'The aroma of Mr. Rochesters cigars/ among the flowers'

A contributor to The Conversation discusses the Jane Eyre trigger warnings by likening current university students to sheltered Victorian ladies. 

When Jane Eyre was first published in 1847, it was generally agreed to be unputdownable. Brontë biographer Claire Harman describes how the publisher WS Williams missed meals and appointments to read the book in a single day. The novelist William Makepeace Thackeray recalled that he had “lost (or won if you like) a whole day in reading it” and even Queen Victoria found it “intensely interesting”.

Another novelist and reviewer, Margaret Oliphant later noted that in reading Jane Eyre, “we are swept on the current and never draw breath till the tale is ended.” For Oliphant, though, this wasn’t necessarily a good thing. “This impetuous little spirit,” she wrote, has “dashed into our well-ordered world, broke its boundaries, and defied its principles — and the most alarming revolution of modern times has followed the invasion of Jane Eyre.”

Oliphant’s concern was partly over the influence the book might have on other writers, leading them to come up with similarly sensational plots and characters. But there was also a sense among some parents that Jane Eyre was not a book to give to your daughters.

Thackeray loved the book, but his daughter Anny recalled that his children were not “given Jane Eyre to read”. Instead, they had “taken it away without leave” and read it in secret.

The novelist Elizabeth Gaskell – Charlotte’s friend and later biographer – banned her eldest daughter from reading the book until she was 20, Lucasta Miller suggests in The Brontë Myth. 

Why was the novel considered inappropriate for young girls, in particular?

Many Victorians considered it “coarse and immoral”. Not only might the book encourage young girls to lust after darkly dangerous figures like Edward Rochester, it also seemed to promote rebellion through its orphan heroine who insists on her own worth and does not express gratitude for the “charity” extended to her.

The novel’s addictiveness might also have been an issue.

The American reviewer EP Whipple coined the term “Jane Eyre fever"in 1848. Whipple satirically compared the way the novel had spread through the youth of America leaving "fathers and mothers much distressed”. The effects would have been less severe, Whipple suggested, if “some sly manufacturer of mischief” had not “hinted that it was a book no respectable man should bring into his family circle”. (Jo Waugh)

Observer features Beat poet Elise Nada Cowen.

Cowen later wrote a poem influenced by her Jewish upbringing and Jane Eyre’s character, Mr. Rochester. It was believed to chronicle her relationship with Greer and the hypnotic wave it brought over her to stay:

The aroma of Mr. Rochesters cigars

among the flowers

              Bursting through

              I am trying to choke you

             Delicate thought

             Posed

             Frankenstein of delicate grace

                           posed by my fear

             And you

            Graciously

            Take me by the throat

(Costa B. Pappas)

Zocalo Public Square discusses imaginary worlds.

Some famous writers who have mentioned making paracosms in their youth are Stanislaw Lem, Oxford don C.S. Lewis—with the help of his brother Warren—and Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë (with the help of their brother Branwell). Some of these unreal realms, unsurprisingly, were influenced by the children’s perspectives on the adult world that surrounded them. In a 1984 essay, Lem points out the irony of how he amused himself as a child in interwar Poland by creating fictitious passports, permits, and government memos only to have his family survive the Nazi takeover with the aid of forged documents. He wonders if these games were a reflection of “some unconscious sense of danger.”

The imaginary worlds of the two sets of siblings, meanwhile, mirrors the British culture, politics, attitudes, and imperialism of the time: The Brontë’s world of Glass Town was set in an imaginary West Africa (later moved to the Pacific Ocean) with characters based on British explorers, Napoleon, and the Duke of Wellington. The sisters’ earliest writings are the extensive correspondence and poems of the inhabitants of Glass Town. (José González Vargas)

L'Observateur mentions 

a storybook wedding that could not have been more romantic if Emily Brontë had planned it.

Certainly not, but not for the same reasons they have in mind. 

ScreenRant lists the '9 Best Pop Culture References In Twilight'.

Cathy And Heathcliff Comparisons

The love triangle between Bella and her supernatural mates brought about the infamous rivalry between Edward and Jacob, but Bella was keen enough to realize her part in it, and she berated herself using references from Brontë's Wuthering Heights.

In both the books and movies, she is seen reading it often, much to Edward's confusion, and she likens herself to Cathy — a heartless thing who couldn't choose between her loves and led to all of their ruinations. This meant that Edward was Heathcliff and Jacob was Edgar in this comparison. (Fawzia Khan)

Entertainment (Ireland) announces the forthcoming The Brontes: An Irish Tale (next Tuesday February 1st, 10:35pm).

Derry Girls and Normal People actress Aoife Hinds explores the surprising Irish chapter of the Brontë story. In a journey that takes Aoife from Co Down to St John's College Cambridge, she discovers how the Brontes' father Patrick rose from humble beginnings in Rathfriland to become curate of Haworth Parsonage, encouraging his daughters' desire to be educated and to write. But as Aoife discovers, he was not the only Irishman who had an impact on the Brontës' story.

Great British Life features the Peak District village of Grindleford.

Emerging at Grindleford Station from the 3.5 mile-long Totley Tunnel, rail passengers travelling from Sheffield suddenly find themselves in the midst of a glorious Peak District landscape.  

The station, located a few yards from the western portal of the tunnel, is situated at the foot of Padley Gorge, where Burbage Brook tumbles through thick woods on its descent from the wild moorland that inspired Charlotte Brontë during her visit to Hathersage when she was writing Jane Eyre. (Mike Smith)

The York Press is proud to report that,

The drive across the moors to Robin Hood’s Bay has [been] named one of the most romantic stretches of road in the UK.

It has been listed as the country’s fifth most romantic road trip by travel website EnjoyTravel in a survey ahead of Valentine’s Day - beating The Dark Hedges in County Antrim (the location used to film the Kingsroad in Game of Thrones) into seventh place.

The drives were ranked based on their 'romantic road-trip factor' - which includes natural scenery, unique things to do along the way, jaw-dropping viewpoints and overall popularity on social media, according to EnjoyTravel.

“The drive from York to Robin Hood's Bay is one of the most romantic road trips in the UK,” the website says.

“This incredibly scenic route takes you through the North York Moors and on to the North Yorkshire coast. Along the way, you’ll experience the unspoilt heather capped moors, chocolate box villages and charming fishing towns.

”You’ll also learn about the region’s many literary connections - the captivating landscape of the North York Moors has inspired the imaginations of some wonderful writers including Lewis Carroll, Bram Stoker, and the Brontë sisters.

“The route also takes you to Goathland village, which is famous for its railway station which served as Hogsmeade in the Harry Potter films. Then, you continue your romantic road trip to the charming Valley Esk, and then south along the coastal cliff tops to the picturesque old fishing village of Robin Hood's Bay.” (Stephen Lewis)

However, the Brontës were not inspired by the North York Moors, but by the West Yorkshire moors around their home in Haworth.

Daily Mail recommends several traditional British hotels that are 'embracing Denmark’s ‘hygge’'. One of them is located in Yorkshire:

There’s plenty of Scandi-chic at The Alice Hawthorn Inn, with four stripped-back stylish rooms above the pub, and eight in modern timber buildings outside. Found in the village of Nun Monkton between Harrogate and York, the hotel has superb walks from the door, including an eight-mile yomp through fields that takes in the Monk’s House, where Anne Bronte and her artist brother Branwell lived. (Jane Knight)

Well, Anne Brontë lived at the big house, Thorp Green Hall, while her artist brother, then (and perhaps always) just a tutor, did live at Monk's House.

Finally, from the Brontë Parsonage Twitter:

Lovely to welcome @Hudsonweather to the Parsonage last week to chat all things weather and wuthering! You can see the piece tonight @BBCLookNorth at 6.30pm #Haworth #ThereWasEveryPossibilityOfATalkThatDay pic.twitter.com/P1W4F1BezQ

— Brontë Parsonage (@BronteParsonage) January 25, 2022

The programme is available here until 7pm today.