Angry women and gothic tales

Fine Books and Collections features the book Handwritten: Remarkable People on the Page by Lesley Smith.

There's something special about owning an original handwritten manuscript, but if a John Steinbeck fragment or Charlotte Brontë's 'Little Book' are out of reach then Handwritten: Remarkable People on the Page is the next best thing.

The book is divided into sections, The Tudor Court, Poets and Novelists, Scientists, Reformers, Friends and Rivals, Travellers and Adventurers (good to see Mary Kingsley and Gertrude Bell included here), Composers, Writers for Children, Spies and Detectives, Familes, Scribes and Calligraphers, and, with one all to himself, Samuel Pepys. For each of the 79 entries (though encompassing 99 people), original examples of the writer's handwriting are accompanied by a short explanatory essay from Professor Lesley Smith, Fellow and Tutor in Politics at Harris Manchester College, Oxford, all of which are intelligently and accessibly written. 

"The less it is part of everyday life, the more the appeal of the handwritten grows," writes Smith in her introduction. "Perhaps that won’t be so for the born-digital generations, but for those of us who remember when not all writing was typing, texting or social media, the pleasure – or not – of recognizing a familiar script is deep and immediate. The close relation of the script to its writer provides a particular thrill." (Alex Johnson)

Argonaut recommends 'Seven Classic books to read this fall' and one of them is

2.“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë  

Published in 1847, this classic gothic novel is one of the most famous romance stories, and the gloomy English countryside setting feels perfect for fall. The plot follows Jane Eyre as she grows up an orphan and eventually becomes a governess at the mysterious Thornfield Hall. There she meets the brooding Mr. Rochester who she eventually falls in love with, although their romance is not without its complications as secrets and dark histories begin to be revealed. “Jane Eyre” was ahead of its time and still makes the perfect fall read today if you’re looking for something mysterious, dark and romantic. (Grace Giger) 

The University News recommends 'Unsettling Short Stories to Read This Autumn':

“The Lady Maid’s Bell” by Edith Wharton

In this gothic ghost story, Alice Hartley takes a job as a lady-maid, yet is confused by what awaits her at the house: a mystery about the women who took the job before her and an odd insistence from her employer to neglect the traditional bells used to ring for maids. The story also explores the unhappy domestic dynamics of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which can be scary in their own right.

This story has the intrigue and thrill of classic gothic novels, such as “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë, but in a condensed length. You will be hooked from the narrator’s first glimpse of a strange woman who she insists was not a figment of her imagination, to the ominously unraveling history of the strange, and perhaps haunted, house. (Morgan Hausback)

Harper's Bazaar features actress/film-maker Emerald Fennell and her new film Saltburn.

Fennell has also played with genre expectations: this is a period drama, but set in the Noughties. Thanks to a note-perfect soundtrack comprising the decade’s big indie-band and pop hits, featuring BlocParty, Arcade Fire and Flo Rida, it thunders along (and has an equal-parts exhilarating and embarrassing Proustian effect on those of us who celebrated school-exam results then). Fennell herself was a fresher at Oxford at the time, so it is a world she remembers intricately. "But also, in the classic Gothic structure – Wuthering Heights, Brideshead –somebody is recalling something major that happened in the past, so I needed some distance to flash back to," she says. "And wherever you are sitting in time, 15 years back from that point always seems horribly uncool. It’s not historic, it’s not yet retro, and it hasn’t yet come round again in an ironic fashion. It seemed a pleasingly uncomfortable, and funny, place to set the story." (Charlotte Brook)

Trinitonian on female rage:

Angry women have always had a cultural presence. From Classical depictions of Medusa to the 17th century’s “Judith beheading Holofernes” to the 19th century’s Virginia Woolf and Charlotte Brontë to today’s Florence Pugh, there has always been art that does justice to the complexity of female emotion. What has changed, however, is the mainstream acceptance. (Rachel Oliver)

Keighley News reports that a Makers' Christmas Market will take place in Haworth later this month.

The free-admission event is being held in the Old School Room, Church Street, on Saturday, November 11, and Sunday, November 12, from 10am to 4pm.

There will be 17 artisan makers, from this area and other parts of Yorkshire, who will be spotlighting and selling their wares.

A wide range of goods will be on offer.

Behind the initiative are Brontë Bitch, which produces a merchandise range inspired by the famous literary family, and Haworth & Yorkshire Creatives.

A spokesperson said: "We are thrilled to be introducing some new creatives at the event, giving them a platform to shine, whilst also welcoming back some of our talented regulars and favourites.

"We urge people to support their independents – shop local, and visit their online shops." [...]

The Old School Room, between the parish church and parsonage, is synonymous with the Brontës.

Opened in 1832, the recently-refurbished building was constructed by Patrick Brontë and the whole family taught there.

The makers' market is the latest in a series at the venue, and the last of the year. (Alistair Shand)

Heathcliff is one of universal literature's bad guys according to El placer de la lectura (Spain). Il Foglio (Italy) mentions the fact that Julien Green's 1927 book Suite Anglaise has a chapter on Charlotte Brontë.