Save the Brontës--stay home!

Since we are now feeling the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the Brontë news are taking a turn for the worse in the cancellation of events in Europe and America. Some sites are recommending the Brontës' books for quarantines and social distancing, and we would like to join in this. The Brontës' oeuvre (much of it available for free online) takes a while to read and then there are plenty of biographies (some of which are now in the public domain as well) and then there are all the film adaptations too. We know Brontëites and readers in general will have a less hard time of it all, but still we would like to ask our readers to be kind and responsible and practice social distancing by staying at home as much as possible. Now's the time to tackle that book you've been meaning to read for ages such as Juliet Barker's The Brontës. It's Anne's bicentenary: read her books and poems and biographies!  The Brontës, with their delicate lungs due to TB, would have been at risk these days. If saving the Brontë family was in your hands by staying home, would you do it? Well, now's the time to prove it. Save the Brontës--stay home!

Picture Source: Wuthering Hikes.

And so Broadway World and others report the cancellation of the final shows of Hartford Stage's Jane Eyre.

Based on recommendations from state and local government in response to the ongoing challenges posed by COVID-19, Hartford Stage is canceling all remaining performances of Jane Eyre (March 12-14) and the run of The King's Speech, scheduled for March 19 through April 19.
"The safety and health of our community, visiting artists, staff and volunteers always remains our first priority at Hartford Stage," Managing Director Cynthia Rider said. "We know that communities are in need of our solidarity and support in these times and want to encourage neighbors and patrons to meet this crisis with compassion and care rather than fear and division."

Rete News (Italy) recommends lots and lots of things to do while in quarantine, reading included, of course.

Potrebbe essere il momento ideale per iniziare a leggere un buon King, o Eleonora Ferrante se è nelle vostre corte o riscoprire i classici come Charles Dickens e le sorelle Brontë. (Translation)

Huffington Post (Italy) recommends 5 classics to read or reread:

Cime Tempestose di Emily Bronte
L’amore, la solitudine, l’odio, la vendetta. Troverete tutti questi temi, non necessariamente in quest’ordine, in “Wuthering Heights”, titolo originale di questo romanzo, l’unico scritto da Emily Brontë (1818-1848) nella sua breve vita, fu pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1847 con lo pseudonimo di Ellis Bell e dopo la sua morte, seguì una seconda edizione nel 1850 grazie a sua sorella Charlotte, fortunata autrice di “Jane Eyre”. In entrambi i casi non incontrò i favori della critica che lo definì un romanzo “brutale e rozzo” capace di scuotere gli animi per la sua potenza e la sua tetraggine narrando il consumarsi di una vendetta inesorabile portata avanti con fredda meticolosità dal disumano Heathcliff. Al centro del romanzo - ambientato suggestiva brughiera inglese, tra la casa colonica di Wuthering Heights che dà il nome a libro e l’opposta e speculare Thrushcross Grange – c’è la passione che lega Catherine a Heathcliff, trovatello orgoglioso e ribelle, una vera e propria ossessione non le dà pace neppure dopo il matrimonio con il ricco Edgar Linton. Attorno a questo nucleo centrale si costruisce un romanzo d’amore che via via si rivela una tormentata vicenda di vendetta, una storia in cui le suggestioni delle grandi tragedie shakespeariane si fondono con il clima romantico. Un romanzo in cui a dominare è la violenza sugli uomini, sugli animali e sulle cose scandito da scatti di crudeltà fisica e morale, per molti critici, poi, una delle migliori opere mai scritte in inglese, il più grande romanzo passionale dell’Ottocento. Tanti sono stati gli adattamenti cinematografici, teatrali, musicali e letterari di quest’opera spregiudicata e poetica, mistica e malvagia, trasgressiva e asessuata, visionaria e grottesca, barbara e innovativa, così isolata dalla società ed estranea alle convenzioni del suo tempo da risultare, miracolosamente, eterna. Tra i suoi tanti estimatori, lo scrittore Tomasi di Lampedusa che disse che è “un romanzo come non ne sono mai stati scritti prima e come non saranno mai più scritti dopo”. (Giuseppe Fantasia) (Translation)

We are keeping you in our thoughts, Italian friends. Stay strong!

Aleteia has an article on how to make the most of your quarantine.

You might also read a literary classic, perhaps by an author you keep hearing about and always think you should read. Pick from the works of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, the Brontë sisters, J.R.R. Tolkien … just to name a few..
You might also enjoy a biography, a history book about a period or event that interests you in particular, collections of poems, books to reread by your favorite writer … (Dolors Massot)

Paste magazine reviews the book Too Much: How Victorian Constraints Still Bind Women Today by Rachel Vorona Cote.

