Three-deckers

Not much going on in Brontëland today.

Variety has an article on book-based films and their endings. Wuthering Heights 1939 is mentioned:

Fidelity to challenging source material is hardly a given in Hollywood. In 1939, William Wyler's best picture-nominated "Wuthering Heights" adaptation omitted the entire second half of Emily Bronte's novel, transforming her dark saga of generational grudges and obsessions into a swoonworthy Victorian romance. (Andrew Barker)

It wasn't such a crazy thing to do as it has been previously argued that the whole second half of Wuthering Heights was added by Emily Brontë after Charlotte Brontë's The Professor wasn't accepted by Newby, the publisher. The three novels were to be published in three volumes - the standard three-decker - and the void left by The Professor supposedly had to be filled, thus obliging Emily Brontë to expand her novel. No one knows for sure, and it's been argued that it's doubtful that Emily Brontë would do such a thing, but the theory is there.

As for the blogosphere. Tex Willer mourns the loss (in Portuguese) of comic artist Carlo Raffaele Marcello. Apparently he had adapted literature classics such as Jane Eyre, although so far we haven't seen it.

EDIT: Raphaël Carlo Marcello (1929-2007). He adapted Jane Eyre for Opera Mundi in 1954.55. Source.

Postman's Horn posts yet another letter by Charlotte Brontë - this one dated December 10th, 1841. And Dacquirel traces the origins of the expression 'will not wash', quoting Charlotte Brontë's usage, though so far we've been unable to trace the actual quote.

Most word experts agree that "it will not wash" means it will not work. Eric Partridge wrote that the saying probably developed in Britain in the eighteen hundreds. Charlotte Bronte used it in a story published in eighteen forty-nine. She wrote, "That wiln't wash, miss." Mizz Bronte seems to have meant that the dyes used to color a piece of clothing were not good. The colors could not be depended on to stay in the material.

LaLa Land looks into 'the problem of Jane Eyre'. And Meg Cabot picks Jane Eyre - problems or not - as one of her ten favourite books when interviewed by Slayground. Meg Cabot actually wrote an introduction for the novel too.

Categories: Brontëites, Comics, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, The Professor, Wuthering Heights

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The minister's daughters

The Red Deer Advocate talks about the premiere of Vern Thiessen's adaptation of Wuthering Heights (on the right, a promotional picture) in Red Deer, Alberta (Canada):

Red Deer College theatre students are planning to stage two well-known works: The fairy tale Beauty and the Beast will be presented as a Christmas-time musical at the RDC Arts Centre, while an original version of Emily Bronte’s brooding novel Wuthering Heights — a stark tale of cruelty and thwarted love — will be a melodramatic Valentine’s offering. (Lana Michelin)

It is scheduled for next February (11-13).

The Vancouver Sun reviews Lorrie Moore's novel A Gate at the Stairs:

The novel’s ending, which invokes Jane Eyre, comes out of left field. It will delight you and leave a sweet aftertaste. (Rebecca Wigod)

Writers Read asks Margot Livesey what she is reading:

Currently I'm re-reading Jane Eyre, and marvelling all over again at Bronte's capacity to invoke the giant passions of childhood and the stages of Jane's journey as she makes her way from girlhood to adulthood. This time I'm trying to pay more attention to Bronte's handling of religion throughout the novel. She was, after all, a minister's daughter.

EDIT: And The Boston Globe insists on Margot Livesey's love of Jane Eyre:

Margot Livesey kicks off the Celebrity Bookclub at Newtonville Books this week. The club was her idea; she thought it would be fun for authors to lead a discussion of a favorite book. Livesey selected “Jane Eyre’’ by Charlotte Bronte, a book that she pays homage to in her most recent novel, “The House on Fortune Street.’’ Many readers first encounter “Jane Eyre’’ at a young age and develop a more complicated response to it as adults. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday. (Jan Gardner)

Época (Brazil) interviews the author Meg Cabot:

ÉPOCA – O que você costuma ler na sua infância e adolescência?
Meg – Eu amava Jane Austen. Mas também gostava de livros mais populares. Eu lia, na verdade, tudo que chegava às minhas mãos: romance, ficção científica, fantasia, livros de humor, Stephen King, Agatha Christie, Charlote Bronte, Michael Crichton, Bram Stoker, Harper Lee. Eu adorava todos.. (Bing translation)

La Repubblica (Italy) quotes Jane Eyre in an article about interior design:

E da queste righe, come un lampo, ci appaiono dettagli di quadri di Vermeer. Praz, per sottolineare queste differenze, poi analizzate nelle altre pagine del libro, dove ci passano davanti case medievali e interni Impero, cucine ottocentesche e salotti liberty, cita, fra i tanti autori, la Charlotte Bronte di Jane Eyre: «Era un leggiadro salotto che conteneva un boudoir; entrambi avevano tappeti bianchi su cui sembravano deposte ghirlande di fiori, entrambi avevan soffitti con nivei stucchi di grappoli e di foglie di vite, sotto cui ardevano con ricco contrasto divani e ottomane di color cremisi». (Bing translation)

Têtu (France) presents like this the new film by Maria Beatty, Bandaged:

Imaginez le romantisme des Hauts de Hurlevent d'Emily Brontë, le côté oppressant de Psychose d'Hitchcock et le fétichisme de Fassbinder, et vous aurez une idée de ce que va provoquer en vous Bandaged... (Xavier Leherpeur) (Bing translation)

According to the Łódź Gazeta (Poland) the autum-winter collection of Hexeline is inspired by the moors of Wuthering Heights:

Wiemy już, czym inspirowali się projektanci łódzkich firm odzieżowych. I tak: głównym motywem jesienno-zimowej kolekcji Hexeline jest wiatr na wrzosowiskach. Projektantki przełożyły to hasło na zbiór charakterystycznych motywów kojarzących się np. z "Wichrowymi wzgórzami" Emily Bronte, ale też z elementami popkultury, np. Robin Hoodem. (Izabella Adamczewska) (Google translation)

Silvia Mina wins a singing contest in Italy with Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights (on targatocn)
Meat and Potatoes highlights Charlotte Brontë's prodigious vocabulary in Jane Eyre and The Koala Bear Writer posts about Anne Brontë's two novels.

Categories: Anne Brontë, Brontëites, Jane Eyre, References, Theatre, Wuthering Heights

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The intricacies of Wuthering Heights

Several media report the opening of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival with the presence of Judi Dench, who was awarded with the Crystal Globe Award. The screening of Jane Eyre 2011 also took place. Picture source. A few reviews of the movie have been published in the Czech press:

Adaptace klasického románu Charlotte Brontëové nešetří dechberoucími panoramatickými záběry na skotská vřešoviště, kýčovitou romantikou, která k žánru patří, ale ani překvapivě ponurým, místy až hororovým laděním. (Irena Zemanová in IHNed) (Translation)

Film je ale také velkou podívanou, v níž hraje významnou roli doba ve všech detailech od prostředí až po kostýmy. Tvůrci pečlivě zkoumali a reprodukovali módu třicátých a čtyřicátých let devatenáctého století, kdy ještě neexistovaly šicí stroje a všechno se šilo ručně.  (Věra Míšková in Novinky) (Translation)

Check also ČTK, Zpravy Rozhlas, CT24 or Karlovarský deník.

As the film opens in Australia in a few days, Mia Wasikowska is featured in the Australian edition of Harper's Bazaar wearing pieces from the Louis Vuitton Autumn-Winter 2012 collection with a nineteenth century touch (like this and this). Filguiden (Norway) informs that the film entered the weekend box office top ten (it was number 8). Finally, good news for our Swedish friends, the Swedish Jane Eyre premiere will be a bit earlier if you are near Göteborg. The film will be screened at the Göteborgs Kulturkalas next August 20.

