Less Sentimental Picture

It's the 202nd anniversary of Branwell Brontë (and the Brontë Babe Blog posts about 'Branwell's misery') and our 5036th newsround.

The Stuff (New Zealand) on popular baby names down under:

What would you guess was the most popular name for baby girls in New Zealand last year?
I'll give you a clue. It goes with Brontë.
Emily? Nope, that was the eighth most popular. The top spot went, for the second year in a row, to Charlotte.
Charlotte Brontë, of course, wrote Jane Eyre, while her younger sister Emily gave us Wuthering Heights. But if the popularity of their names – Emily is consistently in the top 10 – is due to the renaissance of the 19th century English novel, you might expect Jane to be in demand as a girl's name too. (Karl Du Fresne)

TES mentions some of the projects of the National Literacy Trust:

In response to the report’s findings, the National Literacy Trust has launched two new projects with the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) to give less disadvantaged pupils more opportunities to meet authors.
One project, Young City Poets, will take pupils from 16 primary and secondary schools in Bradford on a cultural visit to the Brontë Parsonage Museum, former home of the Brontë sisters, to inspire them to write their own poetry. (Catherine Lough)

The Outline explains why boarding schools produce bad people and great novels:

The school story has been around since the 19th century, when it chronicled the austere, single-sex boarding schools of the U.K., and focused on the pursuit of Christian virtues. In Thomas Hughes’ Tom Brown’s School Days, boys become men by vanquishing bullies and triumphing on the cricket pitch. Jane Eyre’s Lowood Institution painted a less sentimental picture, with its freezing dormitory, cruel and unusual punishments, and typhus outbreak. (Ethan Davison)

The Guardian explores the cheap imitations of Dickens novels published by Edward Lloyd:

“When we think of the 1840s, we think of the publication of major novels such as Jane Eyre and Vanity Fair,” says McWilliam. “The reality is that many readers were as likely to be consuming shockers issued by Lloyd, such as Ada the Betrayed.” (Alison Flood)

The Epoch Times is concerned about birth dearth:

In “Is Motherhood Falling Out of Fashion?” Annie Holmquist, editor of Intellectual Takeout, applauds the motherly instincts of the teacher Miss Temple in “Jane Eyre,” but then wonders whether those instincts are disappearing from our society. She concludes with these words: (Jeff Minick)

“Today’s headlines suggest that many are increasingly worried about the fertility decline. If we are to fix this, do we need more young women with motherly desires and tendencies like Miss Temple? And in order to gain those young women, do we first need to convince them that motherhood is a worthy and noble vocation, not eclipsed by one rewarded by paycheck and prestige?” 

Being a black woman in Cambridge at Grazia Daily:

She recalls the frustration of studying the industrial revolution without her lecturer acknowledging that it was supported by slavery. In literature, she adds, ‘You’re probably going to study more Brontë sisters than black women in your academic lifetime.’ In 2017, data showed that British universities employ more black staff as cleaners, porters and receptionists than they do as lecturers, and this has a knock-on effect. (Hattie Crisell)

Stylist enjoys the works of Judith Krantz and the Brontës:

My parents had permitted and encouraged my love of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters (Anne, Emily and Charlotte), and any book that was part of the classic canon. The heroines I’d met were plucky and principled. I’d read plenty of books that told me that strained circumstances were character building, and that it was better to be poor, earnest and humble than a dreaming arriviste. (Daisy Buchanan)

Moje Vrijeme (Croatian) quotes Saša Broz reminiscing about her visits to Brijuni with her grandfather, no other than Josip Broz,Tito:

Redateljica je kazala i kako je često s djedom odlazila na kupanje. Na Brijunima je dnevni raspored uključivao šetnje, ponekad i s velikim književnikom Miroslavom Krležom i suprugom Belom. “Uzela bi Jane Austen ili sestre Brontë, sjela bih ispod nekog drveta i satima bih čitala i maštala.”  (Translation)

The love of reading in Analítica (Spain):

Novelas de romance. De amplia aceptación dentro del universo de lectores, desde tiempos remotos las novelas románticas contienen historias en donde el amor y todo tipo de sentimientos conexos representan el tema central de la obra, mediante profusas descripciones de las emociones de los protagonistas enamorados, pasiones, encuentros y desencuentros, que buscan generar distintos sentimientos en el lector, que se identifica o no con los personajes presentes en la novela. Un clásico del género es Cumbres Borrascosas, de la escritora británica Emily Brontë. (Translation)

The Indian New Express and book covers:

Studies show you only have eight seconds to persuade the reader to take a chance on your book. How do you make it count? The answer lies in the book cover. It is not surprising that some readers buy a book just for the uniqueness of its cover. It is why my wife has often bought multiple copies of the same Agatha Christie book, especially vintage editions. Classics like Gone With The Wind, Pride And Prejudice, and Wuthering Heights are often released with new covers. (VR Ferose)

Bustle includes a Jane Eyre quote among a selection of wedding readings from classic literature.