The Brontës hit the red carpet

According to icWales, poet Zoë Brigley will prepare a new Brontë-inspired book after the release of her new book The Secret:

Her next planned project also has a female friendly theme.
“I’d like my next book to be about the Bronte sisters. It’s not formulated yet but I want to write a series of poems working into who they are and the stereotypes surrounding them. I think it will be a real challenge.” (Gemma Roberts)

It sounds like a very interesting project which we hope will turn out great.

Last week Andrea Galer won an Emmy for her Jane Eyre costumes. People Magazine asked her to do the following afterwards:

Four Emmy-nominated costume designers whipped up Emmy looks for their lead characters — just in case they could step through the tube and hit the red carpet.You can see Andrea Galer's beautiful sketch on the left. And here's more information on it:

Costume Designer: Andrea Galer (winner of this year’s Emmy for best costume design)

The two-time Emmy award winner, Andrea Galer, sketched a dress for noted lead Jane Eyre, played by Ruth Wilson, infused with lace, bias cuts, and a deep blood red. “It is central that I link my film work to the present day,” says Galer, who specializes in 19th century costuming. “My work leads you to consider the aims of the writer, Charlotte Bronte, and her passion for Jane Eyre.” Making room for another golden statue, Galer is “delighted to have picked up this award. I am proud.”(Image courtesy of Andrea Galer. Source.)

Don't forget the rest of the Emmy Awards will take place tonight. Fingers crossed Jane Eyre 2006 will win the awards for the two other categories it's nominated for (Direction and Writing)!

On another news, the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch reviews Valerie Martin's Trespass and Wuthering Heights, as usual, is mentioned

Why is Chloe [the main character] so preoccupied with the madness and violence in "Wuthering Heights," the book she is illustrating? (Shirley K. Murray)

Labingi posts about Wuthering Heights as slash and Monday Morning publishes a couple of Brontë-related posts: one on visiting Haworth and the Brontë Parsonage Museum and another one on Haddon Hall, Thornfield Hall in both Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre and Jane Eyre 2006.

Categories: Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Poetry

Read More

Bats and thieves

We have posted several times about Andrea Galer's initiative Power of Hands (check these old posts for background information). We read in Hampstead & Highgate Express extremely disturbing and sad news:

Andrea Galer, who famously tailored Richard E Grant's overcoat for the film Withnail and I, has lost months of work and thousands of pounds following the break-in at her studio in Haverstock Hill.
Burglars entered on Friday night and made off with unique samples due to be marketed to leading fashion stores and sold to aid Sri Lankan survivors of the 2004 tsunami.
"Every single item in the collection has gone, about 20 pieces of clothing," said Ms Galer, who set up the Power of Hands Foundation to help Sri Lankan lace makers.
"It constitutes everything I have been working on for the past four months. I have financed this entire project by myself and built it up over two years.
"The clothes were just getting ready to be presented to the big fashion stores.
"Now the whole collection is lost. This project was designed to save lives. It makes me very sad."
Ms Galer's clothes have graced the silver screen for productions including Jane Eyre, Mansfield Park, Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie's Poirot and Spooks.
Having started out her career 30 years ago in a shop in England's Lane, she has become a leading designer highly sought-after by film and television directors.
As well as designing for the big screen, she is also passionate about helping the traditional Sri Lankan lace makers rebuild their lives following the tsunami disaster.
"I am the only person in the world who is helping this group of people," she added.
"The Power of Hands Foundation is a huge project, and these were the first samples aimed at helping the lace makers rebuild their lives.
"The whole collection has been taken by someone who either doesn't know what they've got their hands on or who is deliberately trying to sabotage the project.
"It looks like a professional job. The door wasn't forced open but may have been opened with a special key." (...)
"All the ladies' items were made from Sri Lankan silk. No arrests have been made at this stage and enquiries are continuing."
If you have information which might help the police, call 020-7404 1212. (Ed Thomas)

We know how much this project meant for Andrea Galer since we interviewed her some months ago. We are deeply sorry for her.

The Yorkshire Evening Post talks about bats surrounding Brookroyd, Ellen Nussey's home:

PLANS to build 13 houses on a plot overlooked by an historic house with Bronte connections could be foiled... by bats!
The little critters have been spotted – allegedly – in the area around Brookroyd House at Birstall, near Batley, the former home of Ellen Nussey, one of Charlotte Bronte's close friends.
A report to the council states: "Development shall not commence until a bat survey has been undertaken." (...)
Brookroyd House has just been sold – the property has a lounge, dining room, cellar and gardens to three sides, detached garage and vacant possession, and was on the market a year ago for £360,000.
Brookroyd House was built in 1780 and is the former home of Charlotte's best friend Ellen Nussey, who is buried in the grounds of nearby St Peter's Church. It has original Georgian floors and fireplaces.
Charlotte was a regular visitor and put the finishing touches to Jane Eyre at the house. (Neil Hudson)

Categories: Brontëana, In the News

Read More

Further on Andrea Galer's work for Jane Eyre 2006

Andrea Galer has been kind enough to answer a few questions we posed her regarding her work in the upcoming BBC production of Jane Eyre. Here they are:

We are curious to know whether your take on the costumes was completely unrelated to previous productions of the novel or whether you had previously looked at those too. We are also acquainted with the film Firelight, which we have also thought to be very similar to Jane Eyre. We loved it when we first heard you were to design the costumes for this new Jane Eyre, because the costumes in Firelight (in the picture) were lovely. Did you look back on those designs when creating the new ones since they're both set in similar periods?

Yes - I related it but my knowledge and feel for the 19th century will always bring about a look that is mine – that is what a designer can do, however try telling those budgeting films that – today budgets are so tight it is almost impossible to make anything and I am about to start Persuasion with virtually no budget for makes which is a great pity.

We were also wondering whether you had studied Charlotte Brontë's own surviving clothes. As you can see in this post we found the resemblance between a well-known picture of Charlotte Brontë and Ruth Wilson's image truly striking. We are guessing it was done on purpose, wasn't it?

Yes it was – seeing red as her escape, passion and fear I used it as a theme and in the Egyptian pictures I looked at the way was established. To bring in the red bow and believe it was very pleasing and as a matter of fact I did discuss Firelight with Susanna as for that I dyed Sophie’s main dress with a tinge of red to theme firelight – I loved the film and it reminds me of Jane Eyre – I never asked Bill ( he wrote and directed it) if he was influenced by Jane Eyre but it has similarities.