Vorona Cote blends memoir and criticism to build a bridge between the 21st century and the 19th, acknowledging in the book’s introduction that she’s exploring predominantly white and cisgender experiences in both eras. Placing Victorian writers like Lewis Carroll and the Brontë sisters alongside modern figures like Beyoncé and Beverly Cleary, Vorona Cote explains what behaviors Victorians deemed “too much” in a woman and how those same judgments influence how we police behaviors today. She also makes convincing links between 19th-century beauty fads and 21st-century weight shaming, anxiety about close female friendships across the centuries, and our cultural instincts to cast blame for infidelity and adultery. (Bridey Heing)

The Guardian interviews writer Kate Elizabeth Russell about her book My Dark Vanessa.

“I think I didn’t fully understand the material that I was trying to work with,” she reflects. “[At first] I definitely saw the relationship between an older man and a younger girl as romantic – in the same way that Wuthering Heights was romantic, or Jane Eyre. To me, great love stories were also stories that were full of abuses and control. I often jokingly refer to the early versions of my characters as ‘teacher Twilight’. But as I grew up I feel like the characters grew up too.” In 2013 Russell began her PhD at the University of Kansas. “I decided: ‘Well, I’m going back to school one more time, and I’m going to give it my best shot and get this written once and for all.’” (Fiona Sturges)

British Film Institute recommends '10 great films set in Victorian London' such as Gaslight 1944.

Gaslight (1944)
Director George Cukor
Following hot on the heels of a 1940 British version of Patrick Hamilton’s play Gaslight, this American adaptation, starring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Joseph Cotten, is one of the best entries in Hollywood’s 1940s cycle of gothic melodramas. With many men away fighting in the Second World War, the studios began doubling down on films with presumed feminine appeal. From William Wyler’s Wuthering Heights (1939) and Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940) on, gothic themes and doomed romance ruled the day. (Kat Ellinger)

Film School Rejects discusses the filmography of actor Jamie Bell.

Luckily, there are ensemble productions that effectively utilize the actor’s tenderness and empathy. Alongside Rocketman – the initial motivator of this piece – Deathwatch, Nicholas Nickleby, King Kong, Defiance, Jane Eyre, and Snowpiercer individually tap into Bell’s “wholesome character” streak, yet all of them feel fresh in their own ways. [...]
Bell is all tragedy in Nicholas Nickleby, portraying a young man whose life from start to finish is observably pitiable. Give him the right impetus, though, and he reveals a fiery heart.
The same is said for his emotionally driven performances in King Kong, Defiance, Jane Eyre, Snowpiercer, and Rocketman. In the former two, he revels in youthful splendor, even letting loose in unbridled, screaming-and-crying type set-ups that thankfully don’t feel contrived. Bell colors his Snowpiercer character with relatable jitters. Deliberate as the film is in all aspects of production, its allowance for some improvisational skills on Bell’s part tethers us to a role that feels so close to reality.
In contrast, Jane Eyre presents a graver Bell than is usually seen, wherein he delivers a portrait of restraint due to obligation. (Sheryl Oh)

Yorkshire Live highlights '10 things to love about Bradford according to those in the know'.

4 Scenery
Deep valleys, rolling hills and rugged moorland - what's your favourite spot? Ilkley Moor and Brontë country are both special but there's a lot more besides if you fancy exploring. [...]
7 The Brontës
No trip to the district would be complete without calling at Haworth's Bronte Parsonage. Stroll through the village where the famous literary family spent most of their lives. (Andrew Robinson)

Mental Floss shares some facts about Westminster Abbey.

7. More than 100 Writers are memorialized in Westminster Abbey …
Poet’s Corner is one of the most popular nooks in Westminster Abbey. In 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer became the first literary figure buried in the corner—not because he was the author of The Canterbury Tales, but because he served Richard II as Clerk of the King’s Works, which oversaw maintenance of royal buildings, including the abbey. Later poets wished to be buried near Chaucer, forming the literary clique. Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser was laid next to him in 1599, followed by Samuel Johnson, Alfred, Lord Tennyson; Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens (who did not want to be buried in Westminster Abbey, but ended up there anyway), and many more.
Numerous writers buried elsewhere have memorials in Poet’s Corner, including William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, and C.S. Lewis. (Kat Long)