Precisely, the Jamestown Post Journal salutes the local screening of the film like this:

In a bold, new version of this oft-told tale, director Cary Joji Fukunaga infuses a contemporary immediacy into Brontë's timeless, classic story. Wasikowska ("Alice in Wonderland") and Fassbender ("Inglourious Basterds") star in the iconic lead roles of the romantic drama, the heroine of which continues to inspire new generations of devoted readers and viewers.

The Hemel Gazette talks about new stand-up comedians performing these days at the Tringe Festival. We are rather curious about this routine:

While Steph Peart’s knowledge of Heathcliff and Cathy’s relationship in Wuthering Heights must surely have won her an A* at A-level, unlike her poor partner Jo Scott who, having never even read the book, is tasked with lecturing the audience on its intricacies. (...)
You can see the novice stand-ups as they perform around the pubs of Tring on Sunday, July 3, from 7.30pm to 10.30pm.
The two best acts will also be joining one of comedy’s elder statesmen, Arthur Smith, when he appears at the Court Theatre in Tring on Thursday, July 7, 8pm.

The Mumbai Mirror celebrates the memory of the author Mala Sen and Jean Rhys:

Rhys’ best-known book continues to be the re-write of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847), which she titled Wide Sargasso Sea (1966).
It humanizes Brontë’s “mad woman in the attic,” the first Mrs Rochester by giving her a background where she grew up, people who loved her, before she was slowly driven to despair and madness.
The novel is set in 1834 or so, after the Emancipation of slaves in British-owned Jamaica. The slaves have been freed, but there has been no compensation. (...)
The novel also humanizes Mr Rochester who, in the Brontë novel appears to be an erotic fantasy figure. Rochester too is, in a sense, an orphan. As the second son of an English family, he has to find his way in the world, as the estate will go to the oldest son.
He goes to the West Indies in search of an heiress, and is persuaded by a bribe of 30,000 pounds to marry Antoinette. The marriage is arranged by Richard Mason, Antoniette’s step-father’s son. But he finds everything disturbing:
“Everything is too much,” he thinks.” Too much blue, too much purple, too much green. The flowers too red, the mountains too high, the hills too near. And the woman is a stranger.”
Wide Sargasso Sea is a haunting novel. Jean Rhys was herself a white West Indian, born in Dominica. Despite the fact that she had written several fine novels and stories, she remained unknown till the publication of Wide Sargasso Sea. Her fame, she said in an interview, came too late for her to care very much about it.
While re-reading the book this week, I came across one or two details I wasn’t sure of. I thought, automatically, as one does, I must ask Mala. (Eunice De Souza)

The San Francisco Chronicle reviews The Secret History of Costaguana by Juan Gabriel Vasquez:

Like Aime Cesaire’s A Tempest, which critiques Shakespeare’s take on Caliban, or Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, an ardent “prequel” of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, this second novel by Juan Gabriel Vasquez is first and foremost an extended meditation on Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo, published in 1904 and set in a fictional South American republic named Costaguana. (Roberto Ignacio Díaz)

The Village Voice joins in the current discussion of the 'artistic' condition of videogames (yes / no) with this comparison:

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court struck down a California law banning the sale of violent video games to minors on the grounds that video games are art. You may argue that the highest court in the land knows bunk about either video games or art, but their decision gives Crash Bandicoot the same first First Amendment protection as Jane Eyre. (Nick Greene)

The Herald-Mail interviews Meg Cabot who goes one step further in admitting her Brontëiteness:

But Cabot never considered writing, "although I'm not embarrassed to admit I wrote 'Jane Eyre' fan fiction," she said. (Marie Gilbert)

Las Provincias (Spain) interviews the writer Silvia Grijalba:

-¿A qué obedece el cambio de registro de sus ensayos hacia 'Contigo aprendí'?
-Me lo pedía la historia, que está inspirada en la vida de mi abuela, es ella la que inspira el libro, pero no es una biografía, está pasada por la ficción. Necesitaba una estructura clásica, casi decimonónica, al estilo de Jane Austen o las hermanas Brontë. (Translation)

The same author is also interviewed in El Mundo (Spain):

-¿Tienes algún escritor de referencia?¿Te gusta alguna obra en especial o que recuerdas siempre con un cariño único?
-Tengo muchísimos y muy variados. Desde las hermanas Brönte(sic), Jane Austen, Fitzgerald o Thomas Hardy e Ishiguro que han podido influir en esta novela[.] (Translation)

Several Spanish media celebrate Bernard Herrmann's 100th birthday and mention his Wuthering Heights opera:

Esperemos que este año de conmemoración sirva para conocer también mejor sus partituras no cinematográficas,en la que destaca su ópera Wuthering Heights (Cumbres Borrascosas), basada en el gran clásico de Emily Brontë, para algunos su gran obra maestra[.] (Ana Vega Toscana in RTVE.es) (Translation)

Aunque para uno de sus filmes -'Hangover Square', entre nosotros 'Concierto macabro'- ya había escrito un concierto para piano y orquesta, las partituras de ese tipo son en general ajenas al cine. Las más importantes son una sinfonía, varias obras para cuerdas, incluidos una cuarteto y una 'sinfonieta', piezas para orquesta de cámara, un ballet, diversas cantatas, obras para voz y piano y piano solo. También escribió una ópera basada en 'Cumbres borrascosas' y una comedia musical. (César Coca in El Diario Montañés) (Translation)

Also in La Nación (Argentina). QoBuz (France) announces the possibility that a recording of Wuthering Heights (possibly the one at the Montpellier Festival last year) will be released by the Accord label. Finally NMZ (Germany) says:

Bei 20th Century Fox fand Herrmann ab 1944 ein Jahrzehnt lang eine neue musikalische Heimat. Schon die Motive aus seinem ersten Fox-Film "Jane Eyre" sollten den "schwarzen Romantiker" lange verfolgen und später in seiner großartigen Bronté-Oper "Wuthering Heights" wieder auftauchen. (Viktor Rotthaler) (Translation)

20 Minutos (Spain) reviews the recently published En voz activa. El papel de la mujer en la ficción inglesa (XVII-XX) by María del Mar Rivas Carmona where:

Desde The Contract (Margaret Cavendish, 1656) a The Summer before the Dark (Doris Lessing, 1973), pasando por las obras de Aphra Behn, Mary Wollstonecraft, Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, las hermanas Brontë, George Eliot o Virginia Woolf, entre otras, es "posible rastrear un hilo conductor a través del que las mujeres han descrito su tradicional adscripción a un papel fijo y a una esfera limitada, la privada". (Europa Press) (Translation)

Las Horas Perdidas (Spain) quotes the director Pablo Berger saying about his upcoming Snow White film:

La acción se desarrollará en los años 20 y la película será muda y en blanco y negro. Berger asegura que su versión de Blancanieves será un melodrama gótico, que no se acercará a la versión animada de Walt Disney sino a Cumbres Borrascosas de Emily Brönte (sic). (Translation) 

Le Monde (France) publishes an article about the comic author Yumiko Igarashi, creator of Candy, Candy:

Avec ses yeux verts, ses taches de rousseur et son optimisme à tous crins, Candy doit aussi beaucoup à Anne of Green Gables (Anne, la maison aux pignons verts, 1908), un roman culte de la littérature de jeunesse écrit par la Canadienne Lucy Maud Montgomery. Certains, comme Patrick Gaumer, auteur du Dictionnaire mondial de la BD (Larousse), verront également dans la quête initiatrice de la petite orpheline des allusions à Charles Dickens (David Copperfield) ou Emily Brontë (Les Hauts de Hurlevent). (Frédéric Potet) (Translation)

A valedictorian speech with a mention to Jane Eyre in the Dansville-Genesee Country Express; a local Brontëite in the Hamilton-Wenham Patch; Livraria da Folha (Brazil) mentions the Portuguese translation of Brian Dillon's The Hypochondriacs (Tormented Hope). On the blogosphere both Book Shelf and With Love post about Jane Eyre, Paperblog posts about her author, Charlotte Brontë in Spanish, Celluloïdz reviews I Walked with a Zombie 1943 (in French).

