The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë - a review

Our thanks to Avon A for sending us a review copy of this book:

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë
By Syrie James

ISBN: 9780061648373
ISBN10: 006164837X
Imprint: Avon A
On Sale: 6/30/2009
Format: Trade PB

ISBN: 9780061891786 (ebook)
ISBN: 9780061720192 (large print)

If deals and publication dates are to be believed, it looks like The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë is - after the slow recent trickle of Emily's Journal, The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë and, a few weeks ago, The Taste of Sorrow - among the first of the many fictional takes that we are to read on the Brontës and their writing. Fiction on Jane Austen seems to have led onto fiction on the Brontës, and Syrie James has first-hand experience of that, her début novel having been The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen.

What first draws attention to her second novel is its beautiful, original sort of cover, which includes a little drawing by Charlotte Brontë herself. Besides, it also includes resources for what we believe to be the target audience of the book: readers with a remote and superficial interest in nineteenth-century literature in general and members of book clubs with said interests in particular. Thus, the book includes a Q & A with the author, fragments from Charlotte's letters, selected poetry by the Brontë family (including Patrick Brontë's hilarious poem for Arthur Bell Nicholls against the washerwomen of Haworth's practices), the Brontë family bibliography and a guide for book clubs. Add to that Syrie James's extensive research, which shows all throughout the book - sometimes, perhaps, a little too much if we may say so - and you have a very complete book indeed.

Syrie James, in her foreword, asks the reader to:

Dear Reader,

Imagine, if you will, that a great discovery has been made, which has sparked enormous excitement in the literary world: a series of journals, which have lain buried and forgotten for more than a century in the cellar of a remote farmhouse in the British Isles, have been officially authenticated as the private diaries of Charlotte Brontë. [...]
The story you are about to read is true.

(Incidentally, though, we are never told how the diaries got to that 'remote farmhouse' in the first place). Also, Syrie James states in the Q& A that,

The novel is based almost entirely on fact. All the details of Charlotte's family life, her experiences at school, her friendship with Ellen, her feelings for Monsieur Heger, the evolution of her writing career, and her relationship with her publisher, George Smith, are all true and based on information from her letters and biographies. [...]
I was obliged to conjecture some of the events during the earlier years of Charlotte and Mr. Nicholls's acquaintance, to flesh out their love story--but based on what we do know, I feel that this telling is very close to the truth.

As Syrie James must have known too, Karen Joy Fowler began her novel The Jane Austen Book Club stating that, 'each of us has a private Austen', to which we add that each of us has private Brontës as well. This results in reading facts and personalities differently. To us, for instance, Emily Brontë was a highly private person, both in her personal and public life. To Syrie James, Emily - at least at the beginning of the book - is quite the gossipy, open girl who chats with a made-up acquaintance from Haworth and laughs quite a lot⁽¹⁾.

Fictional accounts get the two sides of the coin. On the positive side, we get the 'fleshed out' version, which paradoxically helps - through at least partially made-up events - to draw out a more real, three-dimensional person. Syrie James excels at her depiction of life at Roe Head School, for instance. She visited the place while researching this novel and she not only got - we suppose - the locations right but she also seems to have taken with her the whole atmosphere of the place. The boarding school life, the misfit that Charlotte must have been when she first got there and the actual train of events are all clearly, magically evoked. On the negative said, and connected to what we were saying before, the differing image the author and the reader might have if the reader is well-acquainted with the characters might clash sometimes. This reader found too much sugar in Branwell's death scene or in Charlotte and Arthur Bell Nicholls's married bliss.

Fiction also allows the author to be selective when it comes to the facts that his/her novel is being based on, which might be seen by the knowledgeable reader as quite a tricky, deceitful resource but might work to advantage on a more casual reader. Unreliable narrator though she must be, Charlotte states that she has never felt anything but friendship for her young editor George Smith when actually her infatuation with him is quite firmly supported by letters and accounts and is certainly more proved than Anne's love for her father's charming curate William Weightman and which Syrie James takes at face value. Charlotte's statement makes it easier for Syrie James to create Charlotte and Arthur's love story without having to deal with that. Later on, the couple's married bliss is - with one made-up exception - depicted as whole and uninterrupted. Ellen Nussey's jealousy and troubled relationship with her friend's husband is only touched upon prior to the wedding. Afterwards all three seem to live 'happily ever after'. Neither is it mentioned Arthur's position as censor of Charlotte's letters to Ellen Nussey and - fiction or not - we find the following conversation to be wholly out of character with him:

'Haven't you been writing something anyway, in the months since we've been married? A diary, I think it is?'
[...] 'Yes, I have. I did not think you knew. Do you object?'
'Why would I object? Charlotte: you are a writer. I knew that long before I asked you to marry me. It's what you love, and a part of who you are. I'll love you whether you write or not. If you've had your fill of it, then stop. If you enjoy keeping a diary, then keep it. . .'

The man who said that Charlotte's letters to Ellen Nussey were 'dangerous as lucifer matches' would have indeed objected to Charlotte keeping a diary. And we actually have a soft spot for Arthur, but - while we are at it - we find his fictional counterpart to be quite the Hollywood gentleman as opposed to the strict - loving yes, but strict - man of his time that he was⁽²⁾.

Charlotte begins keeping this, then, not-so-secret diary shortly after receiving Arthur's proposal of marriage. She then tells the story of her life, which is inseparable from her family's, through flashbacks inserted in-between the chain of events that led to said proposal - and beyond - ever since Arthur Bell Nicholls arrived in Haworth in 1845. This non-linear structure works surprisingly well, as Syrie James aptly places each flashback at the precise relevant moment. It's not at all confusing or chaotic and it does keep the knowledgeable reader alert and glued to the story which he/she obviously knows all too well. That, too, would be one of the great things of fictional accounts: much as we may love the story, much as accounts may overlap in certain points, each one is radically different from the rest. We wonder, though, whether Syrie James kept Jane Austen present - and the sisters discuss her works too - on purpose, as Charlotte and Arthur's love story is highly reminiscent of Pride and Prejudice.

The style in which the novel is written imitates Charlotte Brontë's style of writing, which works irregularly. Syrie James has included direct and extensive quotes and occurrences from all sorts of sources (novels, letters, prefaces, etc.). This effort to keep Charlotte Brontë and her family and friends speaking for themselves is truly praiseworthy, even though sometimes the insertion is quite obvious as it clashes somewhat with the rest (sometimes it is also subtle enough). Charlotte's addresses to the 'diary' as substitute of her famous 'reader' sound a bit forced, though. But our main problem with the style actually comes with the editing, which is contradictory. A British spelling has been adopted ('favour', 'endeavour') and typically British words such as 'daft' are used throughout. However, Americanisms also filter in which give the whole book an uncertain, undefined status in that sense: Patrick Brontë 'hires' a curate - the word 'hire' in this context is extensively used in a way a British person would not use -, people walk 'out the door' (a Britton would say 'out of the door') and, despite the British spelling, Mr and Mrs are abbreviated as 'Mr.' and 'Mrs.', which is the American way. Also, 'loan it to you' and 'loan me a copy' are considered ungrammatical in the UK and would not have been used by Charlotte Brontë or Arthur Bell Nicholls. The surname Heger is consistently spelled 'Héger' which , although used in some sources, is not correct⁽³⁾. And the few sentences in French are precarious at best⁽⁴⁾.

As a whole, The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë by Syrie James is completely readable and extremely respectful to its subjects. It reads as a modern-day Devotion, where everything is sweeter and more charming than it supposedly was, but it serves to tell the Brontë story to readers who might not otherwise have thought it initially interesting or intriguing. They will be glued to its pages from start to finish and, no doubt, will want to read more by and about the Brontës. And for that, especially, we thank Syrie James.

Notes:

(1) Charlotte Brontë to William Smith Williams, 22 November 1848:

Ellis "the man of uncommon talents but dogged, brutal and morose", sat leaning back in his easy chair drawing his impeded breath as he best could, and looking, alas! piteously pale and wasted--it is not his wont to laugh--but he smiled half-amused and half in corn as he listened. (Our bold)

(2) Another anachronistic reappraisal seems to be that of Tabby when she is said to feed 'our eager attention with tales of love and adventure taken from old fairy tales and ballads--or, as I later discovered, from the pages of her favourite novels, such as Pamela'. We are grateful for the effort to have Tabby be more than just a servant, but in all probability and fairness Tabby couldn't read, didn't have a 'favourite novel' and had never even heard of Pamela. EDIT: However according to Mrs Chadwick in her book In the Footsteps of the Brontës (1914), 'Tabby seemed to have read Richardson's Pamela', but no source is given.

(3) Speaking of Heger, he is unwittingly helping The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë to be marketed.

For years, Charlotte harbored a secret love for her Belgian professor, Monsieur Hegér [sic]—a married man. Monsieur Hegér is the basis for all the heroes in Charlotte’s books, including Mr. Rochester in her most famous novel, Jane Eyre.

This marketing is a bit misleading as inside the book itself, Charlotte admits that Rochester owes a lot to the Duke of Zamorna as well (we would hazard that he owes more to Zamorna than to Heger, but that is just us). We might as well say here, that one conversation taken from Jane Eyre and made to take place between Heger and Charlotte didn't work for us.

(4) M. Heger saying 'ainsi je vois' for 'so I see' is simply wrong, to quote just one example.

Categories: Books, Charlotte Brontë, Fiction, Review

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The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë

We present today Syrie James's new novel. BrontëBlog will publish a review next week.

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë
By Syrie James

ISBN: 9780061648373
ISBN10: 006164837X
Imprint: Avon A
On Sale: 6/30/2009
Format: Trade PB

ISBN: 9780061891786 (ebook)
ISBN: 9780061720192 (large print)

Book Description

"I have written about the joys of love. I have, in my secret heart, long dreamt of an intimate connection with a man; every Jane, I believe, deserves her Rochester."

Though poor, plain, and unconnected, Charlotte Bronte possesses a deeply passionate side which she reveals only in her writings—creating Jane Eyre and other novels that stand among literature's most beloved works. Living a secluded life in the wilds of Yorkshire with her sisters Emily and Anne, their drug-addicted brother, and an eccentric father who is going blind, Charlotte Bronte dreams of a real love story as fiery as the ones she creates.

But it is in the pages of her diary where Charlotte exposes her deepest feelings and desires—and the truth about her life, its triumphs and shattering disappointments, her family, the inspiration behind her work, her scandalous secret passion for the man she can never have . . . and her intense, dramatic relationship with the man she comes to love, the enigmatic Arthur Bell Nicholls.

"Who is this man who has dared to ask for my hand? Why is my father so dead set against him? Why are half the residents of Haworth determined to lynch him—or shoot him?"

From Syrie James, the acclaimed, bestselling author of The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen, comes a powerfully compelling, intensely researched literary feat that blends historical fact and fiction to explore the passionate heart and unquiet soul of Charlotte Bronte. It is Charlotte's story, just as she might have written it herself.

On Syrie James's web much more information can be found: a Q&A with the author, an excerpt and even a Reading Group Study Guide.

Harriet Klausner on the B&N website has published a review:

This is a super historical biography that uses a diary to tell the tale of Charlotte Bronte, author of Jane Eyre. Using a first person perspective brings depth to the great author even that much more, but also detracts from how others see her and events like her sisters and Arthur as they come across through a Charlotte filter. Still this is an excellent biographical fiction that looks profoundly at a great nineteenth century writer as Syrie James does her research to tell the story of Charlotte Bronte as she did with THE LOST MEMOIRS OF JANE AUSTEN.

And Katherine Pierson on Fresh Fiction:

Syrie James writes in a similar style to Charlotte and Emily, and any who have read JANE EYRE or WUTHERING HEIGHTS will recognize the long, flowing sentences of a more old-fashioned construction. The style works well for this story as it mirrors both the time period and Charlotte's writing, and James uses footnotes to explain archaic terminology and to translate French conversation.
The book gets off to a slow start, but the pace picks up once the women publish a book of poetry and focus on their novels. I admit to hoping the author would get to the marriage proposal and romance sooner than she did, but I kept reading knowing it would come. I appreciate fiction for fiction's sake, but knowing that a story portrays an individual -- and not just a made-up character -- gives an extra sense of passion and curiosity to my reading. Fans of historical fiction -- and the Bronte sisters in particular -- will find this an enjoyable read.

Categories: Books, Fiction

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Recent translations (I)

Recent translations of Brontë-related novels:
Syrie James's The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë in Czech:

Tajné deníky Charlotty Brontëové
Syrie Jamesová
Knižní klub

Jistě by si mnozí přáli, aby slavná anglická spisovatelka Charlotte Brontëová po sobě zanechala utajovaný deníček – a proto je více než chvályhodné, že oblíbená Syrie Jamesová popustila uzdu své fantazii a na základě fiktivního nalezení zápisků vytvořila zdařilou, mimořádně čtivou knihu. Podařilo se jí vykreslit úchvatný portrét této význačné autorky devatenáctého století, která stvořila mimo jiné nezapomenutelnou Janu Eyrovou, a přiblížit i osudy celé její rodiny. Především se pak soustředila na vývoj Charlottina vztahu s Arthurem, jejím osudovým mužem.

In Slovak April Lindner's Jane:

Jana
April Lindnerová
Ikar
Nico práve plánuje triumfálny návrat na pódiá a vydanie nového albumu. Praktická, nezávislá Jana sa neubráni citom k príťažlivému, zádumčivému zamestnávateľovi – a nájde sa uprostred zakázaného vzťahu...
Novinka Jana je moderným prerozprávaním mimoriadne obľúbeného klasického románu Jana Eyrová, ktorý inšpiroval množstvo umelcov a patrí ku klenotom svetovej literatúry (svedčia o tom desiatky filmových, televíznych i muzikálových adaptácií).
April Lindnerová -  Jana Moorová sľubuje neodolateľný romantický príbeh s temným tajomstvom, ktoré očarí aj novú generáciu čitateľov.
Janin vzťah s Nicom, ktorý jej všetci závidia, však čoskoro naruší príšerné odhalenie z jeho minulosti. Áno, je to čosi záhadné a prekvapivé. Jana sa zmieta medzi vlastnými citmi a osudovým tajomstvom, napokon sa musí rozhodnúť: ak sa bude správať podľa vlastných zásad, znamená to, že sa bude musieť vzdať pravej lásky?

Sheila Kohler's Becoming Jane Eyre in French:

Quand J'étais Jane Eyre
Sheila Kohler
Translator to French: Michèle Hechter.
Editions de la Table Ronde

Dans le calme et la pénombre, au chevet de son père qui vient de se faire opérer des yeux, Charlotte Brontë écrit, se remémore sa vie, la transfigure. Elle devient Jane Eyre dans la rage et la fièvre, et prend toutes les revanches : sur ce père, pasteur rigide, désormais à sa merci, sur les souffrances de son enfance marquée par la mort de sa mère et de deux sœurs aînées, sur sa passion malheureuse pour un professeur de français à Bruxelles, sur son désespoir face à son frère rongé par l'alcool et la drogue, sur le refus des éditeurs qui retournent systématiquement aux trois sœurs Brontë leurs premiers romans, envoyés sous pseudonyme.

Sheila Kohler se glisse dans la tête de Charlotte Brontë et de son entourage afin de décrire les méandres de la création. Sans se départir du style cristallin de ses précédents ouvrages, elles restitue avec finesse le climat qui a donné naissance aux œuvres des sœurs Brontë : Jane Eyre, bien sûr, mais aussi Les Hauts de Hurlevent et Agnes Grey, trois joyaux de la littérature anglaise.

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Is Margaret Thatcher lobbying for Jane Eyre?

The Oscar nominations are finally being announced today, but we still have a few last-minute guesses, predictions and hopes. EDIT after nominations announcement: according to the nominees list released by the Academy, Jane Eyre 2011 is only nominated for Costume Design (by Michael O'Connor). (And Michael Fassbender has been completely left out of the picture, even if he was a big favourite for his many films!). Picture Source: Frocktalk.

The Sydney Morning Herald is not very hopeful:

Mia Wasikowska was praised in Meryl Streep's acceptance speech at the Golden Globes but seems unlikely to be recognised for her performance in Jane Eyre. (Garry Maddox)

The Ottawa Citizen feels the same way:

Probably not: I’d love to see Mia Wasikowska recognized for her lovely performance in “Jane Eyre,” or Elizabeth Olsen for her electric work in “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” but it seems unlikely. (Moira MacDonald)

We find E! Online's discussion as to how Meryl Streep's nod to Mia Wasikowska in her Golden Globes acceptance speech may or may not help the Jane Eyre actress hilarious:

Streep's shout-out to Wasikowska during The Iron Lady star's Golden Globes speech might have swung some votes the younger actress' way had Oscar voting not closed the Friday before. (And, yes, we know, Streep name-checked Wasikowska's other noteworthy 2011 movie, Jane Eyre, but same difference—the pub came too late, unless, that is, Streep was lobbying for the Aussie behind-the-scenes. And, by the by, if Streep was talking up Wasikowska to her Academy friends, then we take back everything we said about Theron in the Best Actress race, and we hereby give that slot to Wasikowska. How's that for conviction?) (Joal Ryan)

Alt Film Guide thinks that all of Michael Fasbender's stunning performances will be condensed in Shame:

Also, Academy members who enjoyed watching Fassbender in Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class, David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method, or Cary Fukunaga's Jane Eyre may choose to vote for him in Shame, as — barring an upset of Dennis Hopper-ish proportions — that's Fassbender's only viable Oscar ticket. (Andre Soares)

The Wuthering Heights 2011 screening at Sundance is discussed by Austin Movie Blog:

Saturday saw the U.S. premiere of Andrea Arnold’s “Wuthering Heights.” Anyone who has seen Arnold’s “Red Road” or “Fish Tank” will recognize her unique style in this invigorating take on the classic novel. By shooting the film in a square 4:3 aspect ratio rather than the usual widescreen approach, Arnold eschews the usual David Lean approach to literary adaptation, choosing to focus our attention on the beautifully expressive faces of her non-professional actors rather than the blustery vistas of the English landscape. This film joins Cary Fukunaga’s recent “Jane Eyre” as encouraging examples of what can be done with too often told tales. (Stephen Jannise)

Speaking of films. This is what Syrie James, author of The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë, says in an interview on USA Today's Happy Ever After:

Joyce: Before becoming a novelist, you had a successful career writing screenplays for major television networks and studios. Anything we might have heard of? Did you adapt any screenplays from books? Would you consider adapting Forbidden?Syrie: In my years as a screenwriter, I sold 19 scripts to TV and film. Most were TV episodes (such as Starman) and TV movies, including Once in a Lifetime, starring Lindsay Wagner and Barry Bostwick, which I adapted from a novel by Danielle Steel. It originally ran on NBC, and often reruns on the Lifetime Network. I have adapted my Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë novels for the screen, and hope they'll get produced one day. [...]
Joyce: You're a huge fan of Charlotte Brontë. If you had to choose the best film adaptation of Jane Eyre, which one would it be? If you were writing Jane Eyre the screenplay, what aspect would your film have that would be different from the other film adaptations?Syrie: My favorite Jane Eyre adaptation is the 2006 BBC miniseries directed by Susanna White and starring Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens. The script was wonderful, the stars had great chemistry, and the entire production was beautifully filmed. I think it's the only version that properly shows the passion between Jane and Rochester. I'll have to go back and watch it again, but as I recall, my main complaint in that version was that Jane's time spent at Lowood School as a child was too brief. It's an important part of the novel, because it sets up Jane's character — and it was a direct reflection of Charlotte Brontë's personal experience at a similar, horrible school, where two of her sisters died. I admired the structure of the 2011 version from Focus Films, because they found a way, using flashbacks, to effectively tell a long and detailed story in only two hours. However, it ended too abruptly. One of the most romantic parts is when Jane comes back to Rochester at the end, to find him wounded and grieving. There's some wonderful, playful, romantic dialogue in the book there that I'd include if I was doing an adaptation. (Joyce Lamb)

The Times shares a couple of tips on education and reading. For Year 8:

You might be doing your child a disservice by handing down your well-thumbed classics: don’t be sniffy about repackaging aimed at children — for example, Jane Eyre with an introduction by Jacqueline Wilson.

And for Year 9:

Stress that “classics” now were page-turners from the start (Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island, Jane Eyre, anything by Jules Verne). 

The New Zealand Herald looks at writing and pseudonyms while the Daily Mail reports that Charlotte has been voted 'America's favourite baby name'.

Girls in the Stacks posts about Jane Eyre.