Andrea Galer is also very involved with her foundation Power of Hands. Remember that you can get a bit of Jane Eyre home by purchasing a similar bracelet to that worn by Blanche Ingram here - and for only a mere five pounds!

We are now really looking forward to watching this production and keeping an eye out for the wonderful costumes designed by Ms Galer :)

Categories: Movies-DVD-TV, Jane_Eyre

Read More

Andrea Galer's Power of Hands Exhibition

If you are in the UK and you don't know what to do with your time waiting for the new Jane Eyre from the BBC (incidentally Brontëana has posted about a possible screening next September in the BFI), maybe you would like to know that Andrea Galer, the costume designer of the production, has some of her creations on display this summer:

Exhibitions 2006

Fenton House, London
Summer 2006

Costumes from Bleak House 2nd August - end October

Power of Hands
The exhibitions at Fenton House, London this summer include 3 special events raising money for Power of Hands.

Haddon Hall - a display promoting the Power of Hands work and linking to Jane Eyre is currently on show.

Exhibitions with The National Trust have allowed Andrea’s passionate belief that using film as a means of education can become a major series of costume exhibitions linking to the history of lace and the present plight of the dying craft.

The picture is taken from the Power of Hands website:

Andrea Galer the woman behind the Power of hands Project has always actively sought to include the work of craftspeople from across the world. As a film and television costume designer her long-held passion for traditional crafts has already taken her to India to work with handloom weavers. In the aftermath of the tsunami she determined to help the Sri Lankan lacemakers whose lives had been devastated. Andrea's collections and film costumes provide ongoing links to the lace, she has used the lace made by tsunami suvivors in her current production 'Jane Eyre' the BBCs big drama this autumn. The lace is also featured in her current bridal collection and she is currently designing the Limited Signature Editions profiling the lace from Galle.

More information in this old post.

Categories: Movies-DVD-TV, Art-Exhibitions

Read More

Andrea Galer's works and Diederick Santer talks about Jane Eyre

We have been lucky enough to get an e-mail from Andrea Galer where she talks both about her work in the new production of Jane Eyre (and in a new film starring Cate Blanchett called Golden Age) as well as her excellent work in the Power of Hands Foundation. She has kindly forwarded us several files full of information. We would like to highlight some of it:

POWER OF HANDS – FENTON HOUSE HAMPSTEAD 2005
For the past 4 years at ‘The National trust’ property ‘Fenton House’ Hampstead Andrea has displayed her work showing how film links to fashion. Last year was the start of ‘Power of Hands’, a series of exhibitions using film costumes to highlight the huge contribution that expertise in crafts make to the film industry. Her exhibitions use her collections of 19th / 21st century to provide inventive ways of offering exhibitions and events and can be booked through The London Film Fashion Centre www.thelondonfilmfashioncentre.co.uk now the collection is offering costumes from Jane Eyre to be screened later this year.


Costumes from BLEAK HOUSE (in the picture)

The informal display of the costumes of Bleak House has been set up by my team to bring the rooms to life. As the designer my research into the period combined with choice of fabrics,trimmings and the skills of the team who have made the costumes are the result you see in this exhibition. My job as a costume designer is to produce costumes which will move the audience, make the actor comfortable and it must also work visually for camera. This requires the skills of various people who work with a passion which is actually unique in today’s world. Gone are the days when people had their own makers and dressers and it is the luxury of film, which demands such expertise today.

Also, when asked about the opening scenes of this new Jane Eyre and the gorgeous costume she's wearing, this is what she says:

Images from Egypt painted by 19th century artists were in my mind ! - this production allowed me to create images which I fell match the fantastic mind of Charlotte Brontë and look forward to using them in my touring exhibitions.

Very interesting, since it matches our Arabian Nights theory, as well as very successfully achieved.

As we posted a few months back, through the Power of Hands Foundation Andrea Galer gives a toughtful depth to entertainment. On this point she comments:

I am developing linking 19th century writers to helping us address the huge problem created by loss of respect for life style outside of the global mess we are in! - Charlotte Brontë leads the way with this series.

We get a feeling Charlotte Brontë would have been only too glad to champion such a cause :)

On a Jane Eyre 2006-related note, Brontëana publishes an interview with Diederick Santer, Jane Eyre's producer. Mr Santer is very careful and does not reveal too much, but there are interesting points about the casting and how Sandy Welch has adapted the novel that are noticeable.

Categories: Movies-DVD-TV, Jane_Eyre, Art-Exhibitions

Read More

Jane Eyre in Fenton House

A new chance to see Andrea Galer's costumes for Jane Eyre 2006 opens today in Fenton House, London. Andrea Galer has been nominated recently for an Emmy for Jane Eyre:

Event	:	Costume exhibition
Venue	:	Fenton House (in London)
Date(s)	:	Wednesday 1 August to Sunday 28 October 2007
Description	:	Costumes from the TV dramas Jane Eyre by designer Andrea Galer
Time(s)	:	Wed, Thur, Fri 2-5pm, Sat, Sun 11am-5pm
Price(s)	:	Normal admission charges apply.
Contact	:	Property 020 7435 3471 fentonhouse@nationaltrust.org.uk

Apparently, there is also a chance to see some of those costumes in Los Angeles:

2nd Annual Art of Outstanding Television Costume Design Exhibition

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the FIDM Museum & Galleries jointly present the exhibition, showcasing a retrospective of television's most memorable costume designs from the past and present. Particularly, the exhibition will salute the work of this year's Emmy®-nominated costume designers and costume supervisors.

From July 31 through September 29, 2007

Viewing times for the free exhibition are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00am until 4:00pm. The FIDM Museum & Galleries will be closed Labor Day Weekend (September 1 through 3, 2007).

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV

Read More

Jane Eyre 2006 costumes on display at Haddon Hall

Bakewell Today carries an article on Haddon Hall's current exhibition: the costumes Andrea Galer designed for the most recent adaptation of Jane Eyre. The exhibition opened last Friday May 11 and will run until June 9.

