A visually-challenged Heathcliff

It's been a while since we had one of those 'the Sports section meets the Brontës' mentions. Here's one today courtesy of The Irish Times:

Back in the studio Hook was paying tribute to the Croke Park referee, “He doesn’t have a car in the car park, he has a white stick and a tin can because he is certainly visually challenged”.
He was too, at times, but it might have been the fog that clouded his vision, the pitch resembling a scene on the moors from Wuthering Heights. Jonathan Sexton, our dashing hero, has been called many things in his time, but, rarely, we suspect, Heathcliff. Until Saturday. (Mary Hannigan)

Well, it does look as if it comes a point in every public man's life where he is compared by some news outlet or other to Heathcliff.

As in this article on Artslink (South Africa) which talks about a local production of The Woman in Black:

He refuses to acknowledge the existence of ghosts as he observes the moors and marshes surrounding the house that would even give Heathcliff the creeps. (Leon Van Nierop)

Another pop culture approach to Wuthering Heights, of course, would be that of Kate Bush's famous song. The Courier Mail reports that it's made it to number 47 of the 'Hummingbird100 Hottest Female Songs'.

And on the blogosphere, The Valve asks, 'Does anyone know of historicist criticism relating Wuthering Heights to stories of feral children?' And Comfortable Words is inspired by Shirley Keeldar's organisation of local charity.

Categories: Music, Shirley, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights

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200th Anniversary Church Service

An alert for next December 6th. Imelda and David Marsden, Life members of the Brontë Society and Kirklees Brontë group inform us of the following event:

Dewsbury Minster are to celebrate the arrival of Rev Patrick Brontë in December of 1809. With a 200th Anniversary church service with the Bishop of Wakefield in commemoration of Patrick arrival to the Minster then called All Saints church Dewsbury.

The service is to be held on Sunday 6th December at 6.30pm 2009.

For further details call the Dewsbury Minster on 01924 457057 or visit www.dewsburyminster.org.uk

(Picture Source)

Categories: Alert, Patrick Brontë, Reminder

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Watercolours and a Powerful Rochester

We read in the Filey & Hunmanby Mercury about Ron Thornton's latest book, A Coastal Voyage in Watercolour:

THE rich history of Filey as a seaside resort is reflected in a new book which focuses on its past as a successful British holiday venue.

The town features in A Coastal Voyage in Watercolour, by artist Ron Thornton, and includes information on the founder of New Filey, John Wilkes Unett, and the many famous holidaymakers it attracted, such as the composer Frederic Delius and novelist Charlotte Bronte. (Steven Hugill)

The details of the book are:

A Coastal Voyage in Watercolour-
The Borders to the Humber
by Ron Thornton

The beauty and splendour of the North East coast is captured in watercolour, supplemented by a fascinating account of local history.

Hardback book fully illustrated in colour.
ISBN - 978-0-9559395-0-1
128 pages
230mm x 295mm
£19.50 (p&p = £3.95)

Svenska Dagbladet reviews the performances of Jane Eyre in Stockholm. The reviewer highlights Michael Nyqvist's performance as Rochester (an online interview with the actor can be watched here)

Som barn led jag med Jane Eyre inför all den grymma och orättvisa behandling hon utsattes för. Det var en lättnad att hon till sist fick sin herr Rochester, även om han var så otrevlig i början.
När Jane nu uppträder på Dramatens scen är det just barnböcker som blir referensram. Den utsatta flickan är omgiven av tre sammetsklädda damer med yttre likheter med tant Brun, tant Grön och tant Gredelin. De är dock inte lika vänliga och det är inte heller den här historiens farbror Blå, herr Brocklehurst.
Själv liknar Julia Dufvenius som Jane Eyre en annan eldfängd och okuvlig flicka: Anne på Grönkulla. Hon läser gärna böcker och kan alltid ge svar på tal. Säkert lider hon lika mycket som Anne av att tvingas gå omkring i en mycket trist klänning. Hon är intelligent och passionerad, arg och obegripligt stark. Dufvenius förmedlar rakt igenom hennes starka integritet.
Scenen är utformad som en tunnel, som vidgar sig mot scenkanten. Längst bort finns en dörr. Det påminner om ett fångstredskap, och Jane är fångad. Samtidigt har hon något slags inflytande över denna instängda värld, via sin egen näsduk. När hon vrider den, ändras också rummet.
Det är Janes berättelse och människorna runt omkring relaterar enbart till henne. De flesta skådespelarna gör många roller, mycket pregnant utförda, som Björn Granaths lille elake John i blå sammet och Hulda Lind Jóhannsdóttirs dito moster. Kicki Bramberg gör flest roller och Thérèse Brunnander utgör i flera skepnader betydelsefulla vänlighetsoaser för Jane Eyre.
Michael Nyqvist spelar herr Rochester, och den som har tröttnat på att se honom överallt, får här en påminnelse om vilken bra skådespelare han är. Det verkar som om regissören Ellen Lamm har hållit honom i strama tyglar och rensat i hans manér, vilket gör honom ovanligt intressant och kraftfull. Mötena mellan honom och Dufvenius är från början kärleksscener i sin bryska rakhet. Han är inte så mycket osympatisk som socialt fyrkantig och van att vara i överläge. Men trots sin återhållsamhet låter Jane honom inte stanna i den positionen. Hon ger honom motstånd, och därur föds kärleken.
Kärleken spirar också mellan guvernanten Jane och hennes elev, den livliga Adèle, helt underbart gestaltad av Basia Frydman. Så långt är allt väl, men här finns hot: herr Rochesters tilltänkta, societetsdamen Blanche. Och hans första hustru, den galna kvinnan på vinden. Nadja Weiss spelar båda. I Martina Montelius dramatisering får hon stor plats och är en oroande närvaro. Hur ska vi se på henne idag? Hon delar Janes utsatta fångenskap samtidigt som hon är livsfarlig med sina ständiga mordförsök.
I boken går frustrerande lång tid mellan det inställda bröllopet mellan Eyre och Rochester och den slutliga föreningen. Här kräver teaterformen att det går snabbare. Detta innebär att lättnaden över det under omständigheterna lyckliga slutet inte blir lika stark. Å andra sidan hade vi inte kunnat vänta längre på att Jane tar sin till blind beckettfigur förvandlade jämlike till make. (Sara Granath) (Google translation)

BrontëBlog's Twilight Zone brings today new references:

The Star (Malaysia):

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen / Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare / Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (sold individually): Why should you read these re-jacketed classics? Why, because they inspired the first three books in the mega best-selling Twilight Saga, says author Stephenie Meyer! (Malini Dias)

This is not a Twilight saga reference but a True Blood one but the point is the same. The Eagle-Tribune:

"Look at 'True Blood,'" [Northern Essex Community College assistant professor of English Dr. Thomas] Greene said. "Take out the vampires, and it's Jane Eyre." (Rosemary Ford)

The Toledo Blade:

"We’ve been preoccupied with these ideas for a long time — the idea of star-crossed lovers or the idea of a passion so powerful that it can destroy people," [Valerie Karas, a seventh-grade teacher in New York] says. " Look at the connections and comparisons between Twilight and Romeo and Juliet and between New Moon and Wuthering Heights." (Rod Lockwood)

The Times (South Africa) reviews the film The Twilight Saga: New Moon:

This unresolved passion makes Bella impulsive and self-destructive and, as I watched Stewart's performance, I was reminded (very briefly) of Wuthering Heights and that complex, passionate, fatal attraction between Heathcliff and Catherine. For Weitz and his cast to even generate an echo of that intense tale of drama and destiny is no mean feat. (Barry Ronge)

La Nación (Argentina):

Efectivamente, la obra de Emily Brontë (que tantas penitas le costó parir) es el libro de cabecera de Bella y Edward, los jóvenes protagonistas de la historia de amor entre vampiros y licántropos, que también leen Romeo y Julieta, de William Shakespeare, por cuya razón la historia de amor más célebre de todos los tiempos se ha transformado a su vez en una lectura de culto para miles de adolescentes. (Graciela Melgarejo) (Bing translation)

On the blogosphere, a couple of Chinese blogs post about Wuthering Heights (probably student exercises 1 and 2). Finally Siddhartha Chattopadhyay has uploaded to YouTube a fragment of his composition for the Wuthering Heights Bangalore production, earlier this year.

