Lily Cole, the model and actor whose appointment as “creative partner” by the Brontë Society caused some tut-tutting earlier this year, has sailed blithely towards the gunfire by suggesting that a graphic novel version of Wuthering Heights, aimed at those aged nine and over, might introduce younger readers to Emily Brontë’s work. Well, why not?The New Yorker has some hilarious comments by children reading classics:
I’m intrigued, though, to read there also exist “baby lit versions of Wuthering Heights — picture books that introduce toddlers to the world of classic literature”. Here’s a book about insanity, obsessive love and domestic violence, with more than a whiff of incest and necrophilia. Let’s save all that for the nine and overs.
‘The man who groans and clenches his teeth as he struggles to resist the heroine’s fatal charms has been a staple of chick-lit ever since Jane Eyre.Atlas Obscura tells the story of one Glen Eden who collects artefacts with Glenn Eden on them:
‘The delusion that rape is the result of overwhelming sexual desire is a female delusion.’ There is some evidence to back up her claims that women are drawn to tales of murder and sexual violence – a 2010 study from the University of Illinois found that women were more likely to review true crime books on Amazon, and crime TV shows draw predominantly female audiences. (George Odling)
He is still hashing out other guidelines, he says, like whether a series of Emily Brontë poems addressed to a mysterious R. Gleneden are valid additions. “It feels like it’s not specific,” he says, holding the book open. “A person is harder. Because I’m the person—so if there’s others, it doesn’t work for the collection.” (Natasha Frost)Gleneden's Dream can be read here.
“I didn’t read until I was six. When I did, it suddenly clicked, I remember reading like I was hungry, reading anything — stuff I didn’t understand at all. I read The Hobbit over and over but also books like Jane Eyre, without really getting any of what it was really about. Those gothic emotions and sexual tension went completely over my head at the age of seven, but I found something to love in everything I read." (Marjorie Brennan)Perri Klass on the New York Times writes about losing your parents. A moving article:
When I was a child, I didn’t give much thought to whether he — or any other adult — was really an orphan. In fact, I thought orphan was a rather romantic storybook word, suggestive of children cast out to have adventures in a cruel uncaring world — “Oliver Twist,” “Jane Eyre,” “The Secret Garden,” “A Little Princess,” “Escape to Witch Mountain” (I grew up before “The BFG” or “Harry Potter”).The Brooklyn Rail interviews the writer Leslie Jamison:
Eric Farwell: You’re using your story as a way to connect to other explorations of addiction. You do a good job of just opening up those considerations. One thing that was interesting is that in your examination of literary addiction, most of the examples of literary addicts you point to are men, but you also take a lot of care to articulate the experience of Jean Rhys. I know you take the time to explain that female addiction stories are viewed as tragic or lesser-than, culturally speaking, but I’m curious about how you landed on Rhys as the primary female addiction story apart from your own.USA Today reviews the romance novel House of Cads by Elizabeth Kingston:
Jamison: I have always responded to her work—to the ways in which her novels explore consciousness and female consciousness in particular, and the way her narrators look at pain and self-pity, and performed-pain in particular. There were so many issues at the heart of her art that have also felt close to the heart of what I write about, so I think there was a kind of immediate resonance there. I was also really interested in the arc of her career, and in particular, how Wide Sargasso Sea (1966)—her final and most famous book—emerged from her four autobiographical early novels after a decade’s delay, and how it was a continuation of the themes of those early works—the spurned woman, the exiled woman, the love-lorn woman—but took their scenes in a totally new direction by engaging with this marginalized canonical figure (Jane Eyre’s Mrs. Rochester), and by ending with this massive act of what I read as articulate destruction—burning down Rochester’s estate. I was also interested in Rhys’s story as a kind of anti-recovery story because obviously she was never in twelve-step recovery, and she was never in any kind of sustained sobriety.
Unlike Jane Eyre’s Rochester, however, he doesn’t have a mad wife stashed in the attic, but he does have an inconvenient fiancée. When both Mason and Marie-Anne discover that Mason and one of the Shipley girls are entangled with each other, they’re faced with a conundrum of how to sort it out. (Keira Soleore)Vulture announces that Lady Macbeth will be soon available on HBO:
Left alone for an extended period of time, she begins an affair with a workman on the estate, and Katherine’s suffocating existence suddenly becomes an unbearably tense one as the affair is discovered. It’s Wuthering Heights as a tense-as-hell thriller, anchored by Pugh’s tremendous performance. (Joshua Rivera)Missoulian regrets the decline of literature as pleasure:
National studies (Pew, NEA) show that the number of Americans who read literature for pleasure is declining, and that this decline is most acute among teenagers. Thanks to digital technology, we are, in fact, reading a great deal more verbal text these days; but the habits cultivated by internet browsing tend to leave less time for the kind of patient attention that’s needed to peruse lengthy, rich books such as "The Odyssey," "The Divine Comedy," "Jane Eyre" or "Fools Crow." (Rob Browning)Quotidiano (Italy) looks for quotes appropriate for May 1st, Workers' Day. A quote from Wuthering Heights is chosen:
A person who has not done one half of his day's work by ten o'clock, runs a chance of leaving the other half undone.On Firstpost (India):
It has been a long and arduous history of us distancing ourselves from chick lit unless we are with our (female or non-male) besties, I think it is high time that we stopped lumping Charlotte Brontë and Meg Cabot in the same category. (Antara Telang)Indeed.
Tan pronto se tropieza en medio del campo nevado a Tolstoi, «disfrazado de pobre» para variar, como que se le aparece junto a la ventana de su habitación la madre Angélica Arnauld; lo mismo se deja acompañar por Homero o Micer Virgilio que por Emily Brontë «la Comevientos», Agustín de Foxá o Somoza, «el filósofo de Piedrahíta», junto a su compañero de escuela el poeta abulense Jacinto Herrero. (Fermín Herrero) (Translation)L'Express (France) takes for granted that Emily Brontë had Asperger's. A vocational librarian (and Brontëite) in The Robesonian. May's Book Club Selection on The Deliberate Reader is Wuthering Heights. Nick Holland presents his new book Emily Brontë: A Life in 20 poems (and a giveaway) in his blog. The Eyre Guide relaunches the 31 Days Jane Eyre Challenge.