Haddon Hall is currently home to an exciting collection of costumes from last year's BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre filmed in the area.
Eight outfits are on display throughout the hall placed in rooms where they would be most appropriate.
In the banqueting hall Jane's governess dress takes pride of place next to Rochester's everyday outfit.
Jane's ill fated silk chiffon and lace wedding dress is in the great chamber while other sumptuous outfits can be found dotted around.
Designer Angela [sic] Galer said: "The important thing is the script, I look for what will fire me up.
"When you meet the actors you get a better idea of what to do. The actress who played Blanche was very blonde and suited light colours, while Lady Ingram suits darker, more dramatic colours."
Angela [sic] made three different skirts for the wedding dress which is consumed by fire in one dramatic scene.
She said: "Budgets do not really allow for doubles of all the costumes which can be a risky strategy.
"I made three detachable skirts for the wedding dress. In the scene where Bertha set fire to it, one of them was a metre longer.
"The top had to be fireproofed to protect the stunt woman as well and the top of the dress is rather hard now."
Angela said that the costumes had an effect on the actors both physically and mentally.
She said: "As soon as you put on a corset you are forced walk differently, your stance alters.
"Actors behave differently, their deport changes, everything alters. No one dresses up any more, it changes people.
"This particular production was very exciting and the script was really brilliant. It was a particular treat to do, it was a really special thing to do." (Colleen Marples)

Pity the journalist kept calling Andrea Angela, though. But it looks like a fabulous exhibition, especially for the many fans of the series.

Andrea Galer was very kind to BrontëBlog in the past and we would like to wish her all the best once again, especially after the recent break-in at her studio. If you like her work - as we do - we also suggest you take a trip to Bath where her costumes for the latest adaptation of Persuasion are on display at the Jane Austen Centre.

(Picture Source - we are sure many will regret that Toby Stephens is not inside those clothes ;) )

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, In the News, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV

Read More

Mr. Right and Ruth Wilson

Jenni Murray in The Daily Mail publishes one of those articles about how women look for Mr. Right and men tend to acommodate with a woman who is simply "good enough". We don't like to enter into the discussion but this half of BrontëBlog dislikes this kind of generalizations. Anyway, in the discussion Jane Eyre and Rochester are quoted:

So why are women so fussy? The reason most of us are always looking for someone better is that we carry around a truly seductive notion, the idea of the romantic hero — and I suspect he enters the female psyche much more powerfully than most of us would be ready to acknowledge.

Just last week, Mail columnist — and paragon of pragmatism and common sense — Allison Pearson, was anticipating the flutter of girlish hearts at the new Robin Hood on TV.

And I'd put money on the fact that it's mostly women who are drooling over Jane Eyre's Mr Rochester on Sunday evenings.

Who of us doesn't have a vivid memory of Mr Darcy emerging from the pond in that wet shirt?

Pennyforyourdreams publishes some new scans of a Hello article of Ruth Wilson. Andrea Galer's costumes and her Power of Hands foundation are mentioned. Please visit this old post when we interviewed her, if you want to know more.

In her first fashion shoot of her acting career, Ruth models costumes by Jane Eyre costume designer, Andrea Galer, who has put together a retro clothes collection that links film to fashion, and profiles lace made by Sri Lankan women who where badly affected by the Tsunami disaster. "On set, Andrea used to talk about her Power of Hands Foundation, that helps these women and it was a revelation to see their lace being used on the Jane Eyre costumes", she says.

Among the other mentions, we highlight a new Brontëite: writer Sarah Shun-lien Bynum chooses Jane Eyre from her reading list. And two more reviews of some books that already have appeared on this blog: The Thirteenth Tale and The Glass Book of the Dream Eaters.



Categories: In_the_News,Movies-DVD-TV, Jane_Eyre

Read More

Costumes and clampers

The Yorkshire Post publishes again about the current exhibition of Andrea Galer's costumes for Jane Eyre 2006 in Haddon Hall (Thornfield Hall in that adaptation):

Picture: Visitors admire some of the silk evening dresses which are on show at Haddon Hall (Chris Lawton).

The corset that caused actress Ruth Wilson so much pain during the making of a BBC production of Jane Eyre has gone on display at the Derbyshire mansion where the classic was filmed.
The tiny 15-inch waist corset, which left the 24-year-old actress with rashes and skin burn, is one of a number of costumes used in the televised adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's famous novel to be exhibited at Haddon Hall.
Miss Wilson, who stared as the orphan governess in the four-part serial, spent 13 weeks on set, filming at the hall. As downtrodden Jane, she spends a lot of her time wearing unflattering cotton smocks, plain, high-neck dresses and full-length skirts.
But underneath each costume she had to wear a restrictive whalebone corset, tailored to give her a traditional Victorian hourglass figure.
Eight costumes are on display throughout the hall including the ill-fated wedding dress, which was made with three detachable skirts and had to be fireproofed to protect the stunt lady while she ran down the corridor in the blazing costume.
A spokesman for the exhibition said: "The end result is that the top on this particular dress is now rather stiff but it was agreed that it would be better to display the original rather than a copy."
There is also Jane's grey governess dress, made from linen and silk, and two costumes worn by Toby Stephens who played Mr Rochester. The costumes were created by award-winning designer Andrea Galer.
The exhibition will run at Haddon Hall until Saturday June 9. (Anna Smith)

From Haddon Hall to Haworth. Several newspapers report about Haworth's rogue clampers:

A car clamper whose intimidatory tactics were said to be driving visitors away from Brontë country narrowly escaped an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) yesterday after he handed in his official badge voluntarily. (...) After the hearing Imelda Marsden, 61, a member of the Brontë Society, said: “These clampers are driving visitors away from Haworth. Even the Prime Minister of New Zealand has been clamped here.” (Russell Jenkins in The Times)

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Haworth, In the News, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV

Read More

A Red Velvet Coat from Jane Eyre 2006

At the Andrea Galer Fashion Store we can find some of her designs for Jane Eyre 2006:

Coat - Red Velvet

Andrea Galer’s collection is ethically produced and is designed to fit the female form flawlessly. Romantically styled timeless designs married with re-occurring themes through the decades to today’s styles and trends. The long red velvet coat completes the most sophisticated of looks.
It has been worn by Christina Cole in Jane Eyre.Stylish and classy
Created in our London based studio.
Modeled here by Tara Fitzgerald

Jane Eyre Tweed Jacket

The Jacket was worn by one of the Dent Twin in Jane Eyre and it beautifully pays homage to the essence of country living.
Available in Harris Tweed.
By appointment at our studio we provide the unique opportunity to choose the style, colour and fabric of your choice
Designed and created in our London based studio.

(Via National Post) 

Read More

Three Emmys for Jane

The Emmy Awards for all things 'creative' (Creative Arts Emmy Awards) took place yesterday. Jane Eyre 2006 was nominated to 7 categories in this area. And the good news is they won 3 of them!

Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie: "Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre)," PBS.
Clare Andrade, Set Decorator
Grenville Horner, Production Designer
Patrick Rolfe, Art Director

Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special: "Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre): Part 1," PBS.
Sally Crees, Assistant Costume Designer
Andrea Galer, Costume Designer

Hairstyling for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special: "Jane Eyre," PBS.
Fay De Bremaeker , Key Hairstylist
Anne Oldham, Department Head Hairstylist

We would like to congratulate one and all of the winners, but especially Andrea Galer who last year - before Jane Eyre was released - kindly talked to us.

Anne Oldham won the BAFTA for make-up and hairstyle as well.

The awards that haven't gone to Jane Eyre are: Casting, Cinematography, Single-camera Picture Editing and Sound Mixing.

We will find out about the rest of the nominations (Direction and Writing )when the rest of the Emmys take place on September 16. So far, so good!

Categories: Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV

Read More

Classics are cool

The Arizona Republic confirms what we already knew without Oprah telling us:

Even Oprah's reading list now includes the classics. She has put her golden O stamp on Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights and a box set of William Faulkner novels. That has helped bring them to the attention of young readers, said Peoria Unified District's Rosa McCollum, 39, an English teacher and assistant principal. "Oprah has made the classics cool again," she said.

In our humble opinion classics were always cool in the first place. To show this, you just have to browse through our archives and see the amount of people in love with the Brontës and the many forms of art they have inspired. Here's one more example:

[In Writing Life,] Jane Urquhart, for example, best known for her novels, offers a pair of poems about the creative demons that haunted those novelist sisters of the 19th century, Charlotte and Emily Bronte.

If you remember, we presented the collective book Writing Life some time ago.

Otherwise, why would publishing houses use Jane Eyre as a means of selling a book? And they tend to do that even when the connection is quite tenuous, as you well know! People just have to read the classics to see many of them are as gripping - and much better - than most books in the best-seller lists today. It's only that the word "classic" seems to scare many people away for unknown reasons.

And finally, here's wishing Andrea Galer the very best tonight at the Emmy's!

Outstanding Costumes For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special
Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • Episode 1 • PBS • A BBC WGBH-Boston Co-production in association with Deep Indigo
Andrea Galer, Costume Designer
Charlotte Morris, Assistant Costume Designer

She already won a BAFTA TV Award for Best Costume Design earlier this year. BrontëBlog would like to wish her all the luck. Hopefully a year from now we will be able to report a new nomination and many awards for her work in Jane Eyre 2006.

Categories: Books

Read More

Brontë Studies. Volume 39. Issue 3

The new issue of Brontë Studies (Volume 39, Issue 3, September 2014) is already available online. We provide you with the table of contents and abstracts:

‘Felicitations to the Brontëites’: the 1895 Inaugural Volume of the Brontë Society’s Transactions and Other Publications
pp. 165–177 Author: Pike, Judith E.
Abstract:
The inaugural volume of the Brontë Society’s journal sheds light on the complex relationship the founders had with Elizabeth Gaskell’s The Life of Charlotte Brontë. While Gaskell played an integral role in the Brontës’ legacy, the founders took issue with her disparaging portrayal of Yorkshire, its inhabitants and her austere rendering of Charlotte. The article, ‘Haworth: Home of the Brontës’, acts as a centrepiece for the volume, creating a new composite image of the Brontë Country that invites the Victorian public to see England as not only the birthplace of Shakespeare and Wordsworth but also of the Brontës and to represent Yorkshire as alluring as the Lake District.

Jane Eyre: Jane’s Spiritual Coming of Age
pp. 178–186    Author:  Sexton, Kristi
Abstract:
No doubt Jane Eyre may be characterized as a romance with gothic elements within its pages, but it is also a coming of age story that begins with a young orphan girl and ends with a happily married woman. Other critics see Jane’s journey as a woman’s conflict against an unjust male-dominated world. Although these interpretations are credible, they do not take into consideration Jane’s spiritual condition; but from Gateshead to Thornfield, Jane’s spiritual awakening is foremost in the novel. Through her journey, Jane realizes that she alone must account for her spiritual condition. She no longer needs to rely on man’s authority for her relationship with God. Jane Eyre is novel of one woman’s spiritual pilgrimage.

Supplementary Annotations to Jane Eyre
pp. 187–190       Author: Stenning Edgecombe, Rodney
Abstract:
This article offers annotations to Jane Eyre designed to supplement those provided by Sally Shuttleworth, Stevie Davies and Richard Dunn, the respective Oxford, Penguin and Norton editors of the novel. It advances, inter alia, two Byron quotations relevant to the characterization of Rochester, and also suggests a possible source for Blanche Ingram’s ‘Corsair-song’.

The Presentation of Isabella in Wuthering Heights
pp. 191–201   Author:  Tytler, Graeme
Abstract:
Amid the attention they have bestowed on Isabella in Wuthering Heights over the years, a good many Brontë scholars have tended to regard her simply as a foolish young thing. Such a view of Isabella has doubtless been sustained by knowledge of the humiliations she is subjected to not only by Heathcliff and Catherine but also by some of the other characters portrayed in the novel. That all this, however, argues a somewhat narrow interpretation of Isabella’s presentation derives from our awareness of the development of her character and personality through, among other things, her ability to overcome her anguish as a neglected bride, to associate with her fellow residents at the Heights, and to live her life as a single mother. By way of Isabella, then, we are told a remarkable tale of a naive but fundamentally decent girl of privileged upbringing who eventually turns into a seemingly strong and independent woman.

Family Complexes and Dwelling Plight in Wuthering Heights
pp. 202–212  Author:  Wing-chi Ki, Magdalen
Abstract:
This essay argues that central to Wuthering Heights is the connection between troubled homes and unresolved family complexes — namely, the weaning, intrusion, and Oedipus complexes, leading to the rise of neuroses, psychosis and perversion. Men and women build different spaces in order to dwell, but they often create dwelling plights to perpetuate their ongoing problems. Old Earnshaw negates the paternal custom to construct a house of equity, and this directly prompts an insecure Hindley to establish a house of tyranny. To sideline paternal dominance, Catherine creates for herself different anti-oedipal spaces, only to be bound by a co-dependent love and a love of individuation, and to end up drifting madly in a liminal non-place. To deal with peer rivalry, abandonment rage, and castration threat, Heathcliff becomes a vengeful sadist bent on destroying happy places. Within this overall context, Emily Brontë intends that the new family should seek new ‘contrarian’ ways of thinking and dwelling.

