I love to explore Britain, and one of my most memorable days out was just my daughter, Natalie, and me. Natalie has always adored the writing of the Brontë sisters — her favourite novel is Wuthering Heights. She had never been to Haworth, in West Yorkshire (pictured), so we took a day exploring the lovely village: the Brontë Parsonage Museum, which is bursting with history, followed by an exhilarating trek up to the ruined farmhouse of Top Withens, picnic in tow. We paddled in the brook and took wonderful photos of the day. I cherish these memories I have with my children, and I feel blessed to have so many experiences available in these islands. I have always had to work on a strict budget and most of the wonderful experiences I’ve had were free or great value for money. (Amanda Pearce, Grimsby)
A Brontë mention in the
Commencement Address by Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF at the Washington College, Chestertown, Maryland on May the 20th:
Two-thirds of today’s children will have jobs which have not been invented yet. [2] Studying Aeschylus, not to mention a little Sappho, Brontë, and Dylan – while cultivating an interest in design – is what allowed Steve Jobs to see the Walkman and dream of the iPod. This renaissance education is your comparative advantage in the years ahead. (...)
This morning I have referenced the Greek poet Sappho, Charlotte Brontë, Abigail Adams, and Clara Barton.
Having informally surveyed other commencement addresses, I realized that far too many quotes come from famous men, and not nearly enough come from famous women. So, we are beginning to shift the balance today!
Darling Magazine lists reclusive female authors not to be missed:
6. Emily Brontë
Despite being born into a remarkable literary family, Emily Brontë carved out a voice and vision entirely her own. Far less interested in fame than alcoholic brother Branwell or ambitious elder sister Charlotte, she spent her time writing poetry, baking and taking long walks across the moors that surrounded the family parsonage. Solitary and intense, Emily’s work reveals a greater sense of kinship with God and nature than with other human beings.
Recommended Work: Wuthering Heights is Brontë’s only novel and if you haven’t read it, you should — really. But if you have, we recommend checking out her poetry. Equal the intensity; half the time. (Kathryn Bradford Heidelberger & Nancy Ritter)
The Sunday Times' real estate section lists Brearley Hall:
The former home of Patrick Branwell Brontë, the ill-fated brother of Charlotte, Emily and Anne, is for sale for £1.5m. Overlooking the Calder Valley, nine-bedroom Brearley Hall is just outside Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. Brontë had lodgings there in the 1840s, when he was clerk of Luddendenfoot station, before he descended into drug and alcohol addiction. (Audrey Ward)
The Guardian (Nigeria) reviews the novel
Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun by Sarah Ladipo Manyika:
Toussaint’s brief appearance leaves a certain wistful pathos in the reader; and Morayo responds by idealising his absence, imagining him on a mythical return to the motherland. Like her protagonist – who places Wide Sargasso Sea above Jane Eyre on her bookshelf in order “to redress the old colonial imbalance” – Manyika is in the business of ‘moving the centre’. (Molara Wood)
Business Standard on Byronic archetypes:
Then the Bronte sisters seemed particularly fond of the archetype. Eldest Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" had Rochester, a heroic version, middle sister Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights" had the genuinely dangerous Heathcliff, who spares no effort in seeking to destroy both the Lintons and the Earnshaws for revenge, while the youngest, Anne Brontë's "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" has a rare female example in the titular tenant Helen Graham.
A new bookstore with the name
Brontë has opened in Irun, Spain.
El Diario Vasco covers the story:
El viernes inauguró el local en un acto que, en sus propias palabras, resultó toda una «declaración de intenciones». A medida que su proyecto iba tomando cuerpo, «en estos últimos meses mucha gente me ha preguntado por qué la librería se llamaba Brontë». No había mejor manera de explicarlo que leer algunos pasajes de Jane Eyre, la primera novela de Charlotte Brontë, una de las tres hermanas escritoras que dan nombre a la nueva librería irundarra. La actriz local Ana Pérez puso voz a estos textos del siglo XIX que aún remueven mente y alma, más cuando se pronuncian con tanta exquisitez, tanto sentimiento como les aportó ella en su lectura dramatizada de apenas cinco minutos que dejó a todos los presentes con ganas de más.
Precisamente es ése uno de los valores con los que Brontë se presenta en sociedad. (Iñigo Morondo) (Translation)
La Opinión de Murcia (Spain) interviews the writer Alberto Chessa who is not really very well-informed when he says:
El primero es la mera curiosidad de saber qué es lo que realmente se estaba leyendo en la Inglaterra del siglo XIX. No era lo que el canon ha sancionado: ni a Dickens, ni a las hermanas Brontë? A esos los leían las clases ilustradas: cuatro gatos. Las clases obreras –y estamos en el cogollo de la revolución industrial– leían esto: penny dreadfuls, que costaban un penique y que cada semana les dejaban grandes aventuras, amores tachonados por lo imposible y lo catastrófico y, por supuesto, todo lo que tuviera que ver con lo tétrico, lúgubre, luctuoso y demás. (Daniel J. Rodríguez) (Translation)
Ignorance is bold but... circulating libraries, anyone?
The problem with
La Tribuna (Honduras) is not ignorance, it is inventing things:
Emily Brontë: la novelista, que también fue una de las poetas más reconocidas del siglo XIX, sufría de insomnio. Por eso antes de dormir caminaba muchas veces alrededor de su mesa de centro, hasta que se sintiera lo suficientemente cansada y pudiera caer rendida. (Translation)
El Cotidiano (Spain) reviews the film
Lady Macbeth:
Ambientación perfecta, exquisita fotografía, dirección artística impecable, paisajes desolados barridos por el viento, que nos remiten a los ambientes de Cumbres borrascosas, y un elenco de actores tan desconocidos como eficaces en una película que tiene algunos fallos en cuanto a la verosimilitud del relato, sobre todo cuando este adquiere los tintes más sangrientos. (José Luis Muñoz) (Translation)
A personal reading history including the Brontës in
El País (Costa Rica);
El Mundo (Venezuela) lists
Wuthering Heights, we don't know which version, among the best romantic movies;
La Poesia e lo Spirito (in Italian) reviews
Reader, I Married Him.
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