Finally, do you remember this campaign of air fresheners with unexpected Brontë references? The Yekaterinburg bookstore has received a Bronze Media Lion at the recent Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

Categories: Books, Brontëites, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, Opera, References, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights

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Daring Deconstructions

Sud-Ouest reviews Wuthering Heights 2011 which opens in France next Wednesday:

La beauté du film d'Andrea Arnold est dans cette âpreté, dans ses climats puissants, dans une vision charnelle et rude de la nature. Les personnages ne parlent guère, mais ils bougent, ils galopent, ils s'agitent. Ce sont les corps qui se souviennent et qui s'expriment, qui souffrent et saignent. On n'est pas ici chez des aristocrates en dentelles, mais à la crête d'un lieu où l'on va les joues sales et les bottes crottées. Cette dimension naturaliste, alimentée par une mise en scène attentive aux détails, à la limite parfois du maniérisme mais sauvée par une sorte de froideur finale, ôte au récit une bonne part de son romantisme et de son pathos. (Sophie Avon) (Translation)

The Independent reviews the new Great Expectations directed by Mike Newell and thinks it is not so daring as Cary Fukunaga's Jane Eyre or Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights:

Unlike the directors of the recent, more daring deconstructions of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, Newell and his screenwriter, David Nicholls (One Day), have gone for a literal, scene-by-scene translation of the book, with very little of the streamlining undertaken by David Lean for the classic 1946 version.  (Nicholas Barber)

I want art in my life reviews Jane Eyre 2011.

The Sunday Times is excited to see in the upcoming BBC Radio 4 Extra schedule the 1999 radio adaptation of Villette (next December 12th) because it is the only Keira Knightley radio series (recorded when she was barely 13 years old):

She took two parts – that of Polly and Fleur. She was joined by Joanna Page, later of Gavin And Stacey fame. The lead part of Lucy Snowe was taken by Catherine McCormack and other cast includes Dame Harriet Walter, Joseph Fiennes and James Laurenson

The Boston Globe talks about original interior designs. Including this one from Theodore & Company:

Delighted by a pair of cement French garden statuary she took out of storage, interior designer Kate McCusker of Theodore & Company got the yen to redecorate her Beacon Street office. The statues — otherwise known as “Romeo and Juliet” or, if you’re talking to Paula McCusker, Kate’s mother and business partner, “Catherine and Heathcliff” — are mounted on plinths and very French in style. Kate felt they were best suited for either a funky loft or a distinctly French room. The office, being rather small, made Parisian decor the obvious choice. (Marni Elyse Katz)

We cannot imagine anything further away from the Wuthering Heights imagery than this, but to each their own.

The Van Wert Times Bulletin talks about a local theatrical production of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and mentions a passion for reading:

If you're like me, you read a lot of classics in high school and college literature classes. Some of them stuck with me (like Jane Eyre and The Lord of the Rings trilogy), and others were just assignments to be completed. (Dee Fisher)

Riverina Romantics interviews the writer Marina Adair:

Your bookshelf is on fire, you can only save what you can carry what do you save?
The complete works of Jane Austin (sic), Jane Eyre, The Mediator series and Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot, and of course all of Julie Garwood’s historicals.

Alone. Together. Fact. Fiction, Sam Read-'n-Write, xCacharel (on YouTube and in German) and My Little Secret World (in Portuguese) post about Wuthering Heights; ☆My Blog ☆ proposes a very ambitious Brontë challenge; Jak się czy­ta, to się nie myśli o so­bie (in Polish) reviews The Professor; Idiots & Earthquakes. A Writer's Blog and BiblioPepe (in Swedish) posts about Jane Eyre; Portrait of a Maiden reviews the 1997 version; Sogni di Carta (in Italian) posts about Bianca Pitzorno's La Bambinaia Francese; The Simplicicity of Being Curious reviews Wuthering Heights 2009.

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July Tidbits

Tulsa World interviews the author Meg Cabot, not the first time to be mentioned on this blog:

Q: In a blog, you mention your concept of Girl Gothic. Can you explain that?
A: “I grew up reading Gothic romance like ‘Jane Eyre’ and dark mysteries where the heroine tries to solve the mystery with paranormal elements. I wanted to write about a heroine who is not helpless, but helps the hero. It’s an empowered heroine. (Ginnie Graham)

The Sydney Morning Herald describes à la Brontë the Woolshed Cabins in the Blue Mountains, Australia:

The property's location is like an Australian version of Wuthering Heights, all rolling hills and creeks, with the odd white horse flicking its tail. (Samantha Selinger-Morris)

Cantinho da Carolina is waiting for Wuthering Heights 2011 (in Portuguese); Sumergidos entre Libros (in Spanish) posts about the original novel;  Libereading, Federico sabe leer (in French) and Libros y Literatura (in Spanish) review Jane Eyre; En svensk tiger i Oslo briefly talks about its 2011 adaptation (in Swedish); thanks to this review of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall on Kirjojen Maailma we know that Anne Brontë's novel in Finnish is Wildfell Hallin asukas; familymatters1234 (YouTube) discusses a collection of books by the Brontë sisters.

Categories: Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Wuthering Heights

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Rejecting Cathy

Miami New Times interviews the writer Meg Cabot:

What are some of your favorite books?
I have so many, so many writers I admire; that I loved as kid. I love George Lucas… I love Judy Blume, who lives here in Key West as well. She’s always been a big favorite of mine and I’m a big supporter and fan of hers. I love some of the classics, too, from Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë. (Shelly Davidov)

The Millions reviews the 1979 book of essays The White Album by Joan Didion:

Look again at “On Self-Respect.” The whole essay is an act of gender-bending. Didion rejects the role of Cathy from Wuthering Heights, and of Francesca da Rimini. Instead, she compares herself to Raskolnikov and says she wants to be more like Rhett Butler. She puts Jordan Baker’s manhood up against Julian English’s: Jordan wins. And then there are the references to the Wild West, to Waterloo and the playing fields of Eton, and to Chinese Gordon holding Khartoum against the Mahdi. (Franklin Strong)

Humo (Belgium) reviews the book Vernietiging by Jeff VanderMeer:

Wie iets wenst te snappen van het universum en de sfeer waarin de boeken zich gekluisterd weten, dient zich om te beginnen wat (om het éven wat) te kunnen voorstellen bij de combinatie H.P. Lovecraft meets‘Alien’ meets ‘Wuthering Heights’ meets ‘The Insider’. (Translation)

Publico recommends Wuthering Heights 1939, today on Portuguese TV (TVC2, 18:05h) ; Maybe, I Dreamt You posts a nice Wuthering Heights 2011 movie meme.