Bringing Portraits Alive: Catherine Paula Han Interviews Andrea Galer, the Costume Designer for Jane Eyre (BBC, 2006)
pp. 213-224  Author:  Han, Catherine Paula
Abstract:
A prominent costume designer, Andrea Galer has contributed to several Brontë adaptations and Brontë-inspired works, most notably Jane Eyre (BBC, 2006). In this interview, she discusses the adaptation and her other work, relating her screen projects to her activism supporting contemporary craft and ethically traded fashion. She recounts her research and design process, offering insights that shed light on costume drama more generally. Her perspective elucidates the theoretical debates surrounding the genre’s authenticity and its representation of the past.

The Brontës in Turkey
pp. 225-231  Author:  Berg, Temma
Abstract:
The Brontës never went to Turkey — but an important conference entitled ‘The Brontë Sisters and their Work’ was held in Ankara in December 2013. Spurred on by the hospitality and intellectual excitement of the event and by the way other sites in Turkey reflected back on the three sisters and their work, I was motivated to write a short essay about the experience.

Mr Lockwood and Mr Latimer: Wuthering Heights and the Ghost of Redgauntlet
pp. 232-238  Author:  Emberson, Ian M.
Abstract:
This article stresses the paramount importance of Sir Walter Scott’s novels to the Brontë family. It goes on to consider the resemblances between the opening scenes of Scott’s Redgauntlet and of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, noting in particular the way in which the characters can be matched up with each other. Finally, it is argued that these opening scenes show a similar combination of humour and mystery.

Ian M. Emberson: a Personal Appreciation
pp. 239-241   Author:  Smith, K. E.

Reviews
pp. 242-248

Read More

"Jane Eyre is the ultimate poisoned chalice"

Do you remember Andrea Galer's (the costume designer of Jane Eyre 2006) The Power of Hands initiative? The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) devotes an interesting article to the project:

Andrea established the Power of Hands Foundation (POHF) to help the women survive and show people their wonderful skill while helping them earn fair prices for their work. In 2008 Power of Hands became a UK registered charity. It also provides marketing expertise and operational support to help the women to create craft products of a type and quality which can help provide them with a sustainable future, while reviving the craft.
At present the POHF has established a workshop in the Galle Fort that provides a clean and safe environment where seven lace makers make lace on a full-time basis. This is also the base for a co-operative society of over eighty lace makers who produce lace in their own homes and visit the workshop regularly to be paid and collect new orders. The foundation is currently being managed by Anusha Liyanage, who has a passion for the craft.
Parallel to the Power of Hands Foundation, Power of Hands Limited has also been established to create a market for the lace in the UK, with the development of ethical fair trade which is the main focus of the project.
“These women have to earn fair trade prices for their work or they have to stop,” emphasises Andrea. Initially Power of Hands Limited targeted costume designers, fashion designers and theatres resulting in Galle lace appearing in productions at the Royal Opera House and on costumes of award winning British films.
Andrea has used Beeralu lace in her costumes for award winning film such as Persuasion, Jane Eyre and Miss Austen Regrets and organized the production of some of the lace and tatting for the major Oscar winning film Golden Age by costume designer Alexandra Byrne.
The POHF lends these lace-makers a much needed hand, but even the foundation is now bringing in fewer orders. Right now they have no orders to give the women, but hopefully the situation will improve soon. As Andrea sees it, “A great deal more needs to be done in design and marketing to hit the global market and provide the women with a safe future”.
POHF also hopes to set up three new craft workshops and training centres, together with a co-operative of at least 100 women for each, in different locations throughout southern Sri Lanka. They seek assistance and support of individuals and organizations willing to lend a hand to make the lives of the craft makers a little easier.
“Power of Hands is not about buying and selling lace,” says Andrea, “but about how the women can utilize their skills.” For more information: www.powerofhandsfoundation.org (Aysha Asseef)

Australian Stage Online presents the new show of the burlesque artist Imogen Kelly, The Undressing Room at the Factory Theatre (Marrickville, Australia):

In a show with a killer soundtrack that moves from the Muppet’s “Mahna Mahna” into “Moon River” and Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” she transforms her body into an expressive canvas through which hilarious narratives take shape. (Helen Barry)

English newspapers seem particularly happy finding Heathcliff lookalikes among their local VIPs. The latest addition is Martin Johnson, England's rugby team manager:

So much for the England manager’s winning theory. Johnson’s favoured mode of dress is the dark, Gordon Brown overcoat and it says much about the man. Both Johnson and Brown are brooding presences in the sense that Heathcliff was, but not many lights seem to be on inside. (Mark Reason in The Telegraph)

The New Zealand Herald reviews the novelette by You're Not a Man Until You've Had a Man (sic) by Bernard Cummings. The reviewer thinks that Charlotte Brontë can be an influence:

Based loosely on a true story and written very much in the style of Charlotte Bronte, the story tells of five intersecting love triangles made up of love-deprived prisoners and overweight but under-sexed guards. (That Guy)

Britmovie Forum asks Zelah Clarke (Jane Eyre in the 1983 BBC miniseries) what happened to her promising career:

Zelah Clarke, 29, starred in the 1983 BBC series opposite Timothy Dalton. He went on to become James Bond - and Zelah, now 55, disappeared without trace. She is married to Francis Ash, an executive BBC producer, and has a 14 year old daughter, Lamorna. They live in West London. She says: Jane Eyre is the ultimate poisoned chalice. Everyone remembers the Mr. Rochesters but no one recalls the Janes. I hoped the role might be a springboard - I got great reviews - but I never thought it would force me to retire.
I had trained as a ballet dancer with Jenny Agutter and Fiona Fullerton, but I discovered I enjoyed acting more. Before Jane Eyre, I had done lots of TV costume dramas, but no lead roles. My first TV role was in the first episode of "Poldark". I spoke the first line - the only one I had! I had also been in the West End musicals, including "Godspell" with Jeremy Irons, and lots of theatre.
I was thrilled when I got the part of Jane.
Tim Dalton was not a superstar then - in fact, I had more TV experience. Tim was lovely - extremely sexy and great fun. He even brought his fishing rod when we filmed in Derbyshire. He wasn't the type to lose his temper, but he got close to it during our marriage scene. The poor actor who rushed in to protest kept fluffing his line. After the seventh take, Tim became cross and started squeezing my hand harder and harder. Eventually, the actor got it right - and Tim fluffed his line. I just fell on the floor laughing.
It was depressing when things suddenly stopped after "Jane Eyre", especially as I couldn't work out why. But then I got married and my life changed. There is something rather undignified about old actors scraping around for work. I would never go back into the theatre. It ruins your social life and breaks up families. When I was younger, it was exciting. I didn't mind going on the road, but not now. I wouldn't mind a part in a TV comedy - I have a secret desire to dress up like Suzi Quatro and sing rock'n'roll - but I am happy being out of it all. If I had not done "Jane Eyre" perhaps I would not have felt I had proved myself. But I did and I have. I saw the series again on video several years ago. It seemed curiously old-fashioned but I was pleased with my performance.
I still keep an agent for voice work and do some things for radio, which fits in well with taking care of my daughter. During my resting periods I became really interested in art. I was in the middle of a course when I fell pregnant, so perhaps I didn't have such a desire to be a famous actress after all. (Arthur Askey)