Categories: Books, Jane Eyre, Music, References, Theatre, Wuthering Heights

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No-go Heights and a Painting

We have today a Wuthering Heights that never was and a Wuthering Heights that may be.

1. A frustrated Wuthering Heights was the project of the comic book author Tim Fish. Quoting from his blog. (Picture source: timfishworks)

Proposal one was to create a true-to-novel adaptation of one of my favorite novels, Wuthering Heights. The initial reaction was positive, but ultimately was a no-go.
I was REALLY bummed. It would have been so much fun for me to draw the cruel romance, cute guys in period clothing, and ghosts! Oh well.
But here's a page of sketching I had done in my excitement while waiting to go to failure. Stables-boy Heathcliff is so dark, mean, and hot. I should think about self publishing an adaptation.

Comicus.it 5.0 interviewed the artist and he said:

Marvel Comics Solicitations for January revealed that you will do a story for the X-Nation anthology. How did you get this work?
I had contacted the editors, in hopes of pitching an adaptation of “Wuthering Heights” for their classics line; that wasn’t working out, but they asked if I would be interested in writing and drawing a Northstar story. I was told “the time is right” for a look into the character’s personal life. (Interview by Gianluca Reina. Translation by Andrea Cassola)

2. And the possible one comes from the painting Cime Tempestose by Marta Boccone:

Marta Boccone
"Deflagrazioni Sensoriali"
December 10 2009 -December 19 2009
Opening: 10 December 2009 , 18:30
Galleria Il Borgo
Corso San Gottardo,14 - Milano
Curator: Sabrina Falzone (Èra moderna)

Dal 10 dicembre la Galleria Il Borgo di Milano presenta "Deflagrazioni sensoriali" mostra personale di pittura di Marta Boccone, nota artista milanese dal talento naturale. Secondo il critico e storico dell'arte Sabrina Falzone, curatrice della mostra, la poetica del caos materico in Marta Boccone è recuperata mediante l'apologia del colore, dissipato in deflagrazioni sensoriali senza tempo. Sono granuli di tensione sonora sulle tele "Cime tempestose" a conferire all'ensemble un vibrante universo pittorico, palpabile nell'emozionalità della rappresentazione. Sono le ritmiche increspature materiche sugli "Orizzonti" di Marta Boccone a suggerire un viaggio subliminale verso arcane mete dell'anima, verso altri luoghi interposti tra realtà e fantasia. (Source) (Google translation).

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Comics, Wuthering Heights

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A Brontë Daguerreotype

The Birmingham Mail carries a nice article describing a visit to the Brontë Parsonage Museum:

Under these heaven-sent atmospheric conditions, it didn’t take much imagination to picture the girls still there, writing stories that more than 150 years of history would later declare them to be the single most talented literary family that ever lived.
Although our book-loving 12-year-old daughter Holly read every exhibit, she was was probably a touch too young to fully appreciate the jewels of information before her, still less her younger sister, Madison, now six.
But the finer details don’t matter. What counted on the day, was that they were having the opportunity to embrace the Bronte’s lifestyle as they would have known it, isolated from metropolitan life by a character-defining mixture of harsh landscape, stone walls and invasive climate.
This is what continues to make Haworth so special, lifting it above and beyond the experience you will get at Shakespeare’s Birthplace Museum on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon, or Jane Austen’s house at Alton, Hampshire.
Whenever they read books like Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, Emily’s Wuthering Heights (both 1847) or Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) in the future, they will know that they’ve been there. (Graham Young)

The Guardian publishes an article about the current exhibition at the British Library: Points of View. Capturing the 19th Century in Photographs and attributes to Charlotte Brontë a pioneer role:

Charlotte Brontë, who seems to have been the first novelist to use "daguerreotype" as a verb, was also an enthusiast. In Shirley, published in 1849, Caroline Helstone, encountering her would-be lover unexpectedly, finds his image is "struck on her vision with painful brightness . . . as vividly as if daguerreotyped". The implication is that somehow the photographic image would be even more real, more intense, than his physical presence. It was this truthfulness, the potential of "nature's own transcript of herself", to offer a moral purity beyond human fallibility that appealed to the more thoughtful early Victorians. (...)
It was not long before the supposed objectivity of the camera came into question. As a sceptical Mark Twain pointed out: "You can't depend on your eyes if your imagination is out of focus." Besides Eastlake's vision of ever expanding truth and Charlotte Brontë's endorsement of the emotional force of the image, there was always another, more shadowy, reality. (...)
As the century wore on, a certain disillusionment set in. Trollope thought the photograph much less useful to the novelist than Charlotte Brontë had. "Let daguerreotypers do what they will," he wrote in Barchester Towers, "they will never achieve a portrait of the human face divine." (Rosemary Hill)

Also in the Guardian we find the first of this year's Christmas's book lists. William Boyd recommends Tormented Hope: Nine hypochondriac Lives by Brian Dillon.

is a short but fascinating study of literary and other celebrated hypochondriacs. These engrossing glimpses of the "fit unwell" include Charlotte Brontë, James Boswell, Andy Warhol and Marcel Proust (who must surely be the undisputed king of this particular neurotic hill). Written with great elegance and shrewd understanding, it illuminates a condition that probably all of us will suffer from at some time in our lives

and Joyce Carol Oates, Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler:

Sheila Kohler's Becoming Jane Eyre (Penguin) is an ingeniously imagined, meticulously researched and beautifully composed novel that immerses us in the seemingly fragile, secretly iron-willed character of the remarkable Charlotte Brontë.

Svenska Dagbladet talks about the current performances of Martina Monteliu's Jane Eyre adaptation in Stockholm, Sweden: (Picture: Lars Pehrson (Source))