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Reader, I ate him

The Times talks about Seth Grahame-Smith's new book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and its possible film adaptation (!) and reveals these other Brontë-meets-horror projected (or imagined, we don't really know) parodies:

Other talent agencies are pitching their own slate of monster-lit titles. They include a version of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, where Catherine, the deceased heroine, returns as a Japanese-style ghost not only to haunt but also to terrorise Heathcliff.
In a reworking of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre , Mr Rochester has something more terrible than an insane spouse in his attic, and a version of George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss is powered by human sacrifice. (John Harlow)

Les Quotidiennes suggests some possibilities:

Pour «Les Hauts du Hurlevent», difficile d’en rajouter dans le gore. Mais «Jane Eyre» a un bel avenir devant elle. Folle et lesbienne, elle finit par arracher les yeux du «maître», qu’elle dévore tout cru (vous me direz qu’un œil cuit, ce n’est pas terrible non plus). (Étienne Dumont) (Google translation)

Cape Cod Times asks its readers about the most powerful love story they have ever read:

"Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte is the quintessential romance story of two star-crossed lovers who were soul mates but whose love, though lasting beyond the grave, was unrequited. In the old song, "These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)," the phrase "Oh, how the ghost of you clings" could have been written with the couple in this bittersweet romantic story in mind.
Faith Hakala, Centerville (Melanie Lauwers)

The Guardian talks about Ashmont Country House B&B in Haworth:

Ashmount Country House is in the heart of Brontë country, within strolling distance of the parsonage where Charlotte and Emily lived, wrote and died. Being incorrigibly sentimental, I read Jane Eyre on the train from London, and was wiping away tears by the time I reached Yorkshire and my own Mr Rochester. Romantic reunions aside, the drive to Haworth is enough to satisfy the most poetic of souls, weaving through hilltop villages (including Heptonstall, where Sylvia Plath is buried and Ted Hughes was frequently to be found brooding and writing in the local pub) before gliding for miles across the moors. (Olivia Laing)

The Indianapolis Star interviews author Meg Cabot:

What did you read as a youth growing up in Bloomington?
I spent a lot of time at the Monroe County Library, because we had a really old house without air conditioning, and the library had it. I'd be in the teen section reading fantasy and science fiction. I used to hate teen books because they all seemed so message-heavy. I also liked "Star Wars" and "Spiderman" comic books and classics like Jane Eyre. (Zach Dunkin)

The Irish Independent reviews the film The Secret of Moonacre and finds echoes of Wuthering Heights:

However, the story is over-complicated and isn't directed into clarity by Csupo. Overall, the film feels like an odd mishmash of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Wuthering Heights and The Wizard of Oz with a dash of A Clockwork Orange (costumes only). (Aine O'Connor)

The Twilight frenzy arrives even in Brazil where Diario de Pernambuco devotes an article to Stephenie Meyer:

Encontrar nomes satisfatórios para a garota e o rapaz foi difícil. Acabou chamando-a Isabella, nome que estava guardando para a própria filha. Edward veio de influências literárias, especificamente de personagens delineados pelas escritoras Charlotte Bronte (Mr. Rochester) e Jane Austen (Mr. Ferrars). (Teresa Mello) (Google translation)

The French author Hugo Marsan is interviewed in the Nouvel Observateur. Talking about his previous novel Abel, he says:

Et dans «Abel», comme dans «l'Assassin improbable», il y a le rêve de l'amour absolu, impossible bien sûr, qui ne peut être imaginé que retiré du monde, comme dans les romans des sœurs Brontë, ô combien imaginaires, mais si présents, et qui hantent des domaines isolés de la civilisation. Le château c'est le roman. (Cécile Oumhani) (Google translation)

Tellus Folio discusses Cime Tempestose 1956 and qualifies it as one of the first media successes of the Italian television:

Benedetti furono gli anni Cinquanta, che poterono ospitare ‘cose’ come Cime tempestose (‘lo’ sceneggiato televisivo diretto da Mario Landi -che ne curò la sceneggiatura con Leopoldo Trieste- e adattato alla TV da Enrico Piceni, che ne era anche il traduttore). Erano tempi in cui la gente tutta (e specialmente quella semplice e poco scolarizzata delle dislocazioni più impervie e lontane dalle città -che nulla sapeva dei film e della letteratura) guardava le cose con occhi bambini. Soltanto gli addetti ai lavori sapevano dell’esistenza del film Cime Tempestose diretto da William Wyler (1939) e della sua versione in lingua spagnola (Abismos de pasión) diretta da Luis Buñuel (1953). Nessuno (o quasi) fece caso al nome dell’autrice (Emily Brontë). La gente del popolo ignorava, comunque, l’esistenza di Emily Brontë, del suo pseudonimo (Ellis Bell), dello sconcerto iniziale della critica e della sua convinzione che l’opera fosse una produzione immatura di Charlotte Brontë (sorella di Emily- nota negli anni Quaranta con lo pseudonimo Currer Bell) e che precedesse la sua opera più matura Jane Eyre. La prima pubblicazione del libro (1847) aveva incontrato scetticismo e incomprensione. La critica non aveva compreso né ammirato lo stile del romanzo e, soprattutto, ne aveva avversato l’architettura ‘nuova’ (anche quando la sorella di Emily, Charlotte, più nota e famosa, ne aveva curato una seconda edizione). Avevano torto quei critici e furono smentiti dalla critica successiva, che rivalutò il romanzo e scrisse che, in esso, Emily Brontë aveva raggiunto livelli di gran lunga superiori a quelli della stessa Charlotte Brontë. Cime Tempestose divenne un classico della letteratura inglese. (...)
La gente del popolo non ebbe bisogno di conoscere i pareri della critica, il 12 febbraio 1956, quando prese posto nelle scomode sedie allineate alla meglio, in sale senza arredamento né riscaldamento, e assistette alla diretta della prima puntata di Cime Tempestose; non sapeva neppure dell’esistenza di una cosa chiamata critica. Rimase affascinata e calamitata dal piccolo schermo e vi si trasferì dentro, esperimentando quasi fisicamente l’ambientazione degli eventi e le interiori motivazioni dei personaggi. Giovani e meno giovani impararono ad attendere con ansia l’arrivo della puntata successiva, commentando e rivivendo, nel frattempo, eventi/dialoghi/ disavventure e ambienti di Cathe e Heathcliff bambini; interiorizzarono le atmosfere di una delle tre ambientazioni principali del romanzo (la casa cupa e imponente, il cui nome dà origine al titolo). Dubito che agli spettatori stregati dalla trama sia venuto in mente di pensare a coloro che ai due personaggi prestavano il volto (Paolo Foti e Ludovica Modugno). Il seguito della storia (fino all’ultima delle quattro puntate domenicali, quella del 4 marzo 1956) fece sì che le sembianze degli attori (bravissimi) Massimo Girotti e Anna Maria Ferrero si fondessero con le identità di Cathe e Heathcliff adulti, che interi passi del romanzo entrassero nell’inconscio popolare e vi dimorassero, con tutta la forza del loro fascino ottocentesco, e che alcune frasi di Catherine (Vedi: «Il mio amore per Heathcliff somiglia alle rocce eterne/ …/ … io sono Heathcliff!») e di Heathcliff (vedi: «Il mondo intero è per me una terribile collezione di cimeli che mi ricordano che lei è esistita e che io l'ho persa!») divenissero celebri e indimenticabili. Vi erano state altre tre mini serie televisive, prima di Cime Tempestose (La Domenica di un fidanzato, Il dottor Antonio, Piccole Donne), e, a mio avviso, erano servite come gradini propedeutici al risveglio del gusto del ‘romanzo’ e avevano preparato il terreno alla potenza dei sentimenti che Cime Tempestose avrebbe suscitato negli spettatori. Piccole Donne era piaciuto molto e a molti, ma Cime Tempestose portò una vera e propria ventata di romanticismo tenebroso tra i giovani, lacrime a fiumi tra i meno giovani e semi di fantasia ribelle tra gli adolescenti.
Ci furono altre versioni di Cime tempestose (un film diretto da Robert Fuest -1970, un film per la televisione diretto da Peter Kominsky -1992, una miniserie televisiva diretta da Fabrizio Costa -2004), ma mai assursero all’onore di evento culturale di massa (perché ‘caddero’ in ‘terreni’ culturali già ‘sfruttati’ e, infine, saturi di sovrapposizioni-mistificazioni pseudoculturali e junk). Mi sento di affermare che, nella versione televisiva del 1956, il romanzo di Emily Brontë rappresentò un ‘fenomeno’ televisivo senza precedenti/ una incredibile risposta popolare a un’iniziativa televisiva/ il primo evento che possa essere definito fenomeno ‘mediatico’. (Mino Reitano) (Google translation)