Berliner Lesezeichen reviews Jane Eyre (in German) (the one with the sheep cover, by the way), Andrewjshields posts a fragment of Anne Carson's The Glass Essay, Una chica chiflada reviews briefly Jennifer Vandever's The Brontë Project, Happy Hour... Somewhere is going to read Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea. Movie Moron includes Wuthering Heights 1939 in their Top 20 Romance Movies. Book:Blog discusses Jane Eyre, Passion for Cinema devotes a post to Madhubala, who was a sort of Jane Eyre (Kamal in the film) in the Bollywood 1952 version Sangdil. Abigail709b has uploaded several pictures of Victorian costumes in Brontë country's snowy landscapes. Finally, Eline Marie Renee's Blog has read and loved Wuthering Heights.

EDIT:
The Brontë Parsonage Blog has just posted a very interesting report of the Genius exhibition and the official opening (last Friday, February 13). Richard Wilcocks says:

The Genius exhibition is very impressive, a great improvement on what was there before, and the newly-uncovered window makes a significant difference. There are brief quotes on the walls, displays at appropriate eye-levels, intelligent selection and labelling, increased colour and a sense of airiness. There is also a section for younger children, who are invited to lift little blue lids to see illustrations of what it was like in the mid-nineteenth century. (...)
Bonnie Greer was the guest at the official opening on Friday evening. She said all the right things, wonderfully, after an introduction from Director Andrew McCarthy. She was genuinely overwhelmed by simply standing inside the Parsonage, the place where so much of global literary significance had happened. She mentioned the influence of Patrick, the loving and unusually liberal paterfamilias who had allowed his daughters to read and write so much, and the continuing power of the Sisters: “I read Wuthering Heights at a young age, and if Emily Brontë can have such an effect on a little black girl in Chicago, she can have a big effect on anyone.” (Read more)

Categories: Books, Brontë Parsonage Museum, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, References, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights

Read More

Jane Eyre 2006 helps tsunami survivors

By now we all are well aware that Christina Cole will be playing Blanche Ingram on the new BBC production of Jane Eyre (first and only picture of the film up until today here). What we didn't know until today was that her beautiful, elegant dresses were coming from Sri Lanka, from the hardworking hands of tsunami survivors:

A century and a half after her death, the Victorian novelist Charlotte Brontë is still hard at work, helping tsunami survivors in Sri Lanka.

The way she is achieving this minor miracle is through her novel Jane Eyre, which as well as being the BBC's big costume drama this autumn, also has a drama connected to the costumes.

Step forward actress Christina Cole, who plays Blanche Ingram, Jane's rival for the hand and heart of Mr Rochester. Blessed with beauty and breeding, Blanche has another asset (literally) up her sleeve, in the form of the sumptuous lace frills that adorn her outfits.

Delicate yet showy, this riot of frothy handiwork symbolised, during the 19th century, the wealth and status of those who could afford to wear it. But the real-life, 21st-century person who made the lace is a 65-year-old widow called Leela Wathi, who lives not in Derbyshire (where Jane Eyre is being filmed) but in the tsunami-flattened town of Galle, south-western Sri Lanka. And until recently she described her economic situation as "desperate".

She's just one of a growing network of women whom the celebrated UK costume designer Andrea Galer (Bleak House, Mansfield Park, Withnail and I) has taken under her wing as part of a project to repair the region's lace-making industry, destroyed by the giant waves of Boxing Day 2004.

"Ever since lace-making was introduced by the Portuguese in the 15th century, Sri Lankan women have been able to supplement what their menfolk earn from fishing," says Galer. "But the tsunami not only destroyed the fishing industry, it destroyed the lace-making industry, too, by frightening off the tourists who bought the lace. I didn't realise the full extent of the problem until I went there last year." [...]

Each time she has returned to Britain more determined than ever to promote the virtues of Sri Lankan lace and to make use of the material in her productions. She has certainly got her way in Jane Eyre.

But it won't be just Blanche Ingram wearing these precious dresses:

"All the well-to-do characters wear lovely jabots (ruffs) made out of Sri Lankan lace, and most have lace frills on the ends of their sleeves," she says. "And I've put lace all round the collar of Jane's wedding dress."

That sounds really, really good. We see the minutest attention is being paid to details of all kind.

"I've got to know a lot more about Power of Hands during my costume-fitting sessions with Andrea," says the actress Christina Cole, who was a willing volunteer for our Telegraph photo-shoot. "I think it's a great cause - the best thing is that it's working towards providing a sustainable future, rather than just a one-off donation."

Thank goodness - she's no Blanche Ingram in real life!

We encourage you to read the whole article to find out more about these remarkable women that work for the Power of Hands foundation.

It's nice to see big productions won't forget about human beings. We will be watching very closely for those wonderful lace frills!

On the picture you can see Christina Cole as Blanche Ingram wearing a lovely dress. More costumes from the production are in the background.

EDIT: If you like Christina Cole's lace bracelet, you can buy it here. It's just £ 5.00, you'll be contributing to a good cause and you will be able to show off as wearing Blanche Ingram's accessories. What's there to think about?