Ett gigantiskt lakan bildar en strut in mot en stängd dörr och ger ett spöklikt, klaustrofobiskt intryck. Julia Dufvenius i enkel röd klänning och flätor är tioåriga Jane Eyre som ska lämna Gateshead, huset där hon växte upp. Rasande säger hon till sin elaka moster att hon minsann ska minnas hur fruktansvärt hon behandlats.
Så blir det scen- och klädbyten. Jane är på stränga internatskolan Lowood, Jane kommer som guvernant till Thornfield. Efter paus till sist det många läsare har jublat över: Michael Nyqvist, herr Rochester, går ned på knä.
–Säg Edward, uppmanar han.
–Edward, heter du Edward? fnittrar Jane.
Det är 160 år sedan brittiska Charlotte Brontë skrev sin 500 sidor långa debutroman, den fiktiva självbiografin Jane Eyre. Sedan dess har berättelsen om den föräldralösa, kaxiga flickan och hennes väg till mötet med Thornfields bryske ägare Mr Rochester fängslat läsare. Många har häpnat över Charlotte Brontës djärvhet, att hon skrev om en ung kvinna som trots att så många ville beröva henne friheten stod upp för sig själv.
Regissören Ellen Lamm läste Jane Eyre när hon var i 20-årsåldern och blev drabbad.
–Jag tyckte själva livsresan var så teatral. Jane går igenom något redan uppställt, som om livet stod där färdigt och hon bara kan kliva in i de olika situationerna. Det har vi tagit fasta på i pjäsen.
När hon för några år sedan bilade runt i Skottland fick hon nytt liv i idén att göra teater av boken.
–Känslorna som i romanen kan upplevas som för stora eller för vilda kändes plötsligt självklara när man stod där ute på den där heden eller bergstoppen.
Hon kontaktade Martina Montelius som blev exalterad och snabbt insåg att de enorma textsjoken innehåller stor poesi och dramatik.
–Jane Eyre har många av de viktigaste egenskaperna för teater. Den är brant, hisnande och språket har så hög densitet att varje mening är på väg att explodera.
Martina Montelius hade aldrig tidigare gjort en dramatisering men hittade snart sitt eget språk – mitt i Charlotte Brontës.
Att gestalta en så komplex person som Jane är inte enkelt. Huvudrollsinnehavaren Julia Dufvenius har funderat på om Jane kanske har en diagnos, som adhd.
–Hon har en skruv lös och vägrar att gå med på sociala spel. Hon har också en enorm inre värld eftersom hon inte har lojalitet mot människor i sin närhet. Hon har ingen mamma, ingen pappa, ingen som hon måste förhålla sig till. Hon har bara sin egen moral. Det måste vara extremt befriande.
Jane framställs genomgående som ful och färglös. Julia Dufvenius skämtar om att det därför är skönt att ta på sig lite rött läppstift efter repetitionerna.
–Jag har aldrig, under något arbete, krävt min man på så många komplimanger. Jag har frågat: ”Är inte jag ful och tråkig?” Jag har inte smink eller fina kläder på repetitionerna. Jag ler inte, pleasar inte. Jane är aldrig insmickrande.
–Hon är inte det en ung kvinna ”ska” vara, utvecklar Martina Montelius.
–Tvärtom! Det är därför man älskar henne så mycket, säger Julia Dufvenius.
Hon nämner därmed ett av alla skäl till varför Jane Eyre fortsätter fascinera. Hon har själv även fastnat för romantiken, sagan, passionen och humorn.
De tre kvinnorna tror därtill att många lockas just av utvecklingshistorien. Fast Ellen Lamm påpekar att Jane faktiskt inte utvecklas.
–Det är för att de yttre omständigheterna förändras hon kan säga: ”Här är jag och så här har jag varit sedan jag var tio, det är bara ingen som har klarat det förrän nu”.
–Självklart är vi också förtjusta i kärlekshistorien, som ju är en av världens första om att mötas som jämlika.
Blir deras relation verkligen jämställd? Ja, svarar de. Samtidigt påpekar Martina Montelius att tiden den utspelar sig i, att Jane är så mycket mer underordnad än hon skulle ha varit idag, nog är skälet till att de till slut kan leva ihop – trots att Rochester då har blivit både blind och enarmad.
–Idag skulle det ha varit så oerhört dasspappersgrått. De hade kanske medverkat i ett reportage i Amelia där Jane berättar ”så är det att leva med en enarmad man”, skrattar hon.
Mycket krut har inom forskningen även lagts på Bertha, Rochesters galna hustru som visar sig bo på vinden på Thornfield. I det litteraturvetenskapliga verket The madwoman in the attic från 1979 diskuteras huruvida kvinnan som är översexuell, vrålar, biter och har ett högt, gällt skratt är en spegel av Jane Eyre själv. Det har de tre kvinnorna också grubblat över, men blivit än mer intresserade av Berthas och Rochesters relation. Därför har Martina Montelius skrivit in en scen där de möts.
–Det är ett tillägg från mig till berättelsen.
Martina Montelius har redan fantiserat om Jane Eyre 2, om Janes och Rochesters äktenskap tio år senare.
–De har säkert skitkul! utbrister Julia Dufvenius.
–Men har de inte en tråkig vardagsfas efter allt det romantiska? funderar Ellen Lamm och Martina Montelius går igång:
–Kan inte Jane vara otrogen? Hon blir kär i en kvinna som också är funktionshindrad! Nej, du ser, det ballar ur ganska snabbt... (Lina Kalmteg) (Google translation)

The San Jose Mercury News talks with writer and Brontëite Hannah Tinti:

With a mother who was a librarian, Tinti, 36, grew up with classical books. Her favorites include Dickens and the Brontes, and writing an old-fashioned adventure story was appealing to her. "I wanted to use it to explore some larger issues I find interesting. God, truth, death, family. Finding a sense of belonging in the world."(Lynn Carey)

Another Brontëite is theatre director Georges Pothitos in the Chronicle Herald:

He grew up in the small village of Lowton where his mother insisted her children re-read A Christmas Carol every Christmas as well as Wuthering Heights on their summer break. "I grew up reading everything the Bronte sisters wrote, and everything Dickens ever wrote. As we came up to Christmas we’d pull out the dog-eared A Christmas Carol. (Elissa Barnard)

Hot Press talks about having more than one girl/boyfriend:

Without the unexpected plot turns to catch you off-guard, it can be a richer, but sometimes you can't help but wish that the narrative would veer off-course and find a new trajectory – that this time Juliet wakes up before Romeo drinks the poison or that Heathcliff and Cathy settle down to a life of quiet domesticity. (Anne Sexton)

And The Province (Canada) recommends a fragrance with a Catherine touch (!):

Timeless fragrances: It's what Heathcliff's Catherine might wear, had she been the perfume-dabbing type.
An old-fashioned pocket watch-style container topped with a black bow hides solid perfume with heady scents that linger and last.
Our favourite is Lily of the Valley, infused with pineapple zest, pink jasmine and sandalwood. Also available in Cassis.
Price: $34; Homewerx, 1053 Davie St.; www.homewerx.ca (Cheryl Chan)

ABC (Spain) talks about Day Coyle's book The Talent Code and attributes practice and myelin's abundance in the success of the Brontë sisters:

Coyle también encontró otros ejemplos en su periplo: el éxito de un club de tenis ruso que pese a sus precarias instalaciones forma a más jugadoras de máximo nivel que todo Estados Unidos o la rara coincidencia de las hermanas Charlotte, Emily y Anne Brontë, tres escritoras de talla internacional que crecieron en un pueblecito al norte de Inglaterra.
Sus escritos infantiles eran «burdas imitaciones de artículos de revistas y libros de la época» pero fueron una «práctica intensa» que culminó con novelas clásicas y «sorprendentes» como «Cumbres borrascosas» o «Jane Eyre». (EFE Noticias) (Google translation)

We read on Mediaset (Italy) about a new Italian TV adaptation of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, Il mistero del lago:

"Suspence, un autore come James, abiti d'epoca, location suggestive: gli ingredienti ci sono tutti per appassionare": è questo il commento della protagonista femminile Ana Caterina Morariu interprete di un'istitutrice che prende a modello la Jane Eyre di Charlotte Bronte, che vive in un'atmosfera da Cime Tempestose di Emily Bronte.(Google translation)

Some Twilight Zone now:
Daily World (among others):

The books and movies employ the classic romance-novel formula in scores of books from Jane Eyre to Harlequin romances, says Elisabeth Gruner, an English professor at the University of Richmond who has studied the Twilight phenomenon. "Vampire stories appeal to teens because vampires are eternal teens — they stay up late, exchange bodily fluids, engage in illicit practices and live forever, and most teens think they're immortal, too." (Gannett)

Il Corriere della Sera (Italy):