Weltbild presents the German translation of Anne Donovan's Being Emily: Emily sein oder nicht sein.

Le grenier de Doriane posts about The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in French and Evey has made a Jane Eyre Wordle.

EDIT:
An alert for tomorrow, February 9, from Simsbury, Connecticut:

Simsbury Mystery Book Group at the Simsbury CT Public

Library the second Monday of the month from noon to 1:15 p.m. Dates and
books for Spring 2009:
February 9: The Case of the Missing Bronte (1983) - Robert Barnard (snow date: Tues, Feb 17)

Categories: Alert, Brontëites, Haworth, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Wuthering Heights

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The kids will never read Agnes Grey

The San Jose Mercury News publishes a curious story of a nowadays Guy Montag:

With the zeal of a soul-saver, Robert Wright has delved into garbage bins, filled up his minivan and made space in his Willow Glen basement, rescuing books once destined for oblivion.
This week, Wright, 57, rumpled in sweatpants and a T-shirt, rushed to Morrill Middle School after the Berryessa school board had declared 686 library books surplus. The teacher browsed through volumes laid out on tables. He filled boxes until the custodian turned out the lights and chased him out. He returned Friday morning, his triumph mixed with amazement and distress.
" Why get rid of 'The Yearling'? Or 'Leaves of Grass'! How could anybody say there just isn't room for 'Leaves of Grass'?" he asked. "If they were throwing out 'Captain Underpants' I'd understand, but not 'Leaves of Grass!' "
School libraries periodically cull worn, obsolete and sometimes underused books from their collection. In Berryessa, they're pulled from shelves and stamped: "Material is inaccurate. Does not meet district standards. Stereotypes gender or culture."
Sometimes, media technician Jeanne Palmer said, the library has five or six copies of a books - as was the case with "The Witch of Blackbird Pond." Other books, like Anne Bronte's "Agnes Grey," she said, "The kids will never read." She judges that in part by the dust accumulated on top. (Sharon Noguchi)

That's the way literature has to be judged, no doubt. What a shame.

Margot Livesey's The House on Fortune Street is reviewed in the Washington Times (where there can also be read online the first chapter):

But the book's hopefulness has an even deeper source: the continuity of the English literary tradition. All the characters have sincere attachments to canonical British authors, going so far as to travel to their houses to observe how they lived. Sean has his beloved Keats, of course, while Dara often compares herself with Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. (Donna Rifkind)

The Book Reporter reports the appearance of Meg Cabot's The Babble Queen Gets Hitched. We knew that the author was a Brontëite, but her new book actually begins with a Wuthering Heights quote:

Chapter One

Whatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same. --- Emily Brontë (1818-1848), British novelist and poet

On the blogosphere: Roxy the Killer offers an ineffable Wuthering Heights analysis in her latest installment of Because You Suck. More literary creation, poetry in this case, Anna E. Evans posts the following on Dreaming in Iambic Pentameter:

A couple of acceptances to report. “Emily Bronte Begins Wuthering Heights” finally found a home in The Delaware Valley Poets Anthology, which will be good for my local profile.

Le Blog de Lorelai (in French) recommends Villette. AnimeGirl's Book Blogging posts about Cara Lockwood's Wuthering High. Finally, if you are reading Jane Eyre right now you may be interested in sharing your thoughts in this Librarything forum.

Categories: Agnes Grey, Books, Jane Eyre, Poetry, References, Villette, Wuthering Heights

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Unproduced Scripts: The Curious Tale of Jane Eyre

Variety and IonCinema announce the release of the 2008 BritList:

The eagerly anticipated list, inspired by Hollywood's Black List of best unproduced scripts, was voted on anonymously by more than 40 top-level figures in the U.K. and Irish film industries. Agents, producers, sales agents, distributors, studio execs and public funders provide up to 10 titles for voting on the privately circulated list. This year's list features 46 scripts from 160 original choices, all chosen from scripts that were not shooting at the time of the list's circulation. (Archie Thomas in Variety)

To qualify, the script should not be written by a US writer nor be greenlit for production at time of circulation. For inclusion, the script should score at least two votes from the industry people surveyed across all levels of seniority and sectors. (Eric Lavallee in IonCinema)

The list includes two Brontë projects:

2. Jane Eyre by Moira Buffini for BBC Films and Ruby Films. (more information)
6. Wuthering Heights by Olivia Hetreed for Ecosse Films. (more information)

The Sydney Morning Herald publishes a funny article about the current trends on novel titles:

This got me wondering whether publishers should consider renaming classics to lift sales in the modern market. Das Kapital could be renamed Marxinomics, Jane Eyre could be renamed The Curious Tale Of Jane Eyre and Mrs Dalloway could be renamed The Busy Woman's Guide To Hosting A Dinner Party. (Lisa Pryor)

The Guardian's Book Blog posts some thoughts about the concept of home. Discussing its poetical implications, Anne Brontë's poetry is mentioned:

But even when a poet is not actively seeking a return, the idea of home can be a powerfully evocative one that results in a strong sense of nostalgia. Poems such as Robert Browning's Home Thoughts, From Abroad, Laurie Lee's Home from Abroad, and Anne Brontë's Home all tap into this longing for a home abandoned. (Billy Mills)

Theatre actress and singer Faye Tozer is interviewed in the Daily Record:

BOOK: I'm not really a big reader, but when I was at school my favourite book was Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.
I don't really have a least favourite book - if I don't like it, I don't finish it.

Another early Brontëite was Anne Rice who is interviewed in the St. Petersburg Times concerning the upcoming release of Called Out of Darkness, a spiritual memoir:

She writes in her memoir that, although she was writing novels herself while she was in elementary school, she could read fiction only very slowly. She doesn't recall enjoying a novel until she was in high school and read Great Expectations and Jane Eyre. "I think it took me about a year to read them. It might have taken two," she says. (Colette Bancroft)

More Brontëites, Trashionista interviews Meg Cabot:

Jennifer: What's one book you think every teen girl should read?
Apart from mine? [Laughs] I actually think every teen girl should read Jane Eyre. Or watch the movie because it's hotter.

The Telegraph-Journal (Canada) talks with Laurie Glenn Norris, author of Cumberland County in Fact and Folklore:

Laurie Glenn Norris's top book picks
1. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
This is the ultimate Gothic romance novel. I read it as a pre-teen and again as an adult, and the exchanges between Jane and Mr. Rochester never fail to give me chills. It's also a thoughtful study of 19th-century British class structure, gender roles and attitudes towards mental illness.

