have their Brontë references. Check out this article on starcrush about Emma Roberts-Evan Peters's 'passionate' relationship:
This ingenious counting book uses ideas, characters and key themes from the original novel to encourage young readers in their numerical development. There are even a handful of quotes from the original text thrown in to keep Mum & Dad engaged…it’s win-win!
Right, where were we? 1 Governess, 2 trunks, 3 candles… (Lisa)
The source added that they’re “inseparable,” but failed to explain just how or why leaving one another bruised, battered and bloodied is the result of some great ‘Wuthering Heights’-style romance. (Jessica Sager)The Times reviews the Saudi film Wadja:
The rebellious schoolgirl Wadjda (pronounced Waj-dah) is a Jane Eyre for her time and place, pushing the boundaries of at school and at home, and riling her cold, repressive headmistress. (Kate Muir)The Times interviews Baroness Hale of Richmond, Deputy President of the Supreme Court:
Which film do you wish you had appeared in? I played Mrs Fairfax in Jane Eyre at school, so would have loved the Judi Dench part in the most recent film of the book, but I'm no Judi Dench.The Times-Union alerts to the horrors of that terrible affliction of our time: spoilers.
If I decided, right now, to betray the colossal narrative game changer that explodes in the midst of "Jane Eyre," I would reveal myself as a pig of the worst order and doom myself to an eternity without books, chocolate or Netflix. (The chocolate has nothing to do with spoilers. That's just my definition of hell.) (Amy Biancolli)The Hindu Business Line interviews Shoma Narayanan, vice-president with HSBC Mumbai:
Her own reading is very eclectic. “I read all kinds of stuff.” The latest book she liked was The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley. Two of her all-time favourites are Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. (Rasheeda Bagat)Khaleej Times discusses the transposition of Western classics to Bollywood versions:
To a degree, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights was done justice to in Dil Diya Dard Liya, thanks to a sensitively layered performance by Dilip Kumar. (Khalid Mohamed)A list of literary sequels in The Independent:
Jean Rhys' 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea is a post-colonial, anachronistic prequel to Charlotte Brontë's classic Jane Eyre. It is the story of the mad woman in the attic, Antoinette Cosway (Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre) whose unhappy marriage to Mr Rochester, and relocation from the Caribbean to England, sends her crazy.More Rowling-related articles in the press:
Charlotte Brontë explained the Brontë sisters’ decision to publish poetry as Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell: “We had a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice.” A century and a half later, the impression isn’t so vague. Since 1901, only 12 women have won the Nobel Prize in Literature, or about 11 per cent. (In Canada, the Rosalind Prize for Women’s Fiction will launch in 2014 to give recognition to women writers.) (Katrina Onstad in The Globe and Mail)This story on World Magazine contains a Jane Eyre reference:
As I sat on the couch reading Jane Eyre—a creepy book, impossible to put down—I heard the bark at the door. (Chelsea Kolz)A Brontë reference in a Singapore review of a Hokkien opera? We have it:
Having a short temper will probably just kill your social life - unless you're a tragic hero, in which case it's practically suicidal. Shakespeare has his Othello, Sophocles has his Oedipus, and Emily Brontë has her Heathcliff. (Business Times)Today's Parents on Yahoo! recommends literary names for boys
If you’re expecting a baby boy you can go with Darcy (Jane Austen’s brooding hero in Pride & Prejudice), Heathcliff (for Emily Brontë’s moody lead in Wuthering Heights), Romeo (Shakespeare’s ill-fated hero) or Sebastian (a name that appears in the Bard’s Twelfth Night and Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited). (Laura Grande)The Craven Herald & Pioneer mentions Isobel Stirk's talk about the Brontës at the Women's Institute in Ingleton; Many Media Musings posts about The Tenant of Wildfell Hall; Olympian Tales talks about the Brontës; Loaded Shelves reviews the Classical Comics Jane Eyre adaptation; Margaret Clough uploads a picture of Wycoller Hall and thenameisjocie reviews Wuthering Heights on YouTube.
The Arts Desk publishes a review of Playhouse Presents: Psychobitches:Equally good were the scenes involving the bickering Brontë sisters; Anne (Sarah Solemani) was meek but knowing, while Charlotte (Selina Griffiths) was withering about Emily (Katy Brand) needing to lose her virginity, or, as she put it in her broad Yorkshire vowels, “She should fuck off to Keighley on a Friday night and lose it to a cowhand and do us all a fucking favour.” (Veronica Lee)The Times has two reviews. One by Alex Hardy:
The three Brontë sisters appear as human heads on tiny puppet bodies, their weeny hands creepily expressive as they variously honk (Katy Brand as Emily) and whisper (Sarah Soleman as Anne).The other by Caitlin Moran:
[L]ikewise the foul-mouthed, screaming internecine war of the Brontë sisters ("Just f*** off into Keighley on a Friday night, and don't come back util you've lost it to a cow-hand," Charlotte screams at Emily.) Anne, meanwhile, gives off the creepy, smirking, almost-silent vibes of a secret poisoner.Oliver Cross writes in The Yorkshire Evening Post about his visit to the Parsonage:
Last week, when the weather was awful, I made my first proper visit to the Brontë Parsonage museum in Haworth.On today's Independent Saturday Quiz we find a very easy question.