Questi sono alcuni dei motivi che ci hanno fatti diventare Twilight-dipendenti: 1) le storie d'amore impossibili e travagliate sono sempre dei best sellers. Sia che stiate pensando alla Verona di Romeo e Giulietta o alle Cime Tempestose di Heathcliff e Cathy poco importa. (Gabriella Savio) (Bing translation)

Kvällstidningen Expressen (Sweden):

Hon pepprar böckerna med referenser till Svindlande höjder, Romeo och Julia och indirekt Jane Austens verk och Jane Eyre. (Hanna Höglund) (Google translation)

A TV alert from France. A chance to listen to Michel Legrand's Hurlevant soundtrack (well, a track from it) in a live concert:

France 3 - 00h10
Michel Legrand et le cinéma
Réalisation de François Goetghebeur
Chef d'orchestre : Michel Legrand
L'Orchestre national d'Ile-de-France
In the programme: «I Was Born in Love with You» («Les Hauts de Hurlevent»)

(Recorded Feburary 27, 2009)

Elle (Netherlands) has an online contest (until next December 3) giving away ten double free tickets for the Theater Artemis's Woeste Hoogten production and also copies of Emily Brontë's book. TheAgenda.nl also posts about Toneelgroep Dorst De Brontë Sisters tour.

On the blogosphere Savidge Reads announces a possible Brontë phase, Le Magazine Littéraire (France) compares Paola by Vita Sakville-West with Wuthering Heights and Зеркало недели (Ukraine) compares the writer Галины Вдовиченко (Galina Vdovichenko) with Charlotte Brontë and Françoise Sagan.

Categories:Brontë Parsonage Museum, Brontëites, Jane Eyre, Music, References, Theatre, Wuthering Heights

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Masculinity and Fantasies

The latest issue of SEL: Studies on English Literature 1500-1900 contains a couple of Brontë-related papers:

Priti Joshi
Masculinity and Gossip in Anne Brontë's Tenant
SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 - Volume 49, Number 4, Autumn 2009, pp. 907-924

Abstract:

This paper examines Anne Brontë's novel against debates about women and women's influence. It argues that Brontë forges a middle ground between Mary Wollstonecraft and Hannah More, rejecting not only the former's repudiation of women's culture but also the latter's aggrandizement of women's influence. Brontë exposes some of the most dearly held fictions of femininity, even as she sympathetically explores its engagement with the production of a "new masculinity." To this end, she offers the very "feminine" behavior of "gossip" or "idle chat," rather than women themselves, as a tool to rehabilitate men who are drawn to a hypermasculine culture of violence.

Kate Lawson, Lynn Shakinovsky
Fantasies of National Identification in Villette
SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 - Volume 49, Number 4, Autumn 2009, pp. 925-944

Abstract:

In investigating the role—part invented and part real—that national and nationalist affiliations play in Villette, as well as the ways in which Lucy Snowe's shifting consciousness interprets and reinterprets these constructs, this paper argues that Charlotte Brontë employs mid-Victorian national histories as a prism through which to investigate the nature of national identification itself and its relationship to imagination, invention, and even hallucination. Lucy ultimately accommodates herself to Labassecourien national history through an affiliation with its narrative of liberation that, when seized pragmatically by M. Paul, provides Lucy with, as she says in the final chapter, "a wonderfully changed life, a relieved heart."

Categories: Journals, Scholar

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Brontë Museum appeals for Help to Return National Treasures

A very important message from the Brontë Parsonage Museum:

BRONTË MUSEUM APPEALS FOR HELP TO RETURN NATIONAL TREASURES

The Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, West Yorkshire has been stunned by news of two auctions in as many weeks, both featuring Brontë treasures of a kind that have not been seen at public auction in many years.

On 4 December, Christies in New York will host an auction of the William E Self library which includes numerous Brontë lots. The most significant of these is an extremely rare first edition of Emily’s only novel, Wuthering Heights. This is the copy owned by her sister Charlotte, who revised the novel for a new edition published after her sister’s death, and contains her pencilled-in corrections. There are also three lively letters from Charlotte Brontë to Henry Nussey, brother of her close friend Ellen Nussey. The letters include Charlotte’s reflections on family, work, the relationship between men and women, and marriage. One of the letters is Charlotte’s response to Nussey’s proposal of marriage. The sale also includes a miniature poetry manuscript produced in childhood by Charlotte.

These lots alone are expected to fetch in the region of $280,000 or £170,000 and the museum is desperately trying to raise funds to ensure that these items are returned to a public collection in the UK and not lost to a private collector.

It’s rare for such significant items to come onto the open market and there’s no doubt that these are items which are of such great significance to our cultural and artistic heritage that they should certainly be thought of as national treasures. It would be very sad indeed if these treasures were not repatriated or were lost to a private collection. We feel that these are things which belong here in Haworth and we’re appealing for people to get in touch if they can help us raise the funds to make sure this doesn’t happen. (Andrew McCarthy. Director, Brontë Parsonage Museum)

This will be followed on 17 December by an auction at Sotheby’s in London, which features items from the Law Collection and includes Charlotte’s mahogany writing desk, a pencil drawing by Emily, and an extremely rare surviving personal possession of Emily’s, her artist’s box and geometry set. As an independent charity the museum is constantly trying to raise funds to support its work, a fundamental part of which is seeking to acquire such important Brontë material and making it accessible to the public.

It’s very difficult for us to compete in a market where these items can fetch such high prices and we need the support of organizations and individuals to make sure that they are returned to Haworth where they surely belong. If anyone feels they can make a financial contribution to help us, this would be very much appreciated. (Andrew McCarthy. Director, Brontë Parsonage Museum)

EDIT:
BBC News echoes this press release.

Categories: Brontëana, Brontë Parsonage Museum

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Named Edward after Edward after Edward

The Huddersfield Daily Examiner reports that Oakwell Hall, which was first the model for Fieldhead in Shirley and was recently seen on Wuthering Heights 2009, will come back to the screen for another remotely Brontë-connected adaptation, The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister.

It has already tasted TV stardom.
But now Oakwell Hall, at Birstall, is to again be at the centre of a major television production.
The Elizabethan manor house featured in the ITV production of Wuthering Heights, has been selected as a location for a star-studded period drama.
The BBC2 production – The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister, a scandalous lesbian love story – is to be filmed at Oakwell in the next few weeks. [...]
Filming is taking place at Shibden as well as at Oakwell. However, the size of Shibden’s rooms and building lay-out would make filming some of the internal scenes technically difficult.
The production team, some of whom were involved in Wuthering Heights, are therefore using Oakwell Hall for those scenes.

NorthJersey talks to young writer Keshia Espy, who is currently is participating in NaNoWriMo.

She also likes Emily Bronte and thinks that "Wuthering Heights" is one of the best books ever. (Danielle Rose)

And just a short appearance of the Twilight zone today. It looks as if it's not just Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and the Brontës bearing the brunt of its long shadow. Baby names are affected too. Stuff (New Zealand), however, reminds us where the inspiration for Edward Cullen's name actually comes from.

Edward is named after Mr Rochester from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. (Amanda Diaz)

And finally, The Telegraph echoes the news of Sotheby's forthcoming auction of Brontëana.

A blog for today: The Life and Times of Michael5000 posts about Jane Eyre.