The Age considers that Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (which now celebrates its 140th anniversary) is

a gateway to those extraordinary novels that stretch from Austen through the Brontes to George Eliot, the supreme novelist of moral discrimination in a limited stretch of turf. A child who has her heart stolen away by Little Women may find herself enthralled by Middlemarch. (Peter Craven)

A Mingled Yarn announces that her own Librivox recording of Jane Eyre is now available. Mariakäfer reviews Jane Eyre 2006's German DVD release (in German). The series is also the main topic of a post on Prin îndrăzneală, către stele... (in Romanian), Reflejos de una caminante reviews the original novel (in Spanish) and Vintage Reads has read Shirley.

Categories: Anne Brontë, Audio-Radio, Brontëites, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Poetry, References, Shirley

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The Bloomsbury editions once again

Remember those infamous covers and 'extras' for the new, 'cool' Bloomsbury editions of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights?

Well, Emma Matthewson, deputy editorial director at Bloomsbury, has spoken about them:

Emma Matthewson, deputy editorial director at Bloomsbury, also hopes that using specially-commissioned introductions will help to attract teenage readers. In August Bloomsbury will be launching a batch of classic titles - Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein, David Copperfield and, yes, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice - in editions aimed at 14- to 16-year-olds. “When you had to read a classic for school, often the only available edition had a smudgy painting on the cover. It got me thinking that it would be so fantastic to have a version of a classic that looked amazing and pickupable and had lots of extras in it. Our new classics have introductions by authors that teenagers will be familiar with - it’s almost like having an author you really respect, whether it’s Philip Reeve or Meg Cabot, picking up the phone and saying: ‘Hey, you’ve got to read this book!’” The books will have gossipy, newspaper-like end sections to provide further information and historical context.

We feel so like crying after that. The 'cool', modern bit about it all is so lost on us! Seriously, the so-called 'smudgy painting on the cover' has worked for us all (and in our case it was a Richmond's painting of Charlotte anyway). And we still find the thing about the 'extras' really creepy.

“Covers, introductions and notes can make a big difference, especially if they’re a little less dry,” says Rupert Shortt, who teaches A-level English at City and Islington College in London. “As long as the text is unabridged, and the end matter is relevant, interesting and well set out, I would definitely be interested in using these new editions with our students.”

Less dry, yes. Blinding and wannabe cool, no.

Literary critic John Carey, author of What Good Are the Arts?, welcomes any means by which the so-called canon is made more approachable. “I’m very much in favour of widening the readership of classic titles in every possible way. They are classics because a lot of people in the past have found them rewarding and important to their lives, and that means there is a high chance a lot of people today would find them rewarding and important too. But a whole lot of cultural factors get in the way of access - people feel that old books are out-of-date or highbrow or in other respects not for them, and reading anything, let alone classics, seems unattractive when the competition of other media is so fierce. So I’m wholly behind such efforts.” Change is good - necessary, in fact, if timeless books are to speak to new generations of readers.

So are we in favour, but we don't see how such covers and such coold stuff will work that way. For ages, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights have been loved by teenagers - if properly introduced to them (no need of flashy colours and wordings) and if in the right mood or the right character for them - so we don't see how this is going to change things. We'll see in August, I guess.

(Oh, and in the same article, don't miss the numbers on Jane Austen - they are totally stunning! Talk about a best-seller! And still they think they have to do this to get people to read her novels!)

Categories: In_the_News, Books, Jane_Eyre, Wuthering_Heights

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A Total Joy

Sally Reeve, Martha in Jane Eyre 2011, has published on her website a picture in her Jane Eyre costume:

I’m currently filming Jane Eyre – directed by the wonderful Cary Fukunaga and produced by Ruby Films. Obviously as we’re in production I can’t say TOO much – apart from I’m having the most fun I’ve ever had on a film set. Just finished my first chunk of filming and it’s a total joy. There’s a wonderful company feel – no huge egos, no stress, just a group of people working together on an amazing script by Moira Buffini. I love everything about this job – it’s a dream! More details as they come and a sneek peak here of me in my costume….

Juliet Gael, author of Romancing Miss Brontë is a Wichita native and the local newspaper Wichita Eagle has an article on her and invites readers to a book signing next Thursday, April 29:

The Romantic period of English literature and romance itself figure into the title of the new novel "Romancing Miss Brontë" (Ballantine, 414 pages, $25) , says author Juliet Gael. She has taken the life of Charlotte Brontë — author of "Jane Eyre" — as a subject. The book is fiction, but based on the facts of Brontë's life: her tragic family life that included the loss of her mother and all of her siblings, her and her sisters' foray into writing and pseudonymous publishing, her later fame as an author, and, ultimately, her marriage to her father's curate at an age long past when she'd been considered an "old maid."
Gael, a Wichita native and North High graduate who now lives in Italy, studied literature at KU and went on to become a screenwriter. She turned to novels, she said in an e-mail, for two reasons: storytelling and control. "I'm a reader and I love words — I love the flow of words and language and I love storytelling." In Hollywood, she said, "I met a lot of screenwriters who never read novels."
And screenwriting is an inherently collaborative process, since ultimately it takes hundreds of people to produce a film. "But the work of a novel," she notes, "begins and ends with the writer. The novelist takes full responsibility for what ends up on the printed page."
"Romancing Miss Brontë" is her first foray into novel-writing, but the seed was planted nearly two decades ago when Gael visited Haworth, the Brontës' home village in the Yorkshire moors, in the course of a graduate seminar on the Brontë sisters. She found the story of Charlotte's life in particular fascinating, and kept the story of "Romancing Miss Brontë" very close to the events of Brontë's life. (...)
Gael said she's hoping readers of her book will rediscover "Jane Eyre" and other Brontë novels. "There are a lot of readers who will, hopefully, be drawn to read and discover the Brontë literature from reading about their lives and the creation of their work," she said. "'Jane Eyre' continually engages readers. Charlotte captured, in that little plain-Jane governess, the heart and soul of all passionate women who long to be seen and loved for qualities other than their appearance." (Lisa McLendon)

Reading and book-signing by Wichita native Juliet Gael, author of "Romancing Miss Bronte"
Watermark Books, 4701 E. Douglas When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Free For more information, call 316-682-1181.

The Telegraph thinks that Chris Morris, director of the upcoming film Four Lions, and Emily Brontë are twin souls:

The distance between Emily Brontë and Chris Morris is not as great as you might imagine.
If it really existed, Brontë’s much-filmed Wuthering Heights would be just up the road from the sharply realised Sheffield of Four Lions, Morris’s astonishing, soon-to-be-released comedy about terrorism. (I’d recommend leaving the M1 at junction 38, proceeding through Huddersfield and Halifax, turning left just before Keighley.)
And both stories deal with Yorkshire grit, bookending a long tradition of uncompromising movies set in God’s Own County. Here, in chronological order, is my top 10:
Wuthering Heights (1939)
In William Wyler’s Oscar-winner (for best black-and-white cinematography), Laurence Olivier plays Heathcliff opposite Merle Oberon’s Cathy. The original review in Variety complained: “Dramatic episodes are vividly etched, without benefit of lightness. It’s heavy fare throughout” – as if this was inappropriate! The recent success of the Twilight series of novels (and films) has apparently revived the popularity of Brontë’s tale, with the result that a new movie version is in the works. (Marc Lee)

Los Angeles Times's Jacket Copy talks about Meg Cabot's latest book:

She’s a geek -- she used to write "Star Trek" and "Jane Eyre" fan fiction. (Casey Chan)

