NS: Can you tell us about the two new exhibitions that will mark the museum’s reopening?
RY: We’re delighted to reopen with two new exhibitions. Gondal Arise! is a series of artworks by graphic artist Isabel Greenberg featuring Gondal, the imaginary world created by Emily and Anne Brontë when they were children. The exhibition comprises original illustrations from Isabel’s graphic novel, Glass Town, alongside new pieces.
Contemplating Hope is an installation by Layla Khoo, which invites visitors to think about the future, namely their hopes and aspirations for the next four years. Khoo has created 12 unique ceramic vessels into which participants can then post their thoughts. The work is inspired by the diary papers of Emily and Anne Brontë. The two sisters used to write down their own hopes and store them in a tin box where they remained for four years before being revisited. [...]
NS: What further events are being announced for the summer?
RY: We’re delighted to be part of Bradford’s Summer Unlocked programme, which will see a newly commissioned installation in Parson’s Field behind the Parsonage.
NS: Can you tell us about the line-up for the annual Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing?
RY: Not just yet, but we’ll be announcing our programme, which will be digital this year, in the coming weeks. It’s a brilliant line-up under the banner of Speaking Out, so keep an eye on our website for details. [...]
NS: What was the response to the digital programme? Has an online platform allowed you to reach new audiences?
RY: Just brilliant. Our new Brontë Lounge events, where guest writers and artists talk about the influence the Brontës have had on their own work, have regularly attracted audiences of 150-plus from across the world including Europe, Canada, North America, Mexico as well as from up the road in Yorkshire. There is clearly a global appetite for all things Brontë.
NS: Are online events something that you’re hoping to continue with in the future?
RY: Absolutely. They are a great way to connect with people overseas, but also with those who are unable to visit the Parsonage for other reasons, such as distance, disability or socio-economic factors.
NS: How can people continue to support the Brontë Parsonage Museum?
RY: Come and see us, or buy something from our online shop. Or join The Brontë Society. We’ve also recently launched new digital membership packages, including a free one for those aged 16-25.
NS: What’s the most positive moment/thing you’ve experienced during the COVID-19 crisis?
Bronte Parsonage. Copyright The Bronte Society RY: Work-wise, there have been quite a few. The overwhelming response to our fundraising campaign, the excitement and sense of community at our first Brontë Lounge event, reopening at the end of August last year, and our brilliant staff all pulling together to help us get through.
NS: What does the ‘new normal’ mean for the Brontë Parsonage Museum?
RY: Social distancing restrictions mean that we need to continue to limit numbers in the museum for now but, going forward, we’re looking forward to welcoming larger groups again. We’ll be exploring new ways to share our collection and the Brontë legacy with our audiences, locally and globally, and doing all we can to build resilience for the future. (Helen Nugent)
Detractors might find her performance too stern to express Cathy’s “wild, uncontrollable passion for Heathcliff,” as the film’s narrator puts it. Pauline Kael, for example, described her as “chill and dainty” in the role. But Oberon creates a rich portrait of repressed longing. Cathy has high-society aspirations that clash with her love for Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier), a character termed “gypsy scum” in the film. (References to Heathcliff’s skin tone draw out the contrast with Cathy’s porcelain skin, indicating how successfully Oberon had “whitened” her public image by that point.) Her feelings for him fluctuate at the snap of a finger, shifting between affection and disgust. Oberon is stellar in wordless scenes—her first, for example, when Cathy must stomach her boorish brother’s disparaging comments about Heathcliff—as the actress’s coolly detached mien conveys the heroine’s struggle to hide her devotion.
But Oberon makes unexpected choices with dialogue too. In one pivotal scene, when Cathy realizes the depth of her bond with her forbidden lover, she proclaims, “I am Heathcliff!” The sequence may seem to call for a thunderous declaration (it is even accompanied by a strike of lightning), but Oberon resists the temptation for overstatement, her delivery touching in its directness. (Mayukh Sen)
Desus, your mother was a librarian. Did you grow up with a lot of books? And I should mention, in the acknowledgements of your book, you say that you - I think it was in the acknowledgments - you say that you were an English major - shoutout to "Jane Eyre" (laughter). [...]
DESUS NICE: Oh, yeah. That was a shoutout to my mother. My mother was - when she returned to the workforce after having four kids, she was a tutor at the CRW in the New York Public Library. And my mother started there. From there, she worked her way up to being the branch librarian at the Soundview Library.
But, yeah, my mother instilled a love of books at a very early age with us. The library, when they do circulation and if a book isn't being rotated or no one's reading it, they throw the book away. That's just, like, the weeding and seeding of the New York public library. So my mother would always come home with books for us to read almost on a weekly basis. So there was always this - she would always stress the need to read and a love of reading in our house.
And the "Jane Eyre," that shoutout was a shoutout to College of Mount Saint Vincent, where I started as a computer science major. And I actually was learning programming languages faster than they were teaching them. So my mother was like, why don't you just fall back and be a English major? You can get any job with, like, an English degree. And I said, yeah. And I was pretty much the only - I was the only male in my "Jane Eyre" class at College of Mount Saint Vincent, which was super hilarious. (Terry Gross)
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