Podcasts

  • With... Bethany Turner-Pemberton - Sassy and Sam chat to researcher and curator Bethany Turner-Pemberton. Bethany is PhD candidate in Textiles and Museum Studies at Manchester Metropolitan...
    22 hours ago

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Wednesday, June 10, 2015 10:51 am by Cristina in , , , , ,    No comments
More news outlets discuss the latest developments in the Brontë Society's wars. From The Guardian:
Greer also used the annual general meeting to resign from her position. Six other council members also stood down from the committee, with six new members elected in their stead, according to the BBC . The new members include John Thirlwell and Janice Lee, who had called last year for the society to “modernise” and become more professional. “The big picture is that the Brontë Society has lost its way. The museum should be run by a trust, and in a more professional way,” Thirlwell told the Yorkshire Post in 2014.
Greer later took to Twitter to castigate the “malevolent lamebrains” who “have been leaking private, out-of-context words from meetings etc all year”. She also took issue with her characterisation as “snooty”, saying that in the past year she had “brought in @bradfordmdc with funding; suggested PALS WW1 initiative, and brought in three diverse/younger members.”
Thanking the outgoing council for being “quite simply heroic”, Greer said the Brontë Society “has great potential going forward”, with the parsonage “impeccably run” and deserving of more visitors.
“A stranger walked up to me at Leeds station: ‘You don’t know me. I just want to say: @BrontëParsonage belongs to the world’. Yes,” she tweeted, later adding a quote from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre: “I will be myself.”
Rebecca Yorke, on behalf of the society, thanked Greer and others for their work and said, “We are building on our established links with Haworth businesses and the local community to ensure the Brontë Parsonage Museum continues to play its part in contributing to the visitor economy, encouraging visits by new, younger, more diverse audiences as well as by returning loyal Brontë enthusiasts.” (Alison Flood)
The Telegraph and Argus talks to 'moderniser' Reverend Mayo-Smith.
He said Ms Greer stepping aside "gives us an opportunity for a fresh start and a fresh look at things with a new president.
"We need to think very carefully what the role of president should be."
Mr Mayo-Smith said it was time for people to put their differences aside following turmoil which has seen the departure of several key Society volunteers and employees.
He praised consultants for carrying out a thorough review into the Society's governance and for speaking to people in the village about how to improve relationships with the Society and Parsonage Museum.
"There is a lot of goodwill. A huge amount of work is going on around the forthcoming bicentenaries of the Brontës.
"The key thing that came out of the annual meeting is the need to put the past behind us – that is crucial. We have to be honest, it has been a very hard 18 months.
"There is a real determination to put the past behind us and move forward."
Ms Greer will remain a Society member and do work on "grassroots" projects.
Dr Rowie Shaw, a consultant involved in the governance review, said it was not unusual for organisations to experience "periods of storming which can lead to positive change."
Dr Shaw said "...there is ample evidence of goodwill among the Trustees and the Modernisers to take the Society forward positively.
"All parties are passionate about the Society and the Brontës. This work of moving on had begun well before the publication of our report. We were very pleased that our recommendations were well received by all parties, that the AGM was successful, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Brontë Society."
A Brontë Society spokesman added: "We continue to build relationships in Haworth and strengthen links with Visit Bradford, the tourism arm of Bradford Council." (Michael Black)
Please remember that Reverend Mayo-Smith once considered opening the sealed Brontë vault to pay for what needed to be repaired in St Michael and All Angels. He finally didn't, of course, but we still wonder 'is nothing sacred any more?' when we think about it. Hopefully, these won't be the ideas the 'modernisers' will be suggesting for the bicentenary celebrations.

The Brontë Society website sums up the literary aspects of the AGM and reports that,
During the meeting, President Bonnie Greer announced she was stepping down from her ambassadorial role, stating she would like to remain an active member of the Society. In announcing her resignation following a long and active term as President, Ms Greer emphasised her continuing passion for Yorkshire and for the work of the Brontës and the good work undertaken by the Council of the Brontë Society which she will continue to support. Current Chair, Alexandra Lesley, thanked Ms Greer for all her work, particularly in helping the Society to reach new audiences.
Vice President Patsy Stoneman will act as President until a new President has been elected. Council have asked members to contact them with their suggestions.
The news is also discussed by Melville House and Keighley Online.

Writer Cindi Madsen picks her 'top 10 fictional bad boys' for USA Today's Happy Ever After.
• Mr. Rochester, Jane Eyre. Gah! He made some questionable decisions along the way, yes, but the way he feels for Jane makes me swoon. Every time a new movie version of this comes out, I rush to watch it and fall for him all over again.
Speaking of movie versions, IndieWire's The Playlist thinks that Madame Bovary doesn't hold a candle to Cary Fukunaga's Jane Eyre, even if both have Mia Wasikowska as the main character.
A recent analogue would be “Jane Eyre,” Cary Fukunaga’s classical and post-modernly stylish adaptation of Charlotte Brontë, also co-starring Wasikowska. But that film’s gothic aesthetic, coupled with the fever-dream passion between Michael Fassbender and Wasikowska, made for a ravishing and haunting look at romance. (Rodrigo Perez)
The Herald (Scotland) wonders about email etiquette.
How do you address someone you've never met? What's the best way to sign off? What sort of tone should you adopt in the email? Jocular? Sober? Somewhere between the two? I start the occasional email with 'Dear Mr ----' but it feels like something from the pages of Jane Eyre. (Russell Leadbetter)
Yahoo! Celebrity reports thatunger's book and do the audio for a re-release of Pride and Prejudice. Really any feminist work of British literature. We're talking Austen. We're talking Brontë. The Wings of the Dove. Room With a View. Bam! (Robert Kessler)
Someone give her a copy of a Brontë novel quick, p Helen Mirren wants in in the EGOT club, that is, to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. She's missing the Grammy:
"I want a Grammy," she told E! News. "I've got to do an audiobook. I certainly won't win a Grammy singing."
Let's help Helen Mirren figure out her next step for world domination. [...]
Mirren could also take a page from Yolease!
Daily Star mocks the 'love words' uttered by one of the contestants of Love Island.
He later confessed, with a line that could have come out of Wuthering Heights or similar: “It happened and it could have happened any better. She’s the apple of my eye, she’s the jam in my doughnut.
“I’m not going to lie, I’m definitely going to be kissing her again tonight. She is a serious kisser. She paid money for those lips and she did well.” (Georgina Terry)
Absolutely. Emily Brontë must be now positively green with envy.

Patheos's Eidos continues discussing aspects of Jane Eyre. Angela's Library reviews April Lindner's Jane.

0 comments:

Post a Comment