An historic house with Bronte connections has landed a fifth successive top award.The Telegraph & Argus also publishes further information concerning the recent release of William Grimshaw: Living the Christian Life by Paul & Faith Cook.
Oakwell Hall in Birstall, which has English Civil War and Bronte links, is celebrating winning a prestigious excellence award, recognising the education programmes it runs for visitors.
One of the bygone visitors to have enjoyed Oakwell Hall, built by John Batt in 1583, was Charlotte Bronte who was there in the 19th Century when it was a girls’ boarding school.
She was so impressed she featured it as ‘Fieldhead’ – the home of the heroine in her novel Shirley.
Winning the Sandford Award again puts the Elizabethan manor house in an elite group with only 12 other sites in the United Kingdom to have achieved similar status including Beaulieu in Hampshire and Harewood House in Leeds.
Judges said Oakwell Hall deserved the award because the museum “continued to excite the imagination and interest of successive generations of visitors of all ages”.
The judges praised the hall’s dedicated education team for helping give youngsters an excellent insight into Tudor and Stuart times.
Judge Christine Chadwick said: “The children clearly enjoyed the activities and through observing and talking to them I felt they were gaining useful insight into the lives of both rich and poor in Tudor times and were making connections between objects used now and in the past.”
Oakwell Hall received its first Sandford Award in 1988 and this latest one was presented to staff by the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry KBE at a ceremony at Hampton Court Palace, London.
Councillor Liz Smaje, Kirklees Council cabinet member for leisure and neighbourhood services, said: “To receive a fifth successive Sandford Award is a tremendous achievement and a fitting tribute to the effort and dedication of the staff at Oakwell and the museum’s education team who continue to strive to give all visitors an unforgettable experience.” (Kathie Griffiths)
Especially at a time when much contemporary music requires informed listeners prepared to make a considerable effort to understand and engage, it is easy to assume that being complex – even arcane – is a prerequisite of great art.Tonight (South Africa) reviews a recent performance by the South African a capella group Not the Midnight Mass. They performed an a capella version of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights (that was included in their 1992 album Midnight Mass-Live:
One contemporary composer, who has argued against such a view is Frederic Chaslin. In his book, Music in Every Sense, he writes that much of contemporary music does not engage the audience because it is insufficiently accessible. He has been working on his own accessible opera, based on Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights -- not in a garret but in a houseboat on the Seine. Chaslin is also a pianist and a conductor. (Arlene Judith Klozko)
Old Mass-heads will enjoy their renditions of Hallelujah and Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights cuddling up next to the Rolling Stones' Start Me Up. (Zane Henry)EDIT (12/01/09): We read on Tonight:
The Coming of Age runs until January 24 at the Theatre on the Bay (Camps Bay). The a cappella group includes covers of Wuthering Heights, Georgia, the Hallelujah chorus and some original works as well. Tel: 021-438-3300.Another a capella rendition of the Kate Bush's hit was released some years ago by the Swedish group The Sweptaways.
The London Free Press (Canada) announces the nominations to the Brickenden Theatre Awards. The Theatre Nemesis production of Wuthering Heighs has an Outstanding Costumes nomination.I t will surprise no readers of Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran to learn that the author is still transfixed by narratives. In that unlikely bestseller, the former literature professor, who walked away from her post at the University of Tehran in protest of the Khomeini regime's dictum that all female teachers wear a veil, described how the students in her breakaway classics seminar were given powerful lessons in the democratic spirit by books. In Nabokov and Flaubert and Austen and the Brontes, Nafisi's students found not only confirmation of the soaring human spirit, but of their own plight as well. Reading fiction became an exercise in resistance, an affirmation of art's inherent revolt. (Geoff Pevere)
Caucasian woman, 50s, with ruffled blonde hair, wearing heavy winter coat, Baffin winter boots, carrying a bright floral purse.Cupcake Chronicles talks about The Tenant of Wildfell Hall 1996, One Girl and her books briefly posts about Lynn Reid Banks's The Dark Quartet, Art Comments reviews briefly Sam Taylor-Wood Yes I No exhibition
Sales of Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte's classic gothic novel set on the Yorkshire moors, have quadrupled over the last year thanks to its appearance in the cult teenage film Twilight.The Yorkshire Post announces another local casting for finding the young Cathy and Heathcliff in Andrea Arnold's production of Wuthering Heights:
After 150 years of steady sales, the romance between Heathcliff and Cathy has started flying off the shelves thanks to a generation of teenagers discovering the book through the Twilight saga – a trilogy of books by Stephanie Meyer, which have been turned into hugely popular films, staring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. (...)
And now, thanks to the lead character Bella quoting Wuthering Heights and comparing her love for the vampire Edward with Cathy's passion for Heathcliff, some of the magic is rubbing off on Emily Bronte's great work.
Wuthering Heights, before the first Twilight books came out in 2005 sold 8,551 a year in Britain. However, the publishers Harper Collins reissued Wuthering Heights last year, with a cover inspired by the Twilight artwork and including the tag-line: "Bella and Edward's favourite book".