What are some of your favorite books?The Millions reviews the 1979 book of essays The White Album by Joan Didion:
I have so many, so many writers I admire; that I loved as kid. I love George Lucas… I love Judy Blume, who lives here in Key West as well. She’s always been a big favorite of mine and I’m a big supporter and fan of hers. I love some of the classics, too, from Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë. (Shelly Davidov)
Look again at “On Self-Respect.” The whole essay is an act of gender-bending. Didion rejects the role of Cathy from Wuthering Heights, and of Francesca da Rimini. Instead, she compares herself to Raskolnikov and says she wants to be more like Rhett Butler. She puts Jordan Baker’s manhood up against Julian English’s: Jordan wins. And then there are the references to the Wild West, to Waterloo and the playing fields of Eton, and to Chinese Gordon holding Khartoum against the Mahdi. (Franklin Strong)Humo (Belgium) reviews the book Vernietiging by Jeff VanderMeer:
Wie iets wenst te snappen van het universum en de sfeer waarin de boeken zich gekluisterd weten, dient zich om te beginnen wat (om het éven wat) te kunnen voorstellen bij de combinatie H.P. Lovecraft meets‘Alien’ meets ‘Wuthering Heights’ meets ‘The Insider’. (Translation)Publico recommends Wuthering Heights 1939, today on Portuguese TV (TVC2, 18:05h) ; Maybe, I Dreamt You posts a nice Wuthering Heights 2011 movie meme.
There are many icons of Yorkshire – from brass bands to flat caps and from the Brownlee brothers to the Brontë sisters – but which best sum up the county? To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Dalesman, we’re asking readers to help us select the 75 greatest Yorkshire icons. And we’d like you to help by picking your top ten.The New Yorker on housemaids in literature:
It’s a tough choice, as the county has many icons. They can be people (real and fictional), places, foodstuffs, films, landmarks, buildings, companies, books… in fact just about anything that screams “Yorkshire” to you.
It could be Swaledale sheep and Brian Blessed or those great Yorkshire inventions the tension-spoked wheel and stainless steel. Or perhaps it is the Yorkshire dialect and a good old cup of tea. Or could it be the chorus of On Ilkla Moor Baht ’at and a perfectly risen Yorkshire pudding? The choice is yours.
You can cast your vote online on this page, or if you’d prefer, you can post or email your choices to us. Email your ten icons of Yorkshire to editorial@dalesman.co.uk, or write them down clearly on a piece of paper, or on the back of a postcard, and send them to Icons of Yorkshire, Dalesman, The Water Mill, Broughton Hall, Skipton, Yorkshire BD23 3AG.
If you’d like to briefly explain why you made your choices, you’re more than welcome to send us an accompanying paragraph or two. All votes will be collated and the top 75 will be revealed in Dalesman. The closing date for votes is 25 January 2014. Remember you may only choose TEN icons and they do not have to feature on the list below, however frivolous and/or offensive suggestions will not be counted.
[Virginia] Woolf wasn’t the only one to “blue-pencil” out the servants. While literature is filled with famous governesses—Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Thackeray’s Becky Sharp, and the unnamed narrator in James’s “The Turn of the Screw,” to name a few—the same isn’t true for housemaids. (...) [Jo] Baker’s novel [Longbourn] goes beyond escapist fantasy, drawing subtle comparisons between past and present. Much as Jean Rhys’s reimagining of “Jane Eyre” through a postcolonial perspective became popular in the late nineteen-sixties, when “Wide Sargasso Sea” was published, so is Baker’s class-conscious reconsideration of “Pride and Prejudice” representative of our own time. (Ruth Margalit)The Derby Telegraph runs an article about James Beresford and Sons in Belper, head stone manufacturers:
Many of them are relics of TV shows, commissioned by film companies to accompany programmes such as Peak Practice, whose production team was based up the road in Belper at the East Mill during the height of its popularity.Joanna Molloy in Capital New York addresses a letter to the new major, Bill de Blasio:
There are also memorial stones created for use during Jane Eyre, which was shot in Derbyshire. (Zena Hawley)
But even with the whole neighborhood rooting for you, it can get pretty pretty lonely way up there in Gracie Mansion, where the wind whips down from Hell Gate like a draft from the moors of Wuthering Heights.Scholars & Rogues has The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in its 2014 reading list:
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Anne Brontë. The most important of the youngest Brontë sister’s works. Some critics think this may be the greatest of all the works by this talented family.Examiner interviews the author Heather Webb:
What three novels could you read over and over?The Yalsa Hub talks with another author, Cat Winter:
I’m not a big re-reader. There are just so many great books out there. I do, however, love my copies of "Wuthering Heights", "Pride and Prejudice", and "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon.
Were you inspired by any other literary lovers, by chance?O Estado de São Paulo reviews the Brazilian DVD edition of Les Soeurs Brontë:
Yes, definitely. As a teenager I devoured classic Gothic novels, such as Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca.
Roland Barthes - o próprio - foi um entusiasta de primeira hora de André Téchiné. Apoiou-o assim que o crítico virou cineasta, e a tal ponto que aceitou ser ator em As Irmãs Brontë, que a Versátil está resgatando em DVD no País. (...)Jornal de Hoje (Brazil) talks about a couple of young local writers:
É um dos mistérios da literatura. Como as três filhas de um austero reverendo inglês do começo do século 19 se converteram nas irmãs mais cultuadas da história dos livros. Como, a despeito de sua rígida educação, Emily, Charlotte e Anne falaram do amor/paixão e exploraram áreas sombrias da natureza humana sem nunca ter saído de casa.
