Jane Eyre is 170 years old

Today marks the 170th anniversary of the publication of Jane Eyre!

And The Guardian reminds readers that there are only a few days left to catch Sally Cookson's adaptation at the National Theatre.

5 Jane Eyre
It is your very last chance for Sally Cookson’s passionate staging of Charlotte Brontë’s much-loved novel, which has returned to the NT for one last bow. This is an evening full of theatrical invention and one that proves that it is possible to be true to the spirit of a novel without being in the slightest bit literary. It’s also a show that demonstrates that page-to-stage adaptation doesn’t have to be theatre’s poor cousin.
National Theatre: Lyttelton, SE1, to 21 October

Express & Star reviews Rebecca Vaughan's one-woman adaptation:

Her ‘I will not settle’ attitude that sees her survive a tumultuous childhood and seek her own path should be admired. In an age where women were for the most part expected to shut up and do as they were told she let her spirit guide her.
And that is what makes this, a one-woman play acted out by the powerhouse that is Rebecca Vaughan (there is absolutely no way we would remember all those lines), a very intimate yet enlightening tale.
It’s told as if Jane is talking to her diary. Or perhaps in conversation with pals as she often refers to the audience as ‘friends’. We hear her whole life story through her eyes.
Her dalliances with the other characters in the book are played out through a succession of voices.
All the males have the same tone; the females are given one of two – down to earth northern youngster or old crone.
Jane Eyre is one of the best-known books ever put to paper. Charlotte Bronte’s tale of an orphan overcoming various obstacles in childhood and growing into a no-nonsense, independent woman who just wants true love with Mr Rochester has been retold a thousand times.
But very few reincarnations can have been like this. Single-handedly, Rebecca portrays every show of emotion and draws you into Jane’s inner thoughts. Who she loves. Who she loathes.
The scarier moments in her life are commentated in real time which grows the kind of tension seen in an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
And testament to Rebecca is how she holds you. Almost 90 minutes is a long time to hold a group of people’s attention. But she does, and you are still with her at the conclusion of Jane’s story to see if she gets her happy ending.
All the twists and turns of the novel are included, and a few in-jokes while facing the audience pleased fans and brought chuckles.
It was a gripping adaptation of what is a well-trodden path. (Leigh Sanders)

A testament to the novel's success is of course how it's used for metaphors in all sorts of subjects, such as New Zealand politics today as seen on Stuff:

Since the Metiria Turei wrong-footing, Labour has had to keep the Greens in a back room like Grace Poole (Jane Eyre) managing the imprisonment of Mr Rochester's crazy first wife. And we all know how that incarceration turned out, Mrs Rochester eventually breaking free of her shackles to burn down the house, leaving her spouse horribly disfigured and blind.
But the burning question in this crew member's mind was, upon hearing that during coalition talks Shaw took shore leave and went to the movies, what flick did the Green take in? James and the Giant Peach or Anne of Green Gables? (Jane Bowron)

News Advance interviews Liberty University professor and author Karen Swallow Prior.

Of course, as an English professor, I think books are always worth thinking and reading about — the good ones, anyway. And a lot of what I write about in my memoir is drawn from what I teach about these classic works such as “Great Expectations,” “Jane Eyre,” “Charlotte’s Web” and “Death of a Salesman,” whether in the classroom or in conversations with my students. People have said that reading “Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me” is like stepping into a literature classroom. That’s because the way I write in the book is the way I teach. I teach these books because I love them. And I want the students, whom I also love, to love them, too. (Casey Gillis)

BBC News reports that the daughter of Bradford-born playwright Andrea Dunbar would like to see a memorial of her mother:

Adelle Stripe, the author of the novel Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile, which was based on Dunbar's life, said: "There is a blue plaque on her house at Brafferton Arbor in Buttershaw but there isn't anything that tells us Andrea was from this city in the city centre.
"You see images of David Hockney, Priestley, The Brontës, Delius, Titus Salt, but there is nothing to indicate that [she] came from Bradford and hopefully that's something we can change in the future."

Nick Holland writes about 'Smelling Salts: A Link Between Anne and Maria Brontë' on AnneBrontë.org.