Following this reissue, sales peaked at 2,634 in one week and totalled 34,023 during the year, according to Nielsen Bookscan, which monitors book sales across the industry. This was a fourfold increase and it is now one of the best selling novels at Tesco, as well as more traditional book shops.
Discussion forums on the internet have not welcomed Harper Collins's marketing ploy, with reviewers on Amazon sharing their displeasure. One said: "How disgusting that they'll take a literary classic, and revamp it just so it looks like the "teen sensation" that is Twilight. Drawing this parallel is an absolute atrocity, Emily Bronte would be turning in her grave if she could see this.
However, booksellers said it was wonderful the classic had taken off once again.
Tesco's assistant book buyer Rachel Harcourt said: “It’s fantastic to see teenagers are reading a whole different genre – the classics – as well as fantasy novels because of the popularity of Stephanie Meyer’s books.
"The new sleek black gothic-style covers of Wuthering Heights clearly appeal to lovers of vampire romance stories and are helping them to try out a different read. Anything that encourages teenagers to read good books is welcome as there are so many distractions which prevent today’s youngsters from developing reading as a hobby." (Henry Wallop)
Some of the most famous names in stage and screen have taken the roles of Cathy and Heathcliff in productions of Wuthering Heights.Lucy Mangan writes in her column in the Guardian a most confusing statement:
But yesterday casting directors were in Leeds looking for a young, unknown actor to take the role of Heathcliff for a new film version of Emily Brontë's classic tale of love and loss.
Actors also auditioned for the roles of the young Cathy and young Heathcliff.
The film's casting director, Gail Stevens, previously allocated roles for the 2009 hit Slumdog Millionaire.
A number of hopefuls yesterday auditioned at the Jury's Inn, Brewery Wharf in Leeds city centre. Some had come from as far afield as London.
One to audition was Phoebe Tissiman, 11, of Garforth, Leeds, who said: "I saw the film with Heathcliff and it was really sad and I just loved it."
For the part of Heathcliff the casting team want someone between 16 and 21, from Yorkshire, of mixed race, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Middle Eastern. They are looking for a young Heathcliff of the same background aged from 10 to 13.
Producers said the young Cathy should be "pale-skinned, fair-haired and feisty", also aged between 10 and 13 with a Yorkshire accent.
Actress Kaya Scodelario, best known for TV series Skins, has been cast as Cathy.
Filming is due to start in Yorkshire in May.
Auditions will also take place at the Jury's Inn at 9am today [for April 9].
And then, of course, there was the disappointment of knowing that not one of them was reading Jane Eyre, my mournfulness naturally lessened not a whit by the fact that I slogged my way through it only 10 years ago and went cross-eyed with boredom throughout, yes, even when Helen Burns dies, the drippy, Rasselas-clutching freak.*And was this article adult hypocrisy as well?
*To all teenage readers, this is what is known as ADULT HYPOCRISY. Please file accordingly in your still-supple memory banks (...) for withdrawal and flinging in the faces of those who Just Don't Understand You at future opportune moments.
My favorite book of all time, Jane Eyre is a must-read for anyone looking for meaningful, gripping literature. Along with her sisters, Charlotte Bronte was a literary genius whose writings have left their stamp on history. I can't do the book justice with a description, so you will just have to read it!The New York Times's Children's Books Sunday Review highlights The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place. Book I:The mysterious howling by Maryrose Wood:
After Penelope, a plucky governess who’s just 15, arrives at Ashton Place, she wonders why the coachman seems to be watching her. Also, what’s that howling in the barn? She’s uncovered only one of those mysteries by the end of this first book in a new series. Plot twists out of Charlotte Brontë or Arthur Conan Doyle keep the action absorbing even while the narration is thoroughly tongue-in-cheek. (Julie Just)Reasons for traveling are discussed in The Australian:
And as part of this, some travel to enjoy history, to follow in the footsteps of someone or to visit locations made famous in history. They may visit the Romanesque or Gothic cathedrals of Britain or the continent, perhaps the places where Mozart or Beethoven wrote music, where van Gogh or Dali painted, where Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre or where the Scotsman Robbie Burns penned Tam O'Shanter. (Will Davies)The Wilmington Star-News talks about Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran:
As a kid, Ansari was a science-and-math nerd, following “Star Trek” even in Tehran. In a way, “My Dream of Stars” is a right-brain counterpoint to Azar Nafisi’s “Reading Lolita in Tehran,” with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy substituting for texts by Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte. (Ben Steelman)The Fluvanna Review talks about local author Gwendolyn Graham and her recent novel Beyond the Mists:
Beyond The Mists describes an era of unwavering Christian faith when etiquette and civility ruled. It fashions itself after past classics including Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, Jane Austin’s (sic) Pride and Prejudice or such contemporary epics as the Forsythe Saga. Not as light and frivolous as Austin’s romps it models itself more after the Bronte sisters work, more dark and mysterious with forbidden passions. (Page H. Gifford)The Times Literary Supplement includes a review of the The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister, recently screened at the BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival and:
Lister lived in refined society in Yorkshire in the 1820s, so it is appropriate that the visual references for her story should fall somewhere between Jane Austen and the Brontës; we know from literature what the lives of gentlewomen in that world were supposed to be like, and the prettiness of the filming has the advantage of creating a set of expectations which Maxine Peake's delightful performance as Anne continually subverts.This article in La Opinión de Murcia (Spain) makes a rather silly statement:
Aunque la novela caballeresca, protagonizada por supermachos dotados de arrojo suicida y músculo gimnástico sin prejuicio de romanticismo y filantropía sin límites, fue ridiculizada con insólito talento por Don Miguel de Cervantes en el Quijote hace ahora cuatro siglos, los posteriores literatos que han cultivado con éxito la novelística hasta el presente, con escasas acepciones, no se han enterado de nada. Ahí estaban, erre que erre, los gurús anglosajones Defoe, Takeray, Bronte, Austin [sic, sic, sic], etc. y, destacadamente, Dickens. (José Antonio Atanet) (Google translation)ABC (Spain) talks about María Tena's novel La fragilidad de las panteras, runner-up in the recent Premio Primavera de Novela:
Si Madrid fuera la campiña inglesa y todavía viviéramos rodeados del esplendor victoriano, tal vez podrían ser Charlotte, Emily y Anne, las tres hermanísimas Bronte…Pero no, son Itziar, Laura y Teresa, las tres mujeres protagonistas de "La fragilidad de las panteras" (Espasa), novela de María Tena con la que ha sido finalista del Premio Primavera. "Bueno, mis hermanas también tiene alguna similitud con las Bronte, por son mujeres de mucha personalidad, muy potentes". (Manuel de la Fuente) (Google translation)On La Gaceta (Argentina), students that like Wuthering Heights:
Según la docente, a los chicos les entusiasma leer hoy la saga de Crepúsculo, las obras referidas al mago Harry Potter, clásicos de la literatura romántica ("Cumbres Borrascosas", "Romeo y Julieta") y cuentos de Edgar Allan Poe. (Google translation)Il Recensore (Italy) reviews W.M. Thackeray's Vanity Fair:
Non c’è in Becky una traccia di ragione e sensibilità, né di orgoglio né di pregiudizio. Non assomiglia nemmeno alla romantica Jane Eyre di Charlotte Bronte pubblicato nello stesso anno di Vanity Fair. (Alessandra Stoppini) (Google translation)Jérôme Attal, singer and author, is interviewd in L'Express:
Le livre que tu aimes honteusementPiece of Work in Progress posts a contemporary story by Dan Collins under the title Dating Emily Brontë; insanokur (in Turkish) and Twister Times post about Wuthering Heights; Books, Books, Books is reading Syrie James's The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë, a novel which Lorraine Dobbie reviews on YouTube; BookPushin' Cats reviews Naomi Pasachoff's A Student's Guide to the Brontë Sisters; Opéra Chanteuse selects Wuthering Heights in his list of life-altering novels and La Vanguardia (México) mentions Wuthering Heights 1939.
Cette question me pose un problème car quand j’aime ce n’est pas possible que ce soit de manière honteuse. (...)
Lectures qui me viennent : (...) Emily Brontë. (Alexandra Galakof) (Google translation)
The Telegraph & Argus publishes the following story which is tangentially related to the Brontës:Brontë expert Ann Dinsdale came to the rescue of Dave Foster to help identify the location of one of the paintings by his grandfather, Walter Foster.The Sudbury Times reviews the latest novel by Azar Nafisi, Things I've Been Silent About and a mention to her previous one is mandatory:
Mr Foster, who is researching the history of the Aireville Group of artists at the turn of the 20th century, has had a number of his grandfather’s works of art turned into prints. Among them are seven of the Bronte country by Walter which are for sale at the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth.
“I was actually under the impression that one was located between Druids and Thwaites Brow near Keighley. But Ann put me right. She recognised it straight away,” said Mr Foster.
Mrs Dinsdale, Bronte Parsonage Museum collections manager, said: “I know it as Rush Isle which overlooks Ponden reservoir and is still there but derelict.”
Walter Foster, who died aged 42 in 1929, was head of Salts School of Art in Saltaire and a graduate of the Royal College of Art.
The Aireville Group worked between 1890 and 1940 and included Augustus Spencer, of Silsden, who became Principal of the Royal College of Art.
In Reading Lolita in Tehran, Nafisi offered a colourful account of eight female friends who threw off the veils demanded by the fundamentalist regime, to discuss Western literature in a private home. It was a daring enterprise, one open to punishment if discovered and Nafisi described, in engaging detail, how Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, Henry James and Vladimir Nabokov allowed her and her students to retain "a firm belief in the portable world of the imagination, and the subversive power of literature, a belief that it is possible, through fiction, to turn anguish into a thing of enduring beauty.'' (Nancy Schiefer)The Daily Herald (Everett, WA) talks about the popularity of graphic novels among teenagers. The article ends like this:
Mukilteo teen librarian Kathleen Fernandes said in quality graphic novels, it's intellectually more challenging than parents realize."We suppose she is referring to the Classical Comics adaptation of Jane Eyre, available in the US since last December.
She's eagerly awaiting the arrival of Charlotte Bronte's 1847 classic "Jane Eyre" as a graphic novel. It's on order. (Eric Stevick)
In the 1970s, Showalter wrote “A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists From Brontë to Lessing,” which established an alternative canon of British women writers at a moment when feminist studies were very much in vogue, and her new book is an attempt to do the same thing for American literature. (Katie Roiphe)Phong Bui interviews artist Lisa Yuskavage in The Brooklyn Rail and the interviewer makes the following statement:
But that’s the thing, I think one of the reasons why Balthus was never fully appreciated was partly because of the strong American puritanical view of sexuality. Very few care to know the reason why Balthus only illustrated the first half of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights for example.Another artist discussed in an article in the news is Kiki Smith, who is compared to the Brontës:
Como las heroínas de Austen o las hermanas Brontë, Smith logra sacar el mejor partido de su reclusión doméstica. (Ángela Molina in El País) (Google translation)Children literature author Jacqueline Wilson is interviewed in The Times:
She wasn't beautiful, rich or popular. Her father was prone to rages. Her diaries, faithfully reproduced, could be those of any mildly bookish teenager discovering the Brontës, film, and the “crass stupidity and insensitivity” of a teacher who shouted at a poor girl in her class who came to school in grubby bedroom slippers. (Amanda Craig)Handbag celebrates the International Women's Day with a selection of inspiring women through the ages, Brontës included:
These three women produced some of the most influential, romantic and poetic literature of the Victorian era. Living in a rectory in Yorkshire with their distant father and alcoholic brother, they were isolated, lonely and suffered frequent bouts of ill health, yet produced a prolific amount of writing. Their works were published initially under the names Ellis (Emily), Currer (Charlotte) and Acton (Anne) Bell, due to the fact that it was considered unseemly at the time for women to write and publish books. Emily's Wuthering Heights and Charlotte's Jane Eyre remain as timeless classics. (EdAssistant3)20 Minutos (Spain) also celebrates the day listing several women writers. We know the Brontës were not the most lively creatures in the world but they were not always hiding:
Hubo muchas escritoras que (...) se vieron obligadas a ocultar manuscritos.Hiding Jane Eyre's manuscript among the peeled potatoes? But how these so-called "journalists" can invent such stupidities?
Es el caso de la obra Jane Eyre, cuya autora, la británica Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855), tenía que esconder entre las patatas que pelaba.
Ella y sus dos hermanas, Emily (1818-1849) y Anne (1820-1849), recurrieron a seudónimos de varón para poder publicar. Charlotte se escondió tras Currer Bell y sus hermanas adoptaron el mismo apellido y alias que mantenían sus iniciales: Ellis (Emily) y Acton (Anne).
A pesar de sus esfuerzos por disfrazar su autoría, las editoriales rechazaban, como si pudieran adivinar la mano que tras las firmas se escondía, sus textos. Persistieron, y en 1846 salían los Poemas de Currer, Ellis y Acton Bell.
Al año siguiente Cumbres borrascosas era aceptada, y Anne lograba también un buen camino para su Agnes Grey. Charlotte tuvo que aguantarse con el rechazo a El profesor, pero consiguió que Jane Eyre viera la luz. (Paula Arenas) (Google translation)
1847 Eyre divina: Firmando con su seudónimo literario, CURRER BELL, para que la tomaran en serio corno escritora, al igual que lo hicieron George Sand y George Eliot, la maestra de es-cuela inglesa CHARLOTTE BRONTÉ actualiza la historia de Cenicienta con su inspiradora Jane Eyre, en la cual una fuerte heroína no convencional triunfa a pesar de sü clase y su sexo... ¡y se queda con su hombre! (Google translation)The Shropshire Star mentions several shootings made recently in the Peak District, including Jane Eyre 2006:
‘Visit Peak District & Derbyshire’ offers its visitors a Movie Map - focusing on Keira Knightley and The Duchess - to help visitors follow in the footsteps of the stars. It also highlights all of the other movies and TV productions, shot on location in and around the region in recent times - including BBC TV’s adaptation of Jane Eyre, the award-winning Pride & Prejudice, and The Other Boleyn Girl.The British soap opera Coronation Street is praised in this article in the Carlisle News & Star, Wuthering Heights reference included:
Ken’s a snob with nothing to be stuck-up about. His principles are dubious, his questionable morals are justified by the romance he’s learned from Wuthering Heights and he justifies his unhappy indiscretions by always playing away with a Salford version of Lady Macbeth. (Anne Pickles)PopMatters discussing the controversial (to put it mildly) Japanese sex game Rapelay seems to think for sure that Heathcliff raped Isabella:
Literature has obviously covered the topic extensively as well, from Wuthering Heights to The Kite Runner. People arguing that these books are superior in their content because they handle the topic maturely are on shaky ground because, frankly, who wants to detail how to tastefully portray rape? (L.B. Jeffries)We read on Globe Newswire about the novel debut of Gege Lambert, The Gateway. Apparently, the author likes the Brontës:
Gege Lambert was born and resides in Toronto, Ontario. She is passionate about romance. Her favorite authors are Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and Baroness Emmuska Orczy. She greatly admires the poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Emily Dickinson and finds William Shakespeare's words of love ever timeless. Like Ms. Austen, she has never married but has loved and is loved.A weird Wuthering Heights connection can be traced in this news about a NCAA rules violation by the University of Alabama:
The report went on to stress the “academic nature” of the extra benefits.Helsingborgs Dagblad interviews the Swedish politician Anne Marie Brodén. A new Brontëite:
“In short, it is a case about a semester’s use of Norton Anthologies, “Wuthering Heights,” math answer keys and other materials of an academic nature, all of which were returned [or charged to the student-athlete] when the semester is over,” the response said. (Cecil Hurt in The Tuscaloosa News)
Bästa bok?On the blogosphere: Books for Dummies posts about Jane Eyre and Könyvmolyok reviews Wuthering Heights in Hungarian.
