Covers, teachers and readers

We join Zoë Triska from The Huffington Post in this request: 'PLEASE: No More Insulting Classic Book Covers For Teen Girls'.

I imagine that most of these powerful female authors who wrote about femininity and struggled for equality to the male sex would be turning over in their graves if they knew that their feminist tomes were being churned out with makeup compacts and Twilight book cover rip off designs, like this new edition of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights.

Don't miss the slideshow full of terrifying covers, including one from a Jane Eyre edition.

We feel quite sad for this columnist at the Huddersfield Daily Examiner. People who make this sort of assertion are to be pitied:

I was also forced to study Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, another book which I have tried to cleanse from my consciousness.
Before these two 19th Century deadweights were inflicted on me, I had enjoyed reading fiction – whether at school or at home.
Since Austen and Brontë did their work, I have barely picked up a novel, preferring to stick with non-fiction. (Barry Gibson)

Is that a boast? It sounds like a big loss to us. 

Barbara Holm from The Huffington Post doesn't mention dislike but we don't think she was too trilled about Wuthering Heights when she writes,

You may be thinking, "Cathrynn... that is a woman's name... weird." Well, reader, good job remembering literally the only thing I remember from Wuthering Heights, and yes, you're correct.

Fortunately, this letter from a reader of Free Malaysia Today shows the other side of the coin:

I would never forget Mrs Lim, who was so tall and yet wore high heeled shoes and taught us English Literature in Form Three. The recommended text was ‘Wuthering Heights’. She would make us read word for word and explain every sentence and when eventually she completed the text, I became an admirer of the protagonist Heathcliff.
I became so interested in English Literature thereafter that I was voraciously reading Keats, Shelley, Byron, Russell, Milton and Shakespeare. She invoked in me the love for literature in  English, Malay, Tamil and Russian. (Richard Kamalanathan)

Another teacher is recalled on Eureka Street:

He was tall, loose-limbed and dark-haired, with a blue-eyed gaze whose piercing intensity was mitigated by the amiable, good humoured look to him, and a generous smile that softened his Heathcliff-like mien. He appeared in the doorway of my Flinders University study one day in early February 1971 and asked if I was the one who was starting a course in Australian literature. His voice was soft and melodic, his accent beautifully Irish. (Brian Matthews)

We hope the students of this Professor of English writing for The Atlantic don't go over to the dark side

In the women's literature class I'm teaching this semester—in which we are reading Angelou, along with Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, Anne Bradstreet, Phyllis Wheatley, Charlotte Brontë, Sylvia Plath, Margaret Atwood, and many more female authors—we are emphasizing the distinctive qualities of women's literature. We are marking what these authors bring to bear on the human condition, the tensions their writing reveals between public and private, personal and political, and the ways in which women's writing speaks to experiences at variance with those of the male writers in the traditional canon. (Karen Swallow Prior)

The Yorkshire Post describes the local firm TD Direct Investing as follows:

The business is built around historic brands which are as Yorkshire as the Brontë sisters’ prose.

We discover via Chad that Nottinghamshire has two dementia wards called Brontë and Shelley. Interesting. Hanging on Every Word and Papo de estante (in Portuguese) post about Wuthering Heights. Sofias Scrap & Liv Blogg writes briefly in Swedish about Agnes Grey. Uma Biblioteca Aberta posts in Portuguese about Shirley. Sara Ever After has looked online for Jane Eyre-inspired stuff. Monja en el omnibus writes in Spanish about approaching the Brontës for the first time. Savvy Mom recommends BabyLit's take on classics such as Jane Eyre.

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Theatre in Bethel, Lecture in Raleigh

A student production of the Gordon & Caird musical opens today, January 31, in Bethel, MN:

Bethel University
Jane Eyre the Musical
Gordon & Caird

January 31, 2013 | 7:30–10 p.m.
February 1, 2013 | 7:30–10 p.m.
February 2, 2013 | 7:30–10 p.m.
February 3, 2013 | 2:30–5 p.m.

Location
Benson Great Hall

Event Description
Jane Eyre, the Musical in the musical retelling of Charlotte Bronte's classic novel of love and forgiveness. The story concerns Jane, who becomes employed as governess at the estate of Edward Rochester, a man who seems to have everything but needs the love, forgiveness, and insight that Jane provides.

"At the heart of all the greatest love stories is a pair of journeys. For a love story to be truly great both the lovers must be unalterably changed by the exposure to each other on their journeys through the story. The greatest stoke of genius in the novel, Jane Eyre, is the way in which Brontë interweaves the journey of Jane and Rochester so that they change each other in this unalterable manner."
-John Caird

Don't miss this beautiful musical about the power of forgiveness, faith, and love!

EDIT: Check the video trailer of the production.

And in Raleigh, North Carolina, we have a lecture for today:

North Regional Library
Raleigh, NC
New To You: Explore Classic Literature, Poetry and Music
Jan 31, 6:30 – 7:30 P.M.

Join us as we explore new themes in classic literature, poetry and music. North Regional Library will host the lecture "Classic Novels into Film: Emma, Jane Eyre, and Great Expectations." James Thompson, Professor of English at UNC-Chapel Hill, will discuss the film adaptations of three classic novels. Registration is requested; please call 919-870-4000.

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The Lady Novelists

More Brontë mentions in celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The New Yorker's Page-Turner discusses the huge influence of Jane Austen on George Eliot.

In 1852, George Henry Lewes, the literary critic, sometime novelist, amateur scientist, and all-round man of letters, contributed an essay to the Westminster Review titled “The Lady Novelists.” In it, Lewes gave a survey of what he called “the field of female literature,” touching down upon the works of George Sand, Mrs. Gaskell, Charlotte Brontë—and Jane Austen, whose novels he had been championing for years. Austen, Lewes argued, was “the greatest artist that has ever written, using the term to signify the most perfect mastery over the means to her end.” [...]
Lewes’s essay, which echoes Austen’s own famous characterization of her art—as social miniatures, produced on two inches of ivory—would be notable as an early and perceptive analysis of Austen’s contribution to literature, with or without the qualification of gender. But what makes it particularly piquant is the name of the editor who commissioned him to write it: Marian Evans, the formidable literary critic and translator who within a few years would herself become a writer of fiction under the pseudonym of George Eliot. Even more suggestive is the fact that not long after writing this essay, Lewes and Evans were to embark upon one of the most notorious and productive literary love affairs of the nineteenth century—eloping to Germany in the fall of 1854, and living together as husband and wife for a quarter of a century, even though Lewes already had a wife, Agnes, from whom divorce was impossible. Talking about Jane Austen was one of the ways in which this high-strung, bohemian, and dauntingly intelligent couple fell in love. (Rebecca Mead)

It was of course her correspondence with G.H. Lewes that elicited Charlotte's notorious opinion of Jane Austen.

Rebecca Harrington writes in The Huffington Post about seeing Pride and Prejudice 2005 for the first time:

I will admit, the first time I saw Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, I walked out of the theater in a fit of rage.
"The climatic scene took place outside in a garden? And it rained?" I screamed at my friend on the walk back home. "What is this crap, Jane Eyre?
My friend muttered in agreement.

