'Our dear Charlotte is no more'

Today our attention is focused on commemorating the 159th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë's death. The title of this post comes from the letter Arthur Bell Nicholls wrote to Ellen Nussey on the very 31st of March of 1855.

We are not alone commemorating her death. The Oxford University Press blog quotes from an emotional letter from her to William Smith Williams where she looked back on the deaths of her sisters Emily and Anne.

I could hardly let Emily go—I wanted to hold her back then—and I want her back hourly now—Anne, from her childhood seemed preparing for an early death—Emily’s spirit seemed strong enough to bear her to fullness of years—They are both gone—and so is poor Branwell—and Papa has now me only—the weakest—puniest—least promising of his six children—Consumption has taken the whole five. (Read more)

The Scotsman, Libreriamo (Italy) and a few others all recall the anniversary.

El blog perdido de Laura (in Spanish) and Eileen's Blog post about Wuthering Heights. Travel with words uploads a Jane Eyre illustration. The novel is reviewed on Youngisthan and discussed on the University of Toronto Press Journals Blog. {A classic comeback} disagrees with the feminist readings of the novel. Caffeine Epiphanies is going to read Villette. Knitted notes posts about Wuthering Heights 1939.

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I Have Dreamt in Maine

Tomorrow, April 1, a musical alert in Portland, Maine:

Maine's Divas Come Home PORTOPERA GALA!
Hannaford Hall
Abromson Center, University of Southern Maine
Portland ME USA
April 1, 2014
7:30 PM

Three women with Maine roots who have achieved renown in the opera world will present arias and ensembles in a concert not likely to ever be seen again. The three, Kate Aldrich, Ashley Emerson and Suzanne Nance honed their highly-regarded artistic skills in Maine and now appear in the leading venues of opera around the world. What will certainly be a historic and long remembered concert is one of the major events celebrating PORTopera's 20th season.

According to the Maine Sunday Telegram one of the pieces that will be performed will be from Bernard Herrmann's Wuthering Heights opera:

Nance will solo on “I Have Dreamt” from “Wuthering Heights,” (Bob Keyes)

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Villetweet

The Atlantic's Twitter book club @1book140 is choosing the April read among several candidates: The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James, Middlemarch by George Eliot, Germinal by Émile Zola and

Villette by Charlotte Brontë
At this point, I have to admit that I stacked the deck for realism this month. But bookies on Twitter called for a Brontë novel, and a recent review by Lucy Hughes-Hallett in The Guardian has piqued my interest. Arguing that Villette is better than Jane Eyre, Lucy makes her case:

1. It's an "astonishing piece of writing, a book in which phantasmagorical set pieces alternate with passages of minute psychological exploration"
2. George Eliot apparently loved the book, writing that it "it is a still more wonderful book than Jane Eyre"
3. Virginia Woolf called it Brontë's "finest novel"
4. It's a "funny, penetratingly observant realist novel"

A story of romance and adventure, the novel follows 23-year-old Lucy Snowe from England to teach at a girls' school in the fictional French-speaking city of Villette. (J. Nathan Matias)

EDIT: Regrettably Villette was not chosen by a few votes:

 1book140's April Read (Poll Closed)
'The Portrait of a Lady' by Henry James  20%
 'Middlemarch' by George Eliot  37.14%
 'Germinal' by Émile Zola  11.43%
 'Villette' by Charlotte Brontë  31.43% 

The Guardian interviews actress Sophie Ward about gay marriage:

So when I grew up to be a lesbian, I refused to accept that that meant I could not take part in the big love stories. That my love was to be the art-house classic and not the main feature. I had sucked at the narrative marrow of our culture's bones and I did not want to be starved in the specialist sections of our closing libraries. I wanted Shakespeare. I wanted Emily Brontë. I wanted Richard Curtis.

In a way she had it as she played Isabella Linton in Wuthering Heights 1992.

According to CNHI:

“Wuthering Heights” is the classic 1847 novel written by Emily Brontë under the pseudonym of Ellis Bell. This masterpiece of British literature – set in the Victorian era – is a tale with the themes of revenge and redemption; jealousy and juxtaposition; morality and manipulation. “Wuthering Heights” is wholly applicable to 21st Century American politics. Let’s call this situation withering heights. (Rev. Arthur L. Jones III)

The Guardian reviews the upcoming film Divergent:

Beatrice, who wears baggy skirts, boots and her hair in the loose bun of an Emily Brontë fan, jumps ship at her initiation ceremony and chooses Dauntless over her native Abnegation, and very soon, she is running and jumping for moving trains, too, all the while harboring a secret: her aptitude test revealed her to be “divergent”, a freakish original thinker, fated to be hunted and killed if she is ever found out. (Tom Shone)

Ipswich Times interviews interior designer Jules O'Dowd:

My granny, Muriel ‘Bobby’ Lax, lived in a Wuthering Heights style house, the kind of place where they changed the curtains with the seasons. (Liz Nice)

Contra Costa Times talks about a Danville teacher with an imaginative way of teaching literature:

"She is amazing. She is crazy," agreed Lauren Dowling, 18, beaming with enthusiasm. "Because she'll be so excited about things like 'Jane Eyre,' that it gets us to be excited, too." (Joyce Tsai)

The Kate Bush comeback tsunami leaves some Brontë-related comments here and there:

In the early Eighties every impressionist thought they could “do” her by larding on the eyeliner, flailing arms in a floaty frock and keening Wuthering Heights, but they never came within a mile of her peculiar appeal. (Jenny McCartney in The Telegraph)

I ’ve been a fan of Kate Bush ever since I first heard Wuthering Heights.
I read the book on the strength of her song. (Rarken in South Wales Evening Post)

Zoom News mentions again the (wrong) idea that Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights are the genesis of the romance novels:

Puestos a buscarle antepasados ilustres, los defensores del género se remontan a novelas de la talla de Orgullo y prejuicio, de Jane Austen, Cumbres borrascosas, de Emily Brontë, y Jane Eyre, de Charlotte Brontë. (José Luis Ibáñez Ridao) (Translation)

The Times (Ireland) has an article on the comedian Síle Seoige where apparently Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights is mentioned. Lady Godiva and Me reviews the poem Jane Eyre in Derry by John McAuliffe (from Of All Places, 2011, Gallery Press). A Mulher que Ama Livros (in Portuguese) reviews The Professor. Majkenst posts on flickr a Jane Eyre inspired photograph.

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Brontë Film Season

Coinciding with the 20th Bradford Film Festival (March 27-April 6), a Brontë film season is scheduled at the West Lane Baptist Centre in Haworth:

To coincide with the Bradford Film Festival, we have 3 special showings of classic Brontë films which are rarely shown on the big screen.

Monday 31 March, 7.30pm
Wuthering Heights (1939)Watch Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier smoulder as Cathy and Heathcliffe(sic) in an adaptation which defined Wuthering Heights in the popular imagination.(Certificate U)
Tickets £4 /£2 concession
To book tickets contact louisa.briggs@bronte.org.uk  / 01535 640188 or book online

Friday 4 April, 7.30pm
Jane Eyre (1943)Watch Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine in this iconic adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre. (Certificate PG)
Tickets £4 /£2 concession
To book tickets contact louisa.briggs@bronte.org.uk  / 01535 640188 or book online

Saturday 5 April, 7.30pm
Devotion (1946)Rarely shown in Britain, this fictionalised account of the Brontës’ lives is a must-see for Brontë fans! (Certificate U)
Tickets £4 /£2 concession
To book tickets contact louisa.briggs@bronte.org.uk  / 01535 640188 or book online  

More information in The Telegraph & Argus.

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'Adapted, “homaged” and repackaged in ingenious ways'

Keighley News has an article on the Brontë Festival of Women's Writing held by the Brontë Society earlier this month.