Svårt att säga men en av mina favoriter är Sagan om ringen av Tolkien, en annan är Jane Eyre av Bronte. (Google translation)
Tim [Chadwick] had to do a reading from The Scarecrow, which was written by Hawera author Ronald Hugh Morrieson, who also wrote Came a Hot Friday.Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Books, Brontëites, Jane Eyre, References, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights
The reading was in the KFC in Hawera, which was built on the site of Morrieson's old home.
It was the first time Tim had been inside the KFC. In the early 1990s, he had fought against it.
Tim formed the Scarecrow Committee and petitioned the South Taranaki District Council to retain Morrieson's house. But the general feeling was KFC was more important, he says. More people signed a petition wanting KFC than wanting Morrieson's house.
"I think it is stupid, simple as that. I think one day there'll be enlightened people in Hawera who will realise it was wrong to get rid of it."
Tim has visited the Bronte sisters' house in England and Keats' house in London.
"Here was a golden opportunity for Hawera to do something similar and the call of fried chicken was greater." (Helen Harvey)
CNN Shanghai interviews singer, composer and director Eheart Chen whose latest album is "简, 爱" ("Jane, Love"). The Jane of the title has some relation to our Jane Eyre: The album’s addictive hit song is "Jane Love," which pays tribute to Shanghai’s popular dubbing actor Qiu Yuefeng, who passed away 30 years ago. The half-Russian’s legendary voice was the most recognizable one in the media for most Chinese people from the 1950s to 1970s.Click here to watch the "Jane Love" music video (Youku).
“Qiu was the voice behind Chinese dubbing classics like 'Jane Eyre.' Dubbed movies were culture symbols in Shanghai for several decades. It was the entertainment I grew up with,” explains Chen.
Chen made the song's music video by himself, using rare movie footage and photos he got from Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio and Qiu’s son. Chen also invited his friend Moz Wang, an editor at Shanghai's Chinese Timeout, to collaborate on the lyrics.
“I’m also a fan of Eheart’s music,” Wang says. “[He] might not be the best musician in Shanghai, but he’s definitely the most Shanghainese one. He uses music to relive the city’s past and to tell stories.” (Tracy You)
[Sara] Canning is talking from the Atlanta, Ga., set of the CW TV show The Vampire Diaries, which seems more than a few worlds away from the Emily Brontë-like mix of manners, corsets and doomed romance found in Black Field. (Eric Volmers)John Farr reviews several Joan Fontaine/Olivia de Havilland films for The Huffington Post. No review of Devotion (in which Olivia de Havilland was an improbable Charlotte Brontë) but there's one of Jane Eyre 1944:
Sent to a girls' reformatory by a hateful aunt (Agnes Moorehead), young orphan Jane Eyre (Fontaine) endures ten years of harsh discipline and abuse at the hands of a sadistic headmaster. Ten years later, Jane finds work as a governess at the gloomy estate of gruff, imperious Edward Rochester (Orson Welles), where she cares for his coquettish, French-born daughter, Adele (Margaret O'Brien). Though Rochester is clearly fighting some inner demons, he's also increasingly fond of Jane, who becomes his most trusted confidante. Welles put his distinctive stamp on this haunting adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's canonical novel playing the brooding, ill-starred baron who falls for his humble governess, movingly played by the fresh-faced Fontaine. Director Robert Stevenson worked closely with author Aldous Huxley on the script, but apart from the excellent cast and writing, what makes this version so memorable is its oppressive, darkly romantic Gothic atmosphere: in particular, Jane and Rochester's first terrifying meeting on the fog-shrouded moors will surely etch into your mind. Look, too, for Liz Taylor early on as Jane's consumptive childhood friend.The Hindu insists on Emily Brontë's influence on Sarita Mandanna's Tiger Walls:
When Sarita Mandanna sat down to write her first novel, she knew it would have to be in the mould of her favourite novels from childhood — the grand, sweeping sagas of Emily Brontë or Jane Austen. (Divya Kumar)Masala interviews actress Sonam Kapoor:
Tell us about your favourite real-life love story and your fave movie love story.Azar Nafisi remembers Neda Agha-Soltan (and mentions her Brontë interests) in The Huffington Post; Stitching Words, One Thread at a Time hates Jane Eyre as much as she loves Wuthering Heights; Gypsyscarlett's weblog posts about Wuthering Heights translated into German; Avant-garde reviews Jane Eyre. Several blogs review Wide Sargasso Sea: Seeing and Being Seen, The Long Distance Book Club and Soy Chai Bookshelf. Somehow it gets to be tomorrow posts icons of Jane Eyre 1944 and The Other Ayn icons of Jane Eyre 2006. Tädi-Blogi reviews the performances of Wuthering Heights in Vanemuine (in Estonian). Also in Estonian orkaani südames on vaikus posts about Jane Eyre. Finally PrimaveraLuna reviews Wuthering Heights in Lithuanian.