Unfortunately, Die Achse des Guten doesn't include Jane Austen in the following statement:

Und außer Mary Shelley, Anaïs Nin, den Brontë-Schwestern und aktuell die Regisseurinnen Jane Campion und Kathryn Bigelow fällt mir gerade keine Frau ein, die irgendetwas Originelles zur Kunst je beigetragen hätte, die darstellende Form mal ausgenommen. (Akif Pirincci) (Translation)

The Province discusses the influence behind Anton Chekhov's play Three Sisters:

Anton Chekhov is said to have been inspired by the lives of Britain’s literary Brontë family when he wrote his play Three Sisters, taking from real life the notion of an educated family stuck in a provincial milieu on limited means.
In Chekhov’s fiction, though, no-one ends up writing Wuthering Heights. (Glen Schaefer)

And indieWire's The Playlist acknowledges the Jane Eyre inspiration behind the film I Walked with a Zombie 1943.

PopMatters reviews the music album All My Love in Half Light by Lady Lazarus.

The minimalistic song structures here and classic instrumentation, together with Sweat’s voice, are what make such imagery palpable. An elegiac quality pervades the work, steeped in the melancholy of a ghost adrift on the marshes of Wuthering Heights, unable to find a home to haunt. More plodding and hypnotic than melodic, the music has a fluid, weightless quality to it. (Cole Waterman)

Książki Polter (Poland) mentions an Emily Brontë-related poem in the latest issue of Coś na progu magazine. The Northeast Mississippi Daily News features a local spelling bee winner who 'enjoys classic books like “Emma” and “Jane Eyre.”' The Argus and Books and wonderful things both post about Jane Eyre. Ia skriver inte writes in Swedish about The Professor. The Waterstones blog has a 'cheat sheet' on Charlotte Brontë.

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The Brontë Sisters Nights in Warsaw

zdj. Bartek Warzecha

Susanne Schneider's Die Nächte der Schwestern Brontë (The Nights of the Brontë Sisters) (1992) is now again on the Polish stages (Noce Sióstr Brontë):

Teatr Collegium Nobilium (Warsaw, Poland)
Noce sióstr Brontë
by Susanne Schneider
Spektakl dyplomowy studentów IV roku Wydziału Aktorskiego.
przekład: Danuta Żmij - Zielińska
reżyseria: Bożena Suchocka
scenografia: Jan Kozikowski
asystenci reżysera: Monika Sidor, Ryszard Abraham

Charlotte - Afrodyta Weselak
Anne - Paulina Komenda
Emily Jane - Aleksandra Radwan
Lord Byron - Piotr Piksa
Branwell - Michał Poznański

Dramat Susanne Schneider (ur. 1952), cenionej niemieckiej pisarki oraz reżyserki teatralnej, radiowej i telewizyjnej, jest portretem pisarskiej rodziny Brontё: Charlotte, Anne oraz Emily Jane. Utwory sióstr, m. in.: „Wichrowe wzgórza", „Dziwne losy Jane Eyre” czy „Agnes Grey" na stałe weszły do kanonu literatury. Powieści te, zwłaszcza "Wichrowe wzgórza", znamy też z licznych adaptacji filmowych. Schneider pokazuje artystki od początku ich ścieżki twórczej do śmierci. W sposób poruszający i bliski współczesnemu widzowi opisuje rozterki towarzyszące młodym pisarkom. Oddaje też niepowtarzalną więź łączącą siostry. Jednocześnie świetnie szkicuje tło historyczno – obyczajowe XIX – wiecznej Anglii, uwzględniając pozycję kobiety w ówczesnym społeczeństwie. Za "Noce sióstr Brontё" Schneider otrzymała Nagrodę im. Adolfa Grimme.

January 12,13,14,15,16,17,21,22 at 19:00
February 11,12,13,14,23,24 at 19:00 

A review can be read on e-teatr.pl

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Yellow journalism

Congratulations to The Independent for using a silly, sensationalistic headline completely disconnected both from the text that follows and from reality. The headline:

Discontent in 'Brontë country' as Thornton takes on Haworth as the 'true birthplace' of the famous sisters

Excerpts from the article that follows:

Local councillor Valerie Binney has made a personal plea to Council Leader David Green to preserve the birthplace on behalf of the new Brontë Birthplace Trust - until it can pay the council back.
She said: "The regeneration department let us down by not telling us last October that the property could not be added to the list of community assets under the community right to buy, which would have given us six months in which to raise the money.
"The asking price is about £130,000 which is not much in the scheme of things especially when the Council has given £347,000 to the Tour de France even though it is not going to go through the City of Bradford.
"For too long the fact that the Brontë sisters were born here and the Rev Patrick Brontë spent five happy years living and preaching in Thornton has been ignored.
"Preserving the Brontë Birthplace to be used has a museum is our heritage and would also help regenerate the village which a number of us have been trying to do for years." [...]
Brontë Society Chairman Sally McDonald said: "The Brontë birthplace is a very special place for the Brontë Society but our commitments are such we're not in a position to financially support that building or a future museum in it.
"But we wish the trust every success. I would think the birthplace would be somewhere visitors would take in on route to the Parsonage.
"I would not see them being in opposition. I think they would compliment each other.
"I would not say the birthplace has been overlooked. While they were born there the Parsonage was where the novels were written and where they spent most of their lives.
"There is also the landscape which inspired the writing. So Haworth has a special claim in the world of Brontë admirers."
Trust chairman Steve Stanworth fears that the property at 72/74 Market Street, where the Brontës lived between 1815 and 1820, could be sold to one of two prospective buyers in the bidding unless the Trust can come up with the cash.
As well as the birthplace, the Trust is also hoping to woo visitors with the lovingly restored Brontë Bell Chapel - where the family was baptised - and the South Square arts project featuring a gallery, coffee shop, and other amenities.
He said: "Haworth have played their cards very well. They have not only got the Brontës but all the gift shops and cafes.
"But we have a three pronged attack for tourism. We do not want to take anything away from Haworth. We just want them to come to us first. We want to make ourselves the first port of call." (Mark Branagan)

Where's the discontent exactly? We only read about the hopes and dreams of respectful, amiable people. Shame on you, Independent, shame on you.

Now onto more Brontë vs Austen. The New Yorker's Page-Turner, The Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Norther Echo and Correo del Caroní (Venezuela) all mention Charlotte's dislike (or even hate!) of Austen's novels. CBC News, however, digs a little deeper and has an associate professor of English at Dalhousie University discuss the matter and explain 'why Charlotte Brontë might say that because her idea of the novel would be so different' (thanks for that). The Atlantic chooses to focus on G.H. Lewes's side of things (it was after all private correspondence between them). CNN follows in Jane Austen's footsteps and recalls that Haddon Hall has been used as a location for both Jane Austen's and Charlotte Brontë's works. Entertainment Wise selects a few potential Mr Darcys, one of which would be Tom Hardy because

he has had a go at period romance too and starred as Heathcliff in ITV's Wuthering Heights. So he's got practice playing a tortured, 19th century love interest and we reckon would have no problem making the ladies quiver in their corsets. (Francesca Menato)

The Times interviews Stephen Page, chief executive of Faber and Faber:

"I really only began serious reading after the age of about 20", he says. The first book that stopped him in his tracks was Wuthering Heights, swiftly followed by Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina. (Andrew Clark)

The Johnstown Girl Geeks Examiner reports that The Lizzie Bennet Diaries creator Bernie Su has said,

“As for type, it's a pretty safe bet at this point it is something in the genre of Austen/Brontë.” (Allie O'Neal)

Yeah, you know, those stories with women wearing corsets and stuff happening in the olden days are always a safe bet.

Te interesa (Spain) reminds readers of other great romantic novels (apart from Pride and Prejudice) such as Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights. ABC (Spain) recalls that Emily Dickinson was an admirer of Emily Brontë. Tweedling reviews Wuthering Heights 1970. Hillesque posts about Charlotte Brontë's novels with the help of several cartoons. Refúgio dos livros (in Portuguese) writes about Shirley. Meninas Versáteis (in Portuguese) posts about Jane Eyre and the 2006 adaptation.