Categories: Movies-DVD-TV, In_the_News, Jane_Eyre

Read More

Where the Metaphors Get Out of Hand

The London Evening Standard reviews the collective book Road Stories: New Writing Inspired by Exhibition Road, edited by Mary Morris:

In 1851, when she visited the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, Charlotte Brontë remarked that “its grandeur does not consist in one thing but in a unique assemblage of all things”.  (Frances Wilson)

Journalists should refrain themselves from using the Brontës as metaphore if they haven't read any book by them, because sometimes metaphors get out of hand. You know, metaphors are the devil's work. Austin Murphy writes in Sports Illustrated:

With bronze medalist Leonel Suarez producing a huge javelin throw -- his 76.94 meters was the best of the night -- Hardee knew he'd have to put the elbow to the test. With his elbow comprehensively wrapped and trussed as a virgin in a novel by one of the Brontë sisters, he uncorked the third-longest throw of the night, 66.65 meters, and then let loose with a manic celebration.

Dave Astor in The Huffington Post likes to read very contrasted novels among them:

Daphne du Maurier's 1951 My Cousin Rachel (a suspense tale about what Rachel might be up to) followed by Jean Rhys' 1966 Wide Sargasso Sea (which focuses on the "mad" wife of Rochester in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre). Actually, that last pair of books had a little more in common than the first three pairs.

The Washington Post recommends a visit to The Green (on the right) park in Charlotte, North Carolina:

The Green, a 1.5-acre (.6 hectares) downtown park at 435 S. Tryon St., is a literary-themed park with sculptures of giant books, pages and a walkway of sounds. Bright signs mark the intersections of author names, including “Emily” and “Brontë,” ‘’Herman” and “Melville,” and “Alice” and “Walker.”

Another Brontëite, the author Brenda Novak on USA Today's Happy Ever After:

My favorite historical is Jane Eyre. Until I found the shelf of classics at the school library when I was 8, I thought I didn't like to read. Who knew I just didn't care for Dick, Jane or even Spot? Jane Eyre captured my imagination like no other book and is still one of my all-time favorites. (Joyce Lamb)

And Sue Townsend in the Daily Express:

Jane Eyre
This is the first book I read through the night without dropping off to sleep. It was snowing outside, I was freezing cold and my fingers were frozen.
I finished the last chapter walking to school because I had to know how it ended.
It’s such a captivating story and retains your interest on every page.

On Laurel's Open Page, Deanna Sletten explains how:

I have many favorite books and authors. The very first book I fell in love with was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, then Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.

The author Erin Cashman writes on Letters Inside Out:

Four years later I went off to Bates College and majored in English. I wrote my Honors thesis on Hamlet. I fell in love with all different types of literature. I became a big fan of the Lake District poets; I read everything by the Brontë Sisters, Jane Austin (Sic) and George Elliot.

And Shauna Roberts on The Bunny's Review:

What was your favorite book when you were a child/teen?
Jane Eyre. It’s one of the very few books I’ve read more than once. I read it first as an odd, solitary child and found for the first time a heroine I could identify with. I read it next as a teenager and found it quite a different book. And when I read it as an adult, it was a different book yet, and at last I understood why Jane was attracted to Rochester.

The editors and author of Jane Eyre Laid Bare explain their views in the Birmingham Post:

“Whether that is taken to an extreme with someone being powerful over you is a different issue, but I do think falling in love and being out of control is part of a woman’s fantasy.”
Although Sinclair is braced for critics who consider it lazy and unoriginal to mess with a classic, she good-naturedly urges such people to “get over themselves”, and says she has created a “post-modern mash-up”.
“There were lots of different versions of Jane Eyre even in Brontë’s lifetime. This has been going on for ages, and people have been writing fan fiction for years,” she says. “Fifty Shades of Grey began life as Twilight fan fiction, after all.”
Sinclair’s publishers are happy to admit they are looking to capitalise on the current trend.
Wayne Brookes, editor of Jane Eyre Laid Bare, says: “It was vampires and conspiracy thrillers before erotica became the must-have genre.
“If the book-buying public have moved their attentions to erotic fiction, then as a publisher, part of our job is to give the public what they want to read.” (Diana Pilkington)

The Copenhagen Post reviews the film Albert Nobbs:

Despite the transgender subject matter, the approach to this period drama is so classical and the plot so plodding and didactic that it feels ill at ease in this era of post−postmodernist overhauls of the genre (think Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice or Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights). (Mark Walker)

The Khaleej Times (Pakistan) reviews Call Me Irresistible by Susan Elizabeth Phillips:

If only there were a middle path, a series of imaginative deviations such stories could take. Can’t the women be quirky — like Phoebe from Friends — or crazy/alluring — like Catherine from Wuthering Heights? (Enid Parker) 

El Informador (México) interviews the actress Leticia Huijara:

¿Qué mujeres admiras?—Me conmueven las mujeres del siglo XIX que escribieron sin tener derecho alguno. Virginia Wolf o las hermanas Brontë. (Dolores Tapia)

Easier Travel recommends the Jane Eyre film costumes exhibition at Haddon Hall:

Visitors can see three versions of the costumes worn by Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester, as well as a selection of other outfits and accessories in the three adaptations. The productions, including the 1995 film directed by Franco Zefferelli, the BBC 2006 mini-series starring Ruth Wilson and the latest 2011 film directed by Cary Fukunaga and starring Mia Wasikowska, all feature Haddon Hall as Thornfield Hall.
For the first time Jenny Beavan's designs for the 1995 film are on display alongside the 2011 film's costumes by Michael O'Conner and the TV Mini-series' costumes by John Bright and Andrea Galer. (...)
Janet said: "The exhibition and tour will be fascinating for people who like seeing how the costumes and hall link with the films. The costumes are just lovely to look at and are incredibly detailed."

Elliot's Reading continues reading Wuthering Heights and Ler é a minha praia (in Portuguese) posts about it; fuchsinkind, Tulipanowa Biblioteczka... (in Polish) and pretty providence reviews Jane Eyre; Cinematon, Les Découvertes de Dawn and Le Hibou (in French) reviews the 2011 film version; Bokgrottan (in Swedish) posts about Agnes Grey; chrs_vg posts several caps of Wuthering Heights 2011; Hereweknitagain talks about The Tenant of Wildfell Hall among other books.

Read More

Jane Eyre Costume Exhibition in Haddon Hall

Today, July 28 a new exhibition opens in Haddon Hall:

Jane Eyre Costume Exhibition

Featuring a selection of costumes from the three major adaptations of "Jane Eyre" filmed at Haddon Hall.