Real-life would have to be my mum and dad (Anil and Sunita Kapoor). From the movies, ‘Gone With The Wind’, ‘Wuthering Heights’, and ‘Mughal-E-Azam’. Wait a minute, none of them end very romantically, do they? (Nazia Khan)
Sally: “Who had the greatest influence on your writing?”Another Brontëite, Alice Hoffman, will be signing books next Monday at the Sanibel Public Library (Florida) as Fort Myers News-Press reports:
Eliza: “The very first romance novel I ever read was The Bride, by Julie Garwood, and from there I picked up any I could find. I'm also a huge fan of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, so I suppose you could say all three writers helped me fall in love with the genre, and feel the need to create my own characters and stories.” (Sally Painter)
Some of Hoffman's most well-loved titles include "Here on Earth," a modern reworking of some of the themes in Emily Bronte's masterpiece "Wuthering Heights"; "Practical Magic"; "Blackbird House"; "Blue Diary"; "The Probable Future"; "The River King"; "Turtle Moon"; "At Risk"; and "Illumination Night."And today's selection of Brontëites ends with Terry McMillan:
Originally from Port Huron, Mich., McMillan was introduced to literature while shelving books at the local library. She read the Brontes, Katherine Anne Porter, F. Scott Fitzgerald, the biography of Louisa May Alcott, and was stung "by James Baldwin's spotlight eyes boring holes into her soul," a milestone moment that introduced her to the possibility "that black folks wrote books too." (Ragan Robinson in The Hickory Daily Record)We are quite confused about this Jane Eyre mention in an article about the Rod Blagojevich affaire in The Harvard Independent:
“It’s a fucking valuable thing,” Blagojevich was discovered to have said of his appointment power, “You don’t give it away for nothing.” When confronted with his obvious sins, Blagojevich was incoherent, comparing his plight to that of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Jane Eyre, Christopher Reeve, and Jesus Christ. (Sam Jack)At least this other Eyre sighting in a review of David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is not so forced:
It is only after she has been crippled in a car crash - humbled, in fact, like the blinded Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre - that Daisy is spiritually ready for the privilege of a relationship with winsome Benjamin Button. (Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian)Teen Ink Magazine has an article praising classics, including Jane Eyre:
In today’s culture, everything is transient. We follow what is popular, and not what has withstood the test of time. An understanding of the ideas that have endured is the deciding factor between a person who went to school and one who is truly educated. Once we have read Walden, we realize that there is a world outside of the city. Through Jane Eyre, we see that patience can bring about unexpected results. By reading a book that has endured, we find many new concepts that open our eyes and give us a different perspective on life. (Sarah S.)The Denver Decider resurfaces the Brontë connections of Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran:
Reading Lolita runs Western literature through a Middle Eastern filter, a reminder if why works such as Wuthering Heights were so very controversial when first published. (Amber Taufen)Behn Cervantes in The Philippine Daily Enquirer is quite fascinated by Laurence Olivier:
Not only was Olivier an exceptional thespian, he also had dark looks that naturally lent themselves to brooding characters like Heathcliff in “Wuthering Heights.”And we have also some Twilight-Brontë connections:
Eastern students join in national frenzy over Twilight. Books based loosely on classics like Wuthering Heights, Romeo and Juliet. (...)
Eclipse is modeled after Wuthering Heights, an English classic by Emily Bronte. And Breaking Dawn, the final book of the series, was influenced by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. (Jordan Collier in The Eastern Progress)
Meyer, a Mormon, has had some criticism in the past for her over-use of adjectives and adverbs, and her 'overly Byronic' tragic hero. But generally, her books, which she says are based on classics like Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice, have been very well received. As one critic put it, "This dark romance seeps into the soul." (The First Post)stevereads reviews The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Music on Vinyl posts about Jah Wurzel's cover of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights.
