The murkiest corners of women’s hearts

Audible interviews writer Silvia Moreno-Garcia about her novel Mexican Gothic.

Well, the inspiration for this novel are several things. One of them, yes, are the kind of classic Gothic films which include little-known works by people like Carlos Enrique Taboada, who is not really known outside of Mexico. People know Guillermo del Toro, but Guillermo del Toro doesn't exist without somebody like Taboada making those inroads. So, when people sometimes read my book, and they say it's just like Guillermo del Toro, is you're wrong. It's like Taboada, but you didn't get the reference. And the other thing is, it's obviously inspired by this huge body of work of Gothic novels. Both what is considered the true Gothic, which are the 19th century Gothics, and the mid-century Gothic revival that takes place in paperback form beginning around the late 1950s and goes all the way until kind of like the 1970s. So the bulk of that work is kind of like what takes up a kind of inspiration that includes... People think about Wuthering Heights, but I was not thinking of Wuthering Heights, actually. I think that's the one Gothic novel that they know.

But there's two types of Gothic novels, and Gothic scholars still debate about this, but it's pretty common to say that there's a male Gothic novel and a female Gothic novel. The female Gothic novel is defined as one that has an emphasis on the romance, and where there are no supernatural elements. So that is Jane Eyre or Rebecca, where you find that what might seem like a supernatural occurrence, in the case of Jane Eyre, turns out to be a wife in the attic, not a ghost. However, the male Gothics are much more violent, much more graphic, and they do include explicit supernatural elements. And the perfect example for that is The Monk, which kind of initiates this wave of Gothic. So there's two types of Gothic novels. Mine mixes both, and uses things from one and the other. But I think if people come in looking for an experience like with Wuthering Heights, it's not Wuthering Heights. It's a horror novel. (Edwin De La Cruz)

Financial Times discusses Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca briefly praising Charlotte Brontë along the way.

It is almost forgotten, because of du Maurier’s ability (like Charlotte Brontë before her, and Elena Ferrante in more recent years) to explore the murkiest corners of women’s hearts, that Rebecca was written as a murder mystery, and that guilt is as much at the centre of the novel as obsession. “We have no secrets now from one another,” the second Mrs de Winter says of her later life with her husband. “All things are shared.” (Nilanjana Roy)

A Statesman contributor looks at the 'side effects of reading' such as book hangovers.

A book hangover can be treated by reading more books on the same topic or with the same characters. For instance, after reading "Jane Eyre" many times, and each time feeling hungover, I turned to "The Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys, and "Mr. Rochester" by Sarah Shoemaker. "Sargasso" is Bertha’s (the crazy wife in the attic) story, "Mr. Rochester" is Edward’s life story. Both offer new perspectives on the classic tale and allow the reader to ease herself back into the real world. (Rebecca Bennett)

The Luxury Editor features the hotel The Harrison Chambers of Distinction in Belfast, which seems to have a Brontë room.

Patrick Prunty later to be known as Brontë was born and raised 30 miles from The Harrison near Loughbrickland. He was a rector and when he travelled to England he met his wife and had 4 children. The three girls Charlotte, Emily and Jane went on to be celebrated writers of well known novels such as Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.  The Brontë room aims to be true to the style of the period and books and quotes are to be found around the room. (Ross)

Bees and Books wonders whether a modern Jane Eyre is possible.