On the Galveston County Daily News the English vs American "language war" is recalled:

Generations of Americans were intimidated by these haughty British claims, and many Americans conceded automatic superiority to anything English, especially in matters of speech and literature.
Americans slavishly looked up to Dickens, Matthew Arnold, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë and Anne Brontë, while the British refused even to read American writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe and Herman Melville. (Harold Raley)

The Times publishes an article about Katharine Hepburn's affaire with Howard Hughes and a reference to her performing Jane Eyre in theatre crops up:

But she certainly wasn’t heartbroken, and threw herself into preparing for a starring role in a play based on Jane Eyre. It was now a year since her first encounter with Howard Hughes, and he was about to re-enter her life once more by descending from a clear blue sky. (...)
“He asked me if I could have dinner with him the next week. I told him I’d be in Boston, where I would be doing Jane Eyre. When I arrived in Boston, there were flowers from Howard, who had taken the largest suite at the Ritz, where I was staying. My room was so filled with flowers, there was hardly room for me. (Charlotte Chandler)

More mentions: A bookcase is not complete without Wuthering Heights according to the Times-Transcript, The Hindu publishes a belated review of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society:

What begins as a life saver soon becomes a life line and as Juliet soon discovers, the core members not only show an interest in Shakespeare, Seneca and the Brontës, but are also fiercely protective of one another. (Nirmala Lakshman)

Fantasy/Sci-Fi Lovin' Giveaways! gives away three copies of Sherri Browning Erwin's Jane Slayre (deadline: May 4); A Literary Fest reviews Wide Sargasso Sea; a little right reading posts another photo collage contribution to Brontë-Along!; you old chicken posts about Wuthering Heights and Chen's Blog about Jane Eyre.

Finally, bronteana1 has uploaded to YouTube several talks (well, just the first minutes of them) of the latest Brontë Society Conference (York, July-August 2009). So far Margaret Smith, Dudley Green, Miriam Bailin, Christine Alexander, Paul Edmonson and several students and a clip of the Brontë Books Exhibition can be found.

Categories: Fiction, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Wide Sargasso Sea

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"Darkly moody men can be irresistible"

Quite a few things on Jane Eyre 2011.

The Vernon Morning Star announces that the film will be shown next Monday by the Vernon Film Society.

Moviegoers who are wondering what to do after voting and before election results come out have a great opportunity to attend Vernon Film Society’s next show Monday, May 2. [...]
Jane Eyre will screen at the Vernon Towne Cinema Monday at 5:15 and 7:45 p.m. All tickets are $7 and are available at Bean Scene one week prior to the showing and at the door.

And the Idaho Mountain Express reveals that the film will also be shown locally:

The Magic Lantern Cinemas in Ketchum will hold its annual Spring Film Festival featuring six independent films. The festival will run from Friday, April 29, through Friday, May 20.
For the festival, he [Magic Lantern Cinemas owner Rick Kessler] chose "Jane Eyre," "Nowhere Boy," "Of Gods and Men," "Win Win," "The Concert" and "The Conspirator."
The first week of the festival will include "Jane Eyre," "Nowhere Boy" and "Of Gods and Men." (Sabina Dana Plasse)

More information on the Jane Eyre screenings here.

411 mania reviews the film and gives it a 7.5:

Will this version of Jane Eyre inspire others to check out the novel? I think it will. While it does contain some flaws, Cary Fukunaga has established himself as a fine filmmaker, one who has an equal amount of intelligence with visuals as he does working with actors. I look forward to seeing what he has to offer in the future. Here, he focuses on Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender, who hand in terrific performances with a superb supporting cast that includes Jamie Bell, Judi Dench, and Sally Hawkins. The distinct style and structure will develop a following, but the problem with all these revisits of classic novels is that unless they can find a way to overtake the best adaptation, it will be tough for them to stand out. I'd still recommend this, if not for fans of the book then for fans of the two outstanding stars. This is probably still being shown in some of the smaller arthouse theaters, but it should be on its way to DVD before long. (Chad Webb)

Red & Black mostly likes it too:

Wasikowska has moments when she captures Jane’s spirit and her soul shines out, but most of these moments are quiet and fleeting.
For the most part, she seems flat, failing to impart the passion that Rochester supposedly sees in Jane.
On the other hand, Fassbender plays Rochester with just the right mix of brooding and manipulation.
His performance is much more subtle than the Rochesters who have come before him, which makes his character harder, at first, to grasp.
He doesn’t yell and stomp around as much, and this makes him seem not as sick or frustrated as he needs to be.
Whereas Wasikowska’s understated performance leaves too many feelings and thoughts unstated, Fassbender manages to portray depth through his. [...]
Fukunaga’s movie does not reinvent the wheel, but it does give the 21st-century its own version of the gothic romance.
In a market glutted with dark tales of love and loss, it is a welcome addition — a film with a heart as well as a brain. (Sarah Smith)

The Daily Tribune publishing editor recommends it as well:

Sharon and I recently slipped into Dallas to see Jane Eyre at the Angelica. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.
This was my first experience with the Charlotte Brontë gothic romance on the big screen. The theater allowed me to avoid all those at home distractions that can keep you from immersing yourself in the story.
I won’t say Mia Wasikowska, Judi Dench and Michael Fassbender did a better job than other productions, but their efforts were certainly commendable.
If you are in the mood to slurp some classic culture, you can do worse than spending a dark and stormy night with Jane. (Bob Palmer)

The Evansville Courier & Press reviews it briefly 'from a family perspective'. The high school journal Clarion, Junto Letras (in Portuguese) and Ionarts review the film too.

Also connected to Jane Eyre is the film Jucy, which is to be shown at this year’s London Australian Film Festival (May 5 through 12 at the Barbican centre). The Hollywood Reporter summarises it as follows:

billed as a quirky comedy set in a Brisbane video store where Jackie and Lucy (collectively ‘Jucy’) plot a way out of their boredom by getting involved in a local production of Jane Eyre, angling to snag the local heartthrob and a new job into the bargain. (Stuart Kemp)

The Pikes Peak Courier View talks to a local English teacher who talks about his experience teaching Wuthering Heights:

In teaching the English novel by Emily Brontë, “Wuthering Heights,” Leonard manages to elicit positive feedback. “They complain all the way through but, in my lecture, when I show them why it’s an important book, they agree that it’s a great book,” he said. (Pat Hill)

Author Meg Cabot also does her bit bringing the Brontës to youngsters. She is interviewed by The Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy.

John Hayden [from her new novel Abandon] wouldn’t be easily mistaken for a lighthearted love interest—he’s joining the brooding ranks of Edward Cullen, Stefan and Damon Salvatore, Dimitri Belikov, etc. What do you think attracts readers to darker heroes?
The same thing that attracted Elizabeth Bennet to Mr. Darcy and Jane Eyre to Mr. Rochester. Darkly moody men can be irresistible because we’re drawn to that which we don’t understand… People can be extremely compelling when they seem dangerous, especially when they’re as dark and mysterious as John in “Abandon.” And of course, Pierce is drawn to him in a way she can’t understand. And that might be what scares her most of all.
But John—like Darcy with Elizabeth, and Rochester with Jane—is the only person who truly understands Pierce, and what she’s been through. (Gina Bernal)

A.V. Club has some thoughts on completism:

The latter means just accepting that, yeah, you’re going to miss some good stuff. A lot of good stuff. But that’s okay. It’s a big world with abundant deposits of good stuff, and while it’s sad that you’re not going to get to it all—be it Charlotte Brontë, Jackson Pollock, or The Moonglows—isn’t it kind of wonderful that we live in a world with too much to experience in one lifetime? (Keith Phipps)

Well, from BrontëBlog we would suggest not missing Charlotte Brontë (or her family) but then again we're mostly preaching to the choir here.