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reVisioning the Brontës

Today, January 29, at the University of Leeds the reVisioning the Brontës conference begins. This is the complete timetable:

9:30-10:00 - Registration, coffee (Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, University of Leeds)

9:50-10:00 - 'Air on Brontë Moor' (Wilson & Warner)

10:00-10:10 - Welcome and Introduction, Nick Cass, Conference Organiser, School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies

10:10-10:25 - 'Keynote' Welcome, Jane Sellars, Curator of Art, Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate

10:25-10:50 - 'Southern Flight: Brontëan Migrations in Kate Chopin’s At Fault', Dr Carl Plasa, Cardiff University

10:50-11:15 - 'Righting the Life of the Mind: The Significance of Psychological Discourse in the Brontës' Interwar Afterlives', Amber Pouliot, University of Leeds

11:15-11:35 - 'The Brontës, Materiality, and Resonance: Three Ways of Looking', Aislinn Hunter, University of Edinburgh

11:35-11.50 - Introduction to the Brontë manuscripts in Special Collections (University of Leeds), Sarah Prescott, Literary Archivist

11:50-12:10 - Discussion

12:10-12:15 - 'Air on Brontë Moor' (Wilson & Warner)

12:15-13:15 - Lunch break

13:15-13:20 - 'Air on Brontë Moor' (Wilson & Warner)

13:20-13:45 - '"…like a new picture introduced to the gallery of memory": Re-Visioning Jane Eyre through Paula Rego', Dr Sarah Wootton, Durham University

13:45-14:10 - 'Charlotte's Dress', Lisa Sheppy, Contemporary Artist

14:10-14:45 - Dr Richard Brown (University of Leeds) in conversation with Professor Blake Morrison (Goldsmiths, University of London) on Morrison's play We Are Three Sisters

14:45-15:05 - Coffee

15:05-15:30 - 'Listening Out: the Soundtracks and Film Scores of Wuthering Heights', Dr Jenny Bavidge, University of Cambridge

15:30-15:55 - 'Wuthering Heights in Japan: the film Arashi ga Oka (1988, dir. Yoshishige Yoshida)', María Seijo-Richart, University of A Coruña

15:55-16:40 - Roundtable discussion chaired by Adam Strickson (Teaching Fellow in Creative Writing, University of Leeds), Sarah Fermi (Writer and Trustee, Brontë Society), Simon Warner (Artist and Photographer) and Jenna Holmes (Arts Officer, Brontë Parsonage Museum)

16:40-16:50 - Discussion

16:50-17:00 - Closing Remarks, Ann Sumner (Director, Brontë Society)
------------

17:00-17:30 - Visit to the exhibitions 'Visions of Angria' and ‘Wildness Between Lines’, followed by a wine reception at Leeds College of Art.

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200 and 160

Apart from today's obvious literary anniversary, we would like to remind our readers that January 28th also marks the anniversary of the publication of that unsung masterpiece that is Villette, published on a day like today in 1853.

Forty years before, though, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen had been published and many sites celebrate today and mention the Brontës too. USA Today goes for the (wrong) theory that you can't like both Austen and the Brontës:

You can divide the world into two groups: mad romantics who adore those passionate Brontë tales about women yearning for tormented psychos like Heathcliff, and more pragmatic souls who admire Elizabeth Bennet's decision to marry for love and money. (Deirdre Donahu)

The Daily Maverick quotes from Charlotte's opinion on Jane Austen while Público (Portugal) acknowledges that the works of Jane Austen and the Brontës have nothing in common, as does the Irish Times:

 In Austen’s world women do not face the Gothic terrors of the Brontës nor the sacrificial victimhood and moral censure favoured by Thomas Hardy. (Eileen Battersby)

El País' Papeles Perdidos (Spain) admits to liking both Austen and the Brontës, among other writers. And a member of the team at Madmoizelle also confesses to having a hard time choosing among Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights and North and South.

A.V. Club reviews Good Kids by Benjamin Nugent:

Nearly every film adaptation of Wuthering Heights omits the latter parts of the novel, which show how the emotional failings of one generation can wreak havoc on the next. Benjamin Nugent’s fiction debut, Good Kids, focuses on that second part, how the second generation responds to the emotional trauma and either fights against it or falls victim to it in the same way. (Kevin McFarland)

SudOuest (France) reports on a book club meeting on Wuthering Heights in Montignac.

L'ouvrage choisi, jeudi, « Les Hauts de Hurlevent » d'Emily Brontë, retrace sur deux générations les conséquences désastreuses d'un amour contrarié, celui d'Heathcliff et de Catherine. Emily Brontë se fait à la fois peintre réaliste, romancière gothique et poète du surnaturel.
Catherine Estines, professeur de langue anglaise, a présenté cette histoire d'amour impossible, unanimement considérée comme un chef-d'œuvre du XIXe siècle, puis la vie de l'auteur Emily Brontë, jeune anglaise, fille de pasteur, décédée de la tuberculose un an après la publication de cet unique roman.
Isabelle Fournier-Bertin, lauréate du Prix « Lire dans le noir » 2011 pour l'enregistrement chez Lyre audio des « Hauts de Hurlevent », a choisi de lire en français un extrait du roman illustrant la passion violente et la haine destructrice qui animent les personnages habitant ces austères demeures isolées dans les landes de bruyères au nord de l'Angleterre.
La soirée s'est terminée par une dégustation de friandises anglaises. (Pierre Fock) (Translation)

The same event was repeated in Douville.

Book Musings posts about Jane Eyre. Alexandra's Library writes in Romanian about The Professor. Gypsy Reviews discusses The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

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Bookclubs in South Carolina or Torino

Bookclubs reading Jane Eyre or any Brontë novel are quite popular. Like this one in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina:

I would like to invite you to our book event. It is hosted by The Beach Babes Book Brigade.
We have invited a guest speaker, Dan Ennis, from CCU to talk about Jane Eyre.
If you live in the Myrtle Beach area please RSVP.

The event will be held on January 28th at 1PM at California Dreaming.
email me at susansliterarycafe@gmail.com

Or this other one, more on the highbrow side:

Alle 18 h alla libreria Libraccio di via Santa Teresa 7 sarà inaugurato il sesto ciclo di incontri “Giallo e Nero” a cura dell'associazione I colori del Libro. Si parla di “Eros e Thanatos in "Cime Tempestose" di Emily Brontë” con Massimo Romano, critico letterario e scrittore.

