Toy Soldiers, the opium of the people

We rather think that Terry Eagleton (Myths of Power. A Marxist study of the Brontës) doesn't agree with this kind of Elizabeth Rigby-like back-from-the-dead opuscule published in The Conservative Woman:

Published in 1847, a year before The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Jane Eyre by clergyman’s daughter Charlotte Brontë is arguably the most explicitly Christian novel in 19th century English literature.
Other novels, such as those by Charles Dickens and William Thackeray, often reflect a biblically Christian worldview, but in Jane Eyre Brontë gives overt Christian instruction.
She describes the spiritual danger of breaking the Second Commandment, ‘Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image’, teaching the biblical truth that the human heart is capable of making a false god, an idol, even of God’s good gifts such as a husband or wife. Brontë has Jane – the novel’s first-person narrator – looking back on the time before her wedding to Mr Rochester was abruptly cancelled by the revelation that he already had a wife living. (...)
Brontë’s unashamed Christianity, combined with the beautiful writing, masterly characterisation and compelling portrayal of psychological relations between the sexes, makes Jane Eyre a superb antidote to the utopian Marxism unleashed on the world by The Communist Manifesto.
It is invaluable Christmas reading for those who rebel against the cultural Marxism engulfing the post-Christian West. (Rev. Julian Mann)

The greatness of a novel such as Jane Eyre is that it can be read from many perspectives. Scotland's First Minister is most probably not a reader of The Conservative Woman but she is also a Brontëite, In The National:

Gemma McLaughlin: Are there any books that you think more young people should read?NS: My advice to young people is actually just read whatever it is that interests you and you’ll find a whole new world opening up to you. When I was young I really loved reading the classics; for example I loved Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters. Jane Eyre is one of my favourite classics of all time. Books like these are a really good way of developing a love of fiction.

The Sunday Times reviews In Miniature: How Small Things Illuminate the World by Simon Garfield:

Another gap is toy soldiers. Apart from an oddly disparaging mini-chapter about HG Wells, who enjoyed playing with them, their glamour is ignored. Yet it was Branwell Brontë’s box of toy soldiers that started his sisters writing, and they filled book after miniature hand-written book with stories of their adventures. Arguably we should not have Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights if it were not for toy soldiers, but they get no recognition here. (John Carey)

Next Wednesday on BBC1, the Sunday Times recommends:

Jane Eyre (BBC1, 1.45pm)
Cary Joji Fukunaga’s Brontë adaptation has a fine cast, led by Mia Wasikowska and (as Rochester) Michael Fassbender, and its script is deft in cutting the story to a filmable size. These merits could have been aided by a bit more melodramatic fervour, but they still add up to a satisfying movie. (2011)

The Arts Society talks about A dog's life, the watercolour of Keeper by Emily Brontë:

 Emily Brontë painted this watercolour of Keeper, her bull mastiff cross-breed, on 24 April 1838. It is in our collection at the Brontë Parsonage Museum. She signed it in ink, in minute script, along the top edge, and again on the bottom left. It is one of her most accomplished works.
Keeper is shown looking placid, his head on his paw. Emily has captured his gentle side, although it is known that he could be intimidating. He was a terrific size – we have his brass collar, which is eight inches in diameter.
Emily preferred to draw and paint from life, as here, and favoured nature and animals as subjects (she felt more akin to the latter, than to humans). She developed acute observation skills, and her delicate, tiny brushstrokes capture Keeper’s coat beautifully. Her confident use of light and shade in all her works somehow helps to evoke a sense of character, too.

Wales Online retells the story of the Gibbons 'silent twins':

 As well as prolific writers were also apparently voracious readers consuming works by DH Lawrence, Oscar Wilde, Dylan Thomas, Emily Brontë, Mary Shelley and many more. (Jason Evans)

Der Tagesspiegel (Germany) lists the best comics of the year:

"Jane", die Adaption des Klassikers Jane Eyre von Charlotte Brontë, ist in ihrer Gesamtheit wohl mein Favorit dieses Jahr. Die Kombination aus Bildern und Geschichte, die Integration der Tatsache, das Jane hier eine angehende Kunststudentin ist und selbst zeichnet, und die emotionale Achterbahnfahrt sind extrem gelungen. (Lars Von Törne) (Translation)

Live Bold & Bloom quotes from Emily Brontë.