Jackie Kay opened the festival with a series of thoroughly entertaining readings of her poems.
The audience were also privileged to hear the premiere of the poems which Jackie composed while she was writer-in-residence.
For Brontë enthusiasts it was interesting to hear Jackie’s interpretation of the Brontë story in particular that of Jane Eyre at an airport!
We are very much looking forward to the publication of her poems. Throughout the weekend many exciting events took place including talks, workshops and family events.
On Saturday morning people enjoyed designing their own graphic memoir and learning to express ideas and feelings through pictures rather than words at the Louise Crosby: Creative Writing Workshop.
Saturday afternoon saw the return of Jackie Kay as people flocked to be part of her sell-out Creative Writing Workshop. Budding writers wrote prose and poetry based on memories.
Jackie enjoyed the workshop very much and described the work as ‘the best she had ever heard in a workshop’.
In fact she was so impressed with it that she asked everyone who was part of the workshop to send in one of their poems to be published alongside her Brontë poems.
In the evening bestselling author of the Italian Renaissance trilogy, Sarah Dunant, shared the secrets of her trade.
She explained that to recreate the past as a living, breathing place she has had to visited churches, archives, museums and art galleries all over Italy.
Illustrated with pictures, she recounted her discoveries such as how the decoding of old paintings and the work of modern historians helped her to penetrate hidden worlds inside the Renaissance.
Sarah said she found characters, in everyday life and drama in palaces, brothels, convents and even the Vatican.
The audience were completely captivated by her experiences and perhaps maybe would be tempted to visit Italy.
The festival came to a close with Rebecca Stirrups’ Gothic Creative Writing Workshop.
At the start of the workshop people were introduced to the first chapters of Gothic novels, which became the inspiration for their own writing.
All who attended the workshop enjoyed creating a character psychology and environment and this was particularly helped by being in the Parsonage cellar!
On Wednesday executive director of the Brontë Society, Professor Ann Sumner and Professor David Hill from the University of Leeds discussed Turner’s painting of Bolton Abbey and his influence on Charlotte Brontë’s drawings.
After both speakers had spoken about Charlotte Brontë and Turner, a lively discussion was generated about the extent of Turner’s influence on Charlotte and whether she copied the famous Turner watercolour of Bolton Abbey.
As a follow up to this interesting subject matter the West Yorkshire Brontë Society are already planning to visit to Bolton Abbey to take in the view Turner would have seen and possibly that of Charlotte Brontë.

And speaking of Turner, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner features Jane Sellars and her new book Art and Yorkshire: From Turner to Hockney.

A former director of the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, Jane is also the author of a book on the artistic endeavours of the world-famous family, who are featured prominently in her new book. (Hilarie Stelfox)

More on books, as Public Radio Tulsa also wonders about the Wide Sargasso Sea influence on Donald McCaig's Ruth's Journey.

So, will this be a radical reimagining of one of literature's most upsetting characters, a la Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea? (Annalisa Quinn)

John Sutherland begins a review of Val McDermid's Northanger Abbey in the Financial Times as follows:

The appetite we have for good-naturedly violating the fiction of Jane Austen is inexhaustible. Other classic writers – Shakespeare, Dickens, Conan Doyle, the Brontës – have had their works adapted, “homaged” and repackaged in ingenious ways. But none has been reconsidered quite as extensively as Austen. . . 

Guide 2 Bristol reminds locals that today is the last chance to watch Sally Cookson's take on Jane Eyre.

For Bristol’s theatre lovers this Saturday will offer the final opportunity to watch Bristol Old Vic’s two part production of Jane Eyre, which has been delighting audiences throughout the month. . . 

The Huffington Post lists '9 Famous Women Who Waited to Wed', one of which is Charlotte Brontë:

"Reader, I married him," announces Jane Eyre in the eponymous 1847 masterwork by English novelist Charlotte Brontë. But eight years prior to the novel's publication, the 23-year-old Brontë did not respond with like enthusiasm to Reverend Henry Nussey's marriage proposal. The budding writer refused on the grounds she was too "romantic and eccentric" for him and instead pursued a living as a teacher and governess.
Brontë subsequently developed strong feelings for Belgian educator and mentor Constantin Héger, but he was already married with children. Then, more than a decade later at age 38, Brontë settled for curate and longtime admirer, Arthur Bell Nicholls. She died while pregnant the following year. We can only suppose that Jane Eyre's description of her relationship with Mr. Rochester mirrors Brontë's own ideal of a fulfilling marriage:
To be together is for us to be at once as free as in solitude, as gay as in company. We talk, I believe, all day long: to talk to each other is but a more animated and an audible thinking. (Daria Snadowsky)

BD Zoom (France) features the three volumes of The Graphic Cannon and mentions that the Brontës are included in volume 2. Dear Author reviews Villette. Welcome to my (New) Tweendom is 'smitten' by Jane, le renard et moi. Janice Turner celebrates in The Times the Non-Mother's Day and mentions other childless illustrious women like the Brontës, Jane Austen or George Eliot.

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Val Wiseman's Brontë Legacy in London

Tomorrow, March 30, at the St James Theatre in London:

The Brontë Legacy
Cabaret

30 March 2014, 19.00 h

Part of St James Studio Cabaret Nights

Award winning singer songwriter Val Wiseman presents an inspiring musical show celebrating the lives and passions of Britain’s best loved literary family, the Brontës. This unique and original show is based on Keeping The Flame Alive the critically acclaimed album of newly composed songs written and produced by Val Wiseman and distinguished pianist composer Brian Dee.
The Brontë Legacy is presented on stage by life-long Brontë enthusiast Val Wiseman. This lively and emotional presentation explores the passion, power and pain of genius, bringing to life through narrative and song such characters as Blanche Ingram (Jane Eyre) Helen Huntingdon (The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall) and Cathy and Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights).
Val Wiseman: Best known for her stunning tribute to Billie Holiday in her highly acclaimed show Lady Sings the Blues describes this presentation as pure musical theatre and with two recently released screen adaptations of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, Val is delighted that a whole new generation of fans are drawn to these powerful stories.

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The wrongs of literature

The Telegraph writes 'Everything you need to know about the Grand Depart' of this year's Tour de France.

Stage 2 - Sunday July 6
York to Sheffield 200km
Entitled 'Past, Present and Future', stage two is likely to keep the general classification contenders honest as the riders start to hit some serious hills. Beginning at Knavesmire racecourse in York, the riders pass the city's historic Minster before crossing Clifton Bridge and heading out towards the moors.
After passing Knaresborough and Harrogate the riders head west along Skipton Road to join the undulating A59 that passes Bolton Abbey. Claiming up from Keighley, the riders pass through Haworth - Brontë country and the setting for Wuthering Heights - before sweeping down the Pennines to Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd (once home to the poet Ted Hughes, whose wife Sylvia Plath, is buried in Heptonstall churchyard) and then up Cragg Vale, reputedly the longest continuous ascent in England at 5.5miles.
Ripponden, Huddersfield and Holmfirth - location of Last of the Summer Wine - lead the riders to the toughest and most spectacular section of the 200km stage, in the heart of the Peak District, with Holme Pass, one of the toughest ascents in the UK, of particular note. The stage ends in the Steel City of Sheffield. (Tom Cary)

It does sound like it will be a lovely stage.

In the meantime, the Keighley News sees

the need for a direct, northbound early morning service from London to Keighley to attract more visitors from the capital to Keighley and Brontë Country.

The New York Times interviews writer Emma Donoghue.

And what were your favorite childhood books? All the fantasists — C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, E. Nesbit, Mary Norton, Diana Wynne Jones, Alan Garner — with a side order of boarding-school fiction (the little-known Antonia Forest is the best I know); some speculative fiction (John Wyndham); and some classics, broadly defined (the Brontës, “Gone With the Wind”).

Speaking of Gone with the Wind, The Indian Express features Ruth’s Journey by Donald McCaig, which tells the story of Mammy. The influence behind it seems inescapable:

Neither is Mammy the first literary character to be rescued from unjust fiction. Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea, for instance, takes up the story of Bertha Mason, the Creole mad woman in the attic of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Perhaps literature can make amends for the wrongs of literature, if not for the wrongs of history.

The New Yorker considers P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie and Jeeves 'touchstones and reference points'.

Most often, this sort of bonding springs from romantic love, and in the English novel I suppose the most beloved pairings are Elizabeth and Darcy, in “Pride and Prejudice,” and Catherine and Heathcliff, in “Wuthering Heights.” (The marriage of Jane and Rochester, in “Jane Eyre,” seems less a triumph of romantic love than one of Gothic, erotic-psychological jousting.) But in many ways the most memorable English couples are non-romantic: Holmes and Watson, Peter and Wendy, Scrooge and Cratchit on a peculiar, particular Christmas morning that is in fact every Christmas morning. Add to these Bertie and Jeeves. (Brad Leithauser)

The White Barn seems to be loving Jane Eyre. You can find lots of 'behind the scenes' images of the Brontë Parsonage Museum on its Twitter account. On BBC Radio 4's Character Invasion you can listen to the actress Felicity Finch talking about 'her enduring love for Jane Eyre'.

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Brussels Brontë Weekend

The traditional Brontë Weekend organised by the Brussels Brontë Group takes place this weekend with the following programme:

29-30 March 2014: Brontë Weekend
Saturday 29 March 2014

14.00: ‘Shirley’ in Context.
Dr Nicholas Shrimpton of Oxford University will talk about Charlotte Brontë’s least typical novel.

Sunday 30 March 2014

10.00: Guided walk around Brontë places

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The Tenant in Wisconsin

Book Discussions on Door County, Wisconsin:

Write On, Door County is excited to start two new book discussion groups at our home in Juddville! One group will focus on discussion of primarily contemporary poetry while a second group will explore Victorian novels. More book discussion groups, including one focused on books with a Door County connection, are forming and locations other than Juddville are being explored. If you are interested in facilitating a discussion group or have ideas for other groups, please let us know. (...)

Led by local British literature enthusiast Alissa Ehmke, the Victorian Reading Group meets at 2 pm on the last Saturday of the month. The first of the novels to be discussed is Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall on March 29. Future readings are Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell on April 26; Villette by Charlotte Brontë on May 31; The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot on June 28; Great Expectations by Charles Dickens on July 26; The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins on August 30; Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy on September 27; The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner on October 25; New Grub Street by George Gissing on November 29; and Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy on December 27.

(Via Green Bay Press Gazette)

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Dysfunctional

Montgomery News features Eve Marie Mont's and the third installment of her Unbound trilogy, which began with A Breath of Eyre. We are reminded of the fact that,

Eve Marie Mont is a full-time English teacher at Lower Moreland High School and, similar to her main character, is an avid reader; Brontë’s “Jane Eyre” is her favorite novel and it inspired the first book in the trilogy. (Stephanie Decker)

Marie Claire lists '7 Books You've Just Got To Read Before Seeing Them On The Big Screen'. One of which is the latest adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn which is described as

a mix of Jane Eyre and Wurthering (sic) Heights. (Erin Woodward)

Another list as YourTango looks at 'The 6 Most Dysfunctional Couples In Literature'. At the very top of the list are

1. Catherine & Heathcliff - Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
This couple proclaims to be in love, but spend the majority of the novel torturing each other by marrying others and using spite and jealousy to drag not just themselves, but their spouses, into a spiral of despair. Yeah, that's a healthy situation.
2. Mr. Rochester & Bertha Mason – Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
Speaking of healthy situations, nothing says 'functional' like locking your certifiably crazy wife up in the attic while trying to woo a sweet young governess. Mr. Rochester might be the victim (being duped by Bertha's family and all) but that still not a smooth move. (Kristen Droesch)

Mr Rochester, Bertha and Jane Eyre also make it into a religious article on ABP News.

When I reflect on the sad Westboro saga, Charlotte Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre springs to mind.  Bookish, practical, kind, dependable, and devoutly Christian in the Victorian sense of the term, Jane falls in love with Mr. Rochester, the only decent person she has encountered in this veil of tears.
But there is something disturbing about Mr. Rochester.  A generally decent man with high principles, he can also be morose, moody, brusque, unpredictable and downright unkind.
And then there are those muffled shrieks and groans emanating from the attic of Thornfield Hall, the Gothic mansion Rochester calls home.  Gradually, poor Jane unravels the mystery. As a young man in search of adventure and fortune, Rochester married an extravagantly beautify Jamaican Creole temptress names Bertha Antoinetta Mason.  He hardly knew the woman when they were married, but she was beautiful, exotic, fabulously wealthy and everyone insisted it was the perfect match.  When Bertha quickly descended into madness, Rochester carried her home to Thornfield Hall, locked her in the attic under the supervision of a tipsy spinster named Grace Poole, and tried to reassemble the shattered shards of his life.
He was holding it together until Jane Eyre entered his life.  As a budding romance unfolded within the cold walls of Thornfield, Rochester pretended to ignore the strange wailing sounds that often pierced the night.  Jane followed suit.  But one night, the crazy woman in the attic slipped past an inebriated Grace Poole and wrought havoc in Thornfield Hall. Rochester dragged his insane bride back to the attic and bound her to a chair with rope until the madness passed.
Undeterred, Bertha broke free once again, and this time she burned Thornfield Hall to the ground and, to heighten the Gothic effect, leaped to her death as the flames surrounded her. (Alan Bean)

Writer Fred D'Aguiar is interviewed by The Huffington Post and asked about his influences:

Three other seminal texts have been Alejo Carpentier's The Lost Steps and Juan Rulfo's Pedro Marano [sic; it's called Pedro Páramo] and Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea. (David Henry Sterry)

A columnist from the Scotsman praises the Woman of Influence Awards and turns out to be a Brontëite:

The Woman of Influence Awards is one of the most important events in our social calendar, and not only because it is a very successful fundraiser, raising over £1 million since its launch in 2001. For me, it is so significant because it puts a spotlight on women who have achieved a great deal in their lives, holding them up as role models for the children and young people we support.
When I was young, my role models were largely the women who I perceived as making a difference. Emmeline Pankhurst inspired my interest in promoting the rights of women; the Brontë sisters encouraged my love of literature; and Barbara Castle’s fight for equal pay nurtured my sense of social justice. (Carol Iddon)

PM News (Nigeria) discusses colonialism:

The few indigenous people who demonstrated brilliance either stowed away to England or received British scholarships to study the works of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, T.S. Eliot, George Eliot, Homer, Thomas Hardy, Charles and Emily Brontë, and other such writers who characterized us in despicable stereotypical terminologies as savages, uncivilized, and brutish. (Nwike Ojukwu)

The Brussels Brontë Blog has a lovely post by someone who began researching their ancestors' stay in Brussels and discovered that they were no other than the Jenkins who Charlotte and Emily visited from time to time (and which visits they didn't enjoy much).

The Little Professor on 'Youthful Memoirs, Jane Eyre, and Interrogating Children about Death' is interesting and insightful as always. Delirious Documentations discusses Jane Eyre and Pygmalion. La vie en rose posts about Jane Eyre in Portuguese. SusieBookworm reviews Michaela MacColl's Always Emily. 

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Homeschooled Jane

Tomorrow, March 28 in Ronks, PA:

Teach Drama Presents
Jane Eyre. The Musical
by Paul Gordon and  John Caird
Directed by Stan Deen

Living Waters Theatre, 202 Hartmann Bridge Rd, Ronks
Fri, 7pm; Sat. 1:30 & 7pm  

T.E.A.C.H Drama, a group of home schooled students from Lancaster and Berks County, will perform the play “Jane Eyre” under the direction of Mr. Stan Deen at Living Waters Theatre on Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29.
Based on the book by Charlotte Brontë, “Jane Eyre” tells a dramatic tale of love, despair and redemption. The adult Jane recalls the distressing details of her earlier life; an unloved orphan girl packed off to a charity school, the pursuit of a governess position at Thornfield Hall, and the blossoming of love for her employer, Mr. Rochester. However, Mr. Rochester has a dark secret that is not revealed until Jane’s wedding day.
Sporting a cast of more than 25 members, this moving story is an exceptional portrayal of one of the world’s renowned heroines. Her honesty, sacrifice and courage are inspiring. (The Ephrata Review)

And today in Webster Groves, Missouri:

Nerinx Hall High School
Jane Eyre. The Musical
by Paul Gordon and  John Caird
March 27, 28, 29, and 30

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To be or not to be (romantic)

Something to look forward to on television. As The Bookseller reports,

"The Secret Life of Books", a new BBC Four series created in partnership with the Open University, will explore the creation of six great literary works by returning to the earliest texts and writers' notebooks and letters. The show will include Simon Russell Beale exploring Shakespeare’s First Folio of plays, with a focus on King Lear. Other works to be featured are Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations; Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and The Mabinogion. (Sarah Shaffi)

Neue Westfälische (Germany) reviews the stage production of Wuthering Heights in Bielefeld.

Chapeau, Tim Tonndorf. Chapeau, Chapeau! Alles richtig gemacht. Wenn schon Emily Brontë, dann so. Nicht wohlfühlig, nicht weichgespült, nicht konsensfähig. Und nicht anders, als das Premierenpublikum aus dieser aktuellen "Sturmhöhe"-Inszenierung im Bielefelder Theater am Alten Markt herausgegangen ist, kann und sollte es danach verfasst sein. [...]
Da jedoch schnürt einen bereits die Ahnung kommenden schweren Unheils die Kehle. Nein, zu einer Komödie ist diese "Sturmhöhe"-Inszenierung nicht geraten. So wurde der düstere Stoff von Emily Brontë nicht angelegt, und Tim Tonndorf zollt dieser Tatsache Respekt. Das hat seinen Preis. Denn so wie es realistischerweise unglaubwürdig wäre, einen Kniefall vor dem Menschen an sich zu machen, so muss eine dramatische Vorlage, die so tief und gleichzeitig so angstfrei in seelische Abgründe blickt wie dieses Schauerstück, fast zwangsläufig mit der Distanz, wenn nicht gar der Abwehr des Publikums rechnen. So war es, als Emily Brontë damals "Wuthering Heights" veröffentlichte, und so ist es bis heute geblieben.
Es schien, als hätte Tonndorf das genau gewusst. Und als hätten das auch die wunderbaren, großartigen Schauspieler gewusst, die im Theater am Alten Markt auftraten. Jeder und jede einzelne von ihnen hätte sich mühelos Standing Ovations abholen können, wären sie einzeln auf die Bühne getreten. Sie aber haben es nicht getan. Ein kalkulierter Verzicht, von dem man annehmen darf, dass er den Darstellenden schwerfiel.
So sei ihnen an dieser Stelle ein Bravo hinterhergeschickt: Bravo Georg Böhm, Felicia Spielberger, Lukas Graser, Janco Lamprecht, Julia Friede, Doreen Nixdorf. Und vor Regisseur Tim Tonndorf sei noch einmal ehrlich der Hut gezogen. (Antje Dossmann) (Translation)

Still in Germany, ThatsMusical reviews the production of Schwestern im Geiste.

Im viktorianischen England leben vier Geschwister unter einem Dach. Der älteste, Branwell (Andres Esteban), ist hochbegabt, scheitert jedoch ein ums andere Mal beim Versuch, eines seiner Manuskripte veröffentlichen zu lassen und bringt sich mit Frauengeschichten und Alkohol immer wieder in Schwierigkeiten. Die Schwestern sind klug - eine Eigenschaft, die in einer Gesellschaft, in der Frauen hauptsächlich das nette Accessoire des Mannes sind, die Gäste zu bewirten und die Kinder zu gebären haben, nicht gern gesehen wird. Die wilde Emily (Dalma Viczina) pfeift auf die Menschen und läuft lieber durch die Natur. Charlotte (Keren Trüger), die Älteste, träumt von der Karriere als Schriftstellerin und gleichzeitig davon, dass ihr der eigene Mr. Rochester in den Schoß fällt, eine schillernde Persönlichkeit mit einem dunklen Geheimnis, wie sie ihn sich in ihrem Roman "Jane Eyre" ausgedacht hat. Als Arthur Nichols (Denis Edelmann), ein solider Pfarrer, um ihre Hand anhält, zögert sie deswegen sehr lang. Anne (Katharina Abt), die Jüngste, verliebt sich wiederum unglücklich in den Freier ihrer Schwester, wagt jedoch niemals, dies auch zuzugeben. (...)
Die Musik von Thomas Zaufke ist mitreißend, einige der wiederkehrenden Themata bleiben lange im Ohr. Die von Neva Howard choreografierten Ensemblestücke, allen voran "Skandal/Erfolg" sind fetzig und begeistern. Die Texte von Peter Lund und die Melodien der Solostücke unterstreichen die Charaktere der einzelnen Figuren und geben den durchweg hervorragenden Stimmen der Darsteller Raum, sich in Gänze zu entfalten.
Neben "Waren mal drei Schwestern", das als Grundmotiv immer wieder auftaucht und den Zuschauern in seiner Einfachheit und gleichzeitigen Bedrohlichkeit einen Schauer über den Rücken laufen lässt, ist ein weiteres sich wiederholendes Melodiesegment das Lied über "Angria". Einst schrieben Branwell und Charlotte gemeinsam eine Geschichte, die von einer Schlacht auf hoher See um dieses von ihnen erdachte Land handelte. In einer Erinnerungssequenz gleich am Anfang des Stücks segeln die vier Geschwister übers Meer, hissen die Segel und verschwinden für einen Moment in ihren kindlichen Träumen, ehe Charlotte mit einem trockenen „Wir sind nicht mehr in Angria“ den Traum mit einem Schlag zerplatzen lässt.
Wer die Werke und Biografien der drei Schwestern kennt, wird viele Kleinigkeiten im Stück entdecken, die nur angedeutet oder in Zwischentönen erzählt werden. "Schwestern im Geiste“ bietet jedoch nicht nur Brontë-Fans einen unterhaltsamen Abend voller Emotionen, sondern ist spannende Unterhaltung für jedermann, der gute Musik und ausgefeilte Charaktere schätzt. (Julia Weber) (Translation)

The Daily Beast looks at 'Six Fictional Marriages that Have Gone Very, Very Wrong'.

Jane Eyre
By Charlotte Bronte
Remember when “the madwoman in the attic” was more than just a metaphor for the female imagination? Remember when it signified an actual ... “madwoman”, in an actual ... “attic”? We can all thank Charlotte Bronte for that, and for the ultimate picture of a marriage beyond any hope of redemption. What’s to blame for the state of the first Mrs. Rochester? Tropical perversion? Victorian sexist repression? A single drop of a less-than-lily-white ancestral hemoglobin somewhere along the line? Don’t beat yourself up, even Jean Rhys couldn’t quite pin it down. But in the panoply of infamous marital disasters, the Rochesters reign supreme, which is why every intelligent woman who has ever loved Jane Eyre ought to be asking herself the same question when she gets to the end of the novel: “Reader? She married him?” (Jean Hanff Korelitz)

Any marriage in Wuthering Heights would have qualified too.

On the flip side, NanoPress Donna (Italy) highlights how very romantic Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are:

Jane Eyre di Charlotte Brontë
Un romantico feuilleton ottocentesco che vede protagonista un’eroina d’altri tempi, simbolo per eccellenza di forza e indipendenza. Eh sì, perchè la giovane e sfortunata Jane Eyre è una tosta, una che di coraggio ne ha da vendere, una che darebbe filo da torcere persino agli uomini e alle donne del 21esimo secolo. La sua forza sta nell’onestà, nella dignità, in un sano realismo, altro che bellezza e denaro! Ma nel romanzo di Charlotte Brontë c’è spazio anche per l’amore, quello che la protagonista scopre attraverso Rochester, uomo duro e disilluso per il quale rischierà di mettere in discussione persino se stessa. [...]
Cime Tempestose di Emily Brontë
Un vero classico della letteratura romantica femminile, incentrato sull’effetto distruttivo delle passioni. Quando la gelosia e lo spirito di vendetta prendono il sopravvento, l’amore muta le sue dinamiche, rivelando il suo aspetto più oscuro e devastante. Il rapporto tormentato di Heathcliff e Catherine, sullo sfondo di un paesaggio dai toni drammatici quanto romantici, porterà entrambi alla dissoluzione. (Laura de Rosa) (Translation)

ZoomNews (Spain) points out the difference between Romantic novel and romantic novel.

En España, durante mucho tiempo se impuso la expresión novela rosa, para no confundirla con una obra del Romanticismo.
Puestos a buscarle antepasados ilustres, los defensores del género se remontan a novelas de la talla de Orgullo y prejuicio, de Jane Austen, Cumbres borrascosas, de Emily Brontë, y Jane Eyre, de Charlotte Brontë.
De acuerdo, están escritas por mujeres,  protagonizadas por mujeres y se articulan entorno a –digamos– un conflicto sentimental, pero las diferencias de estos clásicos con sus supuestas descendientes son más que notables, sobre todo en lo que hace al cuidado del estilo y a la ambición literaria, que ahora suelen brillar por su ausencia. Y no solo en el género romántico. (José Luis Ibáñez Ridao) (Translation)

Scribbles and Wanderlust reviews Always Emily by Michaela MacColl while Azure Scratchings writes about Minae Mizumura's A True Novel. The Brontë Parsonage Facebook page points to this video of the recent Jane Austen vs Emily Brontë debate.

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Outward Female Visions and Queer Things.

Scholar Brontë-related works:

The Outward Female Vision: The Struggle Against Enclosure in the Novels of Charlotte Brontë
Kon, Sheree
2014-01-15
University of Hawaii at Manoa

The good of Villette in my opinion Miss is a very fine style; and a remarkably happy way (which few female authors possess) of carrying a metaphor logically through to its conclusion. And it amuses me to read the author’s naive confession of being in love with 2 men at the same time; and her readiness to fall in love at any time.l So begins William Makepeace Thackeray’s letter about Villette and its author Charlotte Brontë (1816-55), "the poor little woman of genius," "the fiery little eager brave tremulous homely-faced creature."2 While Thackeray twice praises Brontë for her style and an enjoyable novel in his responses to Jane Eyre and Villette, in his later review he assumes a more condescending, paternalistic tone. Although in 1847 he correctly identifies the author of Jane Eyre as a woman, he does not center his assessment of the novel on her female nature. But in speaking of Villette to Lucy Baxter in 1853, Thackeray notes that he "can read a great deal of [Brontë's] life in her book, and see [s] that rather than have fame, rather than any other earthly good . . . she wants some Tomkins or another to love her and be in love with."

Their Good Woman Is a Queer Thing: Dependent Females in the Novels of Charlotte Brontë
Moisa, Holly, California State University
2013-12-18

This thesis is an examination of women's roles in Victorian England through analysis of female characters in the novels of Charlotte Brontë, including "Jane Eyre," "Shirley," and "Villette." By advocating employment, education, personal capability, and balanced marriages, the novels of Charlotte Brontë aimed to help change the ways in which Victorian society viewed their women and the ways in which Victorian women viewed themselves.

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'The highest placed humans were the Brontë sisters'

The Yorkshire Post reports that Yorkshire pudding has been named the number one icon of the county. But wait:

The highest placed humans were the Brontë sisters in the fourth place with playwright Alan Bennett the highest placed living person in 7th position.

The Huffington Post looks at beautiful places from 'your favourite books' such as

The Yorkshire Moors, England
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Emily Brontë's book, of course, takes its name from the fictional house in which its events unfold, which is located in the Yorkshire Moors. A portion of the grassy, cliffy area has been reserved as a national park. The Brontës themselves lived in Haworth, another part of Yorkshire.
From the book: "My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary."

The picture, however, shows rocks, a beach and the sea, which may well be a Yorkshire scene but has little to do with the imagery in the novel. The moors are breathtaking all the same and it would have been easy to find a more appropriate picture given the point of the article.

The Huffington Post also looks at the movies that inspired several of Kate Bush's songs, such as Wuthering Heights of course.

Wuthering Heights (1939) - inspired Wuthering Heights, available on The Kick Inside (1978)
"Let me have it, let me grab your soul away."
The Film
In William Wyler's adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic novel, Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon star as Heathcliff and Catherine, two of literature's most (in)famous lovers, whose doomed romance continues into the afterlife.
The Song
Written when she was just 18, Bush was inspired by the deranged passions of a movie adaptation rather than Brontë's book (it's unclear which version - some reports mention Wyler's film, others a 1970 TV adaptation starring Timothy Dalton), and conjured up a one-of-a-kind ballad. Bush's otherworldly performance of the song, and the strange, beautiful music video, evoke the crazed romance in Wyler's movie.

El Cultural (Spain) interviews writer Luz Gabás, who wishes her new novel could be compared to Wuthering Heights.

P.- Su Cumbres borrascosas personal, ¿no?
R.- Sí. Cumbres borrascosas está ambientada también en montañas y páramos aunque el territorio de Regreso a tu piel es más pequeño. La historia de amor es muy potente. Sin que suene pretencioso me encantaría que se pudiera comparar con la obra de Emily Brontë. (Saioa Camarzana) (Translation)

The Brontë Parsonage Facebook Page shows a beautiful ring which belonged to Charlotte Brontë. An account of a visit to the Brontë Parsonage Museum on Putting Life into Words. Mini Bio on YouTube has a 'mini biography' of the Brontë Sisters.

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Illustrations, prints and oil on canvas

Recent Brontë-related art:

Wuthering Heights Illustration
by James Viola

Gallery quality Giclée print on natural white, matte, ultra smooth, 100% cotton rag, acid and lignin free archival paper using Epson K3 archival inks. Custom trimmed with 1" border for framing.

From an old book titled "Wuthering Heights". The book was old and decaying so I took it upon myself to scan the images and give them new life.

Charlotte Brontë
by Kayla Cole

Gallery quality Giclée print on natural white, matte, ultra smooth, 100% cotton rag, acid and lignin free archival paper using Epson K3 archival inks. Custom trimmed with 1" border for framing.

Charlotte Brontë in her own handwriting.

I Am Heathcliff 
Original Painting Artist Quin Sweetman
Oil On Canvas
"I am Heathcliff," is an Original Painting, Oil on Canvas by Quin Sweetman. The young man I painted reminded me of the character from Brontë's "Wuthering Heights." He is seated in front of a rose painting. 

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Charlotte Brontë would be disappointed

Today is World TB Day and a couple of news outlets mention the Brontës in connection to this disease which, unfortunately, is not a thing of the past. This is how the Financial Times opens its article on the subject:

Its victims have included George Orwell, Frederic Chopin, Franz Kafka, Emily Brontë and Eleanor Roosevelt.
If tuberculosis were still killing such cultural giants, it would not be hard to attract attention and funding to the campaign for its eradication. (Andrew Ward)

Metro speaks in more general terms:

One in three people across the entire world right now is infected with tuberculosis.
It might seem an incredible statistic for a disease most people associate with Les Misérables and Charlotte Brontë novels, but the reality is that billions are carriers of dormant TB which can become active at any time. (Alistair Potter)

British Theatre Guide reviews the Bristol Old Vic production of Jane Eyre:

This adaptation effectively compacts the story before Jane encounters Rochester but the story-telling goes on too long before flowering into full dramatisation. The choice of music to underscore the emotion of some scenes seems counter-effective but the company makes an excellent team in the way they work together and the rapport between Pomfret and Maddison as Rochester and Jane lifts this production to dramatic effect. It is difficult to believe that such accomplished playing is actually Maddison’s professional debut. (Howard Loxton)

The Keighley News now has an article on the Emily Brontë vs Jane Austen debate that took place in London a few weeks ago.

Emily Brontë narrowly lost to Jane Austen in a prestigious debate over who was the best novelist.
Popular modern novelist Kate Mosse led the fight to declare Emily the top writer during the gathering at the Royal Geographic Society.
Leading English literature professor John Mullan put the case for Jane Austen during the event in London earlier this month.
Professional actors including Sam West, who played Mr Elliot in the 1995 film version of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, performed scenes from both writers’ work.
On entering the venue the audience were asked to vote for their favourite author, with Jane receiving 55 cent of the vote and Emily receiving only 24 per cent.
After the debate, a new vote gave 51 per cent to Jane and 47 per cent to Emily, with only two per cent remaining undecided.
Prof Mullan passionately defended Jane Austen, saying she had a wonderful ability to write simple prose that was actually incredibly complicated.
He praised Austen’s descriptive ability, particularly of her characters, and described her mastery at observation and putting an artistic gloss on the world.
Kate Mosse described Austen as witty and wonderful, but said she wanted more from a book than romantic characters in pursuit of marriage.
She said Wuthering Heights was one of the most effectively set-up novels in the English language, balancing light with dark and calm with chaos.
She said the novel was not in love story, but a story of obsession and ghosts, as well as exploring what it meant to be human and to have a soul.

The Guardian discusses the double standard in men's and women's looks on TV.

In Jane Eyre, the unpleasant Blanche Ingram declares that an ugly woman is a blot on the fair face of creation, while men need possess only strength and valour. How disappointed would early feminist Charlotte Brontë be that, getting on for 200 years and many improvements in women’s lot later, creation – or rather broadcasting – has not learned to see beyond a woman’s looks? (Liz Boulter)

La Nación (Argentina) mistakes the moors in Wuthering Heights for cliffs:

A veces, uno se pregunta si seguirá soplando el cierzo sobre los peligrosos acantilados de Cumbres borrascosas (Wuthering heights, la famosa novela de Emily Brontë). (Graciela Melgarejo) (Translation)

Book Lovers Paradise reviews the forthcoming novel Always Emily by Michaela MacColl.

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New and old editions

Anthropologie has published its Wuthering Heights edition with a cover designed by Mr Boddington Studio:

Mr. Boddington's Penguin Classics, Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë
Hardcover
416 pages
Penguin

In a refurbished Manhattan suite peppered with antiques from around the world, the skilled artisans of luxury stationer Mr. Boddington's Studio jacket premium cotton stock in custom artwork. With a ribbon marker, deckle-edged pages and coloured endpapers this book is a must-have for design buffs, book collectors and literature lovers.

We don't usually report self-published editions of Brontë classics (you know, CreateSpace is full of them), but this one recovers the Jane Eyre 1921 illustrations by Monro Scott Orr (like the one on the left):

Jane Eyre (Starbooks Classics Editions)
Authored by Charlotte Brontë
Illustrated by Monro S. Orr
Cover design or artwork by Emily Lam
Publication Date: March 04 2014
ISBN: 1496142659 / 9781496142658

Finally, this CreateSpace edition of a set of Jane Eyre illustrations by Iacob Adrian :

Jane Eyre Illustrations 
Authored by Iacob Adrian
Publication Date: feb 06 2014
ISBN: 9781495450235
Page Count: 32
CreateSpace

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Trapped in Catherine

The Telegraph speculates why Kate Bush is returning to the stage after 35 years:

Like much else in the life and work of 55-year-old Miss Bush, we may have to work these things out for ourselves. The rare interviews she has given are consistent in their assurances that the quiet life she has chosen is the one that suits her best.
To some extent, this “blandness” – as some have seen it – is a reaction to the idea that she remains trapped in the character of Catherine Earnshaw of Wuthering Heights – the Emily Brontë novel that provided the inspiration for her first hit in 1978. The song’s enormous success, welcome as it was to an 18-year-old novice, also left her burdened with the perception that she spent her days running around blasted heaths in a nightdress. (William Langley)

The Boston Globe talks about the Harvard Film Archive series The Glitter of Putrescence, Val Lewton at RKO:

The Lewton series really gets kicking with a Sunday night screening of 1943’s “I Walked With a Zombie,” a movie as eerie and withholding as its title is crass. Directed by Tourneur, it’s a Caribbean revamp of “Jane Eyre,” with the underrated Frances Dee cast as a nurse to a plantation family with a sleepwalking wife (Christine Gordon) upstairs. (Ty Burr)

The Derby Telegraph interviews the journalist Martin Naylor from UK's Mastermind:

I have to say I am in awe of those who have the sort of memories that are able to soak in and retain information on the reign of Richard III or the novels of the Brontë sisters, before appearing on TV (mainly) looking cool as cucumbers.

The Elm interviews a former Washington College graduate:

On top of all of the opportunities that Lusby has took part in, her participation in the Kiplin Hall Summer Trip was one of her favorite.
“The Kiplin Hall trip is one of those incredible traveling opportunities that I highly recommend to every WC student.” Besides being a great way to relate field work to knowledge of historic English Literature, Lusby praises the areas to which the group traveled: “North Yorkshire is so green and lush and gorgeous. And getting to know the mountains and tarns of the Lake District side-by-side with the literature of Wordsworth, Coleridge, and the Brontës gives the landscape a narrative and a real-life setting to inhabit,” said Lusby. (Michael Harman)

Cowichan News Leader interviews the local author Catherine Dook:

 Author influences: Robert Graves, Charlotte Brontë. (Peter Rusland)

La Vanguardia (México) talks about cats and writers:

“Ochi” para Graciela Rodríguez; “Max” y “Dina” para Flor Magallanes y Alejandro Reyes-Valdés. “Mouschi” para los ocho habitantes de la “Casa de atrás” donde vivieron dos años Ana Frank y su familia, tratando de escapar de la persecución nazi. “Mr. Peter Wells” para H.G. Wells. Alejandro Dumas tuvo a dos felinos, “Mysouff I” y “Mysouff II”. Lord Bayron tuvo a “Beppo”, Emily Bronte tuvo a “Tiger”…. (Jesús R. Cedillo) (Translation)

El País (Spain) reports that tonight on the Spanish TV station la 2, the programme Página 2

recupera un clásico como Cumbres borrascosas, de Emily Brontë. (Miguel Ángel Palomo) (Translation)

Christoph Fischer interviews the author Lilian Roberts:

 What three books have you read recently and would recommend?
(...)
3) “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë: Her amazing novel left me mesmerized. Heathcliff’s orphaned status, his undying love for Catherine, his ambiguous position in society, the physical and mental cruelty he endured, and finally his revenge, are a stunning mixture of emotions that the author interweaved masterfully throughout the story.

Once again the Bristol Old Vic Jane Eyre adaptation features in this week's Critical List published by The Sunday Times;  also in the Sunday Times a brief mention to Brontë country in the Aberdeen to Chester section of its Best Places to Live in Britain special; @FayeRita87 visited the Parsonage yesterday; House of Anansi reviews Jane, the Fox and Me.

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Sisters in Spirit in Berlin

The life of the Brontë sisters has inspired a new musical theatre piece which is now being performed in Berlin, Germany:

Schwestern im Geiste
Eine musikalische Zeitreise von Thomas Zaufke und Peter Lund
Opening night  13. März 2014
Koproduktion mit dem Studiengang Musical/Show, UdK Berlin

Musikalische Leitung: Hans-Peter Kirchberg / Tobias Bartholmeß
Regie: Peter Lund
Choreographie: Neva Howard
Bühnenbild: Ulrike Reinhard
Kostüme: Anna Hostert
Mit: Katharina Abt, Denis Edelmann, Andres Esteban, Jaqueline Reinhold, Sabrina Reischl, Teresa Scherhag, Keren Trüger, Dalma Viczina, Rubini Zöllner

Neuköllner Oper
March 13, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29 and 30 - 20:00 

More information and pictures on Musical & Co and Musicalfriende. Der Tagesspiegel reviews the production:

Das musikalische Niveau ist uneinheitlich, es reicht von Denis Edelmann (als Pastor und potenzieller Brontë-Gatte Arthur), dessen Gesangskünste jenseits der Schmerzgrenze liegen, bis zu Jaqueline Reinhold, deren gleißende Höhe gerne öfter glänzen dürfte. Der wackere Hans-Peter Kirchberg leitet eine Fünfer-Combo, die Thomas Zaufkes mit viel musicalgerechtem Schmelz, aber auch dissonant gewürzter Musik schmissig interpretiert. Ein Musical über die Emanzipation der Frauen also? Unbedingt. Eines, das die Zeitschichten ineinander spiegelt und zum Nachdenken anregt – über frühere Epochen, die nicht verstockt waren, und über die Gegenwart, die möglicherweise nicht so befreit ist, wie wir denken. (Udo Badelt) (Translation)

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Brushing up on its Emily Brontë

The Bookseller announces a second Muriel Spark collection by Carcanet:

The series will culminate with The Essence of the Brontës, a new edition of Spark's examination of the Brontës' lives and work, in September 2014. (Caroline Carpenter)

USA Today's Bookish talks about the #ReadWomen2014 initiative and looks at pen names used by women writers:

The Brontë Collection / The Brontë Sisters as Acton, Currer & Ellis Bell
The Brontë sisters, Anne, Charlotte, and Emily preserved their initials with these vaguely male-sounding pen names when they released their 1846 book of poems titled Poems by Acton, Currer & Ellis Bell. Charlotte later wrote that this was partially because the sisters knew that readers were likely to think less highly of a book of poems written by women. As was the case with Louisa May Alcott, this is sort of understandable: Women certainly were not treated as men's equals in the mid-19th century, and the Brontë sisters' reservations may have been justified. (Elizabeth Rowe)

Sian Cain recommends'brilliant classics for young adult readers' in The Guardian:

So, you're a dra matic romantic. The more angsty and drawn out the romance, the better. I totally agree. If you replace "difference in class" with "difference in species", there are quite a few similarities between the romances of old and all the werewolf-vampire-zombies falling for teenage girls now.
For starters, Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre is a bit of vampire. He's aloof, he's charming, he's strapping in a frilly collar. Jane and Mr Rochester are very will-they-won't-they, which is charming and infuriating all at once: the best kind of romance.
And you can't go past Wuthering Heights. Yes, the start can be a slog but the last two thirds are stonkingly good. Packed full of wistful sighing and wandering on moors (if Bella had a handy moor she would have definitely stumbled about miserably on it).

Rosemary Goring discusses houses at the core of books in The Herald:

Evelyn Waugh's evocation of Brideshead, based on the medieval Madresfield Court in Worcestershire, is an unforgettable setting, the mansion embodying the encrusted, tortured and increasingly outdated values of the family it housed. So too Wuthering Heights. One of the eeriest fictional houses, as chilling as the moorland winds that buffet it, its comfortless mood signals all too clearly the story's unhappy end.

The Wells Journal talks about an evening of local entertainment at the Westbury Villa Hall: Westbury Footlights Dramatic Society presenting Poets, Pints and Music Hall. Apparently one of the performances was:

Westbury’s own Victoria Wood, Margaret Haslam, had the audience in stitches with her character giving guided tours around the Brontë Parsonage.

The Australian reviews Samantha Ellis's How to be a Heroine: Or, What I’ve Learned from Reading Too Much:

This journey is begun on the moors beyond Haworth, the Brontës’ home village, when the author’s best friend points out Jane Eyre may be a better role model than Catherine Earnshaw, the cruel and passionate lover of Heathcliff in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. This declaration takes Ellis by surprise, leading to an epiphany that causes her to write this book. “My whole life, I’d been trying to be Cathy when I should have been trying to be Jane.” (Tegan Bennett Daylight)

Bristol Post recommends a late time visit to the Old Vic's Jane Eyre performances:

You are running out of time to see Jane Ayre (sic) at the Old Vic which finishes its run on March 29. The production has been described as a bold and dynamic re-imagining of Brontë's timeless masterpiece. (Tom Morris)

Mint & Wall Street Journal reviews the Nestlé Share Your Goodness spot (broadcast in India):

What are your first thoughts on the campaign?
As a father of two daughters, I was drawn into the film. I was wondering what was going on. The child adoption and the sibling rivalry took me back to my literature days. I remembered Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and Heathcliff the rag boy, who was picked by a father of two children from a street on a rainy night, and the cold reception that the children gave him thereafter. The casting of the adopted child in this film is quite interesting and brave—especially in the context of current times where the North-East is in the news for discrimination. It is good they pushed it. (Suneera Tandon)

Now that Kate Bush has announced her first tour in 35 years, Hello Magazine and many other news outlets remember her first one in 1979:

Kate’s first and only tour in 1979 was an extraordinary event that combined music, poetry and theatre.
It followed her introduction to the charts at the age of 20 with the haunting Wuthering Heights which stayed at number one for four weeks, and charted the love affair of Cathy and Heathcliff in Emily Brontë’s classic novel of the same name.

The Times, for instance, adds:

A generation inspired by her wild-eyed performance of Wuthering Heights on Top Of The Pops in 1978 is digging out its leotard and brushing up on its Emily Brontë. (Will Hodgkinson)

The Henley Standard talks about the local 21st Henley Youth Festival where

The Bell Book Shop donated copies of Jane Eyre and books about Greek heroes as prizes.

The Marshalltown Times Republican reports the results of the state Poetry Out Loud contest:

Ellen Podhajsky placed fifth in the state's annual Poetry Out Loud contest March 16 at the State Historical Building in Des Moines.
In the two preliminary rounds she recited "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden and "No Coward Soul is Mine" by Emily Brontë.

The weird quote of the week comes from the world of wrestling. Uproxx titles its summary of the week:

The Best And Worst Of Impact Wrestling: Heathcliff, It’s Me, Jeff Hardy (...)
This week on Impact: Two title matches, a break up, and a dude who has done a million drugs and now lives in the rafters and talks like a Kate Bush song. (Danielle Matheson)

The Brattleboro Reformer talks about the Under Capricorn remake:

Helen Simpson’s 1937 Novel "Under Capricorn" became a rare Hitchcock dud when filmed in 1949. A new version was televised in 1982 in two 100-minute segments, and Acorn Media has made the latter available on a two-DVD set. It is worth the watching.
Not for the plot, by any means, which is in some of its aspects a mixture of "Rebecca" and "Jane Eyre." (Keene N.H.)

Libreriamo (Italy) lists several fathers in literature:

Edgar Linton, “Cime tempestose” di Emily Brontё – Nella vicenda turpe e oscura che vede Heathcliff e la sua brama di vendetta assoluti protagonisti, l’affetto che Edgar Linton nutre per la figlia Cathy sembra uno dei pochi sentimenti puri e del tutto positivi. La ragazzina, forse, non trae grande giovamento dall’affetto incondizionato del genitore – visto che cresce viziata e infantile – ma pagherà la sua avventatezza a caro prezzo, e comunque, i padri sono sempre responsabili dell’avventatezza dei figli? (Roberta Turillazzi) (Translation)

Martin Freeman is not a Hedgehog posts about Jane Eyre pros and cons, but mostly pros; The Briarfeld Chronicles reviews Heather Glen's introduction to The Professor (as published in the 1989 Penguin edition); Free Book Friday presents Solsbury Hill and interviews its author; bellsiebooks reviews Sheila Kohler's Becoming Jane Eyre. Worthington Libraries recommends Jane, the Fox and Me. This is a nice gif comparing Jane Eyre 2006 and 2011 by ladymary87 (via fuck yeah jane eyre). And this is a no less nice image of an annotated (including heather) copy of Wuthering Heights.

An alert for today, March 22, in Saltaire:

Yorskhire Brontë Society Group Events
Saltaire World Heritage
Exploring the Salts Mill and James Roberts connection to the Brontë Society

Check the latest Brontë Parsonage tweets if you want to see how they have celebrated the World's Poetry Day.

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Devotion to Wuthering Heights

Devotions is a book of poems by Bruce Smith which contains one poem devoted to Wuthering Heights:

Devotions (Phoenix Poets)
by Bruce Smith
University of Chicago Press, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-0226764351

In the hands of Bruce Smith, devotions are momentary stops to listen to the motor of history. They are meditations and provocations. They are messages received from the chatter of the street and from transmissions as distant as Memphis and al-Mansur. Bulletins and interruptions come from brutal elsewheres and from the interior where music puts electrodes on the body to take an EKG. These poems visit high schools, laundromats, motels, films, and dreams in order to measure the American hunger and thirst. They are interested in the things we profess to hold most dear as well as what's unspoken and unbidden. While we're driving, while riding a bus, while receiving a call, while passing through an X-ray machine, the personal is intersected, sometimes violently, sometimes tenderly, with the hum and buzz of the culture. The culture, whether New York or Tuscaloosa, Seattle or Philadelphia, past or present, carries the burden of race and  someone's idea of beauty. The poems fluctuate between the two poles of lullaby and homicide before taking a vow to remain on earth, to look right and left, to wait and to witness.

The poem Devotion: Wuthering Heights was first published on Ecotone 5.2 (2010): 198-199.

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Toasting with Brontë liqueur

Keighley News has an article on last weekend's Brontë Festival of Women's Writing.

The Brontë Parsonage Museum plans further forays into graphic novels and Gothic stories following its writing festival last weekend.
The annual Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing, held at several Haworth venues, featured workshops on both types of fiction.
Education officer Sue Newby admitted that although the workshops were enjoyable, the attendances were disappointing.
She said: “We would definitely like to pursue both of these themes.
“We’re thinking of developing a graphic novels course for local young people because we think that would attract them. The workshop in writing gothic fantasy style was a real eye-opener, they looked at examples of gothic writing.”
Other activities during the weekend were popular, with talks by established writers Jackie Kay and Sarah Durant proving particularly busy.
Sue said: “They are both well-known and inspiring writers. Jackie read poems that she’d created while in residency at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.”
Other activities included readings by Ilkley and Calderdale Young Writers, and a drop-in creative writing session on Sunday.

Via the Brontë Parsonage Blog, we have come across this article from Yorkshire Life:

The Brontë Society met at Christie’s in London to mark the organisation’s 120th anniversary with an exclusive tasting of the Brontë Liqueur, launched by Sir James Aykroyd, great-grandson of Sir James Roberts who bought the famous literary sisters’ Haworth home and presented it to the society in 1928. A donation from each bottle sold goes to the society to help with the upkeep of the popular Parsonage Museum.
Brontë Society chairman Sally McDonald welcomed guests including the Countess of Harewood and writers Claire Harman, Lucy Hughes-Hallett and Jenny Uglow.

Picture source

The Manchester Evening News reports that Manchester Metropolitan University will give £235,000 towards restoring The Salutation pub, built in the 1840s. As the article says,

The building also bears a plaque marking the site nearby where Charlotte Bronte began to write Jane Eyre on a visit in 1846. (Yakub Qureshi)

This Wikimedia article goes a bit further into it:

The blue plaque on the side of this rather nice looking pub says:
Charlotte Brontë (1816 - 1855). In 1846 The Revd. Patrick Brontë came to Manchester for a cataract operation accompanied by his daughter Charlotte. They took lodgings at 59 Boundary Street West (formerly known as 83 Mount Pleasant). It was here that Charlotte began to write her first successful novel Jane Eyre.
So, ambiguous info from Manchester's Blue Plaque people (who are presumably bigging up Manchester's tourist opportunities), but clearly it wasn't this building, which I'd say dates from the 1880s?
The problem is that the plaque was first placed on a building in Boundary Lane some distance to the west. When this building was demolished for redevelopment the plaque was saved. The Brontës were lodging at 83 Mount Pleasant and the eye hospital was then in South Parade, Manchester (until 1867)

The building, as per the Manchester Evening News article, however, does date from the 1840s, not the 1880s.

According to this Guardian review of the film Divergent, all Emily Brontë fans look the same:

Beatrice, who wears baggy skirts, boots and her hair in the loose bun of an Emily Bronte fan. . . (Tom Shone)

Yeah, it says you have to wear your hair like that at the end of Wuthering Heights.

There is an opinion column in The Phoenix in defence of the Twilight series:

But of course, the main criticism of Twilight is its glorification of a dysfunctional relationship, namely Edward’s stalking of Bella before their relationship and increasing possessiveness of her when they become involved, and Bella’s consequential dependence on Edward. But we would be fools if we believed Twilight to be the first novel to popularize a toxic relationship. Take Heathcliff and Cathy of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, who spite and hurt each other throughout their relationship and then Heathcliff embarks on a lifelong revenge spree after Cathy’s death. Frankly, I would choose to exist in Edward and Bella’s relationship over Heathcliff and Cathy’s any day. (Emily Lau)

I think I would choose to be well-written and original, to be honest.

The Anchorage Press finds a fan of Jane Eyre in letterer and illustrator Jessica Hische, who has designed wonderful covers for Brontë books such as this one or this one.

Working around all those classic books, one has to have a favorite, right? Hische admits she’s a big fan Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre.”
“At the time, when I was designing Jane Eyre for the cover of the Barns & Nobles series, I didn’t get to read the full book because my deadlines were crazy tight,” Hische said. “But when … I finally got to read the full book I totally fell in love with it. I thought, ‘oh man, this book is so badass!’” (Katie Medred)

This Effingham Daily News columnist sounds like a fan of the novel, too:

“The Office,” formerly the Thursday night anchor of the NBC slate, is many things. It's like “The Great Gatsby” and “Jane Eyre” — a great book you re-read every year or so. (Alex McNamee)

The New York Times interviews writer Harlan Coben:

What books are you embarrassed not to have read yet? Where to begin? “Wuthering Heights,” “Brave New World,”  “Invisible Man,”  “All the King’s Men.” I could go on and on. I’m not embarrassed by this. I just wish I had more time to read. I’m also somewhat over the classics. Sacrilege, I know. The classics for me are like the Beatles: I went through a period in my life where I listened to them nonstop and I still love them and if one of their songs comes on the radio I’m happy — but I almost never seek them out anymore.

The National has an article on dyslexia and finds a dyslexic woman who has read Wuthering Heights.

Thinking outside of the box, she said, is a big thing for those who have dyslexia. At one point, she had read only two books – Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. “I found I can’t read books unless I’ve seen the adaptation,” she said. “I take so long understanding the words that I lose the story.” (Ayesha Al Khoori)

The Irish Times lists 'Ten great opening lines in literature', one of which is

7. “They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did.”
Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) (Sarah Gilmartin)

Music OMH reviews Mondegreen, a new album by Collectress, a band that apparently defines itself as

“a cross between the Elysian Quartet and possessed Brontë sisters teasing an unsuspecting dinner party” (Larry Day)

Whatever that means.

Dear Author reviews, among others, Eve Marie Mont's A Breath of Eyre.

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