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Stomach Flu and the Brontës

Some people have very strange associations of ideas, stomach flu and the Brontës? In The Herald (Everett):

I've been thinking that I can really relate to Bertha Mason, the crazy lady locked upstairs in Charlotte Brontë's 1847 classic, "Jane Eyre."
I'm definitely feeling the crazy part, but my husband is a whole lot nicer than Mr. Rochester. He even made me rice pudding because I asked for it specifically. Then when I only ate three bites, he wasn't even upset.
Probably the reason I've been thinking about Bertha Mason is because there is something about the stomach flu that takes you to dark, Gothic places like in a Brontë sister's novel. (Jenny Bardsley)

The Independent reviews The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce:

The withdrawal of religion from the lives of so many of us means a necessary change in our relationship with symbolism. It's no accident that Charlotte Brontë produced novels full of symbolism, being brought up in a religious household; the same could be said for Jeanette Winterson. (Lesley McDowell)

The Sunday Times reviews The Engagement by Chloe Hooper:

Hooper is a smart, self-conscious writer acutely aware of literary tradition. As she well knows, gothic fiction includes not only captives in castles but Jane Eyre, the second Mrs de Winter and similar heroines. (David Grylls)

Off Licence News announces a curious (and ethilic) Valentine contest:

Nyetimber aims to add sparkle to this year’s Valentine’s Day with a Facebook campaign called Celebrating British Romance.
Every day from February 1-13 the English sparkling wine producer will give away a bottle of its Rosé 2008 via a competition on its Facebook page.
And one lucky consumer will win a romantic meal for two on the big day, prepared by Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge at Hand & Flowers.
To enter the competition, participants will be asked to test their knowledge by identifying the authors of some of the “greatest quotations in British romantic literature”, from Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë to D.H. Lawrence and E.M. Forster. (Martin Green)

We are not very sure which Brontë-related poem was read at this event at the Berliner Literaturwerkstatt:

Ferner las Saskia Fischer, die ihre Sachen gemeinsam mit Charlotte Brontë aka Brombach „in Form und Ordnung“ einst brachte. Auch Brombach war mal Thorsten Ahrend bei Suhrkamp, wie das Leben so spielt. „In Form und Ordnung“ bedeutet auch „Abendbrot ohne Abend und Brot“. Vielleicht ist es gar nicht so wichtig, ob das alles immer weiter so weiter geht mit der Poesie bei Suhrkamp – bloß schön wäre es schon. (Jamal Tuschik in Readers Edition) (Translate)

NME lists the 100 best songs of the 70s. Including Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights:

Serene, pristine and deranged, nobody should underestimate quite how shocking it was when the teenaged Bush emerged to the world with this haunting piano melodrama of her own creation. Casting herself as tragic heroine Cathy from Emily Brontë’s gothic romance, perhaps the reason so few pop songs are based on classic novels is that they’d have to live up to this.
(Dan Martin, Matthew Horton, Priya Elan, Tim Chester)

The Island Scrivener interviews the author Jennifer K. Lafferty:

I was born in St. Louis. I always loved books, some of my favorites were: “The Secret Garden”, “Jane Eyre” and “Tuck Everlasting”.

and Lovely Books Blog interviews another author, Michael S. Fedison:

Probably my all-time favorite novel is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I also enjoyed some of the great Victorian novels, from David Copperfield to Wuthering Heights and all the way down to Anne of Green Gables.

Keighley News talks about the return of the open-top double deckers to Brontë country;  Sul21 (Brazil) has an article about Jane Austen and Brontë's criticism is mentioned; an obituary in The Vanguard News (Nigeria) quotes from a poem by Anne Brontë; Mano knygų pasaulis (in Lithuanian) and Írka-firka (in Hungarian) post about Agnes Grey; This is So Gay is reading Wuthering Heights; Jessica Talcopai publishes a nice design of a Jane Eyre cover (made by Elizabeth Bradley);

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The Master at the Berlinale

Jolien Janzing's Brontës-in-Brussels novel De Meester - De geheime liefde van Charlotte Brontë in het 19de-eeuwse Brussel will be published in the Netherlands next May 2, 2003. But it seems that the novel has already attracted enough attention to be one of the ten chosen ones to be presented at the Books at Berlinale 2013:

"Books at Berlinale" intends to bring the publishing and film worlds closer together.

At the “Books at Berlinale” breakfast on the third day of the Berlinale Co-Production Market, organised in cooperation with the Frankfurt Book Fair, around ten selected novels are presented to an audience of around 120 internationally established producers in a pitching event. The selected projects are also published in the “Books at Berlinale” catalogue handed out to all attending producers.

The book presentation is moderated and the respective rights holders (publishers/literary agents) are introduced to the audience. The presentation is followed by a casual breakfast during which contacts to interested producers can be established. Each publisher/agent has their own table and can be approached directly by the producers.

The selected books are usually new releases, partly yet to be published, which guarantee the producers a very exclusive opportunity to secure film rights.

- The Master (Jolien Janzing), De Arbeiderspers, The Netherlands

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Mary Bennet in Jane Eyre

The Guardian asks several writers about new readings of Pride and Prejudice characters. Janet Todd writing as Mary Bennet finishes her contribution like this:

We don't choose our creators or our parents. If I had a choice, I'd be very happy with Miss Brontë. I feel myself much suited for Jane Eyre.

Source

The Yorkshire Post devotes an article to the Visions of Angria: The Creativity of the Brontës exhibition in Leeds:

Rarely seen original manuscripts by [Branwell Brontë] the black sheep of the Brontë family, held in Leeds University’s Brotherton Library special collections, can be seen 
in an exhibition called 
Visions of Angria: The Creativity of the Brontës, 
this month.
They are shown alongside new art inspired by his stories, and other works produced by the famous siblings.
The new pieces have been created by third year illustration students on Leeds College of Art’s Visual Communications course.
They have focused in particular on interpretation of the rich and complex world of landscape, characters and events created by Branwell and his sisters while they were still children. (...)
As a project for his students, Nick Cass, a lecturer in museum studies at Leeds University who also teaches visual communication at Leeds College of Art, asked them to consider these Brontë manuscripts and create a response using any illustrative medium.
“The exhibition is a complementary show to Wildness Between Lines, currently running at LCA, which features practising contemporary artists’ interpretations of the Brontës,” says Cass. “With the eight students, I found that a few had read the Brontës’ work and knew something about Branwell, and the others had no idea about how big the Brontës were, but the project opened up a new area to them.
“I was completely thrilled by the work the students came up with, and the way they have articulated the rationale behind their work.”
He has reason to be proud.The pieces, ranging from Rachel Nelson’s digital print Riot Scene to Maria Brozozowska’s laser-cut MDF Depression Is The First Blessing, Victoria Thorburn’s Four Portraits etched beautifully in copper and Sin-yee Chung’s ink on paper comic strip, the art is thoughtful and well crafted.
Until February 23. (Sheena Hastings)

PBS Newshour talks about Shakespeare's Tremor and Orwell's Cough: The Medical Lives of Famous Writers by John J. Ross:

Writing a book is "a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness," George Orwell once said. The literary giant behind "1984" and "Animal Farm" was comparing his life's work to the many illnesses that plagued him from childhood to death.
And though William Shakespeare, Herman Melville and Emily Brontë may not have tied their creativity to poor health quite so explicitly, there's plenty of evidence that disease -- everything from tuberculosis to syphilis and mercury poisoning -- profoundly impacted works like "Moby Dick," "Wuthering Heights" and "Hamlet." (...)
The Brontës
Biographers have blamed the deaths of the Brontë sisters on everything from anorexia nervosa to the work of a fiendish serial killer. In reality, all six of the Brontë siblings died of tuberculosis, a Victorian plague that killed off 1 percent of the English population per year. TB entered the Brontë household after the older girls were infected at the Clergy Daughter's School. This was the place made infamous by Charlotte as the brutal Lowood School in Jane Eyre, where the girls were beaten, starved, and terrorized by tales of hellfire and damnation.
Although the consumptive artist is a tired cliche, there may be some truth in it. The immune system is weakened by emotional turmoil, of which the Brontës had plenty. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne suffered from major depression. Brother Branwell had bipolar disorder and alcoholism. Emily, brainy and strange, probably also had Asperger's syndrome and social anxiety disorder.( Jeffrey Brown and Jason Kane )

The New Yorker publishes a humour story by Andrew Palmer and Brian Platzer with Brontë references, If I Were Built, I’d Be a Poet:

And so for many years I’d work odd jobs to support myself. I’d be a bartender, an editorial assistant, a mover, a Brontë scholar. I’d be the strongest Brontë scholar who ever lived, but this would mean little to me. All over the world I’d present papers on “Wuthering Heights,” which, since I’d have to spend so much time grading papers and doing pull-ups, would be the only Brontë book I’d ever read. A fellow Victorianist at my university would try to convince me to read Anne and Charlotte. “At least ‘Jane Eyre,’” she’d say. “You really have to read ‘Jane Eyre.’ You’re a Brontë scholar.” I would not read “Jane Eyre” but that Victorianist would become my wife.
My Victorianist wife would love me for my muscles and iambs, and I’d love her for warmth, intelligence, and humor. We’d make turkey burgers and sorbet and watch film adaptations of Brontë novels together, not just the ones everyone’s seen, but “Agnes Grey,” “Villette,” the other two Charlotte Brontë novels, the Anne Brontë novel that’s not “Agnes Grey”—if there are film adaptations of all those. If I were built I’d remember the titles of all of Charlotte Brontë’s novels and the title of the Anne Brontë novel that’s not “Agnes Grey.” If I were built I’d write a sonnet sequence for my Victorianist wife. I’d call it “Sonnets from the Portuguese Part Two,” and it would win the Yale Younger Poets prize. I’d be invited to speak at writers conferences, where I’d impress my peers at parties by reciting “The Waste Land” while bench pressing a L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poet.

Allan Massie talks in The Telegraph about the Booker prize and literary prizes in general:

You might argue of course that a life’s work might quite reasonably consist of fewer than ten books. Think of James Joyce’s: “Dubliners”, “The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”, “Ulysses”, “Finnegans Wake”; and that’s pretty well it. E M Forster too wrote only half-a-dozen novels, likewise Jane Austen, while Emily Brontë’s life work was restricted to “Wuthering Heights” and a few poems.

Boldsky has another article on Kate Middleton's hyperemesis gravidarum:

Hyperemesis gravidarum does not only make your stomach turn, it also dehydrates the body. Another famous example of hyperemesis gravidarum in England is the case of Charlotte Brontë, the author of ‘Jane Eyre' who died of severe dehydration in the fourth month of her pregnancy. Although it was not diagnosed then, doctors now believe that Ms. Brontë might have suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum. (Anwesha)

The journalist and TV personality Daphné Bürki confesses to Closer Magazine (France) her Brontëite youth:

Daphné Bürki, journaliste et présentatrice du Grand Journal de Canal +, se souvient ainsi d’un livre qui a particulièrement marqué dans son adolescence : "Mon plus ancien émoi littéraire ? Monsieur Rochester à cheval, lorsque Jane Eyre le rencontre pour la première fois. (…) J’avais 14 ans. Mon amie Emane m’avait passé le livre sous le manteau avec un sourire entendu. Mes émotions érotiques furent donc plutôt Brontë que Youporn". (Eliane da Costa) (Translation)

The Gadsden Times has an article about what we can call the Kindle times:

I probably will never read all the books in my mobile vault, but it holds the works of Socrates and Aristotle, Henry James and Winston Churchill, Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters, Thoreau and E.B. White, Joyce and Hemingway, Joseph Conrad and D.H. Lawrence, and the Russian masters. (Darrell Norman)

The Independent presents The Engagement by Chloe Hooper:

The Australian author Chloe Hooper's second novel is a complex psychological thriller that draws on the rich literary history of madwomen in the attic, from Jane Eyre and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" to Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. (Lucy Scholes)

Christina Patterson talks with Paula Rego in The Independent:

She has said that she is “of course a feminist” because “all women are feminists”. But, I tell her, they're not. And some critics have said her work, which often shows women in thrall to powerful and seductive men, doesn't seem feminist at all. In the series of pictures she did about Jane Eyre in 2001 and 2002, Mr Rochester feels as powerful a presence as Jane.

Nadeem Aslam's The Blind Man's Garden is discussed in The Guardian:

The novel was written in his brother's cottage in the Peak District, a bus ride from "Heathcliff country". Aslam concedes that Wuthering Heights may have entered his novel "subliminally" – if not in its anguished love triangle, then in its characters' "youthful intensity". (Maya Jaggi)

Idolator describes the latest videoclip by Arlissa (Swamp Sing) like this:

The video matches that organic feel, taking place in the swamps of Louisiana, with a real Kate Bush “Wuthering Heights” feel, minus all the manic prancing. (Carl Williott)

University of Toronto News interviews Professor Deidre Lynch about Jane Austen and the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice:

Clueless remains the best Austen adaptation ever. The most recent Pride and Prejudice film I thought was quite sappy because they tried to make it into Wuthering Heights. They missed that what attracts us to Austen is precisely the ways in which she’s not Charlotte or Emily Brontë. And yet they had lots of scenes of stormy weather and moors that just don’t work with the novel. (Jenny Hall)

The Asheville Citizen-Times talks about winter in literature:

In Charlotte Brontë’s novel “Jane Eyre” (1847) she captures the gloom of rural England in winter in a style that matches her main character’s psychological state just before the first encounter with Mr. Rochester:
“The ground was hard, the air was still ... the charm of the hour lay in its approaching dimness, in the low-gliding and pale-beaming sun. I was a mile from Thornfield, in a lane noted for wild roses in summer ... and even now possessing a few coral treasures in hips and haws, but whose best winter delight lay in its utter solitude and leafless repose. If a breath of air stirred, it made no sound here.”  (George Ellison)

The Atlantic has an article about the Monty Python following the publication of Monty Python's Flying Circus: Complete and Annotated... All the Bits, edited by Luke Dempsey:

Consider Python’s semaphore version of Wuthering Heights. It wasn’t just that the Pythons had the wit to dream up the idea. They also, crucially, had the comic sense not to attenuate it by stretching it over the rack of a four-minute sketch. They took two minutes to harvest its richest possibilities—Heathcliff and Catherine wave flags at each other across a moor, with explanatory subtitles; Catherine’s husband confronts her, flagging irately; a baby cries by sticking two tiny flags out of its cradle—and then they moved on. (David Free)

We even find a Brontë reference in the New York Times review of On Extinction. How We Became Estranged from Nature by Melanie Challenger:

The Anglophobe who wearies of reading the more descriptive pastoral passages of Hardy or the Brontës, with their gorse and fens, might be well advised to concentrate on the book’s more interesting midsection, the journeys that take Challenger along with the British Antarctic Survey to South Georgia Island and the Falklands and then, later, her own improvised trip to the Inuit-governed territory of Nunavut in Arctic Canada. (Paul Greenberg)

Le Télégramme (France) describes like this the latest collection by fashion designer Christophe Josse:

Un défilé où l'on feuillette les époques avec élégance, comme avec cette robe noire fermée « Hauts de Hurlevent », sobrement mais somptueusement travaillée, c'est cela la haute couture. (Claudine Lanchec) (Translation)

And a mention in La Jornada (México):

Cierto, hay quien realiza su travesía encerrado entre cuatro muros: Cumbres borrascosas fue creada por Emily Brontë, de carácter solitario y salvaje, a pesar de una muy breve y dolorosa estancia en Bruselas. (Vilma Fuentes) (Translation)

La Nación (Argentina) talks about a selection of movies about men characters written by women which will be aired on Canal(á) and presented by Silvia Hopenhayn, one of the movies will be Wuthering Heights but we don't know which version; Mittelhesen (Germany) and The Times mention the Charlotte Brontë criticism on Jane Austen;  Keighley News reports the latest meeting of the Brontë Country Tourism Partnership:

“Susan Briggs, from the Tourism Network, spoke to us about what our area may look like from a distance,” she said. “When you live in the village, you can get so focused on what you’re doing it’s almost like you’re in a bubble.
“It was interesting to hear from someone who is an expert in her industry – Susan had a lot of interesting things to say.”
Mrs Barker said distinctiveness was about highlighting more than the obvious Brontë connections. She pointed to the village’s vintage theme – apparent in the 1940s weekend celebrations – open mic nights, quality locally produced beer and the area’s popularity with cyclists.

Cat's Thoughts reviews I.J.Miller's Wuthering Nights; Der Goldene Buchrücken (in German) posts about Agnes Grey; Storyteller, La Comunidad de la Ciencia, I don't understand why I sleep all day (both in Spanish), Affogando in un libro (in Italian) and Romance n'Alma (in Portuguese) review Wuthering Heights; Dinosauruksen ehtoojupinat (in Finnish) posts about Shirley; skip to my lou talks about Jane Eyre; Dawn Zulueta World reviews Hihintayin Kita sa Langit 1991; some pictures of Ponden Hall under the snow on the Parsonage's Twitter and Facebook.

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Brontë Knits

For all you Brontë and knit lovers around:

Literary Knits: 30 Patterns Inspired by Favorite Books
Nikol Lohr
ISBN: 978-1-1182-1606-4
John Wiley
November 2012

More than 30 projects inspired by classic literature
Literary Knits features 30 knitting patterns inspired by beloved characters from classic books; from Pride and Prejudice to Moby Dick, The Catcher in the Rye to The Chronicles of Narnia—and many more in between.

Inspired by some of the most beloved characters from favorite books, including an elegant Daisy Cloche inspired by The Great Gatsby and a late '50s-inspired Holly Golightly Dress imagined from Breakfast at Tiffany's, the more than 30 knitting projects in this unique collection will inspire knitters and book lovers alike.

Each knitting pattern includes precise instruction and robust information on yarn selection and substitution
Beautiful photography throughout offers ideas and inspiration for all ages and skill levels, including supporting photos for tricky or less commonly-known techniques
Diagrams, assembly instructions, and schematic illustrations ease completion of each project
A generous mix of knitting patterns for women, men, and kids
If you're a book lover who knits, or a knitter with an appreciation for vintage patterns, Literary Knits is a timeless collection of one-of-a-kind knitting projects.

Includes two Brontë projects: Catherine Bed Socks and Jane Eyre Shawl.

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Enthralling Jane

The Borehamwood Times interviews Laura Turner from the Hull Truck Theatre company, currently on tour in the UK with Jane Eyre.

“There’s something so completely enthralling about Jane,“ says Laura Turner, who had the job of adapting it for the stage. “She’s such a fascinatingly complex character, so full of contradictions in her dreams and ambitions.“
Laura has put Jane firmly at the centre of her unique adaptation. “The thing that really struck me was that it feels so much like a story about creativity,“ she says, “about writing, imaging, remembering and dreaming. Jane is a very self-conscious narrator – ‘Reader, I married him’ is one of literature’s most famous lines – but other adaptations tend to focus on capturing the various elements of the story itself – the gothic mystery, the passionate love affair with Rochester, the horror of the mad woman in the attic – at the expense of Jane’s imagination. So in this adaptation the world of the play becomes Jane’s memory and her imagination.“ [...]
Did the fact that the story is so well-known impact on how Laura approached the writing of it? “There’s always a certain amount of pressure working on a text like this,“ she admits, “and possibly none more so than the pressure I put on myself to do justice to it! Something I’ve realised during this project is that you have to be brave enough to put the book aside and trust your instincts with the story.“ (Rosy Moorhead)

Joe Queenan doesn't sound like a fan of Wuthering Heights, according to his words in the Mail & Guardian:

It’s good to get the youth reading, but it’s going to be difficult if high school reading lists feature books like Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights. About this, he argues: “For decades, well-meaning pedagogues have been sabotaging summer vacations by forcing high school kids to read novels like Lord of the Flies, Brave New World, The Red Badge of Courage and The Grapes of Wrath. These books may be the cornerstone of our civilization, but they are certainly no fun. One reason the average American reads no more than four books a year may be the emotional trauma suffered while trying to hack his way through Wuthering Heights at age 14.” (Percy Zvomuya)

Joan Wickersham from the Boston Globe doesn't like it either as she considers it a book 'you'll want to toss' out of the window.

The Cabinet Press has a column by a local librarian on books and films.

As the saying goes, the book is always better than the movie. I’ll withhold judgment on whether or not the films vying for Best Picture this year live up to the books upon which they are based. That said, it’s relatively rare – though not uncommon – that a film is equally as good as its book: “The House of Sand and Fog” (Andre Dubus); “Mystic River” (Dennis Lehane); “The English Patient” (Michael Ondaatje); “Misery” and “Stand by Me” (Stephen King); “The Age of Innocence” (Edith Wharton) and the original “Wuthering Heights” (Emily Bronte) all come to mind as films doing justice to their novel counterparts. (Michelle Sampson)

This is how the Wall Street Journal describes the 'most fanatic Janeites':

[They] don't just read the novels once and move on to the Brontës. They reread them constantly and devour all the movies and fictional spinoffs. (Alexandra Alter)

The Telegraph reviews The Engagement by Chloe Hooper:

It’s a book of coercion and sexual games, fantasy and, yes, feminism, for those who prefer their erotic literature less Fifty Shades of Grey, more Jane Eyre, as Hooper piercingly analyses the ideal of marriage in contemporary society. (Catherine Taylor)

Now here's something new. Actual bats likened to Heathcliff on Science Daily.

Male bats were mostly restricted to a windier, Heathcliff-like existence in roosts at the top of the Dales.

The Hackensack Books Examiner chooses Jane Eyre as 'the eighth book in Children’s Classics month'. A reader has written to The Telegraph and Argus about Haworth's clamper quoting from a hymn by Anne Brontë. Heavenali posts about The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Dans ma bulle livresque writes in French about Wuthering Heights and Shylock Books reviews April Lindner's modern take on the novel, Catherine. Reading Against the Clock will be reading most of the Brontës' work.

Finally, don't miss the new 'behind-the-scenes peeps' at the ongoing redecoration of the Brontë Parsonage on the Museum's Facebook page.

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In Memoriam. Charles Vance

The Times and The Sidmouth Herald report the death of Charles Vance (1929-2013):

An influential figure in British theatre, Charles Vance was a rogueish but often very successful commercial touring producer who specialised in presenting popular plays, including thrillers by Agatha Christie. He directed and produced more than 100 productions of Christie’s plays which toured in Britain and Australia. He also ran several repertory theatres, founded the Civic Theatre in Chelmsford and for many years edited the magazine Amateur Stage.

He was an impresario, a producer and a theatre director but also he adapted for the stage both Jane Eyre (in 1983/85, dates vary) and Wuthering Heights (around 1972 according to this source, although Patsy Stoneman's Brontë Transformations says that its origins are to be traced back in the sixties). His adaptations were (and are) still popular as they usually require few actors and less settings:

Jane Eyre. Play. Charlotte Brontë. Adapted by Charles Vance
M4 (30s) F6 (young, 18, 20s, middle age, elderly) (F5 with doubling), 1 child. A library and passageway.