I’ve been twice before, but then the place was so crowded that if I stopped for more than a few seconds to examine an exhibit, I caused a tourism jam and felt obliged to move on.
This time, with most tourists, apart from some very hardy Koreans, having retreated to their storm shelters, there was time to gawp – and really, seeing the possessions of a rather private and close-knit family being exposed to the common gaze in what was once their home, does feel a little like gawping. (...)
There is also, in the Parsonage, an extract from one of Charlotte’s letters in which she describes her daily life. She calls her midday meal ‘dinner’ and her evening meal ‘tea’, which I found very inspiring – a giant of world literature who talked like a northerner.
5. Currer Bell was the pen name of which leading 19th-century novelist? (Simon O'Hagan)Margaret Reynolds makes a case in The Guardian for teaching the classics in its right historical and literary context. But we found this example a bit forced:
I said that students sometimes muddle their Janes. But there might be more to this than mere sloppiness. Charlotte Brontë did not admire Jane Austen. Of the ever popular Pride and Prejudice she complained: "And what did I find?… a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but no glance of a bright vivid physiognomy, no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck." So she put her own heroine in exactly that preferred setting, and called her … "Jane" Eyre.Country Life talks about the decline of the Strand in London quoting from Villette:
In the 19th century, the road seemed to represent, to Charlotte Brontë's heroine Lucy Snowe in Villette, ‘the heart of city life'. (Clive Aslet)After some quiet months we were hoping that the housing plans to build hundreds of houses in Haworth fields and ruin a good part of Haworth's turistic appeal were dead. But we were wrong, they are alive and (sadly) kicking. In The Telegraph & Argus:
A businessman still plans to build hundreds of houses on fields at Haworth, despite little movement on the plans for more than six months.
Pervez Abbas first announced plans for up to 300 houses on land he owns at Weavers Hill in September, and on several occasions since then has said a planning application is imminent.
Yesterday he revealed that plans are still moving ahead, with an application for the first wave of 97 houses and a meeting with residents due next month.
The site is used for grazing, and next to moorland that inspired the Brontë sisters.
Earlier this month it was revealed that the area is still being considered for new homes as part of Bradford Council’s Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA), which is out to consultation.
Weavers Hill is listed as one of 19 potential housing sites in Haworth.
Mr Abbas, of Bradford, said if his initial application was successful he would submit a further application for another 200 homes. (...)
But the scheme is opposed by many in the village, including the Brontë Society.
Responding to the site being included on the SHLAA, the society’s heritage officer, Christine Went, said: “We were disappointed, but not very surprised.
“Nobody wants this particular site developed.
“We understand there is a need for housing, and certain types of housing. Not everyone wants to live in a quaint cottage on Main Street, but there are places you put houses and there are places you don’t.
“When people come here to go to the museum or to walk on the moors, they don’t want to see a huge housing estate.” (Chris Young)
The Times publishes the obituary of the Japanese actor Rentarô Mikuni (1923-2013), who was Lord Takamaru Yamabe (the equivalent of Mr Earnshaw) in the Yoshishige Yoshida 1988 fascinating adaptation of Wuthering Heights, Onimaru.Like the Brontës and many fine writers before her, Scharper is also captivated with the morbid Spiritualism of the Victorian age (there is even a scene with a gypsy psychic, which greatly recalls an iconic plot turn in Jane Eyre). Young Marged’s dreamlike forays into the spirit world are believable, charming and genuinely hypnotic to read, mainly because they fit into our understanding of the era. (Lucy Silag)The New Straits Times interviews the author Hilary Mantel:
What’s the best book you’ve ever received as a gift?The Guardian talks about the renaissance of narrative ballets:
When I was 9, I was given a set of slightly abridged classics for Christmas, and the same again when I was 10. My mother got them from a mail-order catalogue. We weren’t a household that owned many books, so it was a novelty to fill a whole shelf. There were plain cloth bindings and no pictures. (That’s just the way I like it. I make my own pictures, thanks.) That’s when I became enthralled by R.L. Stevenson, and failed to like Dickens, and met the Brontës.