Categories: Books, Brontëana, Brontëites, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Shirley, Wuthering Heights

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Jane Eyre in Stockholm

A new dramatization of Jane Eyre premieres tomorrow in Stockholm, Sweden:

Jane Eyre
Dramaten. Lilla Scenen

28/11 2009 - 19/3 2010
Monday to Friday: 7:00 PM
Saturday and Sunday: 4:00 PM

Picture: Julia Dufvenius and Michael Nyqvist; Photographer Roger Stenberg

Charlotte Brontës roman Jane Eyre utkom 1847. Alltsedan dess är den en älskad och upprörande berättelse som ständigt möter nya generationer läsare. Jane Eyre är den unga föräldralösa flickan som vi lär känna först i fosterhemmet, sedan på välgörenhetsskolan och sedan som guvernant på Thornfield, där hon möter den gåtfulla mr Rochester och hans mörka ruvande hemlighet.
Den viktorianska tiden avkräver Jane blidhet och självuppoffring – i stället är hon fylld av ett inre raseri och en stark hunger efter oberoende. Klarsynt, humoristiskt och sorgligt skildras kärlekens krafter och krokiga turer och en ung kvinnas väg till mognad och självständighet.
Joyce Carol Oates skrev en gång: ”Om du inte ännu upptäckt den unika röst som finns hos Charlotte Brontës Jane Eyre, så har du ett alldeles särskilt nöje framför dig!”
Som Jane Eyre möter vi Julia Dufvenius och som Rochester Michael Nyqvist. (Google translation)

Cast Julia Dufvenius, Michael Nyqvist, Thérèse Well Anderson, Nadja Weiss, Bjorn Granath, Pontus Gustafsson, Kicki Bramberg, Hulda Lind Jóhannsdóttir, Basia Frydman.

Dramatization Martina Montelius
Directed by Ellen Lamm
Set design and costume Magdalena Åberg
Lighting Magnus Kjellberg
Make up Lena Bouic-Wrange, Thea Holmberg Kristensen
Composers 75öre (Ivan Monthan and Hanna Stenlund Monthan)

More pictures can be seen here and an article about the production published on KulturStan can be read here.

Categories: Jane Eyre, Theatre

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More Brontë items for auction

It looks as if it is 'auction your Brontë belongings' time. Via the Yorkshire Post we have heard of another important auction to take place in London on December 17th at Sotheby's.

Living a sheltered life in the Pennines with little social interaction did not stop the Brontë sisters from becoming among the most vivid storytellers of their age.
Now some of the items that helped two of them, Charlotte and Emily, to translate the bleak windswept heather and wild moors landscape into the dramatic settings for Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre are up for sale in what could be the last such auction for years.
Charlotte's desk and Emily's geometry set and art box could fetch as much as £17,000 when they go under the hammer at Sotheby's in London next month.
The Brontë treasures – which will be auctioned on December 17 – belonged to William Law, an avid 19th century collector of Brontëana who made frequent visits to Haworth where he bought items from Charlotte Brontë's widower, the Rev Arthur Bell Nicholls.
So keen was Law to make sure the items were not mistaken for worthless artefacts he went to the trouble of installing metal plaques, engraving the words "Desk belonging to Charlotte Brontë. Displayed in memory of W.Law Esq" on the George III mahogany desk, valued at up to £10,000, and "Artists box of Emily Jane Brontë, Ladies' Literary Society,Manchester" on the Regency mahogany artist's box, valued with the geometry set at up to £7,000.
One of the first sales from Law's collection was a paint box owned by Emily, which sold in 1907 at Sotheby's.
As the auction house deputy director, Dr Phillip Errington, explained these are the final few pieces of that collection.
He added: "You have to go back a long way back to find items like this for sale.
"The opportunity to buy something the Brontës owned is not common at all.
"We had a sale a few years ago, in December 2004, that included a unknown painting of Charlotte Brontë, a box and a pistol which was unmistakenly from Wuthering Heights."
Emily was only 30 when she died in 1848, having lived a very sheltered life in Haworth, West Yorkshire amid the bleak moors where she penned Wuthering Heights.
Her paint box and geometry set would have been one of the few items of entertainment she owned.
The front compartment contains three quill nibs, the middle compartment contains a square glass bottle and includes space for two round ink or water bottles, while the back section contains a paint tray with remnants of paint. Below the tray is space for the geometry set and a compartment containing three miniature envelopes, two sticks of sealing wax and a small circular box of miniature gummed labels.
The geometry set is in a morocco-covered box featuring a metallic label, which is inscribed : EJB.
The box contains seven items including a folding bone ruler and a retractable steel nib pen, and its front drawer includes nine ceramic fitted mixing dishes which are mostly stamped.
These stamps are for Ackermann, 96 The Strand, London and thanks to this address Sotheby's says the box can be dated back as far as 1827.
Ann Dinsdale, Collections Manager for the Brontë Parsonage Museum, explained: "They are very important pieces, especially anything relating to Emily Brontë.
"Because she was never famous during her own lifetime very few of her personal items or manuscripts were kept and are extremely rare."
Dr Errington agreed: "We have two very special items here. Items of Emily Brontë's are the holy grail of Brontë collections because she died a lot younger than her sister."
Charlotte, who also died young at the age of 37 in 1855 while pregnant, was also a keen artist.
Dr Errington said he was very excited about her desk because of its rarity. He said: "I wouldn't like to say definitively that this was Charlotte Brontë's writing desk she wrote her books on, but it was obviously important." (Simon Neville)

Sotheby's website includes pictures and further details on each item:

English Literature, History, Children's Books & Illustrations

Sale: L09777
DATE & TIME
Session 1: Thu, 17 Dec 09, 2:30 PM, Lots 1 - 182
LOCATION London

EXHIBITION
Location: London

Sun, 13 Dec 09, 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Mon, 14 Dec 09, 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Tue, 15 Dec 09, 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Wed, 16 Dec 09, 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM

Lot 76
REGENCY MAHOGANY ARTIST'S BOX AND GEOMETRY SET FORMERLY BELONGING TO EMILY BRONTË

5,000—7,000 GBP

Description
Early nineteenth century, the rectangular hinged top bearing the trade label of R. Ackermann enclosing a box in three compartments, also front drawer, 81mm. (height) by 310mm. (width) by 209mm. (depth)
The front compartment contains three quill nibs, one steel nib on a wooden handle and two wooden handles. The middle compartment includes space for two round ink or water bottles (with one square glass bottle present and some loss and damage to the wooden surround). This compartment includes a removable lid on which there is a metal plaque. This reads 'Artists Box of Emily Jane Brontë Ladies' Literary Society Manchester'. The back compartment comprises a paint tray with remnants of paint and some loss to individual compartment dividers. Below the tray is space for the geometry set and a compartment containing three miniature envelopes, two sticks of sealing wax and a small circular box of miniature gummed labels.
The geometry set comprises a morocco-covered box with a central metalic label inscribed 'EJB'. The box contains seven items including a folding bone ruler and a retractable steel nib pen.
The front drawer includes nine ceramic fitted mixing dishes mostly stamped 'Ackermann 96 Strand'.
The Brontë sisters' interest in art is well-documented. This artist's box can be dated after 1827 since that was the date when Ackerman moved business premises from 101 Strand to 96 Strand. Charlotte Brontë's paint box, from the sale of Mr Nicholls' collection, was sold in these rooms in 1907. It is now owned by the Brontë Pasonage Museum. (See more pictures)

Lot 74
GEORGE III MAHOGANY DESK FORMERLY BELONGING TO CHARLOTTE BRONTË

7,000—10,000 GBP

Description
Last quarter eighteenth century, the sloping top with a reading ledge above a frieze drawer, on moulded square legs joined by stretchers, 864mm. (height) by 640mm. (width) by 448mm. (depth)
There is a metal plaque attached to a horizontal ledge at the back of the desk. This reads 'Desk Belonging to Charlotte Brontë Displayed in Memory of W. Law Esq.'
This, and the following two lots, were formerly part of the collection of William Law (c.1836-1901). Law was an avid collector of Brontëana and made numerous visits to Haworth which included purchases from Charlotte Brontë's widower, the Rev. A.B. Nicholls. After the formation of the Brontë Museum Law donated a number of items but also gave material to the nurse who attended to him before his death. Material from the same source was previously offered in these rooms, 16 December 2004, lots 111-119. (See more pictures)