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In Estonian and Hungarian

The recent Brontë fiction begins to be translated to other languages:

Laura Joh Rowland's The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë in Estonian:

Charlotte Brontë salajased seiklused
Laura Joh Rowland
Eesti Raamat, 2010
ISBN: 9789985657669
Translator: Maia Planhof

Charlotte Brontë, „Jane Eyre’i“ autor, elab vaikset eraelu oma isa Yorkshire’i koguduses. Kui teda alusetult süüdistatakse kirjastamislepingu murdmises, sõidab ta Londonisse, et oma nimi puhtaks pesta. Näinud kogemata pealt mõrva, satub Charlotte ülimalt keerulisse ja ohtlikku sündmusteahelasse. Ta sukeldub seiklustesse ja kirglikku romantikasse, mis viib ta Londoni kuritegudest kubisevatele tänavatele ja kuninganna Victoria lossi. Kas suudab Charlotte peatada salalikku nähtamatut kurjategijat, kelle plaanid ähvardavad ta elu, perekonda ja riiki? (Google translation)

Syrie James's The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë in Hungarian:

Charlotte Bronte titkos naplója
Syrie James
Kelly Könyvkiadó
ISBN: 9789639943308
Translator: Maria Szabo

Kedves Naplóm, ez a leánykérés, amely néhány hónappal ezelőtt érkezett, óriási kavarodást idézett elő családunkban, sőt az egész faluban. Ki ez az ember, aki meg merészelte kérni a kezem? Miért van annyira ellene az apám? A leánykérés óta egyetlen éjszakát sem aludtam végig.
Syrie James, a Jane Austen naplójának szerzője új regényében hasonlóan erőteljes és lenyűgöző képet rajzol Charlotte Brontё szenvedélyes, nyugtalan életéről.
Mindenkinek vannak titkai. Ez alól Charlotte Brontё, akinek a világirodalom legromantikusabb és legidőtállóbb regényeinek némelyikét köszönhetjük, sem volt kivétel.
Életéről sok mindent tudhatunk a róla szóló életrajzok és a fennmaradt levelek jóvoltából, de mint a Brontё család minden tagjának, neki is volt a szó szoros értelmében vett magánélete, melyet még legbizalmasabb barátai és rokonai előtt sem tárt föl.
Milyen intim titkokat őrzött szívében Charlotte Brontё? Mik voltak a legbensőbb gondolatai és emlékei? Milyen viszonyban volt öccsével és húgaival, akik mind tehetséges, me?szállottan alkotó és sikerre szomjazó művészek voltak?
Hogy jutott el odáig egy ismeretlen, vidéki lelkész leánya, aki majdnem az egész életét egy isten háta mögötti Yorkshire-i falucskában töltötte, hogy megírja a Jane Eyre-t?
És ő maga rátalált-e az igaz szerelemre? (Google translation)

A review can be read on Könyvek és Én.

Categories: Books, Fiction, Translation

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More articulate and intelligent

The New York Times talks about some of the Kindle extras. For instance, Amazon's Whispernet:

Masters of the obvious might, at any moment, mug you with the news that the high point of “Jane Eyre” is “Reader, I married him” or the high point of “Moby-Dick” is “Call me Ishmael.” (Virgina Heffernan)

The latest Man Booker Prize winner, Howard Jacobson, a BrontëBlog habitué is interviewed on IANS:

The writer who grew up listening to his mother reading “poetry to him” likes “19th century literature - authors like Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy and Charlotte Brontë (”Jane Eyre”)”. “I liked the fact that they were more articulate and intelligent”. (Madhusree Chatterjee)

 We already knew of course but the London Evening Star reminds us of Paula Rego's love for Jane Eyre:

Which London shops do you rely on?
Selfridges and Liberty for clothes. For fiction, I like Daunt Books on South End Road and Foyles. I'm always looking for stories. The American author Flannery O'Connor and Jane Eyre are favourites. (Interview by Hannah Nathanson)

The Orange County Register presents the performances of  Jerry William's Jane Eyre musical like this:

Rumor and mystery abounds in this epic love story. "Jane Eyre" is a musical based on the novel by Charlotte Brontë. This new treatment of the classic novel has the grand sweep of a "Les Miserables" or "Phantom of the Opera," plus the haunting love story of Jane and Rochester. (Kelli Skye Fadroski)

John O'Connell reviews some recent thriller novels in the Guardian, including The Distant Hours by Kate Morton:

Kate Morton's trick, performed here and in previous bestsellers such as The Forgotten Garden, is to mash together several classic novels likely to have been loved as children by her target readership – I Capture the Castle, The Secret Garden, Jane Eyre, and so on – then force the resulting sludge through a sieve to remove any gristly bits.

Kieran Falconer travels on the KWVR for The Telegraph:

David [Petyt] soon whisks me off to the station in Haworth, a village famous for the Brontë sisters. Most passengers head off to the Brontë Parsonage Museum, or to follow Emily's rambles on to the wild moors, but my tour was of the railway's workshop.

The return to the 'classical' English literary canon proposed by Michael Gove, UK Secretary of Education, has a reply in the Guardian:

But, while some of us might look forward to the day when an education minister calls for a school curriculum based on the established canon of Behn, Finch, Wortley-Montagu, Leapor, Barbauld, Smith, (Mary) Shelley, Brontë, Gaskell, Dickens and Braddon, for now all that is needed is the simple recognition that the English literary canon promoted by Gove is a biased construct, not a definitive statement of value and significance, and it is one that has ensured the ongoing obscurity of the voices that have emerged from, not a minority, but one half of the nation's population. (Dr. Alice Eardley)

Wanderlust introduces a new kind of literary travelling.

But sometimes the destination requires a little more detective work. Take Jane Eyre, for example. A fantastic novel wherever you are, but what about reading it in the Caribbean? Suddenly Brontë's references to slavery, blazing sugar plantations and maddening heat become startlingly poignant...

The Huntsville Classic Movies Examiner talks about zombie movies. Including I Walked With a Zombie 1943:

This post-colonial revision of Jane Eyre from producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur features a voodoo haunted island as the setting for Gothic peril and romance.(Jennifer Garlen)

Il Corriere della Sera (Italy) talks about a recent event in Milano, a poetry evening with, among others, the Brontë sisters:

giovedì 14 ottobre 2010 ore 21
La Casa della Poesia
Otto donne e un mistero in poesia
serata a cura di Milo De Angelis

Emily Dickinson ,Anne, Charlotte ed Emily Brontë, Christina Rossetti, Dorothy Parker, Edna St.Vincent-Millay, Sara Teasdale: otto poetesse angloamericane tradotte da un poeta italiano, Silvio Raffo.
Un "unicum" nel panorama letterario contemporaneo.

Terra Brazil talks about the film Como Esquecer and again, Emily Brontë is mentioned:

Isso se sente particularmente nos momentos de sala de aula, quando Júlia e sua aluna discutem ao tergiversar sobre as motivações emocionais de escritoras como Virginia Woolf e Emily Brontë.(Carol Almeida) (Google translation)

Fantasy Magazine (Italy) interviews author Cecilia Dart-Thornton. A Brontëite:

Poi ci sono anche Shakespeare e gli autori della letteratura classica inglese dell’Otto-Novecento, come Dickens, George Elliott, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, Jane Austen, le sorelle Bronte e Thomas Hardy. (Interview by Carolina Venturini) (Google translation)

Brescia Oggi and Il Giornale di Vicenza reviews Syrie James's The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë, recently translated into Italian:

Charlotte Brontë era minuta, non bella, con un naso evidente e con gli occhiali. Componeva capolavori letti ancor oggi insieme alle geniali sorelle Emily e Anne nella canonica di Haworth, dove viveva con l'altrettanto geniale, ma dissipato, fratello Branwell e al padre eccentrico e quasi cieco. Syrie James ci fa entrare con il suo libro in quella casa. Il libro, il cui titolo originale inglese è I diari segreti di Charlotte Brontë non si basa su diari realmente esistiti, è piuttosto un'opera di fantasia, ma affascinante e aderente alla realtà. (Read more) (Alessandra Milanese) (Google translation)

Dalle pagine esce la piccola istitutrice di Jane Eyre: nel volume I sogni perduti delle sorelle Brontë (Piemme) l'americana Syrie James riesce a dar corpo e voce a Charlotte Brontë (si scrive con la dieresi e gli inglesi pronunciano «Bronti», anche se il cognome viene proprio dalla città siciliana: fu scelto dal patriottico vicario anglicano papà delle scrittrici, in omaggio a Orazio Nelson, che era duca di Bronte). Chi ha letto da adolescente i famosi romanzi, potrà ora conoscere meglio come sono nati. (A.M.) (Google translation)

L'Express (France) talks about Lars Von Trier's film Breaking the Waves and describes it like this:

Ce serait un vrai péché que de dévoiler la fin de ce mélodrame proche des soeurs Brontë. Et pas loin de la Justine de Sade.  (Google translation)

The Wall Street Journal covers the upcoming Sotheby's auction which contains several Brontë first editions; Bibliotica tries to 'improve' on Jane Eyre; What... more books is disappointed with April Lindner's Jane and Spine Label has liked it better; Okososztálya posts about Jane Eyre in Hungarian; Adoro Romances em Fortaleza does the same with Wuthering Heights in Portuguese, a book that Our Mutual Read has read with mixed feelings. And the Hungarian newspaper Dunaújvárosi Hírlap mentions Jane Eyre as an example of perfect romantic... movie.

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

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Brontë future

It looks as if some theatre companies have started to look optimistically to the future. The San Diego Union-Tribune shares the future plans of Lamb’s Players, who plan on reopening on October 2nd.

[Lamb’s Producing Artistic Director Robert] Smyth and his team are now using their downtime to plan and develop new shows for future seasons. They include “Jane,” a new adaptation of “Jane Eyre” by David McFadzean (Pam Kragen)

The Stage interviews some theatre workers who exchanged the stage for the NHS front line.

Actor, director and trainee A&E assistant practitioner Dan Avery

[...]

Do you hope to return to working in theatre?

Definitely. Last year was a real blip. I couldn’t devote my time or motivation to my career. It felt good to see people being successful but I was also extremely envious. We’ve been told that hopefully our production of Jane Eyre will return to Cornwall’s Minack Theatre next year and I will play Mr Rochester. (Giverny Masso)

BookRiot has included Wuthering Heights on a list of  '50 must-read love stories'.

As darkness falls, a man caught in a snowstorm is forced to shelter at the strange, grim house Wuthering Heights. It is a place he will never forget. There he will come to learn the story of Cathy: how she was forced to choose between her well-meaning husband and the dangerous man she had loved since she was young. How her choice led to betrayal and terrible revenge – and continues to torment those in the present. How love can transgress authority, convention, even death.

[This book has its haters, but it contains one of the best love stories in all of English literature. If I were stranded on a desert island, THIS is the book I would take with me.] (Namera Tanjeem)

Cultured Vultures recommends The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë by Syrie James.

As a fan of classic novels, I love it when authors of today use these novels as inspiration to craft credible love stories of their own. Syrie James is really one of the top-notch authors in this particular genre, having done one based on Mina Harker’s character from Dracula, and a few Jane Austen ones as well.

However, this book is my favourite of hers. I am well aware that Charlotte Brontë would never have left behind a secret diary, and that this is more fiction than fact (something you should be aware of while reading), but after reading Brontë’s novels so many times, it’s nice to read something adjacent to that, which can still inspire similar sentiments. We follow the fictional Charlotte as she journals about the scandalous secret passion for the man she can never have, and her relationship with Arthur Bell Nicholls (whom Brontë married in real life).

Also, who knew brushing hair could be so intimate and swoon-worthy? (Natasha Alvar)

HeadStuff reviews the novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead.

I struggled with the early chapters of The Nickel Boys. I felt I’d read it before. It reminded me of early chapters in Jane Eyre, when the child is damned to a regime of abuse in a reform school created and run by authority figures who use physical violence and the violence of neglect as a chastisement for the child’s own good. (Dave Duggan)

Reviewing Netflix's six-episode thriller Behind Her Eyes, The Hollywood Reporter says that,

There's a delicate line that so much of the best gothic and neo-gothic fiction walks, one where the supernatural seems just around every corner, as literal or metaphorical as you want it to be. There are interpretations of Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre that bring in all manner of unexplainable phenomena, not that any of that is there in literal readings. (Daniel Fienberg)

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How to obtain a perfect SAT score

Publishers Weekly reports some details about Syrie James's new book, The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë:

AVON (from Harper-Collins)
Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë (January, $13.95) by Syrie James reveals the passionate soul of Jane Eyre 's author. 40,000 first printing.

The East African (Uganda) has an article on the internet (it is rather a pre Web 2.0 kind of article preaching about the dangers of too much information) which the professional web surfers will find all too familiar:

It starts with the innocent “googling” of such big topics as Imperialism, Loss, Memory and Art. Soon you are on Rudyard Kipling and Blues music, then to Jungle Book and animation. You are attracted by the personality of Sher Khan, the tiger, but rather than reading the link on Wikipedia, you are seduced by that drawing of Mowgli and the Tiger done by Rudyard’s father, John Lockwood Kipling. Really, was Rudyard’s dad that good an artist? You open a window on him, then recall that Emily Bronte’s novel, Heathcliff, has a Lockwood in it. (David Kaiza)

The Michigan Daily talks about summer reading. The description of The Time Travelers's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger closes with this gratuitous and quite absurd comment:

The novel is touching without being too sappy, tragic while somehow uplifting and never irritating for its strange, sci-fi premise. And, honestly, it's a lot less trouble than Charlotte Bronte. (Ben Vanwagoner)

The Telegraph & Argus publishes an article about Rubina Khan founder of Yarn Spinners Tours which is expanding its business:

Rubina is adding new tours to her regular programme.
She recently successfully organised her first bus tour based on literary shrine Haworth for a group of Bronte enthusiasts from Ireland. (Chris Holland)

The Orange County Register interviews Micca Hecht, who was able to get a perfect SAT score and offers her advice:

I read a lot of books and write down words that I don't know and look them up. In context, they stick a lot better. Out of the books I read, Jane Eyre had the most SAT words. My favorite study guide was the Barron's SAT workbooks which I used to work on speed. Speed is really important.

Elizabeth Gregory writes on Suite101 on Nelly Dean's realiability as a storyteller in an article worth reading. Kate reads books talks about discussing The Tenant of Wildfell Hall at her book club and Les livres chez Miss Cece reviews Jane Eyre in French.

Categories: Books, Haworth, Jane Eyre, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Wuthering Heights

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Happy 2009!

2009 has just arrived and, with or without global crisis, we are hopeful that it will bring plenty of Brontë-related things in all sorts of formats and places. So, may you have a very happy, very Brontë new year!

And so that you have something to look forward to already, let's take a look at what we now know we can expect book-wise in 2009. Hopefully, too, a few new surprises will come along.

The success of Jon Spence's Becoming Jane Austen or Syrie James's The lost Memoirs of Jane Austen have triggered the appearance of several fictional accounts of the Brontës lives which will be appearing this year:

Fiction

May 2009
The Taste of Sorrow
Jude Morgan
Headline Review
From an obscure country parsonage came the most extraordinary family of the nineteenth century. The Bronte sisters created a world in which we still live - the intense, passionate world of Jane Eyre" and Wuthering Heights"; and the phenomenon of this strange explosion of genius remains as baffling now as it was to their Victorian contemporaries. In this panoramic novel we see with new insight the members of a uniquely close-knit family whose tight bonds are the instruments of both triumph and tragedy. Emily, the solitary who turns from the world to the greater temptations of the imagination: Anne, gentle and loyal, under whose quietude lies the harshest perception of the stifling life forced upon her: Branwell, the mercurial and self-destructive brother, meant to be king, unable to be a prince: and the brilliant, uncompromising, tormented Charlotte, longing for both love and independence, who establishes the family's name and learns its price.

June 2009
The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë
Syrie James
Avon Books
Charlotte Bronte's life held hidden passions. Millions of readers love her novel Jane Eyre, but few know the inspiration behind it— or the dramatic, true story of Charlotte's real-life romance.

July 2009
Emily's Ghost: A Novel of the Brontë Sisters
Denise Giardina
W.W. Norton & Company
A lustrous, beautifully written reimagining of the Brontë family—and of Emily Brontë’s passionate engagement with life.
Enigmatic, intelligent, and fiercely independent, Emily Brontë refuses to bow to the conventions of her day: she is distrustful of marriage, prefers freedom above all else, and walks alone at night on the moors above the isolated rural village of Haworth. But Emily’s life, along with the rest of the Brontë family, is turned upside down with the arrival of an idealistic clergyman named William Weightman. Weightman champions poor mill workers’ rights, mingles with radical labor agitators, and captivates Haworth—and the Brontës especially—with his energy and charm. An improbable friendship between Weightman and Emily develops into a fiery but unconsummated love affair—and when tragedy strikes, the relationship continues, like the love story at the heart of Wuthering Heights, beyond the grave.

December 2009
Brontës (?) Becoming Jane Eyre (?)
Sheila Kohler
I think "Jane Eyre" the start of which an aunt read to me when I was very young--the scene in the redroom, was what made me want to write. Of course, this undertaking is both easier and much more difficult than the one I have just completed, as so much has already been written about the Brontes, but I have found that the book has mysteriously found a shape of its own: in three volumes with each of the sisters presiding over a volume of her own. It starts in Manchester with the father's eye operation. (Sheila Kohler)

Comics
We will have to wait until 2010 to see yet another Classical Comics adaptation of a Brontë novel: Wuthering Heights, but a couple of more modest comic adaptations of both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights will be published this year by Book House in their Graffex Graphic Novels collection: Wuthering Heights (Graffex) by Jim Pipe (Adapter)and Nick Spender (Illustrator) (April 2009) and Jane Eyre (Graffex) by Fiona MacDonald (Adapter)and Penko Gelev (Illustrator) (May 2009).

Re-tellings
April 2009
The Heights
Brian James
Feiwel & Friends
Orphaned at the age of five, Henry liked to imagine his life began the day Mr. Earnshaw found him. That was the day he was given a new home. And the day he met Catherine. For Henry, Catherine is like the brightest star in the sky. She makes him feel safe and helps him control his anger. And though Mr. Earnshaw, a widow, raises the two as brother and sister, their love for each other goes much deeper. Contemporizing the classic novel Wuthering Heights , notable YA author Brian James delves into the dark nature of obsessive love, the social injustices of class, and the self-destructive power of revenge in this gritty, romantic, heartbreaking book.

Categories: Books, Comics, Fiction

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A rags-to-riches tale

Sharon Tanenbaum recommends the recently published The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë by Syrie James in RealSimple:

In the foreword to this historical novel, author Syrie James (The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen) asks you to imagine that the private diaries of Jane Eyre scribe Charlotte Brontë are at your fingertips. Using Brontë’s biographies and 24 years of her actual correspondence with close friend Ellen Nussey as a basis, James has created a faux-diary about the rags-to-riches tale and romance of the celebrated writer.

The Telegraph has an article about writers who succeeded after dying. One of them, Emily Brontë:

After all, one book is sometimes enough to earn literary immortality: consider To Kill a Mocking Bird, Wuthering Heights, Black Beauty. Furthermore, plenty of writers have enjoyed fame beyond the grave that they only dreamt of (or occasionally disdained) in their lifetimes. (Nicolette Jones)

More Sargasso references in the Salinger affaire. Now in the Times:

Even so, is Salinger being po-faced? Or does he have a fair claim for copyright infringement? 60 Years certainly isn’t the first novel to exploit another author’s characters. Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea owed a debt to Jane Eyre. Flashman was spun out of Tom Brown’s Schooldays. There have been James Bond sequels, though they have been written under the stewardship of Fleming’s estate.

The Daily Post (New York counties) includes an article by a local student now in Oxford, England:

Europe has a unique siren's call for me.
I love everything about it. I fell head-over-heels for France with the help of my high school French teacher. And England? Well, this is a country that has produced some of my favorite things, such as Pink Floyd, Jane Eyre, and cute guys with British accents -- not to mention Hugh Grant and Hugh Laurie, the two English loves of my life.(Kristy Kibler)

Lots of reviews on the blogosphere: Cover to Cover briefly reviews Wide Sargasso Sea; Books, Time, Silence reviews Wuthering Heights; CineBooks does the same with The Professor in Romanian; The first draft of anything is shit... reviews Agnes Grey, Female Mysoginist has a post about Wuthering Heights (and Jane Eyre) with some bizarre arguments.

Finally, an alert for tomorrow June 4 from the Calderdale Council:

Saturday 4th July
Bronte Moors Charity Challenge Walk
7 mile short walk or 20 mile circular walk from Haworth via Top Withins,Walshaw and Gorple reservoirs and Hardcastle Crags in aid of the Stroke Association.

Entry form and information from Haworth & Worth Valley Rotary Club - Tel. 01535 604339 / 646232.

Categories: Alert, Books, Jane Eyre, References, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights

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You Are Passionate, Jane

One of the talks of the ongoing JASNA 2017 AGM in Huntington Beach, CA has caught our attention. A new chance to see

You Are Passionate, Jane
Author Diana Birchall portrays Brontë
Syrie James channels Austen
Thursday, October 5, 7:15 pm-8:00 pm

“Jane went to Paradise: That was only fair,” wrote Rudyard Kipling, and generations of readers have agreed with him.  Now, in You Are Passionate, Jane, Austen has been given the role of Gatekeeper in Heaven, deciding which other literary figures may pass through the pearly gates.  In the fullness of time, the newly deceased Charlotte Brontë is brought before her.  The two women are temperamental opposites, and, as Charlotte’s passionate life and works come under scrutiny, the literary sparks fly – upward!
Diana Birchall is a former story analyst for Warner Brothers Studios.  She is the author of Mrs. Darcy’s Dilemma and In Defense of Mrs. Elton, as well as a scholarly biography of her grandmother, Onoto Watanna, the first Asian American novelist.  Her Jane Austen-inspired plays have been celebrated around the country, in Canada, and at Chawton House Library.
Syrie James is the bestselling author of a number of critically acclaimed novels including The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen, The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen, Jane Austen’s First Love, and The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë.