Charlotte ainda teve uma experiência como professora na Bélgica, mas as irmãs viveram confinadas em Haworth, numa casa pequena cuja frente se abria para o cemitério do lugar. O filme de Téchiné fornece uma pista. (Translation)
Embora ainda bem jovem, Ana Clara [Bezerra] não se limitou a ler livros voltados par adolescentes. “Eu até li Meg Cabot, só que o gênero não me atrai”, confessa. E desde cedo preferiu leituras mais complexas. Aos 11 anos leu O Morro dos Ventos Uivantes, de Emily Brontë, logo após entrou no universo de Graciliano Ramos com o livro Os Sertões e hoje está terminando de ler Os Miseráveis, de Victor Hugo. (Eduardo Siqueira) (Translation)Culturopoing (France) reviews Byzantium by Neil Jordan:
Qu'on ne se méprenne pas, Byzantium offre un romantisme bien plus intime que flamboyant, à travers deux portraits de femmes sœurs des héroïnes de Brontë aussi différentes que complémentaires, deux incarnations de la féminité antithétiques. (Translation)Do you want a complete Wuthering Heights metaphor in an article about ski? Done. In Olimpia Azzurra (Italy):
Le cime tempestose che i campioni del ciclismo mondiale hanno dovuto affrontare lo scorso maggio sono state tormentate tanto quanto l’amore di Heathcliff per la sua Catherine, ed in quei frangenti persino la minaccia incombente di doping, squalifiche più o meno recenti, delusioni che spesso hanno colpito il mondo dei velocipedisti, fa largo alla fascinazione estatica per un trionfo che ha dell’incredibile. (Chiara Mastrosani) (Translation)Several Italian websites recommend Jane Eyre 2011 as it is aired tonight on Rai 3 (21.05 h); Efecto Sinérgico (Spain) posts about Wuthering Heights and some of its film/TV adaptations; Vicktoritza (in Romanian) reviews Agnes Grey; Picture Me Reading has loved the English translation of Jane, le Renard et Moi.
La beauté du film d'Andrea Arnold est dans cette âpreté, dans ses climats puissants, dans une vision charnelle et rude de la nature. Les personnages ne parlent guère, mais ils bougent, ils galopent, ils s'agitent. Ce sont les corps qui se souviennent et qui s'expriment, qui souffrent et saignent. On n'est pas ici chez des aristocrates en dentelles, mais à la crête d'un lieu où l'on va les joues sales et les bottes crottées. Cette dimension naturaliste, alimentée par une mise en scène attentive aux détails, à la limite parfois du maniérisme mais sauvée par une sorte de froideur finale, ôte au récit une bonne part de son romantisme et de son pathos. (Sophie Avon) (Translation)The Independent reviews the new Great Expectations directed by Mike Newell and thinks it is not so daring as Cary Fukunaga's Jane Eyre or Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights:
Unlike the directors of the recent, more daring deconstructions of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, Newell and his screenwriter, David Nicholls (One Day), have gone for a literal, scene-by-scene translation of the book, with very little of the streamlining undertaken by David Lean for the classic 1946 version. (Nicholas Barber)I want art in my life reviews Jane Eyre 2011.
She took two parts – that of Polly and Fleur. She was joined by Joanna Page, later of Gavin And Stacey fame. The lead part of Lucy Snowe was taken by Catherine McCormack and other cast includes Dame Harriet Walter, Joseph Fiennes and James LaurensonThe Boston Globe talks about original interior designs. Including this one from Theodore & Company:
Delighted by a pair of cement French garden statuary she took out of storage, interior designer Kate McCusker of Theodore & Company got the yen to redecorate her Beacon Street office. The statues — otherwise known as “Romeo and Juliet” or, if you’re talking to Paula McCusker, Kate’s mother and business partner, “Catherine and Heathcliff” — are mounted on plinths and very French in style. Kate felt they were best suited for either a funky loft or a distinctly French room. The office, being rather small, made Parisian decor the obvious choice. (Marni Elyse Katz)We cannot imagine anything further away from the Wuthering Heights imagery than this, but to each their own.
If you're like me, you read a lot of classics in high school and college literature classes. Some of them stuck with me (like Jane Eyre and The Lord of the Rings trilogy), and others were just assignments to be completed. (Dee Fisher)Riverina Romantics interviews the writer Marina Adair:
Your bookshelf is on fire, you can only save what you can carry what do you save?Alone. Together. Fact. Fiction, Sam Read-'n-Write, xCacharel (on YouTube and in German) and My Little Secret World (in Portuguese) post about Wuthering Heights; ☆My Blog ☆ proposes a very ambitious Brontë challenge; Jak się czyta, to się nie myśli o sobie (in Polish) reviews The Professor; Idiots & Earthquakes. A Writer's Blog and BiblioPepe (in Swedish) posts about Jane Eyre; Portrait of a Maiden reviews the 1997 version; Sogni di Carta (in Italian) posts about Bianca Pitzorno's La Bambinaia Francese; The Simplicicity of Being Curious reviews Wuthering Heights 2009.
The complete works of Jane Austin (sic), Jane Eyre, The Mediator series and Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot, and of course all of Julie Garwood’s historicals.
Q: In a blog, you mention your concept of Girl Gothic. Can you explain that?The Sydney Morning Herald describes à la Brontë the Woolshed Cabins in the Blue Mountains, Australia:
A: “I grew up reading Gothic romance like ‘Jane Eyre’ and dark mysteries where the heroine tries to solve the mystery with paranormal elements. I wanted to write about a heroine who is not helpless, but helps the hero. It’s an empowered heroine. (Ginnie Graham)
The property's location is like an Australian version of Wuthering Heights, all rolling hills and creeks, with the odd white horse flicking its tail. (Samantha Selinger-Morris)Cantinho da Carolina is waiting for Wuthering Heights 2011 (in Portuguese); Sumergidos entre Libros (in Spanish) posts about the original novel; Libereading, Federico sabe leer (in French) and Libros y Literatura (in Spanish) review Jane Eyre; En svensk tiger i Oslo briefly talks about its 2011 adaptation (in Swedish); thanks to this review of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall on Kirjojen Maailma we know that Anne Brontë's novel in Finnish is Wildfell Hallin asukas; familymatters1234 (YouTube) discusses a collection of books by the Brontë sisters.
Adaptace klasického románu Charlotte Brontëové nešetří dechberoucími panoramatickými záběry na skotská vřešoviště, kýčovitou romantikou, která k žánru patří, ale ani překvapivě ponurým, místy až hororovým laděním. (Irena Zemanová in IHNed) (Translation)
Film je ale také velkou podívanou, v níž hraje významnou roli doba ve všech detailech od prostředí až po kostýmy. Tvůrci pečlivě zkoumali a reprodukovali módu třicátých a čtyřicátých let devatenáctého století, kdy ještě neexistovaly šicí stroje a všechno se šilo ručně. (Věra Míšková in Novinky) (Translation)Check also ČTK, Zpravy Rozhlas, CT24 or Karlovarský deník.
In a bold, new version of this oft-told tale, director Cary Joji Fukunaga infuses a contemporary immediacy into Brontë's timeless, classic story. Wasikowska ("Alice in Wonderland") and Fassbender ("Inglourious Basterds") star in the iconic lead roles of the romantic drama, the heroine of which continues to inspire new generations of devoted readers and viewers.The Hemel Gazette talks about new stand-up comedians performing these days at the Tringe Festival. We are rather curious about this routine:
While Steph Peart’s knowledge of Heathcliff and Cathy’s relationship in Wuthering Heights must surely have won her an A* at A-level, unlike her poor partner Jo Scott who, having never even read the book, is tasked with lecturing the audience on its intricacies. (...)The Mumbai Mirror celebrates the memory of the author Mala Sen and Jean Rhys:
You can see the novice stand-ups as they perform around the pubs of Tring on Sunday, July 3, from 7.30pm to 10.30pm.
The two best acts will also be joining one of comedy’s elder statesmen, Arthur Smith, when he appears at the Court Theatre in Tring on Thursday, July 7, 8pm.
Rhys’ best-known book continues to be the re-write of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847), which she titled Wide Sargasso Sea (1966).The San Francisco Chronicle reviews The Secret History of Costaguana by Juan Gabriel Vasquez:
It humanizes Brontë’s “mad woman in the attic,” the first Mrs Rochester by giving her a background where she grew up, people who loved her, before she was slowly driven to despair and madness.
The novel is set in 1834 or so, after the Emancipation of slaves in British-owned Jamaica. The slaves have been freed, but there has been no compensation. (...)
The novel also humanizes Mr Rochester who, in the Brontë novel appears to be an erotic fantasy figure. Rochester too is, in a sense, an orphan. As the second son of an English family, he has to find his way in the world, as the estate will go to the oldest son.
He goes to the West Indies in search of an heiress, and is persuaded by a bribe of 30,000 pounds to marry Antoinette. The marriage is arranged by Richard Mason, Antoniette’s step-father’s son. But he finds everything disturbing:
“Everything is too much,” he thinks.” Too much blue, too much purple, too much green. The flowers too red, the mountains too high, the hills too near. And the woman is a stranger.”
Wide Sargasso Sea is a haunting novel. Jean Rhys was herself a white West Indian, born in Dominica. Despite the fact that she had written several fine novels and stories, she remained unknown till the publication of Wide Sargasso Sea. Her fame, she said in an interview, came too late for her to care very much about it.
While re-reading the book this week, I came across one or two details I wasn’t sure of. I thought, automatically, as one does, I must ask Mala. (Eunice De Souza)
Like Aime Cesaire’s A Tempest, which critiques Shakespeare’s take on Caliban, or Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, an ardent “prequel” of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, this second novel by Juan Gabriel Vasquez is first and foremost an extended meditation on Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo, published in 1904 and set in a fictional South American republic named Costaguana. (Roberto Ignacio Díaz)The Village Voice joins in the current discussion of the 'artistic' condition of videogames (yes / no) with this comparison:
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court struck down a California law banning the sale of violent video games to minors on the grounds that video games are art. You may argue that the highest court in the land knows bunk about either video games or art, but their decision gives Crash Bandicoot the same first First Amendment protection as Jane Eyre. (Nick Greene)The Herald-Mail interviews Meg Cabot who goes one step further in admitting her Brontëiteness:
But Cabot never considered writing, "although I'm not embarrassed to admit I wrote 'Jane Eyre' fan fiction," she said. (Marie Gilbert)Las Provincias (Spain) interviews the writer Silvia Grijalba:
-¿A qué obedece el cambio de registro de sus ensayos hacia 'Contigo aprendí'?The same author is also interviewed in El Mundo (Spain):
-Me lo pedía la historia, que está inspirada en la vida de mi abuela, es ella la que inspira el libro, pero no es una biografía, está pasada por la ficción. Necesitaba una estructura clásica, casi decimonónica, al estilo de Jane Austen o las hermanas Brontë. (Translation)
-¿Tienes algún escritor de referencia?¿Te gusta alguna obra en especial o que recuerdas siempre con un cariño único?Several Spanish media celebrate Bernard Herrmann's 100th birthday and mention his Wuthering Heights opera:
-Tengo muchísimos y muy variados. Desde las hermanas Brönte(sic), Jane Austen, Fitzgerald o Thomas Hardy e Ishiguro que han podido influir en esta novela[.] (Translation)
Esperemos que este año de conmemoración sirva para conocer también mejor sus partituras no cinematográficas,en la que destaca su ópera Wuthering Heights (Cumbres Borrascosas), basada en el gran clásico de Emily Brontë, para algunos su gran obra maestra[.] (Ana Vega Toscana in RTVE.es) (Translation)
Aunque para uno de sus filmes -'Hangover Square', entre nosotros 'Concierto macabro'- ya había escrito un concierto para piano y orquesta, las partituras de ese tipo son en general ajenas al cine. Las más importantes son una sinfonía, varias obras para cuerdas, incluidos una cuarteto y una 'sinfonieta', piezas para orquesta de cámara, un ballet, diversas cantatas, obras para voz y piano y piano solo. También escribió una ópera basada en 'Cumbres borrascosas' y una comedia musical. (César Coca in El Diario Montañés) (Translation)Also in La Nación (Argentina). QoBuz (France) announces the possibility that a recording of Wuthering Heights (possibly the one at the Montpellier Festival last year) will be released by the Accord label. Finally NMZ (Germany) says:
Bei 20th Century Fox fand Herrmann ab 1944 ein Jahrzehnt lang eine neue musikalische Heimat. Schon die Motive aus seinem ersten Fox-Film "Jane Eyre" sollten den "schwarzen Romantiker" lange verfolgen und später in seiner großartigen Bronté-Oper "Wuthering Heights" wieder auftauchen. (Viktor Rotthaler) (Translation)20 Minutos (Spain) reviews the recently published En voz activa. El papel de la mujer en la ficción inglesa (XVII-XX) by María del Mar Rivas Carmona where:
Desde The Contract (Margaret Cavendish, 1656) a The Summer before the Dark (Doris Lessing, 1973), pasando por las obras de Aphra Behn, Mary Wollstonecraft, Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, las hermanas Brontë, George Eliot o Virginia Woolf, entre otras, es "posible rastrear un hilo conductor a través del que las mujeres han descrito su tradicional adscripción a un papel fijo y a una esfera limitada, la privada". (Europa Press) (Translation)Las Horas Perdidas (Spain) quotes the director Pablo Berger saying about his upcoming Snow White film:
La acción se desarrollará en los años 20 y la película será muda y en blanco y negro. Berger asegura que su versión de Blancanieves será un melodrama gótico, que no se acercará a la versión animada de Walt Disney sino a Cumbres Borrascosas de Emily Brönte (sic). (Translation)Le Monde (France) publishes an article about the comic author Yumiko Igarashi, creator of Candy, Candy:
Avec ses yeux verts, ses taches de rousseur et son optimisme à tous crins, Candy doit aussi beaucoup à Anne of Green Gables (Anne, la maison aux pignons verts, 1908), un roman culte de la littérature de jeunesse écrit par la Canadienne Lucy Maud Montgomery. Certains, comme Patrick Gaumer, auteur du Dictionnaire mondial de la BD (Larousse), verront également dans la quête initiatrice de la petite orpheline des allusions à Charles Dickens (David Copperfield) ou Emily Brontë (Les Hauts de Hurlevent). (Frédéric Potet) (Translation)A valedictorian speech with a mention to Jane Eyre in the Dansville-Genesee Country Express; a local Brontëite in the Hamilton-Wenham Patch; Livraria da Folha (Brazil) mentions the Portuguese translation of Brian Dillon's The Hypochondriacs (Tormented Hope). On the blogosphere both Book Shelf and With Love post about Jane Eyre, Paperblog posts about her author, Charlotte Brontë in Spanish, Celluloïdz reviews I Walked with a Zombie 1943 (in French).
Condensing the lives of four siblings over almost four decades into two an half hours is not easy. When that family is the Brontës, the task would seem impossible.Howard Jacobson writes in The Independent about the Carmen Callil-Philip Roth Man Booker's Prize controversy:
However, Polly Teale not only manages it, but offers a much more complex portrayal of the sisters and their brother Branwell. Here Charlotte is a talented writer, but she’s also domineering, relentlessly ambitious and at times, plain selfish. Directed by Nancy Meckler, the action cuts between the family at home and their fictional creations. At times it’s a little laboured, but the play is saved from cliche by some stand-out performances.
Kristin Atherton shines as the often unlikable Charlotte, Elizabeth Crarer plays Emily with a perfect mad glint in her eye. Flora Nicholson successfully brings the usually two-dimensional Anne to life, while Mark Edel-Hunt often steals the scene as Branwell, the brother intent on self-destruction.
Too often the Brontë legacy is treated with kid gloves and while Teale may employ a little artistic licence, the result is great drama. (Sarah Freeman)
It has already been well argued that the charge of going "on and on" would knock out most writers from Rabelais to Proust, and that as many women writers are as interested in themselves as women as male writers are interested in themselves in men. Reader, when it comes to novelists sitting on your face, nothing beats the experience of having all three Brontë sisters lowering themselves on you simultaneously.We read in El País (Spain) about the new project of the writer Elif Batuman:
Mientras mantiene sus colaboraciones con The New Yorker prepara su segundo libro: "Una reflexión sobre el amor y el matrimonio, una novela gótica sobre Charlotte Brontë, que antes me parecía solo una escritora para chicas y se ha convertido en mi nueva obsesión". (Elsa Fernández-Santos) (Translation)It seems that the Heathcliffgate will be after Gordon Brown even now that he is considered to be president of the IMF:
We can't have someone in charge who doesn't accept how important it is to bear down on excess debt, Cameron trilled brightly when putting the boot in. We're yet to discover how well Dave does on that score. It could be less well than the glowering Heathcliff of the heather. (Michael White in The Guardian)
It takes some remembering, but in the days when people read newspapers, the Iron Chancellor was similarly feted. He was both saviour of the economy and Heathcliff lookalike. GB was number one on the Observer's "Lust List" for a "Bohemian Rhapsody"-busting 14 weeks (eventually ceding to Piers Morgan). The likes of Carmen Callil wrote "long think pieces in GQ magazine" imagining the Great Man sitting on their face. Yet within a decade he would be forlorn and forgotten. (Gideon Donald in New Statesman)The performance of Beyoncé's new single 1+1 in American Idol is described by Crunk like this:
The song sounds a lot like, “What if Alicia Keys could sing a Prince inspired song without sounding like Heathcliff hooked up to an oxygen machine?”We have said before that considering the Brontës a precedent of chick-lit was not only wrong but misleading. This article in the Sabotage Times is a correct measure of how dangerous comments like that are:
Chick-flick. The very word alone is enough to send an apathetic shudder down the backs of most red-blooded males. Bridget Jones’ shopping list – groan, The Bronte sisters’ Parisian hen night – pffffft, Carrie Bradshaw’s endless, seeping, BULLSHIT inner-monologue? Zeus, Vishnu, Diana, if any of you are up there, kill me now. (Adam Clery)An article about the Paganisan province in Philippines in The Philippine Enquire contains a curious Brontë reference:
The resort has two viewpoints that are, as the media colleagues pointed out, nice spots for writing. So I felt like Heathcliff on the cliff brooding over the Yorkshire moors. Or, to make it more Hollywoodish, we felt like Leonardo DiCaprio in “Titanic”—“on top of the world.” (Amadís Ma. Guerrero)The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle talks about Paula Haffen, webmaster of Living Gluten Free Rochester who is reading Jane Eyre; and former Olympic champion swimmer Mark Tewksbury will read it soon according to The Globe and Mail; St Albert Gazette (Canada) mentions Jane Eyre 2011.
There is not a whit of humor in Jane Eyre. I defy anyone to point out anything funny anywhere in the novel. One could legitimately view it as a humorless, orthodox Christian screed. (Brassawe)We cannot but be a bit perplexed. Shall we take up the challenge? Let's begin with Jane's answer to Mr Brocklehurst:
Mr. Brocklehurst: And what is hell? Can you tell me that?Espido Freire, author of Querida Jane, Querida Charlotte, slips a Brontë reference in her column in ADN (Spain):
Jane Eyre: A pit full of fire.