Lot 75
A COLLECTION OF MATERIAL OWNED BY MEMBERS OF THE BRONTË FAMILY OR THE COLLECTOR WILLIAM LAW, COMPRISING:

1,500—2,000 GBP

Description
[Brontë, Emily?] Church and graveyard, 105 by 80mm., pencil drawing, unsigned, framed and glazed--[Brontë Family]. Pair of sugar tongs apparently belonging to the Brontës, c. 90mm. long, hallmarked 'GA', London, 1854--[Brontë Family]. Ceramic circular pen or brush holder, 105mm. diameter, floral design with gilt decoration, some gilt edging eroded--[Law, William]. Victorian mahogany table display cabinet, with a sarcophagus shaped top above glazed sides incorporating a fall front panel, each corner with turned columns, altered, with miniature metal plaque ('Emily Brontë Wm. Law'), 635mm. (height) by 583mm. (width) by 333mm. (depth)--[Law, William]. Pocket cigar case, brown pigskin, silver monogram 'WL' by Allen & Wright London--[Law, William]. Embossed and gilded paper 'Farewell' memento, with poem, dated 1855, [?associated with the funeral of Charlotte Brontë--together with William Law's stationery case and wooden trunk; together with small folder of later newspaper clippings and 4 volumes (13 items)

And finally something quite different and not so very thrilling but Brontë-related all the same.

Lot 129
FOLIO SOCIETY.
A FINE COLLECTION OF 280 VOLUMES, INCLUDING FIVE LIMITED EDITIONS, COMPRISING:

3,000—5,000 GBP

Description
Joyce, J. Ulysses, 1998, number 913 of 1760 copies, full goatskin, folding box--Tolstoy, L. War and Peace, 2006, number 879 of 1750 copies, full goatskin, folding box--Life of St Edmund... [2004], number 377 of 1010 copies, full goatskin, together with volume of commentary, folding box--Cervantes, M. de. Don Quixote. 2005, number 74 of 1250 copies, full goatskin, folding box--Malory, Sir T. Le Morte Darthur. 2003, number 599 of 1020 copies, full goatskin, together with pamphlet, folding box--together with 273 others including: Austen, J. (8 vol.)--Beckett, S. (1 vol.)--Betjeman, J. (1 vol.)--Brontë Sisters (7 vol.)--Bunyan, J. (1 vol.)--Carlyle, T. (3 vol.)--Chekhov, A. (1 vol.)--Chesterton, G.K. (2 vol.)--Churchill, W.S. (10 vol.)--Coleridge, S.T. (1 vol.)--Darwin, C. (1 vol.)--Dickens, C. (13 vol.)--Domesday Book (3 vol.)--Donne, J. (1 vol.)--Galsworthy, J. (3 vol.)--Gaskell, E. (2 vol.)--Gibbon, E. (8 vol.)--Joyce, J. (1 vol.)--Keats, J. (1 vol.)--Kipling, R. (2 vol.)--Lang, A. (1 vol.)--Lawrence, T.E. (1 vol.)--Mansfield, K. (1 vol.)--Milton, J. (1 vol.)--Norwich, J.J. (4 vol.)--Priestley, J.B. (1 vol.)--Pym, B. (1 vol.)--Ruskin, J. (1 vol.)--Sackville West, V. 1--Shakespeare, W. (8 vol.)--Solzhenitsyn, A. (1 vol.)--Tolstoy, L. (3 vol.)--Trollope, A. (1 vol.)--Twain, M. (1 vol.)--White, T.H. (1 vol.)--Wilde, O. (1 vol.)--Williamson, H. (1 vol.)--Wordsworth, W. (1 vol.); 4to and 8vo, original bindings, slipcases (280)

Categories: Brontëana

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Black Friday ideas and other news

If you are in the US you might want to devote part of Black Friday to following the shopping recommendation from Newsday. If not, you might indulge in this kind of shopping spree all the same.

This season, Penguin Classics, the standard bearers for paperback reprints of the literary canon, has released a series of eight English masterworks - including novels by Austen, Dickens, the Brontë sisters, Hardy and Wilde - in clothbound editions ($20 each) exquisitely fashioned by Coralie Bickford-Smith, a rising star of British design. Each volume's cover has a repeating pattern that cleverly refers to the work at hand: chandeliers (like the ones at Miss Havisham's) for "Great Expectations," thistles and thorns (the kind you might find on the moors) for "Wuthering Heights." (Peter Terzian)

Actually, we included these gorgeous Penguins in our Brontë Christmas gift selection last year, but this year they look great all the same.

Or if you're in the Haworth area (or in the UK, really) you might want to start planning all your visits and activities at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

Culture 24 includes the press release on the outcome of the Brontëana surgery and next year's exhibition at the Parsonage. And The Telegraph and Argus has a reminder on an activity taking place next December 12th:

There's a Bronte mash-up in Haworth next month as famous characters escape from the novels.
Mr Lockwood's Confusing Christmas will see them let loose in the Bronte Parsonage Museum.
Mayhem is promised on December 12 with characters from Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre.
Mr Rochester meets Cathy under the mistletoe while Jane finds Heathcliff in the graveyard with a shovel.
The event, which continues all day, is free on admission to the Haworth museum.
Details from 01535 640188 or jenna.holmes@bronte.org.uk. (David Knights)

If you are simply lost in the Twilight zone, here's today's selection:

From The Malay Mail:

The books were loosely based on literary classics.
Twilight on Pride and Prejudice, New Moon on Romeo and Juliet (couldn't you guess?) while Eclipse and Breaking Dawn on Wuthering Heights and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, respectively. (Amir Hafizi)

What that really means is that when Eclipse is released in cinemas we may expect about 100 times more references in the press than we are getting with the books, the first film or the just-released New Moon. Ah, nice.

Their Bad Mother - a Beliefnet blog - wants her children to learn about love from novels so taht they are ready afterwards for the real thing.

And I want to be able to trust that when she reads stories about love - whether those be from the Twilight series or the Sweet Valley High series or Shakespeare or Tolstoy or the Brontes - she'll be able to recognize that some depictions of love are more dramatic than others and that one can feel as deeply as Juliet without needing to fling oneself on a blade like Juliet. [...]
Because raising a feminist means raising a girl - or a boy, for that matter - to think for herself. And to feel for herself. And to decide for herself how she wants to love and be loved. And I trust that if I do that right, all the Juliets - or Emmas or Janes or Annas or Bellas - in the world won't lead her astray from her own, empowered heart.(Catherine Connors)

And RH Reality Check has A Feminist's Guide To Curing Yourself of Twilight-Mania. Step One:

-Talk to someone who thinks Edward Cullen is actually, non-problematically, an ideal man.
To achieve this goal, you likely just need to point at a random woman under the age of 40, but it may take a little searching. When you hear a real, live person say with wide eyes that she wishes her partner were more like Edward, you will begin to feel the Twilight ties loosen. Sure, you've enjoyed the "Romeo and Juliet/Heathcliff and Cathy go to high school" quality of the books. But you wouldn't actually want to date Romeo or Heathcliff. And you don't want to be in the same category with someone who genuinely wishes strange men snuck into her room and watched her sleep, sternly forbid her from doing things he didn't like, or caused you to ignore everyone else in your life.
If you know in your heart that Edward shouldn't be real, then meeting one of these super-fans is a great first step towards a cure. (Sarah Seltzer)

Two blogs for today in Portuguese: Messy Room posts about the Brontë sisters and Clube Feminino de Leitura about Wuthering Heights. Flickr user Hank Conner has uploaded an atmospheric photomontage entitled 'Waiting for Heathcliff'.