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You Are Passionate, Jane

A one-time only tête à tête between Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë will take place today, August 12 in Seattle:
Source Picture: Austenprose

The Puget Sound Chapter of JASNA presents

You Are Passionate, Jane

a new playlet by author Diana Birchall

Sunday, August 12, 2012 at 2pm

Staged reading with  Diana Birchall as Charlotte Brontë and Syrie James (author of The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë and The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen) as Jane Austen.

"Jane went to Paradise: That was only fair," wrote Rudyard Kipling, and generations of readers have agreed with him.  Now, in "You are Passionate, Jane," we follow Jane Austen right past the Pearly Gates.  She has been given the important job of Gatekeeper in Heaven, deciding which other literary figures will be allowed to ascend.  A position that has been held by dead white male authors for eons, but at last the most deserving woman novelist gets her turn.  So, when she is not writing one of her new heavenly novels, Jane passes Judgment, and in the fullness of time, the newly deceased Charlotte Brontë is brought before her.  The two women are temperamental opposites, and don't appreciate each other's viewpoint in the least.  As Charlotte's passionate life and works come under scrutiny (the title quote refers to Jane Eyre), the literary sparks fly - upward.

The literary feud between these two famous authors has been long debated. Was Brontë truly devoid of any sympathy to Austen's style? Here is a bit of backstory on how it all began…

In 1847, literary critic G.H. Lewes suggested in his review of Jane Eyre that Charlotte Brontë might benefit from writing less melodramatically, offering up Jane Austen as example and inspiration. Brontë's strong response to Lewes' admiration of Miss Austen has raised many eyebrows in literary circles over the centuries.

Why do you like Miss Austen so very much? I am puzzled on that point. What induced you to say you would rather have written "Pride and Prejudice" or "Tom Jones" than any of the Waverley Novels? I had not seen "Pride and Prejudice" till I read that sentence of yours, and then I got the book and studied it. And what did I find? An accurate daguerrotyped portrait of a common-place face; a carefully-fenced, highly cultivated garden with near borders and delicate flowers– but no glance of a bright vivid physiognomy– no open country– no fresh air– no blue hill– no bonny beck. I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen in their elegant but confined houses. These observations will probably irritate you, but I shall run the risk. — Charlotte Brontë in a letter to G.H. Lewes, 12 January 1848

As "passionate" as Brontë was about her style in writing Jane Eyre, Austen is in turn, stoic and elegantly understated in her Pride and Prejudice. Two entirely different approaches; but both masterpieces of world literature. Imagine if you will, these two authors meeting and broaching this sensitive ground? It should be a very interesting and entertaining meeting.

The playlet, a light, bright, and sparkling diversion, will be read by two California authors: Diana Birchall as Charlotte Brontë (dressed in black) and Syrie James as Jane Austen (dressed in white).

EDIT: On Light, Bright and Sparkle (Diana Birchall's blog) you can find pictures of the event.

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Secret Diaries, Biofiction and Pride and Prejudice

 A new paper exploring some of the para literature published around the Brontës:

Syrie James’s The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë: A Neo-Victorian Biofiction of Pride and Prejudice

Dídac Llorens-Cubedo

ES Review. Spanish Journal of English Studies, no. 43, Nov. 2022, pp. 63-85 

UNED. España

Syrie James’s The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë (2009) is a first-person narrative of the last ten years of the Victorian novelist’s life. It is a neo-Victorian celebrity biofiction, tending to the hagiographic. It draws on various biographies of Brontë, on her letters and on her autobiographical novels. Interestingly, it also evokes Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, a book that Brontë famously disliked. The present article considers Secret Diaries within the parameters of neo-Victorian biofiction; it identifies parallelisms with Austen’s classic; it reassesses the relationship between Brontë and Austen; and, in doing all this, shows that the chronological scope of Neo-Victorianism is broad.

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John Eyre. Interview with Mimi Matthews

John Eyre: A Tale of Darkness and Shadow

Mimi Matthews

Perfectly Proper Press (July 20, 2021)

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1736080207

Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1736080221

eBook ASIN: B08NPLVHVN

Yorkshire, 1843. When disgraced former schoolmaster John Eyre arrives at Thornfield Hall to take up a position as tutor to two peculiar young boys, he enters a world unlike any he's ever known. Darkness abounds, punctuated by odd bumps in the night, strange creatures on the moor, and a sinister silver mist that never seems to dissipate. And at the center of it all, John's new employer—a widow as alluring as she is mysterious.

Sixteen months earlier, heiress Bertha Mason embarked on the journey of a lifetime. Marriage wasn't on her itinerary, but on meeting the enigmatic Edward Rochester, she's powerless to resist his preternatural charm. In letters and journal entries, she records the story of their rapidly disintegrating life together, and of her gradual realization that Mr. Rochester isn't quite the man he appears to be. In fact, he may not be a man at all.

From a cliff-top fortress on the Black Sea coast to an isolated estate in rural England, John and Bertha contend with secrets, danger, and the eternal struggle between light and darkness. Can they help each other vanquish the demons of the past? Or are some evils simply too powerful to conquer?

Interview with Mimi Matthews

What was the inspiration behind John Eyre? How did you come to think there might be a good story there?
- The idea for John Eyre originally arose from several lines in Jane Eyre where one could easily imagine that a character was talking about an actual monster as opposed to a human being. I was also influenced by my own evolving view of Mr. Rochester as a hero. I felt that in a retelling, I could bring a sense of power and strength to the character of Bertha Rochester, while at the same time, ultimately holding Edward Rochester to account.

Tell us a bit about your Brontë history.
- I’m a lifelong reader of all the Brontë novels. I’ve written about them and their authors—Charlotte, Emily, and Anne—for nonfiction books and articles as well Charlotte’s Jane Eyre will always have a special place in my heart, but it’s Emily’s Wuthering Heights that’s actually my favorite.

What was the hardest thing about writing John Eyre? And the most agreeable?
- There were a few scenes in John Eyre where I confined my retelling to the four walls of that scene’s original structure. I compare it to a room where I was allowed to redecorate, but not remodel. It was limiting in many ways, but I feel that, for certain iconic moments, it worked best for the story.
The most agreeable part was, by far, writing about Bertha Rochester’s life-altering experiences abroad. Her chapters of the story are told in letter and journal entries. I had so much fun writing them!

What would you like your readers to take with them after reading John Eyre?
- John Eyre was written purely for fun, so above all, I hope they’ll enjoy it. I also hope they’ll find it satisfying to see Bertha come into her own.