The Berkeley Daily Planet discusses Chekhov's The Three Sisters and mentions its possible Brontë origins.

But now for something unexpected. Gizmodo dixit:

Masturbating in public is always illegal, whether you’re doing it to internet porn or Jane Eyre, so that shouldn’t be an issue as long as there’s some diligent librarian to enforce it (and my God what an awful job that would be). (Sam Biddle)

Blogosphere thoughts on Jane Eyre (the novel): The Oddness of Moving Things, The Story Girl, Rose Vignettes, Se liga! (in Portuguese) and Veverita's Blog (in Romanian). Booktalk & More has Laurel Ann from Austenprose write a guest post on Jane Eyre 1944. Michael Bryant reflects on the Brontës and English literature. Pamflet reviews Shared Experience's revival of Polly Teale's Brontë. Through the Wardrobe mentions briefly Rachel Ferguson's The Brontës Went to Woolworths. And finally, Readin' and Dreamin' reviews Jude Morgan's The Taste of Sorrow.

Categories: Brontëites, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights

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Yorkshire Icons

The Dalesman is looking for the greatest Yorkshire icons. The Brontës are, of course, one of the possible choices:

There are many icons of Yorkshire – from brass bands to flat caps and from the Brownlee brothers to the Brontë sisters – but which best sum up the county? To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Dalesman, we’re asking readers to help us select the 75 greatest Yorkshire icons. And we’d like you to help by picking your top ten.
It’s a tough choice, as the county has many icons. They can be people (real and fictional), places, foodstuffs, films, landmarks, buildings, companies, books… in fact just about anything that screams “Yorkshire” to you.
It could be Swaledale sheep and Brian Blessed or those great Yorkshire inventions the tension-spoked wheel and stainless steel. Or perhaps it is the Yorkshire dialect and a good old cup of tea. Or could it be the chorus of On Ilkla Moor Baht ’at and a perfectly risen Yorkshire pudding? The choice is yours.
You can cast your vote online on this page, or if you’d prefer, you can post or email your choices to us. Email your ten icons of Yorkshire to editorial@dalesman.co.uk, or write them down clearly on a piece of paper, or on the back of a postcard, and send them to Icons of Yorkshire, Dalesman, The Water Mill, Broughton Hall, Skipton, Yorkshire BD23 3AG.
If you’d like to briefly explain why you made your choices, you’re more than welcome to send us an accompanying paragraph or two. All votes will be collated and the top 75 will be revealed in Dalesman. The closing date for votes is 25 January 2014. Remember you may only choose TEN icons and they do not have to feature on the list below, however frivolous and/or offensive suggestions will not be counted.

The New Yorker on housemaids in literature:

[Virginia] Woolf wasn’t the only one to “blue-pencil” out the servants. While literature is filled with famous governesses—Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Thackeray’s Becky Sharp, and the unnamed narrator in James’s “The Turn of the Screw,” to name a few—the same isn’t true for housemaids. (...) [Jo] Baker’s novel [Longbourn]  goes beyond escapist fantasy, drawing subtle comparisons between past and present. Much as Jean Rhys’s reimagining of “Jane Eyre” through a postcolonial perspective became popular in the late nineteen-sixties, when “Wide Sargasso Sea” was published, so is Baker’s class-conscious reconsideration of “Pride and Prejudice” representative of our own time. (Ruth Margalit)

The Derby Telegraph runs an article about James Beresford and Sons in Belper, head stone manufacturers:

Many of them are relics of TV shows, commissioned by film companies to accompany programmes such as Peak Practice, whose production team was based up the road in Belper at the East Mill during the height of its popularity.
There are also memorial stones created for use during Jane Eyre, which was shot in Derbyshire. (Zena Hawley)

Joanna Molloy in Capital New York addresses a letter to the new major, Bill de Blasio:

But even with the whole neighborhood rooting for you, it can get pretty pretty lonely way up there in Gracie Mansion, where the wind whips down from Hell Gate like a draft from the moors of Wuthering Heights.

Scholars & Rogues has The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in its 2014 reading list:

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Anne Brontë. The most important of the youngest Brontë sister’s works. Some critics think this may be the greatest of all the works by this talented family.

Examiner interviews the author Heather Webb:

What three novels could you read over and over?
I’m not a big re-reader. There are just so many great books out there. I do, however, love my copies of "Wuthering Heights", "Pride and Prejudice", and "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon.

The Yalsa Hub talks with another author, Cat Winter:

Were you inspired by any other literary lovers, by chance?
Yes, definitely. As a teenager I devoured classic Gothic novels, such as Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. 

O Estado de São Paulo reviews the Brazilian DVD edition of Les Soeurs Brontë:

Roland Barthes - o próprio - foi um entusiasta de primeira hora de André Téchiné. Apoiou-o assim que o crítico virou cineasta, e a tal ponto que aceitou ser ator em As Irmãs Brontë, que a Versátil está resgatando em DVD no País. (...)
É um dos mistérios da literatura. Como as três filhas de um austero reverendo inglês do começo do século 19 se converteram nas irmãs mais cultuadas da história dos livros. Como, a despeito de sua rígida educação, Emily, Charlotte e Anne falaram do amor/paixão e exploraram áreas sombrias da natureza humana sem nunca ter saído de casa.
Charlotte ainda teve uma experiência como professora na Bélgica, mas as irmãs viveram confinadas em Haworth, numa casa pequena cuja frente se abria para o cemitério do lugar. O filme de Téchiné fornece uma pista. (Translation) 

Jornal de Hoje (Brazil) talks about a couple of young local writers:

Embora ainda bem jovem, Ana Clara [Bezerra] não se limitou a ler livros voltados par adolescentes. “Eu até li Meg Cabot, só que o gênero não me atrai”, confessa. E desde cedo preferiu leituras mais complexas. Aos 11 anos leu O Morro dos Ventos Uivantes, de Emily Brontë, logo após entrou no universo de Graciliano Ramos com o livro Os Sertões e hoje está terminando de ler Os Miseráveis, de Victor Hugo. (Eduardo Siqueira) (Translation)

Culturopoing (France) reviews Byzantium by Neil Jordan:

Qu'on ne se méprenne pas, Byzantium offre un romantisme bien plus intime que flamboyant, à travers deux portraits de femmes sœurs des héroïnes de Brontë aussi différentes que complémentaires, deux incarnations de la féminité antithétiques. (Translation)

Do you want a complete Wuthering Heights metaphor in an article about ski? Done. In Olimpia Azzurra (Italy):

Le cime tempestose che i campioni del ciclismo mondiale hanno dovuto affrontare lo scorso maggio sono state tormentate tanto quanto l’amore di Heathcliff per la sua Catherine, ed in quei frangenti persino la minaccia incombente di doping, squalifiche più o meno recenti, delusioni che spesso hanno colpito il mondo dei velocipedisti, fa largo alla fascinazione estatica per un trionfo che ha dell’incredibile. (Chiara Mastrosani) (Translation)

Several Italian websites recommend Jane Eyre 2011 as it is aired tonight on Rai 3 (21.05 h); Efecto Sinérgico (Spain) posts about Wuthering Heights and some of its film/TV adaptations; Vicktoritza (in Romanian) reviews Agnes Grey; Picture Me Reading has loved the English translation of Jane, le Renard et Moi.

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