Categories: Books, Brontë Parsonage Museum, Haworth, Movies-DVD-TV, Wuthering Heights

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A Jewish Dance

More scholar books with a Brotë twist:

English Origins, Jewish Discourse, and the Nineteenth-Century British Novel
Reflections on a Nested Nation
By Heidi Kaufman

University of Pennsylvania Press
256 pages | 6 illustrations | 6 x 9 | 2009
ISBN 978-0-271-03526-0

'For we rather forget that the Christian God was a Jew', Patrick Braybrooke facetiously claimed, 'though no doubt this was a Divine mistake and the 'nationality' of Christ should have been English'. Taking Braybrooke's lead, Heidi Kaufman argues that the proliferation of Jewish discourse in nineteenth-century British novels was linked to the construction of English character and English origins. The period of the eighteenth century marks a turning point in definitions of English national identity, not only because of a rise in modern racial thinking, but also because of the contradictory dimensions of Englishness that called out for resolution in novels. This study looks at some of the ways in which novels of the nineteenth century began to rewrite Jewish and Christian theological affiliations in an effort to allay the racial panic such associations posed for the nation's newly emergent racial-religious identity. Novels were uniquely well suited to this task because of their emphasis on sequential history and character development, their increasing popularity, and their imaginative possibilities. Kaufman shows that nineteenth-century novels did not simply engender ideas about England and the English but also attempted to correct a problem that arose when the racial and theological components of national identity came into conflict with one another.

Chapter 4 has the title: Becoming English : (re)covering "Jewish" origins in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.

Dancing out of Line
Ballrooms, Ballets, and Mobility in Victorian Fiction and Culture
By Molly Engelhardt

Ohio University Press
256 pages • 6 × 9 in.
Hardcover: 978-0-8214-1888-8

Dancing out of Line transports readers back to the 1840s, when the craze for social and stage dancing forced Victorians into a complex relationship with the moving body in its most voluble, volatile form.
By partnering cultural discourses with representations of the dance and the dancer in novels such as Jane Eyre, Bleak House, and Daniel Deronda, Molly Engelhardt makes explicit many of the ironies underlying Victorian practices that up to this time have gone unnoticed in critical circles. She analyzes the role of the illustrious dance master, who created and disseminated the manners and moves expected of fashionable society, despite his position as a social outsider of nebulous origins. She describes how the daughters of the social elite were expected to “come out” to society in the ballroom, the most potent space in the cultural imagination for licentious behavior and temptation. These incongruities generated new, progressive ideas about the body, subjectivity, sexuality, and health.
Engelhardt challenges our assumptions about Victorian sensibilities and attitudes toward the sexual/social roles of men and women by bringing together historical voices from various fields to demonstrate the versatility of the dance, not only as a social practice but also as a forum for Victorians to engage in debate about the body and its pleasures and pathologies.

Categories: Books, Scholar

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Pop-culture Brontës and other news

Today's news are nothing if not diverse, though they include the compulsory sprinkle of Twilight, of course.

Apparently, the film Bright Star is bringing attention to TB. But we are sorry to inform Madeleine Bunting from the Guardian that Charlotte Brontë did NOT die of TB, but, in all probability, of hyperemesis gravidarum, which is excessive vomiting during pregnancy. The rest of the siblings did die from TB so it's a shame she had to go and pick the only one who didn't as an example.

Consumption carried away many young lives in the 19th century, killing Keats at 25 before he could ever glimpse the public acclaim for his work. It also claimed Charlotte Brontë, and in the 20th century George Orwell died of the disease, having suffered terrible side effects from the treatments then being pioneered.

Meanwhile, Stephanie Gutmann from the Telegraph thinks that Susan Boyle's story is reminiscent of the Brontës.

(There is also the poignant, Bronte-like subplot which resonates powerfully with anyone who’s dealt with faltering parents: Susan, who was quite foxy in her mid-twenties and of course quite talented, put it all aside and cared for her ailing mother until her death. She did not apply to go on Britain’s Got Talent until released from her daughterly duties. Careers don’t always wait, but, poetically, novelistically, providentially, this career waited.)

And also the Telegraph features an article on Alan Bennet.

There are stylistic tricks involved in this, of course, such as his recourse to bathos (for example, “she made the corpse of Emily Bronte seem like something out of No, No, Nanette”). He is loved for these faintly camp one-liners, at their most brilliant in his historical cavalcade Forty Years On, but the nobler part of him lies in his ability to capture the dignified resilience that underpins characters such as the women of Talking Heads for whom life has proved a frustrating and disappointing business. (Rupert Christiansen)

Onto something else now, as Central Jersey has a couple of paragraphs on Wide Sargasso Sea.

Another beautiful piece built on a beloved classic is “Wide Sargasso Sea” (paperback edition, Buccaneer Books, 1999), credited to Jean Rhys and Charlotte Bronte. Ms. Rhys tackled the unfinished business of Bronte’s “Jane Eyre.” What is behind Rochester’s terrible secret of the madwoman in the attic? Ms. Rhys constructs a tale told in two parts by Antoninette Cosway, a Creole heiress, with the middle section told by her husband. Through this narrative, Ms. Rhys spins the tale of a descent into madness.
Ms. Rhys had some success in the 1920s and 1930s with novels of women seeking economic and emotional salvation through marriage to a dashing European. When such romances fell from favor, she languished for decades until she took on exploring how to tell the story of the woman Jane Eyre called “Bertha.” When the book was first published in 1966 to great praise and literary awards, Ms. Rhys, then 70 years old, bitterly observed that fame had come too late. She died months later. For many in the literary world, however, “Wide Sargasso Sea” remains an outstanding example of a parallel novel and what has been classified as Caribbean Gothic. (Joan Ruddiman)

The Mr Rochester in Wide Sargasso Sea was quite different from the Mr Rochester in the original novel, which is the one used to make a point about fragrances on DC Fragance Examiner.

"This scent is neither of shrub nor flower, it is-I know it well-it is Mr. Rochester's cigar." This is the musing of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre as she detects the presence of her beloved through the aromas that signal his arrival even before their paths collide. The fact that she is so keenly in tune to his personal scent belies the sexual tension that this imparts. Such is also, the message of the fragrance one wears. It becomes a signal to those who have an intimate understanding of who the wearer may be. Because of the pleasant association of tobacco with the traditional scent of a man, through his cigar or pipe, an entire olfactory fragrance family has been dedicated to the blending of these notes to form colognes of great distinction. (Liza Wade)

Pits'n'Pots realises that the Brontës and other big names of English literature are not featured on a BNP-connected website.

The San Francisco Bay Guardian gives more information about the John O'Keefe's The Brontë Cycle 1988 play readings:

"Shakes 'Super' Intensive + Bronte Series" Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship, 1924 Cedar, Berk; (510) 275-3871. $8. Mon, 7:30pm, through Dec. 14. Subterranean Shakespeare presents weekly staged readings of classic Shakespeare plays, followed by a staged reading of Jon O'Keefe's complete play about the Bronte sisters. (Molly Freedenberg)

And now for pop-culture Brontës.