Have you read other sequels/prequels/retellings of Brontë novels? Do you have any favourites?
- I’ve read The Wide Sargasso Sea, of course, and really enjoyed it. As for more recent iterations, The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë by Syrie James and  Brontë’s Mistress by Finola Austen are at the top of my TBR list.

What do you think Charlotte Brontë would make of the fact that her novel has inspired so many other novels?
- I hope she would take it as a compliment! It’s certainly meant that way, especially in my case. I’m foremost a fan. I only wish Charlotte might have lived to write
more.

John Eyre Blog Tour

July 12 The Caffeinated Bibliophile (review)

July 12 Syrie James (review)

July 12 Austenprose—A Jane Austen Blog (review)

July 13 Bronte Blog (interview)

July 13 Laura's Reviews (review)

July 13 All-of-a-Kind Mom (spotlight)

July 14 Gwendalyn's Books (review)

July 14 Austenesque Reviews (review)

July 15 Bookworm Lisa (review)

July 15 Nurse Bookie (review)

July 16 Savvy Verse and Wit (excerpt)

July 16 The Lit Bitch (review)

July 17 My Bookish Bliss (review)

July 17 From the TBR Pile (review)

July 18 Rosanne E. Lortz (review)

July 18 Books, Teacups, & Reviews (review)

July 19 The Secret Victorianist (review)

July 19 Christian Chick's Thoughts (review)

July 19 The Gothic Library (review)

July 20 Getting Your Read On (review)

July 20 The Silver Petticoat Review (review)

July 20 Lu Reviews Books (review

July 21 Scuffed Slippers and Wormy Books (spotlight)

July 21 The Green Mockingbird (review)

July 22 Unabridged Chick (review)

July 22 A Darn Good Read (review)

July 23 Kathleen Flynn (review)

July 23 So Little Time… (review)

July 23 The Calico Critic (review)

July 24 The Bronte Babe (review)

July 24 Probably at the Library (review)

July 24 Impressions in Ink (review)

July 25 From Pemberley to Milton (review)

July 25 Vesper's Place (review)

July 25 Cup of Tea with that Book Please (review)

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Bookish and self-possessed

The ITV1 Autumn Schedule Press Release confirms that Wuthering Heights will be broadcast in the UK this upcoming season. Exact dates are not known yet. In reply to several readers who have written to us, we are aware that a DVD edition is announced on Amazon for next September 7. But it doesn't (yet) appear on the ITV DVD shop.

The Cleveland Literature Examiner reviews Edward Mendelson's The Things That Matter (click here to read BrontëBlog's review), especially the section on Wuthering Heights:

Wuthering Heights is assigned to the section about childhood in Edward Mendelson's book The Things That Matter, and even readers who disliked the story of Catherine and Heathcliff will be intrigued and fascinated by his analysis of the ideas of unity and childhood as they relate to the passion between the two characters. Mendelson begins by telling readers that,
“All the conventional values of adult life are reversed in Wuthering Heights. Childhood, in this novel, is a state of titanic intensity, adulthood a state of trivial weakness. Heathcliff and Catherine can find no words to describe the childhood unity they once shared, and everyone else disdains or ignores that unity, but nothing else in the book has its depth, strength and dignity.”
Throughout the rest of the section on childhood, Mendelson delves very deeply into Emily Bronte’s conception of the powers of childhood and unity, and he makes incredibly convincing arguments for the command Bronte had over the symbolism and structure of her story.
Childhood is a time of passion and complete unity, as Catherine and Heathcliff experience it; they are shown as feeling and acting as one person at many places in throughout their experiences together. At one point, hiding, they cover themselves with a shared garment –the type worn by children of both sexes at the time the novel was written –and they think and react as one. It is when their childhood is stripped from them by separation that they lose this unity, but the rest of their lives are an attempt to reclaim that passionate feeling of sameness.
Mendelson incorporates Bronte’s own life and experiences, as well as her thoughts on what it meant to experience unity, into his analysis of Wuthering Heights. Although the wild, titanic passions both writers associate with childhood may seem to be a bit of a stretch, as a literary device, it works very well for Bronte; so well, in fact, that the detailed and symbolic structure of the work went unnoticed for ages.
The true complexity of Wuthering Heights is hidden by Bronte’s complex writing. She hid truths within truths and Mendelson suggests that the message she truly wove in the story was something she wanted to keep hidden from readers: the unity of Catherine and Heathcliff, so often attributed to mere desire, is the impassioned unity of childhood, and something Emily Bronte sought to reclaim through her writing. (Bailey Shoemaker Richards)

We are a little late announcing this TV interview with Syrie James, author of The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë as announced on the Tampa Books Examiner:

So, lovers of classic lit, are you aware of tonight’s Up Close on Channel 3 (WEDU) in Tampa? Tonight, Cathy Unruh hosts Syrie James author of The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë and The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen. The show airs tonight at 8:30pm, and if you miss it, (or if you're not in the Tampa area and you're reading this) it will no doubt be up on their website soon, and then you may watch it at their site. (Julianne Draper)

It's not on their website yet but you can catch it if you are in the Tampa area:

Sunday, July 26 — 02:30pm WEDU
Sunday, July 26 — 02:30pm WEDU-HDTV
Tuesday, July 28 — 09:00pm WEDU+
Tuesday, August 04 — 09:00pm WEDU+

The Independent discovers another Brontëite, author Monique Roffey:

Choose a favourite author, and say why you like her/him
Jean Rhys. She taught me how to write a sentence and she had the literary skill and courage to pull off a book like Wide Sargasso Sea. (...)
Which fictional character most resembles you?
Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, who is bookish and self-possessed. At the same time, I recognise myself in the madwoman in the attic, an outsider in British society. (Arifa Akbar)

Another very (very) different writer and Brontëite is erotica author Laura Tolomei:

Q: Do you have a favorite book or movie?
A: I’ve got plenty of both, but especially books. “Gone with the Wind”, “The Three Musketeers”, “Wuthering Heights”, “The Lord of Rings”, “The Lord of Flies”, “The Mists of Avalon”, “Fahrenheit 451”, “The Women’s Room”, “The Life and Loves of a She Devil”, “Blonde”, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” and the list could go on forever. (Amanda Young on Romance Without Inhibitions)

Associated Content publishes a belated review of last February's Kent State University's production of Jane Eyre. The Musical:

The show was a musical with all of the necessary elements to lift you from your seat and submerse you into a society in nineteenth century England from the time the cell phone shut-off announcement was made until the last note at the curtain call. The recurring arches, darkened, soft lighting, and the use of a classic chorus to go along with them alluded that a sinister underbelly of social status and reputation were present in the performance.(Read more) (Rachel Thornton)

Librarians Do It Between the Covers reviews Wuthering Heights, Parisgirl gives 3 of 5 stars to Jane Eyre, Kissed by Venus suggests a Wuthering Heights gay twist:

And what if in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff had instead been Heather?

Emily's Blog posts a mini-review of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Con-Secuencias (Alfredo Rosso's blog on the Argentinian newspaper Clarín) describes a visit to Haworth and Brontë country.

Categories: Books, Brontëites, Fiction, Haworth, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Theatre, Wuthering Heights

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