Jack Brontë, father of Jane Eyre

Some recent Brontë appearances in the non-English press:

Portugal

Diário de Notícias reviews Joe Wright's version of Ian McEwan's novel Atonement and makes one of those blunders not to be forgotten:

"Senti que conhecia totalmente o livro e o guião e que compreendia cada momento de um e outro, ou pelo menos tentei", afirmou o realizador Joe Wright (que já filmou e adaptou Orgulho e Preconceito, de Jane Eyre) sobre o seu trabalho com Hampton. (Isabel Lucas)

Maybe you think that your Portuguese is so bad that you read it wrong. No. They really say: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Eyre.

Spain

Diario de Sevilla has a quite interesting and informative article about 19th-century women writers. The excuse is the recent publication in the Spanish market of Elizabeth Gaskell's Gothic Tales by Alba Editorial, Charlotte Brontë's Angrian stories by Imágica, etc. The information about the Brontë family is a little melodramatic but essentially correct except for a couple of inexplicable blunders.

El padre era uno de esos predicadores del miedo: practicaba el tiro y vivía convencido de que el Apocalipsis se acercaba. (The father was one of those preachers of Fear: practised shooting and lived convinced that the Apocalypse was near) (Pilar Vera)

Nevertheless the best part is still to come:

Charlotte moriría en 1840. Jack Brontë, el padre, sobreviviría a todos sus hijos.

(Charlotte died in 1840. Jack Brontë, the father, survived all their children.)

We don't know what's worst... to kill Charlotte before writing Jane Eyre or to rename Patrick Brontë as Jack. For the record, Charlotte died in 1855.

Italy

Mangialibri interviews Genea, author of Barbie deve morire, who thinks that Wuthering Heights is un libro appassionante (an exciting book).

France

Brontë references in politics are not Gordon Brown's monopoly (or George W. Bush's). Three journalists following last year's Ségolène Royal's election campaign were nicknamed "les soeurs Brontë" (the Brontë sisters) by the journalist Daniel Carson in his book Une campaigne off. According to him, they were basically Ségolène's groupies. Now, les soeurs Brontë have sued Mr Carson for libel. More information in Le Nouvel Observateur or Libération.

Categories: Brontëites, In the News, References, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights