Plugging books from dead authors

The spookiest time of the year is drawing closer and Bustle lists 13 of the best haunted houses in literature. One of which is

Thornfield Hall in Jane Eyre
Mr. Rochester’s mansion is full of long hallways, plenty of unused rooms, a troubled owner who’s always leaving, and a terrible secret in the attic. When Jane Eyre arrives at Thornfield, she notices that “a very chill and vault-like air pervaded the stairs and gallery, suggesting cheerless ideas of space and solitaire.” There’s also a lot of weird, ghosty laughter that floats around after midnight. (Tori Telfer)

More spookiness. Every Eye (Italy) interviews actress Sarah Gadon about her role in the film Dracula Untold:

Quale è il tuo rapporto con il romanzo di Bram Stoker? Sarah Gadon: Mi piace molto il romanzo di Bram Stoker, ma amo la letteratura gotica in generale, come Frankenstein di Mary Shelley e Jane Eyre. (Translation)

The Independent reviews another film: Effie Gray, which looks at the life of John Ruskin's wife, Euphemia Gray.

[Emma] Thompson’s screenplay approaches the breakdown of the marriage between Effie and Ruskin, one of the great scandals of the Victorian era, as if it is a dark Gothic fairy tale. Effie (Dakota Fanning) is introduced to us as a “beautiful young girl who lived in a very cold house in Scotland.” Like a heroine in a Brontë novel, Effie is plucked from her childhood home to begin her new life faraway. (Geoffrey MacNab)

Sargasso Sea (Source)

The Buffalo News looks at the work of the artist Amanda Besl:

Besl also alludes to Josephine through the image of the swan. Josephine adopted the swan as an emblem, in part because she admirSargasso Sea,” shows it sitting amid an abundant bed of hair. The work appears simultaneously serene and menacing, as achieved by the eerie greenish light that emanates from it, punctuated by warmer pink and orange tones. The title of the work lends a great deal to understanding this rather haunting scene.
ed its elegance and aggressiveness. One work in which the swan appears, “
The Sargasso Sea, located in the Atlantic Ocean, is a free-floating mass of seaweed that forms an unusual ecological world unto itself, much like Besl’s world where abundant, coiling strands of hair become home to symbolic objects. The title also seemingly refers to “Wide Sargasso Sea,” Jean Rhys’ prequel to Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre,” a story of a woman driven to madness by the patriarchal world in which she lived and who also had an affinity for the lush green botanicals of her Jamaican home. (Brooke LeBoeuf)

The Guardian brings up the age-old discussion of art vs. having children.

We can, if we like, list the successful women artists who have had children (Rego, Spero, Ayres) or come up with long lists of those who didn’t (Kahlo, O’Keeffe, the Brontës, Austen). It’s the old pram-in-the-hall argument, that parenting is the enemy of great art. There is a truth in it. Children stop one separating from the world. They interrupt one’s sense of self as the most important thing ever. This is not always a bad lesson for artists to learn. The domestic sphere is not one of imagination, goes the script Try telling that to Kate Bush. Motherhood can be miserable, of course, and an excuse, and a source of terrible conflict. Plath said it was her muse. But Emin’s adherence to the myth of creativity versus motherhood is so old-fashioned. Emin would have been able to afford childcare and this is the actual issue. What stops women being able to write, or paint, is trying to do everything. It’s Emin’s prerogative, but it is all part of her increasing conservatism. (Suzanne Moore)

The Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy looks at October 7 Daily Show where

The mock chaos continued into the interview portion of the show, with Jones and Bee tag-teaming to welcome guest (and former “Daily Show” correspondent) Wyatt Cenac, who was promoting his new Netflix special, Wyatt Cenac: Brooklyn (available October 21).
But apparently even those who are no longer on the Comedy Central series are able to take “The Daily Show” seriously when someone else is in the anchor chair “remolding [Stewart's] ass groove.” The interview was more like a drunken reunion of college buddies, with Cenac dressed in Jeffrey Lebowski chic, complete with a knitted sweater right out of the Dude’s closet, opting to “plug books from dead authors” (including “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” and “‘Charlotte Brontë’ by Jane Eyre” (erm)) over his own work. (Sarene Leeds)

This Daily Telegraph (Australia) columnist doesn't 'plug' Wuthering Heights:

I’m still wondering what I actually learnt from writing all those essays on metaphors and symbolism — other than I absolutely hate Wuthering Heights. (Melissa Matheson)

This Craven Herald & Pioneer columnist looks at a Brontë connection in his family history. The books editor of The Boar is quite a Brontëite. Lifeline Theatre's blog looks at education in Jane Eyre's time.