Brooklyn Vegan reviews Röyksopp's recent shows at Webster Hall where they

rolled out with the surprise of the night, a note-for-note cover of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights," she put on a dead-on Kate croon. (Erez Avissar)

Poptimal is looking forward to Ed Westwick playing Heathcliff.

Ed Westwick – I have to say, Mr. Westwick’s 2010 project excites me more than just a little. Wuthering Heights is one of my all-time favorite books. Definitely in my top five, and strangely enough, I can see him playing Heathcliff. Chuck Bass and Heathcliff actually have much in common and I am excited to see him translate the character. Since Bella reads the book obsessively in Twilight and has made it a best seller again worldwide, look for the Twilight audience to attend this film. Starring opposite Ed is up-and-comer Gemma Arterton, the Bond girl from Quantum of Solace. Look for her in The Prince of Persia, slated for early summer 2010 as well. The previews look impressive. (Trisha Huntsman)

A bit of Twilight in there and a bit of Twilight in The Reflector.

While "New Moon" is not comparable to "Wuthering Heights" or "Pride and Prejudice" as an epic romance, it certainly improves upon its predecessor in every way possible. (Hannah Rogers)

As for blogs, Cheerful Cynicism posts about Wuthering Heights, the novel, and Classic Movies Digest writes about Wuthering Heights 1939. Our Love is Amazing has a post on Jane Eyre and sarah ch0_o is in love with Mr Rochester. Books I Have Read reviews Jennifer Vanderver's The Brontë Project. And finally, Chris from Book-a-rama posts at length about Elizabeth Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Bronté.

Categories: Books, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, Theatre, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights

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Emily B. - A Review

Our thanks to Editions Memory Press for sending us a review copy of this book.

Emily B. et autres contes d’automne
Dominique Jacques
Editions Memory Press
Collection Nouvelles
Format : 11 x 19 cm
Nombre de pages : 96
ISBN : 2-87413-130-X
Prix de vente public : 13 €
Date de parution : septembre 2009

Dominique Jacques performs a double invocation in this little book. To the spirits of Catherine Earnshaw and her creator Emily Brontë. Her particular ouija is the autumn wind which transports through time and space the ghosts of both creature and demiurge.

The author negotiates with the voices of her ghosts through a poetical prose full of alliterations and repetitions which provide a musicality to the text not far from minimalism. Almost as if a John Adams or a Philip Glass had decided to put the wind in a pentagram not full of notes but of words⁽¹⁾.

Dominique Jacques's voice is mixed with the wild, full of life and most of and above all, free Catherine Earnshaw and the repressed Emily Brontë. Her thesis is that Emily Brontë succumbed to her own lack of freedom and ability to trascend her enclaustred life. Catherine Earnshaw has to rescue her creator and incarnates in the author of this book in order to fully realise herself, themselves. Through Heathcliff, the savage stranger who is able at the same time of giving purpose to Catherine/Emily/Dominique and of ravaging and breaking all the rules and shaking the very foundations of the establishment.

But even as we recognise the purpose of the author as legitimate and coherent, we cannot agree with some of her sometimes too-easy images. We realise that the author's intention portraying the Parsonage as a castrating and repressive environment is to use it as a symbol of the oppression of women particularly (but the metaphor is more universal and can be also read as the social repressions that all of us carry with us). But when Emily Brontë is used as a symbol of that repression we are bound to disagree. If anything the Parsonage was an island of freedom and creativity. It was not a wall against the moors, the fact is that the moors begun in the Parsonage rooms⁽²⁾.

A pity that the bitter taste that such generalisations leave impregnates the powerful appearances of Catherine Earnshaw looking for her Heathcliff. Showing off her femininity, the Byronic force of her passions, the magnitude of her titanic fight against the chains that try to bound her to earth when she belongs to the wind.

The book is completed with two additional short tales, not directly related with Emily Brontë but perfectly coherent with the stylistic trends and personal world of the author.

Notes

(1) Not a musical piece but a series of paintings have been inspired by this text. Janine Descamps, Olivier Jadoul and Odile Goffin presented her works in an exhibition in Arlon, Belgium: Autour d'Emily. One of them appears in the cover of the present book.

(2) Even Patrick Brontë, in the worst Gaskell tradition, is given the oppressor's role. Knowing as we know how much he had to endure with the death of all his family it's hard to read things like:

Un seul survivant: lui, le pasteur. Votre père. Un seul. Celui qui tenait les clefs du presbytère. Barbe-bleue. Pas de traces. Les corps vont bien au cimitière.

Categories: Review

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Brontë vs Dickinson: the debate

Let's begin with the Brontë references in today's newsround that are not Twilight-related, shall we?

The Telegraph and Argus comments on the upcoming auction of Very Important Brontë Items at Christie's.

A rare copy of Emily Bronte’s only novel, Wuthering Heights, owned by her sister Charlotte, is expected to be sold for up to 60,000 US dollars – about £36,000 – when it goes under the hammer in New York.
The original cloth-bound 1847 volume, with pencil notes and corrections written by Charlotte Bronte, will be auctioned from the collection of Hollywood actor-turned-producer William E Self at Christies next month.
It is one of only five copies of Wuthering Heights sold at auction in the past 30 years and is estimated to fetch between 40,000 and 60,000 US dollars, about £24,000 to £36,000. (Marc Meneaud)

The Greensboro News & Record reviews the collection of short stories Little Pockets of Alarm by Kat Meads. Here's what one of the stories is about:

Then, there’s the debate on “the impact of reclusive on life, art, family, community and pets” between Emily Bronte and Emily Dickinson. The narrator, sitting in the audience, eagerly waiting for the authors to appear, tells us: “Briefly, the curtain at the back of the stage balloons. The wait is crushing, killing. It is exceedingly difficult for us to hold our water. We are in grave danger of succumbing to the strain.” (Charles Wheeler)

That would be one interesting debate, that's for sure!

And the Twilight zone swings back and forth between the 'Twilight is the heir of the Brontës, etc.' and the 'Twilight is nothing like the Brontës' attitudes. Today it's the latter mood that's overtaken the news outlets.

From the San Diego News Network:

But it’s not great literature in the lasting tradition of a Jane Austen or a Charlotte Bronte. So what is it about this story that makes it so appealing? (Marsha Sutton)

The Cornell Daily Sun makes it even clearer:

I just want to shake this Bella girl. Get her some therapy. And I want to shake the entire Twilight fan base. I get it, man. Bella’s all shy and quiet and she likes to read, and you totally identify with her, but c’mon. Maybe we read, I dunno, Jane Eyre? I mean, Mr. Rochester is also problematic, but at least that shit is well written. (Elana Dahlager)

But regardless of all this, HarperCollins makes once again its own statement, as seen in The Vanguard.

Major publishing company HarperCollins recently released a new edition of Emily Brontë’s classic 1847 novel “Wuthering Heights.”
At first glance, the cover of this timeless work of 19th-century literature looks strikingly familiar, as it bears a similar design scheme as the popular teenage romance series “Twilight.” In addition, it is branded with a logo of “Bella & Edward’s Favorite Book.”
To which I respond: Is nothing sacred? [...]
Furthermore, the branding of “Twilight” on such a work is insulting. It isn’t anywhere near “Wuthering Heights” in terms of literary value. While that is not a crime, it is a cheap move to connect such a disparate work to classic literature, and it certainly doesn’t give any literary credibility to “Twilight” by association. (Alexa Coccaro)

One blog for today: Writerly Musings of Lisa Asanuma blames St John Rivers for slowing down her reading of Jane Eyre.

Categories: Books, Brontëana, Emily Brontë, Jane Eyre, References, Wuthering Heights

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