Mr. Brocklehurst: And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there forever?
Jane Eyre: No sir.
Mr. Brocklehurst: What must you do to avoid it?
Jane Eyre: I must keep in good health and not die.
Es lo que tiene la falta de experiencia en trepar entre huecos de escaleras mientras se habla por el móvil. Emily Brontë, tuberculosa y todo, lo hubiera logrado. (Translation)EFE (Spain) lists some of the favourite writers of the author Carmen Posadas:
Entre sus autoras favoritas figuran, las inglesas Emily Brontë, Jane Austen y Virginia Woolf, pero no deja de destacar a la española Santa Teresa, a quien calificó como su "favorita de todos los tiempos", no solo por su obra religiosa sin también como "precursora del psicoanálisis". (Translation)The new film by Pablo Berger, an artsy new version of Snow White, is described in El Correo (Spain):
Su versión será «muy libre, oscura y sombría, más cerca de 'Rebeca' y 'Cumbres borrascosas' que de los dibujos animados». (Oskar L. Belategui) (Translation)Once again, Meg Cabot's Brontëiteness is mentioned. In an interview on Paperblog (Italy):
Sul tuo sito ufficiale hai postato un lungo elenco dei tuoi autori preferiti classici e contemporanei. Mi puoi dire qual è il più rappresentativo per te?The South Korean film Hanyo (The Housemaid) is reviewed by Mauxa (Italy):
Amo i libri di ogni tipo: per bambini, chick-lit, di memorie, fumetti, romanticismo, horror, fantascienza e romanzi fantasy. Non c’è effettivamente un genere che non abbia letto e amato... Persino i "classici", come Jane Eyre di Charlotte Brontë e Orgoglio e Pregiudizio di Jane Austen. (Alessandraz) (Translation)
Euny, infatti, Jane Eyre d'oriente, vive con timorata compiacenza l'amore del suo signore-padrone. Rigida e svuotata, si abbandona alla passione in maniera compiacente, remissiva. (Giulio Trivelli) (Translation)Cyberpresse (Canada) talks about the French translation of Claire Holden Rothman's The Heart Specialist:
En 1869, à St. Andrew's East, village au nord-ouest de Montréal rebaptisé Saint-André-d'Argenteuil, l'une de nos plus brillantes scientifiques voyait le jour. Maude Abbott a affronté mille obstacles pour percer le masculin univers de la médecine, après une enfance digne d'un roman gothique, où planait le spectre des soeurs Brontë. (Sylvie St-Jacques) (Translation)A new blog about the Brontës (in Portuguese) has now joined the blogosphere: Leituras Brontëanas, which today has a post on Jane Eyre 1944. Her Telden writes in Turkish about the 2006 adaptation while Worthwhile Books and Passionista post about the actual novel. The Loud Librarian reviews briefly Syrie James's The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë. Mujeres en la historia has a post on Charlotte Brontë in Spanish. Flickr user Hannah Harding has created a series of drawings inspired by Wuthering Heights.
Moviegoers who are wondering what to do after voting and before election results come out have a great opportunity to attend Vernon Film Society’s next show Monday, May 2. [...]And the Idaho Mountain Express reveals that the film will also be shown locally:
Jane Eyre will screen at the Vernon Towne Cinema Monday at 5:15 and 7:45 p.m. All tickets are $7 and are available at Bean Scene one week prior to the showing and at the door.
The Magic Lantern Cinemas in Ketchum will hold its annual Spring Film Festival featuring six independent films. The festival will run from Friday, April 29, through Friday, May 20.More information on the Jane Eyre screenings here.
For the festival, he [Magic Lantern Cinemas owner Rick Kessler] chose "Jane Eyre," "Nowhere Boy," "Of Gods and Men," "Win Win," "The Concert" and "The Conspirator."
The first week of the festival will include "Jane Eyre," "Nowhere Boy" and "Of Gods and Men." (Sabina Dana Plasse)
Will this version of Jane Eyre inspire others to check out the novel? I think it will. While it does contain some flaws, Cary Fukunaga has established himself as a fine filmmaker, one who has an equal amount of intelligence with visuals as he does working with actors. I look forward to seeing what he has to offer in the future. Here, he focuses on Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender, who hand in terrific performances with a superb supporting cast that includes Jamie Bell, Judi Dench, and Sally Hawkins. The distinct style and structure will develop a following, but the problem with all these revisits of classic novels is that unless they can find a way to overtake the best adaptation, it will be tough for them to stand out. I'd still recommend this, if not for fans of the book then for fans of the two outstanding stars. This is probably still being shown in some of the smaller arthouse theaters, but it should be on its way to DVD before long. (Chad Webb)Red & Black mostly likes it too:
Wasikowska has moments when she captures Jane’s spirit and her soul shines out, but most of these moments are quiet and fleeting.The Daily Tribune publishing editor recommends it as well:
For the most part, she seems flat, failing to impart the passion that Rochester supposedly sees in Jane.
On the other hand, Fassbender plays Rochester with just the right mix of brooding and manipulation.
His performance is much more subtle than the Rochesters who have come before him, which makes his character harder, at first, to grasp.
He doesn’t yell and stomp around as much, and this makes him seem not as sick or frustrated as he needs to be.
Whereas Wasikowska’s understated performance leaves too many feelings and thoughts unstated, Fassbender manages to portray depth through his. [...]
Fukunaga’s movie does not reinvent the wheel, but it does give the 21st-century its own version of the gothic romance.
In a market glutted with dark tales of love and loss, it is a welcome addition — a film with a heart as well as a brain. (Sarah Smith)
Sharon and I recently slipped into Dallas to see Jane Eyre at the Angelica. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.The Evansville Courier & Press reviews it briefly 'from a family perspective'. The high school journal Clarion, Junto Letras (in Portuguese) and Ionarts review the film too.
This was my first experience with the Charlotte Brontë gothic romance on the big screen. The theater allowed me to avoid all those at home distractions that can keep you from immersing yourself in the story.
I won’t say Mia Wasikowska, Judi Dench and Michael Fassbender did a better job than other productions, but their efforts were certainly commendable.
If you are in the mood to slurp some classic culture, you can do worse than spending a dark and stormy night with Jane. (Bob Palmer)
billed as a quirky comedy set in a Brisbane video store where Jackie and Lucy (collectively ‘Jucy’) plot a way out of their boredom by getting involved in a local production of Jane Eyre, angling to snag the local heartthrob and a new job into the bargain. (Stuart Kemp)The Pikes Peak Courier View talks to a local English teacher who talks about his experience teaching Wuthering Heights:
In teaching the English novel by Emily Brontë, “Wuthering Heights,” Leonard manages to elicit positive feedback. “They complain all the way through but, in my lecture, when I show them why it’s an important book, they agree that it’s a great book,” he said. (Pat Hill)Author Meg Cabot also does her bit bringing the Brontës to youngsters. She is interviewed by The Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy.
John Hayden [from her new novel Abandon] wouldn’t be easily mistaken for a lighthearted love interest—he’s joining the brooding ranks of Edward Cullen, Stefan and Damon Salvatore, Dimitri Belikov, etc. What do you think attracts readers to darker heroes?A.V. Club has some thoughts on completism:
The same thing that attracted Elizabeth Bennet to Mr. Darcy and Jane Eyre to Mr. Rochester. Darkly moody men can be irresistible because we’re drawn to that which we don’t understand… People can be extremely compelling when they seem dangerous, especially when they’re as dark and mysterious as John in “Abandon.” And of course, Pierce is drawn to him in a way she can’t understand. And that might be what scares her most of all.
But John—like Darcy with Elizabeth, and Rochester with Jane—is the only person who truly understands Pierce, and what she’s been through. (Gina Bernal)
The latter means just accepting that, yeah, you’re going to miss some good stuff. A lot of good stuff. But that’s okay. It’s a big world with abundant deposits of good stuff, and while it’s sad that you’re not going to get to it all—be it Charlotte Brontë, Jackson Pollock, or The Moonglows—isn’t it kind of wonderful that we live in a world with too much to experience in one lifetime? (Keith Phipps)Well, from BrontëBlog we would suggest not missing Charlotte Brontë (or her family) but then again we're mostly preaching to the choir here.
Masturbating in public is always illegal, whether you’re doing it to internet porn or Jane Eyre, so that shouldn’t be an issue as long as there’s some diligent librarian to enforce it (and my God what an awful job that would be). (Sam Biddle)Blogosphere thoughts on Jane Eyre (the novel): The Oddness of Moving Things, The Story Girl, Rose Vignettes, Se liga! (in Portuguese) and Veverita's Blog (in Romanian). Booktalk & More has Laurel Ann from Austenprose write a guest post on Jane Eyre 1944. Michael Bryant reflects on the Brontës and English literature. Pamflet reviews Shared Experience's revival of Polly Teale's Brontë. Through the Wardrobe mentions briefly Rachel Ferguson's The Brontës Went to Woolworths. And finally, Readin' and Dreamin' reviews Jude Morgan's The Taste of Sorrow.
Sally Reeve, Martha in Jane Eyre 2011, has published on her website a picture in her Jane Eyre costume:I’m currently filming Jane Eyre – directed by the wonderful Cary Fukunaga and produced by Ruby Films. Obviously as we’re in production I can’t say TOO much – apart from I’m having the most fun I’ve ever had on a film set. Just finished my first chunk of filming and it’s a total joy. There’s a wonderful company feel – no huge egos, no stress, just a group of people working together on an amazing script by Moira Buffini. I love everything about this job – it’s a dream! More details as they come and a sneek peak here of me in my costume….Juliet Gael, author of Romancing Miss Brontë is a Wichita native and the local newspaper Wichita Eagle has an article on her and invites readers to a book signing next Thursday, April 29:
The Romantic period of English literature and romance itself figure into the title of the new novel "Romancing Miss Brontë" (Ballantine, 414 pages, $25) , says author Juliet Gael. She has taken the life of Charlotte Brontë — author of "Jane Eyre" — as a subject. The book is fiction, but based on the facts of Brontë's life: her tragic family life that included the loss of her mother and all of her siblings, her and her sisters' foray into writing and pseudonymous publishing, her later fame as an author, and, ultimately, her marriage to her father's curate at an age long past when she'd been considered an "old maid."The Telegraph thinks that Chris Morris, director of the upcoming film Four Lions, and Emily Brontë are twin souls:
Gael, a Wichita native and North High graduate who now lives in Italy, studied literature at KU and went on to become a screenwriter. She turned to novels, she said in an e-mail, for two reasons: storytelling and control. "I'm a reader and I love words — I love the flow of words and language and I love storytelling." In Hollywood, she said, "I met a lot of screenwriters who never read novels."
And screenwriting is an inherently collaborative process, since ultimately it takes hundreds of people to produce a film. "But the work of a novel," she notes, "begins and ends with the writer. The novelist takes full responsibility for what ends up on the printed page."
"Romancing Miss Brontë" is her first foray into novel-writing, but the seed was planted nearly two decades ago when Gael visited Haworth, the Brontës' home village in the Yorkshire moors, in the course of a graduate seminar on the Brontë sisters. She found the story of Charlotte's life in particular fascinating, and kept the story of "Romancing Miss Brontë" very close to the events of Brontë's life. (...)
Gael said she's hoping readers of her book will rediscover "Jane Eyre" and other Brontë novels. "There are a lot of readers who will, hopefully, be drawn to read and discover the Brontë literature from reading about their lives and the creation of their work," she said. "'Jane Eyre' continually engages readers. Charlotte captured, in that little plain-Jane governess, the heart and soul of all passionate women who long to be seen and loved for qualities other than their appearance." (Lisa McLendon)
Reading and book-signing by Wichita native Juliet Gael, author of "Romancing Miss Bronte"
Watermark Books, 4701 E. Douglas When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Free For more information, call 316-682-1181.
The distance between Emily Brontë and Chris Morris is not as great as you might imagine.Los Angeles Times's Jacket Copy talks about Meg Cabot's latest book:
If it really existed, Brontë’s much-filmed Wuthering Heights would be just up the road from the sharply realised Sheffield of Four Lions, Morris’s astonishing, soon-to-be-released comedy about terrorism. (I’d recommend leaving the M1 at junction 38, proceeding through Huddersfield and Halifax, turning left just before Keighley.)