Nineteenth-century classics like Swan Lake, along with ballets based on familiar plots like Cinderella, Jane Eyre, even Dracula, have always drawn the widest audience – and in recessionary times the appeal is obvious. The problem is that there may be a disconnect between the kinds of narrative that audiences and critics expect to see, and the kind that choreographers want to present. (Judith Mackrell)The Telegraph gives you clues to spot a female vampire:
She adores literature! Twilight's Bella Swan is still fixated on Wuthering Heights, but Lena in Beautiful Creatures is into Charles Bukowski, for heaven's sake, while Becca in The Moth Diaries approaches Sheridan LeFanu's Carmilla, her class set-book, as though it were a self-help manual. (Anne Billson)Yahoo! On The Road is asking for books that change lives. Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are on the list:
While plenty of nonfiction titles influenced readers, science-fiction classics like "Stranger in a Strange Land" (Robert Heinlein) moved Sarah M, among others, to "redefine traditional gender roles at a time when those roles were being developed in my subconcious." "Jane Eyre" (Charlotte Brontë) runs in a very different Gothic vein, but that titular character resonated with frecklemaggie for being a strong female who is "independent, strong, morally centered and intelligent, but also warm and willing to be loved." (Vera H-C Chan)The Times Union looks for one-hit wonders in anything:
Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights" is a true classic, and the only one to her name.OpEd News lists ways of supporting financially 'your writing habit':
In the first corner, we have "the day job," anything from Charlotte Brontë's governess gig to Charles Bukowski's or Lawrence Durrell's civil servant Band-Aid. In life, there's the work that needs to be done, which incidentally, doesn't usually pay, and the work corporations want you to do to exploit humanity and the environment. That's usually the day job. (J.L. Morin)Newsarama interviews comic author Paul Pope:
Young people are reading graphic novels. They might not be picking up Jane Eyre, but a graphic novel is a great gateway into literature. The roots of comics are always going to be the likes of comic shops and conventions, but having the book be available for young readers in libraries, in bookstores, is very cool. (Zack Smith)DVDFr reviews the DVD French edition of Wuthering Heights 2011:
L’obsession, le désespoir et le destin tragique des personnages (des acteurs remarquables) plongés dans des paysages désolés, dans une nature sauvage omniprésente - avec laquelle le caractère des protagonistes s’accorde…à moins que cela ne soit le contraire - magnifiquement filmée (la photo est splendide, le cadre 1.33 atypique) et restituée grâce à un gargantuesque travail acoustique (la pluie qui martèle, le vent qui souffle en rafale), épuré, sans aucune musique, aux dialogues rares, sont donc au centre du quatrième, sensoriel, minéral, organique et superbe long métrage d’Andrea Arnold. (Sabrina Piazzi) (Translation)tvblog (Italy) interviews the actor and director Pino Insegno:
Il film più bello ed il più brutto che tu abbia mai vistoThe Italian social book magazine Libreriamo has chosen the best classical love stories. In the top ten, two Brontës: number 5 is Wuthering Heights and number 7, Jane Eyre. Another interesting list we have discovered via GalleyCat is the most popular works of fiction available in English for free at Project Gutenberg as of Spring 2013. The list has been made by Christopher Pound using the Gutenberg catalog and cross-referencing its titles with Goodreads ratings (details here):
Il film che io adoro è “Cime tempestose” di Laurence Olivier, al pari di “La vita è una cosa meravigliosa” di Frank Capra. (Hit) (Translation)
2. Jane EyreA young Brontëite in the Frankfurter Allgemeine; TeenInk reviews Jane Eyre 1996; Matryoshka (in Indonesian) reviews Jane Eyre; Pure Textuality posts about Eve Marie Mont's A Breath of Eyre; Shanna's Journal revisits Wuthering Heights; The Misfortune of Knowing is giving a Villette-inspired giveaway and is hosting a Villette readalong (on Twitter, #villettealong)
21. Wuthering Heights
106. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
144. Villette
200. Agnes Grey
226. Shirley
Mean-spirited Guinness World Record bosses have refused to recognise last weekend’s Kate Bush extravaganza as an official record – because the chosen song was not iconic enough.And a final appeal from the Friends of of the Brontë's Church as published in The Telegraph & Argus:
Saturday saw 300-plus Kate Bush lookalikes perform the dance moves to her 1978 hit Wuthering Heights in Brighton’s Stanmer Park. (...)
Fringe director Julian Caddy described the decision as “outrageous”, adding: “Why Guinness will not recognise 300 people dressed as Kate Bush dancing in a field I will never know.”
The Friends of the Brontë’s Church with the Haworth Parish Church Council are trying to organise a rota for stewarding the church at weekends between May and September. A list for volunteers to enter their names is the back of the church.
Unless explicitly said