Haddon Hall has played the part of Thornfield Hall, home of the brooding Mr Rochester in no less than three adapataions of Charlotte Brontë's classic novel Jane Eyre.

To celebrate this amazing film location hat trick, we are pleased to be able to present to you the costumes from all three versions, which will be on display throughout the house, during normal opening hours.

Normal admission rates apply for this not to be missed opportunity.

Matlock Mercury has more information:

Visitors will be able to see three versions of the costumes worn by Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester, as well as a selection of other outfits and accessories in the three adaptations.
The productions, including the 1995 film directed by Franco Zefferelli, the BBC 2006 mini-series starring Ruth Wilson and the latest 2011 film directed by Cary Fukunaga and starring Mia Wasikowska, all feature Haddon Hall as Thornfield Hall.
For the first time Jenny Beavan’s designs for the 1995 film will be on display alongside the 2011 film’s costumes by Michael O’Conner and the TV mini-series’ costumes by John Bright and Andrea Galer.

Read More

Jane Eyre 2006 Nominated for Nine Emmys

Jane Eyre 2006 has been nominated for 9 Primetime Emmy Awards, including best direction and best writing (but it's not nominated for best miniseries). Regrettably, no actors have been nominated. This is the list of Jane Eyre nominations:

Outstanding Art Direction For A Miniseries, Or Movie
Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • A BBC/WGBH Boston Co-Production
Clare Andrade, Set Decorator
Grenville Horner, Production Designer
Patrick Rolfe, Art Director

Outstanding Casting For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special
Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • A BBC/WGBH Boston Co-Production
Di Carling, Casting Director

Outstanding Cinematography For A Miniseries Or Movie
Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre) • Part 1 • PBS • A BBC/WGBH Boston Co-Production
Mike Eley, Director of Photography

Outstanding Costumes For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special
Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre) • Part 1 • PBS • A BBC/WGBH Boston Co-Production
Sally Crees, Assistant Costume Designer
Andrea Galer, Costume Designer

Outstanding Directing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Dramatic Special
Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • A BBC/WGBH Boston Co-Production
Susanna White, Director

Outstanding Hairstyling For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special
Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • A BBC/WGBH Boston Co-Production
Fay De Bremaeker , Key Hairstylist
Anne Oldham, Department Head Hairstylist

Outstanding Single-camera Picture Editing For A Miniseries Or A Movie
Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre) • Part 1 • PBS • A BBC/WGBH Boston Co-Production
Jason Krasucki, Editor

Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Miniseries Or A Movie
Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre) • Part 1 • PBS • A BBC/WGBH Boston Co-Production
Stuart Hilliker, Re-recording Mixer
Richard Manton, Production Sound Mixer

Outstanding Writing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Dramatic Special
Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre) • Parts 1 & 2 • PBS • A BBC/WGBH Boston Co-Production
Sandy Welch, Adapted by

The winners will be known next September 16.

Categories: Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV

Read More

More nominations and wind chimes

More nominations for Jane Eyre 2006. A few days ago, the producers nominated Jane Eyre and today, it's the Costume Designers Guild's turn:

Noms for the 10th annual Costume Designers Guild Awards were unveiled Wednesday in seven film and TV categories. (...)
Nominations for a miniseries or made-for-television movie went to
"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,"
"Jane Eyre" and
"The Starter Wife." (Libby McCarthy in Variety)

The Costume Designers Guild Event will be held on Tuesday February 19th, 2008, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Congratulations to Andrea Galer, a good friend of BrontëBlog, and her team.

On the blogosphere: The Joy of Great Britain posts some Haworth pictures. Seth Eye talks about Jane Eyre 2006 in Italian. Tales of the Nose-Pierce Knitted is not so thrilled after reading Villette. On the other hand, Confessions from an Indiscrinate Book Lover has liked Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey. Inamorada publishes a profile of Emily Brontë in Russian. C.S.E. Cooney posts a scene from a promising Brontë play including wind chimes. Bookstove publishes the following essay:

Jane Eyre: A Perspective by Misplaced Misfit
An essay concerning the personal journeys of both Jane and Mr. Rochester that culminates in both of them discovering what they want and need in each other.

Finally, Is there no sin in it? quotes one of the best deconstructivist (or reconstructivist or whatever) Wuthering Heights comments that we have read:

Wuthering Heights had some relatable characters and some crazy ones, and together, they made for a pretty good book, which, although it was way outside the box in some places, was pretty straightforward.

Check the post if you want to stop your head spinning.

Categories: Agnes Grey, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Villette, Wuthering Heights

Read More

Nearly everything has to do with Jane Eyre

Thanks to this post by The Bookish Kind we are redirected to a youtube video where we can see the behind the scenes of the Radio Times photoshoot of Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens as Jane and Rochester. Lovely, isn't it?

Like Tears in Rain reviews (in Spanish) the film Firelight, which bears a passing resemblance to Jane Eyre. Andrea Galer was in charge of the costume designs, just like she was in Jane Eyre 2006. And BrontëBlog actually asked her about these two projects when we interviewed her last August.

Talking about passing resemblances to Jane Eyre, Trashionista talks about Emily Maguire's debut novel, Taming the Beast, and has this to say about it:

There were parallels drawn with Jane Eyre which, though slightly hard to get a grip on initially, gave the book an interesting focus on unconventional heroines, and a feminist slant. (Luisa Plaja)

And now for the nearly daily dose of Jane Eyre icons. Courtesy this time of waiting4morning.

On another note, the Buffalo News, includes Wuthering Heights in an article entitled The Beauty in the Beast:

One of the greatest love stories ever written is Emily Bronte's gothic romance, "Wuthering Heights." Bronte's immortal Heathcliff, the man who loved his wild Cathy in life and death, has been canonized by hopeless romantics (including myself) as a handsome, brooding hero who was sorely mistreated in his life.
If we look honestly at Heathcliff, he's actually a nasty guy. His vile actions, albeit in the name of love, are beastly. The fact that he could only find peace and love in the afterlife speaks to the ugliness in his soul. Bronte clearly saw the demon in him, describing his eyes as "the clouded windows of hell."
This story was also filmed many times. Heathcliff as beast, however, was best personified with a wild and feral quality by Timothy Dalton in a 1970 film (30 years before he played 007) and with a malicious streak by Ralph Fiennes in 1992. Both men were able to portray the dual nature of Heathcliff - the romantic icon and wicked, scorned lover. (Toni Ruberto)

Categories: Books, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Websites, Wuthering Heights

Read More