Keighley News reports that an important piece of Brontëana has been acquired by the Brontë Society:The society has bought the simple mahogany drop-leaf table with a grant of £580,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund.The Daily Express asks the TV presenter Gaby Roslin for her favourite books:
The society said the desk was one of the most evocative and significant literary artefacts of the 19th century.
The table at which the Brontë sisters wrote was the focus of domestic life in the Brontë household at Haworth Parsonage, and where the siblings gathered to write and discuss their stories, poems, and novels.
The table bears the marking of the family’s daily use with ink blots, a large candle burn in the centre, a small letter ‘E’ carved into the surface, and beneath the table are ownership markings, possibly in the hand of Charlotte Brontë’s husband, Arthur Bell Nicholls.
The table was also featured in an 1837 diary paper sketch by Emily, showing herself and Anne writing at the table with all their papers scattered before them.
The table was sold during the sale of the household effects of the Parsonage, which took place after the death of Patrick Brontë in 1861.
The table is listed as lot 154 in the hand-written sale catalogue, held at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, which shows that it was purchased by Mr Ogden for the sum of £1-11-0. The Ogdens sold it to another family, within which it has been handed down as an heirloom, before the museum was approached for ownership.
Ann Dinsdale, the Collections Manager at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, said: “We are extremely proud and excited to be bringing the Brontës’ table back to its original home.
“It is one of the most important literary artefacts of the 19th century and displaying it in the Parsonage dining room marks a wonderful commencement to our programme of activity marking the forthcoming bicentenaries of the births of the Brontë siblings.”
The table was loaned to the Brontë Parsonage Museum for a short period in 1997 to mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.
Carole Souter the chief executive of the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF), said the Brontë sisters were internationally revered for their contribution to English literature.
She said: “Novels which have enthralled millions of readers were imagined and written at this table and seeing it brings to life the creative process behind the famous works.
“NHMF trustees felt it important that it should be saved for the nation so that it can be displayed to the public in its original setting.”
Heritage minister Ed Vaizey said: “The Brontës’ family dining table has a close connection with some of the most famous English literature written in the 19th century.
“The National Heritage Memorial Fund grant recognises the importance of keeping these literary artefacts on display and it’s wonderful that visitors to the Brontës’ former home in Yorkshire will now be able to enjoy it in its original setting."
The table will be displayed in its original position in the dining room at the Parsonage where it can be viewed by the public from the February 1, when the Brontë Parsonage reopens for the coming season. (David Knights)
Wuthering Heights.Ham & High talks with the writer Ben Markovits:
When I was about 12 my mother was fed up with me reading “rubbish” and handed me this. It totally captivated me. You get the barren landscape and that heartrending love. I suddenly realised the depth and beauty of a book. (Caroline Rees)
This relationship, Markovits continues, runs both ways. From an early age, he – like many American high school students – grew up on a literary diet of Dickens, Austen and the Brontë sisters. In particular, his love of Lord Byron shines through and has formed the backbone of his breakthrough in the industry, having penned three books loosely formed around the rambunctious Romantic poet.Daily Mail list some of the locations of the new BBC series Wolf Hall:
Broughton Castle has had a large presence in period drama over the years, and was used in 2011 adaption of Jane Eyre, Shakespeare in Love in 1998 and The Madness of King George twenty years ago. (Simon Cable)Indeed, Broughton Castle was Lowood School in the Cary Fukunaga's film.
[As a teenager] I didn't have a lot of friends, I was very, very shy, I was very unpopular ‒ I was chubby and my family was 'weird'. So my friends were the characters in the books that I read over and over, like Jane Eyre. (Shreya Ila Anasuya)Gina Barreca discusses the 'realistic romance' genre in the Savannah Morning News:
Is the new designation for books — “Realistic Romance” — a contradiction in terms? Or will “Realistic Romance” now forever (another lovely oxymoron) be known as the category designed for readers who seek plots focused on the wild, unstoppable and inevitable merging of two soulmates who, despite all odds, face the world more bravely because their love has made them strong and also really good-looking?This is a very doubtful statement by 9News:
That sure sounds like romance. What it doesn’t sound is realistic.
I’m saying this not only as a happily married woman but also as a fan of impossibly unrealistic classics such as “Wuthering Heights,” “Gone with the Wind” and “The Princess Bride.”
How did Charlotte Brontë make it easier for everyone to breathe? She created Eyre.We have no words.
If you laughed at that joke, then you should get excited. Friday marks National Reading Day. (Blair Shiff)
Shakespeare has appeared on every single list for the last two decades, while works by Jane Austen, Emily Brontë and Charles Dickens, as well as more contemporary writers David Malouf and Tim Winton also crop up regularly. (Henrietta Cook)Soester-Anzeiger reviews the Oberhausen performances of Wuthering Heights:
Wunderschöne Bilder für einen seelischen Vernichtungskrieg. Das Oberhausener Ensemble spielt wieder seine Stärken aus. Angela Falkenhan ist als Cathy eine grandiose Hysterikerin, die ihrem sanften und großzügigen Ehemann mit Betteln und Drohungen den Kontakt zu Heathcliff abringt. Mal liegt sie matt auf dem Sofa, dann entfesselt sie mit Schreien und Herumlaufen und Kissenzerfetzen einen Privatsturm. Dann wieder bestimmt sie Vögel nach den Federn, im Rückfall in das Kinderglück eine Wiedergängerin von Ophelia, unschuldig und wahnsinnig. Peter Waros gibt den undurchsichtigen und unberechenbaren bösen Liebhaber, der Unrecht erlitt und nun neues Unrecht begeht, manchmal ein gewandter Gesprächspartner, oft aber ein Wutbruder. Sergej Lubic spielt Edgar, anfangs als braven Bürger mit Machoanwandlungen, der mit einem Schenkelklopfen sein Frauchen zu sich auf den Schoß kommandiert. Bald aber spürt man seine Schmerzen, er ist überfordert von Leidenschaften, die er nie entwickeln wird. Und Henry Meyer gibt den Hindley erst als lebenslustigen Haustyrann, später als misanthropischen Alkoholiker.Cinema Fanpage (Italy) reminds us of a curious piece of trivia of the 2003 film Cold Mountain:
Drei Stunden lang säuft hier eine Gesellschaft im englischen Hochmoor ab. Eine große Leistung. Aber man fragt sich schon, wo dieses so kunstvoll wie künstlich konstruierte Liebes- und Rachedrama unsere Gegenwart berührt. (Ralf Stiftel) (Translation)
C’ è una curiosità tutta “letteraria” nel film: i nomi dei figli di Sally Swanger (Kathy Baker) , Acton e Ellis, sono anche quelli che le celebri scrittrici Anne Brontë e Emily Brontë utilizzarono come pseudonimi per la commercializzazione dei proprio romanzi, precisamente Acton Campana e Ellis Campana, mentre la terza sorella, Charlotte, usò quello di Currer Campana. (Translation)Cinefilos (Italy) interviews Toby Stephens about the second season of Black Sails:
CS: A proposito di letteratura, chi preferisci tra il Capitano Flint e Rochester in Jane Eyre?El Litoral (Spain) talks about Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi:
T.B: Difficile a dirsi perché sono personaggi completamente diversi. Rochester è davvero un archetipo letterario. Ero nervoso all’idea di interpretarlo perché pensavo alle aspettative delle donne che sono davvero ossessionate da questo personaggio. Ma è un ruolo che mi ha dato tante soddisfazioni, ho adorato interpretare Rochester. Quanto a Flint, in un certo senso stiamo creando il personaggio, perché non è presente ne L’Isola del Tesoro. Viene menzionato, ma non sappiamo chi sia, quindi mi affido agli sceneggiatori. Creare il personaggio è una cosa bellissima. Non sto cercando di eludere la domanda, ma è difficile paragonare i due perché sono ruoli gratificanti in modo completamente diverso. Direi che sono appaganti nella stessa misura. (Raffaella Lippolis) (Translation)
¿Alguien podía concentrarse en sus tareas cuando lo que preocupaba a los profesores era cómo eliminar la palabra ‘vino' de una novela de Hemingway o si debía omitir a Emily Brontë del programa porque parecía excusar el adulterio”. (Enrique Butti) (Translation)El Nacional (Venezuela) reviews Glennkill by Leonie Swann:
Eso sí, de contar relatos saben mucho y ellas no se cansarán jamás de escuchar a la nueva pastora, heredera del rebaño, leyendo la historia de Heathcliff al que tanto le gusta vagar por ahí. (Juan Carlos Chirinos) (Translation)Sipse (México) discusses the works of Claudio Magris:
En el ensayo que dio pie a esta selección, titulado “Cuando la literatura golpea como un puño”, Magris resume que este sentido de lo terrible, como Cumbres borrascosas, radicalmente desagradable, representa una alta humanidad, porque mirar de frente a la Medusa es la única posibilidad de resistirse a ella. “El corazón”, decía Flaubert, “tiene sus letrinas, y sólo la pluma de un escritor verdadero es capaz de limpiar y pulir esa podredumbre”. (Alfredo C. Villeda) (Translation)This interview in La Gazette du Sorcier (France) to Matthew Lewis is a bit vague about the present status of The Brontës biopic project:
La Gazette du Sorcier : Avez-vous de nouveaux tournages prévus prochainement ?Vulpes Libris transcribes a Charlotte vs Emily debate; Hic et Nunc reviews Wuthering Heights; herzenszeilen (in German) posts about Jane Eyre.
Il est toujours attaché au biopic The Brontës, mais il ne sait pas où en est le projet pour le moment. (Translation)
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