And both stories deal with Yorkshire grit, bookending a long tradition of uncompromising movies set in God’s Own County. Here, in chronological order, is my top 10:
Wuthering Heights (1939)
In William Wyler’s Oscar-winner (for best black-and-white cinematography), Laurence Olivier plays Heathcliff opposite Merle Oberon’s Cathy. The original review in Variety complained: “Dramatic episodes are vividly etched, without benefit of lightness. It’s heavy fare throughout” – as if this was inappropriate! The recent success of the Twilight series of novels (and films) has apparently revived the popularity of Brontë’s tale, with the result that a new movie version is in the works. (Marc Lee)
She’s a geek -- she used to write "Star Trek" and "Jane Eyre" fan fiction. (Casey Chan)On the Galveston County Daily News the English vs American "language war" is recalled:
Generations of Americans were intimidated by these haughty British claims, and many Americans conceded automatic superiority to anything English, especially in matters of speech and literature.The Times publishes an article about Katharine Hepburn's affaire with Howard Hughes and a reference to her performing Jane Eyre in theatre crops up:
Americans slavishly looked up to Dickens, Matthew Arnold, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë and Anne Brontë, while the British refused even to read American writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe and Herman Melville. (Harold Raley)
But she certainly wasn’t heartbroken, and threw herself into preparing for a starring role in a play based on Jane Eyre. It was now a year since her first encounter with Howard Hughes, and he was about to re-enter her life once more by descending from a clear blue sky. (...)More mentions: A bookcase is not complete without Wuthering Heights according to the Times-Transcript, The Hindu publishes a belated review of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society:
“He asked me if I could have dinner with him the next week. I told him I’d be in Boston, where I would be doing Jane Eyre. When I arrived in Boston, there were flowers from Howard, who had taken the largest suite at the Ritz, where I was staying. My room was so filled with flowers, there was hardly room for me. (Charlotte Chandler)
What begins as a life saver soon becomes a life line and as Juliet soon discovers, the core members not only show an interest in Shakespeare, Seneca and the Brontës, but are also fiercely protective of one another. (Nirmala Lakshman)Fantasy/Sci-Fi Lovin' Giveaways! gives away three copies of Sherri Browning Erwin's Jane Slayre (deadline: May 4); A Literary Fest reviews Wide Sargasso Sea; a little right reading posts another photo collage contribution to Brontë-Along!; you old chicken posts about Wuthering Heights and Chen's Blog about Jane Eyre.
thering Heights (on the right, a promotional picture) in Red Deer, Alberta (Canada):Red Deer College theatre students are planning to stage two well-known works: The fairy tale Beauty and the Beast will be presented as a Christmas-time musical at the RDC Arts Centre, while an original version of Emily Bronte’s brooding novel Wuthering Heights — a stark tale of cruelty and thwarted love — will be a melodramatic Valentine’s offering. (Lana Michelin)It is scheduled for next February (11-13).
The novel’s ending, which invokes Jane Eyre, comes out of left field. It will delight you and leave a sweet aftertaste. (Rebecca Wigod)Writers Read asks Margot Livesey what she is reading:
Currently I'm re-reading Jane Eyre, and marvelling all over again at Bronte's capacity to invoke the giant passions of childhood and the stages of Jane's journey as she makes her way from girlhood to adulthood. This time I'm trying to pay more attention to Bronte's handling of religion throughout the novel. She was, after all, a minister's daughter.EDIT: And The Boston Globe insists on Margot Livesey's love of Jane Eyre:
Margot Livesey kicks off theÉpoca (Brazil) interviews the author Meg Cabot:Celebrity Bookclub at Newtonville Books this week. The club was her idea; she thought it would be fun for authors to lead a discussion of a favorite book. Livesey selected “Jane Eyre’’ by Charlotte Bronte, a book that she pays homage to in her most recent novel, “The House on Fortune Street.’’ Many readers first encounter “Jane Eyre’’ at a young age and develop a more complicated response to it as adults. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday. (Jan Gardner)
ÉPOCA – O que você costuma ler na sua infância e adolescência?La Repubblica (Italy) quotes Jane Eyre in an article about interior design:
Meg – Eu amava Jane Austen. Mas também gostava de livros mais populares. Eu lia, na verdade, tudo que chegava às minhas mãos: romance, ficção científica, fantasia, livros de humor, Stephen King, Agatha Christie, Charlote Bronte, Michael Crichton, Bram Stoker, Harper Lee. Eu adorava todos.. (Bing translation)
E da queste righe, come un lampo, ci appaiono dettagli di quadri di Vermeer. Praz, per sottolineare queste differenze, poi analizzate nelle altre pagine del libro, dove ci passano davanti case medievali e interni Impero, cucine ottocentesche e salotti liberty, cita, fra i tanti autori, la Charlotte Bronte di Jane Eyre: «Era un leggiadro salotto che conteneva un boudoir; entrambi avevano tappeti bianchi su cui sembravano deposte ghirlande di fiori, entrambi avevan soffitti con nivei stucchi di grappoli e di foglie di vite, sotto cui ardevano con ricco contrasto divani e ottomane di color cremisi». (Bing translation)Têtu (France) presents like this the new film by Maria Beatty, Bandaged:
Imaginez le romantisme des Hauts de Hurlevent d'Emily Brontë, le côté oppressant de Psychose d'Hitchcock et le fétichisme de Fassbinder, et vous aurez une idée de ce que va provoquer en vous Bandaged... (Xavier Leherpeur) (Bing translation)According to the Łódź Gazeta (Poland) the autum-winter collection of Hexeline is inspired by the moors of Wuthering Heights:
Wiemy już, czym inspirowali się projektanci łódzkich firm odzieżowych. I tak: głównym motywem jesienno-zimowej kolekcji Hexeline jest wiatr na wrzosowiskach. Projektantki przełożyły to hasło na zbiór charakterystycznych motywów kojarzących się np. z "Wichrowymi wzgórzami" Emily Bronte, ale też z elementami popkultury, np. Robin Hoodem. (Izabella Adamczewska) (Google translation)Silvia Mina wins a singing contest in Italy with Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights (on targatocn)
Unless explicitly said
