Cultural differences do not matter

China Daily interviews writer Alai:

CNS: Your works such as The Dust Settles, The Mushroom Circle, and the Story in the Clouds have been translated into many languages for publication overseas. What are the similarities between your reader groups in the East and the West, and what are the differences in their focus on literature?

Alai: Poetry is the reflection of emotions, and this poetry refers to some extent to all literary works instead of the poems alone. Literary works arouse people’s feelings by emotions. The simplest example is Jane Eyre, whether as a novel or as a movie. At the beginning, we found different houses of the British people and their different clothes from the classical Chinese costumes, which show some cultural differences, but these do not matter, in the end, what makes you fall into the work and get captivated is their love. This is the same in both the East and the West, and the ups and downs of love is what really grips people in the end.

This is why readers in the East and West still focus on the emotions expressed in literature first, which of course does not mean that some other cultural scenes and elements explained in the work are not important. If there is something common in the classics of ancient and modern Chinese and foreign works recorded in the history of literature, there must be the enrichment of human emotions and the construction of a sound mind for people. (He Shaoqing)

Woman and Home recommends the World of the Brontës 1000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle as a great literary gift for a book lover.

3. World of the Brontës 1000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

Whether it's Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre, the Brontë sisters are best known for their incendiary novels that revolutionized literature in the 1800s. For a friend that loves puzzles and the collected works of the sisters, this 1000 piece jigsaw features impressive detail and depicts several scenes from their famous novels. (Hannah Holway)

Brontë Babe Blog posts about Sophie in the Shadows by Gabrielle Molyneux, a retelling of Jane Eyre. Stay at Home Artist continues with her Brontë story. AnneBrontë.org features Anne's poem If This Be All.