Focusing on the love story between Jane and Rochester, the play begins as Jane arrives in 1846 to take up the post of governess to Rochester's ward, Adèle, at Thornfield Hall. Jane and Rochester fall in love but their happiness is jeopardised with the discovery of the terrible secret from Rochester's past, resolved by the dramatic fire which maims Rochester. The action, contained in a single setting with one small inset scene, makes for exciting theatre.

Wuthering Heights. Play. Emily Brontë, adapted for the stage by Charles Vance
M6 F4. Composite setting.

A new version of Emily Brontë's great classic, the immortal love story set amid the bleak beauty of Haworth Moor, the landscape over which towers the wild, terrible figure of Heathcliff. The tale of his searing passion for the beautiful Catherine Earnshaw has the vividness of nightmare, the beauty and simplicity of an old ballad and the depth and intensity of ancient tragedy. Period nineteenth century.

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Swooning over the Brontës

The Telegraph and Argus publishes a letter from a member of the Brontë Birthplace Trust and Councillor for Thornton and Allerton Ward.

SIR – As a member of the Brontë Birthplace Trust and Councillor for Thornton and Allerton Ward, I was totally dismayed to hear from the Council that our right to a Community Bid for the Brontë Birthplace was not valid due to the fact that it had been used as a residence.
I was even more upset that the Council’s Asset Management department had failed to inform us of this. Our first meeting was held on October 5, 2012, when officers were elected.
The Asset Management Department was first contacted about the Community Right To Buy around October 18. We were told our application would be put to the next Council Executive. Once on the list we would have six months to raise the funds to purchase the property. We had a terrific response from all over the world and were confident we could raise the money.
An apology from the Council is not good enough, and to say the request was only on e-mail is a disgrace – people in Thornton feel totally let down. Members and villagers will be heartbroken if an opportunity to preserve our literary heritage is lost again.
Come on, Bradford Council, be creative and help keep this gem in Thornton Village.
Councillor Valerie Binney (Conservative, Thornton and Allerton Ward), Scarborough Road, Shipley

Onirik reviews the Blu-ray release of Wuthering Heights 2011:

Le résultat est un véritable film d’auteur, mesuré, millimétré, dosé, tant si et bien qu’il finit par sembler artificiel. Pourquoi s’attarder de si longues minutes sur une plume sur une épaule ? Et pourquoi répéter des plans fixes de la première partie dans la seconde ? Le film est long, trop long, c’est presque un comble quand on constate qu’il manque une bonne partie du roman, celle qui ouvre une petite porte vers l’espoir. Dommage. (Claire) (Translation)

And The Gate finds a Brontë moment in the film Austenland:

When Jane arrives for her vacation, she discovers that, having bought the “copper package”, she gets to play a poor orphan taken in by her wealthy cousins, wear a dull brown dress that exposes no cleavage whatsoever, and to stay in the servants’ quarters (here she becomes more of a Brontë heroine than an Austen one—not to nitpick).  She finds that her role in her fantasy vacation is a little too close to her real-life situation—a mousy, overlooked minor character in her own life. (Lara Candland)

A fan girl moment from the Minot Daily News' Angela's Agenda.

I don't suppose it matters overmuch that Amazon or the rest of the world knows that I have a fondness for well-written historical mysteries, with an emphasis on an English setting in the Regency period, the Victorian era or the period just after the First World War. There are probably a large number of former English majors just like me who swooned over Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë and eat up Downton Abbey with a spoon. If the Amazon website calculates that I will like the same books and movies that other people with my background like, that's fine with me. (Andrea Johnson)

The Huffington Post lists several 'Reasons To Be Glad You're Over Age 22'. One of which is

No more path-not-taken moments, when you become convinced that botching a job interview or not talking to that man who was picturesquely enjoying his coffee and copy of Jane Eyre on the park bench as you walked by a completely normal 16 times has irrevocably ruined your life forever and ever and ever. (Amy Shearn)

The American Thinker mentions Brocklehurst from Jane Eyre as an example of an 'abuser'. Agnes Grey is reviewed by Thoughts about Books and Les livres de Céline (in French). Delirious Documentations has realised 'vastness of Brontë material that's out there'. The Re-Visioning the Brontës Conference blog shares a Branwell Brontë manuscript.

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Hull Truck's Jane Eyre on Tour

The new Jane Eyre adaptation produced by Hull Truck Theatre begins an UK tour today, January 24 in Leeds:

Hull Truck Theatre presents
Jane Eyre
By Charlotte Brontë
Adapted by Laura Turner
Directed by Nick Lane
"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will.”

From a harsh childhood controlled by unfeeling adults, Jane Eyre has to rely on her own courage and convictions to make her way in the world. She longs to learn.  She dares to dream. Employed as a governess, she travels across the bleak Yorkshire moors to the mysterious Thornfield Hall – a house of locked doors with a dangerous secret.
There she meets the strange, sardonic and intriguing Mr Rochester.
Can the constraints of society and the dark past be overcome? Should Jane trust her head or follow her heart?

Hull Truck Theatre brings to life the classic story of love, loss and redemption in an intriguing new adaptation of one of the great gothic novels, directed by Nick Lane (Lady Chatterley’s Lover, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde)

UK TOUR SPRING 2013

24/01/2013 Carriageworks, Leeds

25/01/2013 Stamford Arts Centre

26/01/2013 Guildhall Arts Centre, Grantham

29-30/01/2013 Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton

31/01/2013 Waterside Arts Centre, Sale

01-02/02/2013 Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal

04-05/02/2013The Ark Theatre, Borehamwood

06/02/2013 Hawthorne Theatre, Welwyn Garden City

07-09/2/2013 Lighthouse, Poole

11-12/2/2013 Guildhall Theatre, Derby

13/02/2013 The Arts Centre, Edge Hill University

15-16/2/2013 Firestation, Windsor

18/02/2013 Swindon Arts Centre

19/02/2013 The Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury

20/02/2013 Brewhouse, Taunton

21-22/02/2013 The Ffwrnes, Carmarthenshire Theatres

23/02/2013 Merlin Theatre, Frome

26-28/02/2013 Lantern Theatre, Sheffield

01/03/2013 Square Chapel, Halifax

02/03/2013 Selby Town Hall

05/03/2013 Trinity Arts Centre, Gainsborough

07/03/2013 The Maltings, Berwick

08/03/2013Alnwick Playhouse

09/03/2013 Whitby Pavillion

12/03/2013 Pocklington Arts Centre

14/03/2013Empire Theatre, Stanley

15-16/03/12 Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond

19/03/2013 Loughborough Town Hall

20/03/2013 The Castle, Wellingborough

21/03/2013 Trinity Theatre, Tunbridge Wells

22-23/03/2013The Hawth, Crawley

26/03/2013 Neuadd Dwyfor Pwllheli

27/03/2013 Aberystwyth Arts Centre

28/03/2013 The Met, Abertillery

09-10/4/2013 Blackfriars Arts Centre, Boston

11-13/4/2013 Buxton Opera House

16-20/4/2013 Hull Truck Theatre

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Brontë Birthplace Bistro and other news

More today on the Brontë birthplace saga, as reported by The Telegraph and Argus.

A Councillor has appealed to Bradford Council to buy the Brontë birthplace in Thornton to preserve it as part of the district’s cultural heritage.
In a message to Council leader David Green, Councillor Valerie Binney (Con, Thornton and Allerton) said: “I am appealing to you as leader of the Council for the Council to purchase the Brontë Birthplace on behalf of Brontë Birthplace Trust (2012) just until we have the funds in place.
“The regeneration department let us down by not telling us last October that the property could not be added to the list of community assets under the community right to buy, which would have given us six months in which to raise the money.
“The asking price is about £130,000 which is not much in the scheme of things especially when the Council has given £347,000 to the Tour de France even though it is not going to go through the City of Bradford.
“For too long the fact that the Brontë sisters were born here and the Rev Patrick Brontë spent five happy years living and preaching in Thornton has been ignored.
“Preserving the BronteëBirthplace to be used has a museum is our heritage and would also help regenerate the village which a number of us have been trying to do for years.” [...]
Trust chairman Steve Stanworth fears that the property at 72/74 Market Street, where the Brontës lived between 1815 and 1820, could be sold either for residential or commercial purposes.
“One of them wants to turn it into a bistro/coffee shop so we’ve got to get in there quick,” he said.
Mr Stanworth has even taken the unusual step of e-mailing David Hockney to ask if he will buy the double-fronted house until the trust has raised the money to take it over.
Coun Green said in response to Coun Binney: “Depending on the timescales we are talking about I would be willing to look at this option.
“I have asked officers to ascertain how long the Council would be expected to hold the building if we did buy it as I would be unwilling to give an open ended commitment.
“I am concerned also that this level of public debate might result in a price war which I am unwilling to enter into so price would clearly be an issue.” (Jim Greenhalf)

For whatever reason, the Brontës seem to be the automatic go-to comparison when discussing Jane Austen. But an opinion,  like Charlotte Brontë's own on Jane Austen, is nothing but that, an opinion. Abby Rogers on why she 'hates' Jane Austen on The Huffington Post.

Emily Brontë captured true human emotion in a much more believable, dramatic fashion than Ms. Austen did in any of her novels.
Brooklyn College's analysis of Brontë's subject matter best describes why her characters are far superior to those in Austen's novels.

Romantic love takes many forms in Wuthering Heights: the grand passion of Heathcliff and Catherine, the insipid sentimental languishing of Lockwood, the coupleism of Hindley and Frances, the tame indulgence of Edgar, the romantic infatuation of Isabella, the puppy love of Cathy and Linton, and the flirtatious sexual attraction of Cathy and Hareton. These lovers, with the possible exception of Hareton and Cathy, are ultimately self-centered and ignore the needs, feelings, and claims of others; what matters is the lovers' own feelings and needs.

Heathcliff and Catherine's toxic, all-encompassing affair makes for a much more interesting read, and a deeper introspection of humanity, despite its overly dramatic nature. As anyone who has been deeply in love more than once can attest, love is often dark. Jealously, worldly concerns, obsession... all are factors that often make up at least part of a great love affair.
No two characters explore all the highs and excruciating lows of fatal human attraction than Brontë 's most famous characters. The same cannot be said of Austen's characters, which largely contributes to my intense dislike of her work. They are not relatable and they do not have the multi-faceted personalities to ensnare my undying obsession.
Can Austen's characters really still teach us anything? Does her message actually translate into the 21st century world in the same way as Brontë's?
I say no. (Except if you're a girl who just wants a boyfriend. Then maybe we have bigger issues to talk about.)

The West Australian thinks otherwise:

It does remain, however, that the story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy has lasted better than any novel of Dickens or the Brontë sisters and it has generated much more merchandise and parodies. (Heather Zubeck)

FirstPost agrees:

Now other period novels have had longevity and dark, flawed male leads too. Take Mr Rochester (Jane Eyre), Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights) and John Thornton (North and South). The leading men from the other novels in the Big 6 – Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park and Emma – have strong followings of their own as well, being as they are amiable, charming and more accessible. But much as it may defy logic to many, none have captured the imagination of generations in such an all-encompassing manner as well as Mr Darcy. And, let me add, warped their notions of romance. For 200 years and counting – I cannot stress that enough. (Abhilasha Khaitan)

Whatever side they're 'defending', we must say it does get somewhat tedious. We still don't get why you have to put one down in order to highlight how great the other one is. Just enjoy both.

Not leaving behind the Austen-Brontës connection just yet as a discussion on character names on io9 makes an interesting point.

Edward and Heathcliff tend to cast long shadows over literature, as well, being two brooding Brontë creations that served as models - and namesakes - for subsequent gothic novels. (The only reason Mr. Darcy isn't still a namesake for romantic heroes is his first name is Fitzwilliam. There's not really anything to be done with that in modern times.) (Esther Inglis-Arkell)

And of course there are those who have only watched the adaptations, as admitted by Masterpiece Theater executive producer, Rebecca Eaton, on TribLive.

Question: What is it about British literature that resonates so well with American audiences?
Answer: Well, I think first of all, a lot of the work that we do are adaptations of the classics, and people are familiar with the classics. If they haven‘t read the Brontës, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, they know the stories having seen previous adaptations. So, there‘s the familiarity factor as a lot of us were raised on these classics. (Kate Benz)

An insight into Catherine as a character in the Daily News (Sri Lanka).

And it is these indispensable ingredients of fiction and drama that provide the ‘set of objects, situations and chains of events’ that function as objective correlatives to the subjective issues under consideration.
When these correlatives are imaginatively conceived the experience of the play or the novel moves into a dimension of impersonality; and thence into one of universality. The artist has succeeded in embodying his ideas and passions in his plot and characters, thereby transmuting them into something rich and strange.
Thus Emily Brontë's yearning for romantic love and her adoration of the earth are convincingly incorporated in the person of Cathy. And what happens to the latter in the story shows her understanding of the consequences of indulging these passions to an extreme.
It is the experience of Cathy, not of the author, that captures our imagination, and this is because of the chain of events and the situations in which Cathy moves and suffers. (Priya David)

Monsters and Critics also finds a Brontë echo in the film Stoker:

Kidman’s character is the obligatory Hitchcockian icy blonde who just happens to be a red head. You can tell she doesn’t care much for her daughter and even less from her conveniently dispatched, wealthy husband. Suffice to say that nobody plays “mean” like Kidman.
One glance from her crystal blue eyes surrounded by those high cheekbones could kill you. India, on the other, hands is like a Brontë character, dark and brooding who prefers running alone wild in the forests that surround the family mansion to hangin’ out with her school chums. (Greg Ptacek)

Metro (France) finds Brontë influences in the Spanish film Blancanieves.

Etincelant visuellement, ce film sensoriel au carrefour entre Tim Burton, Tod Browning et les sœurs Brontë se décline comme un poème lumineusement cruel, rythmé par le flamenco endiablé d’Alfonso de Vilallonga. (Translation)

Female First interviews writer Sarah Butler:

Which book is your favourite read?There are so many! I tend to love different books at different points in my life. My current favourite is Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson which is courageous and honest and beautiful. But I could equally say Accordion Crimes by Annie Proulx, or The House of Spirits by Isabelle Allende, or Jane Eyre. (Lucy Walton)

El País (Spain) has an article on Elizabeth Taylor, the novelist, and describes Palladian's Cassandra Dashwood as a 'postwar Jane Eyre'. Okbo Lover reviews April Lindner's Jane. Roses and Hopes and Lua de Sangue - A Origem both post in Portuguese about Wuthering Heights. The Telegraph and Argus has an article on Patti Smith's forthcoming fundraising concert in Haworth. MásViajesGay (in Spanish) suggests a trip to Yorkshire, including Haworth, and Kar's Kith and Kin recalls a trip there in 1997. Finally, an alert for today, January 23, in Palma de Mallorca, Spain:

January 23, 19.30 h
La Biblioteca de Babel
Taller de lectura: Cumbres BorrascosasBy Frederic Ruiz.

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