Jane Eyre is now mandatory reading in China

The Guardian has an obituary for Bonnie Greer:

Bonnie Greer was a joiner. She was on the board of everything, from the Women’s prize for fiction to the British Museum, she was president of the Brontë society – she got stuck in. (Zoe Williams)

There's also an obituary in The Telegraph and Argus:

Role in the Brontë Society

A lifelong admirer of literature, Greer brought a fresh perspective to the organisation, which is dedicated to preserving the legacy of sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë and operates the famous Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth.

During her presidency, Greer championed efforts to broaden the appeal of the Brontës’ work and attract more diverse audiences.

She argued that the Brontës belonged to the world rather than a narrow literary elite and wanted the society to connect with younger people and communities across Yorkshire, including Bradford’s large and varied population.

After several months of internal disagreements, she resigned as president in June 2015. (Amelia Short)

Many sites are also reporting that Jane Eyre is now mandatory reading for teenagers in China. From CNN:

When teenagers went back to school in China earlier this month, one book on their new mandatory reading list stood out: the 19th century English novel “Jane Eyre.”

The literary classic, originally considered a trailblazing tale of female empowerment, might seem a surprising choice in a country where textbooks are tightly curated by the state to ensure ideological conformity.

But Beijing sees another message in Charlotte Brontë’s work –– the value of finding true love.

The story presents a counterbalance to the “superficial notions about appearance and wealth” of the social media age, according to the state-run Beijing Daily newspaper.

In recent years, online novels and micro dramas featuring outlandish plots of wealth flaunting, wronged lovers, brooding billionaires and ill-fated mistresses plotting revenge have become mainstream entertainment. And that’s attracted the attention of China’s censors.

In June, the broadcasting regulator launched a campaign to crack down on “harmful and lowbrow” content seen as promoting “distorted” views on relationships and marriage.

But reading the story of Jane Eyre –– an orphan girl who finds her independence while suffering a series of hardships and eventually falls in love with her wealthy employer –– will help China’s 14-year-olds “develop sounder values,” said Beijing Daily.

“When children are first beginning to experience romantic feelings and are still naive and inexperienced, it is a crucial stage for developing a healthy character,” it said.

The coming-of-age story has been wildly popular in China since it first arrived in the country in 1925 and has been translated, published and adapted into theatre and screen productions countless times. A British film even made its way to Chinese theatres in 1979, following the country’s turbulent Cultural Revolution.

Jane Eyre –– who famously says to her future husband “do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong” –– has long been seen as an anti-repression heroine by the working class in China. And the book has long been accepted by China’s ruling communist party.

But its inclusion in the curriculum is striking at a time when other forms of feminist discussion and activism have increasingly come under scrutiny in China.

And some parents have questioned whether modern day Chinese youths who have been raised in a relatively comfortable environment, could understand or relate to the deep and complicated love story portrayed in the novel.

One parent said that her son had asked whether reading Jane Eyre was “teaching girls in (his) class that their brain should being wrongly ruled by love.”

The parent, writing on social media platform Xiaohongshu, said that her son couldn’t understand why Jane chooses to marry a man who was blind, and the whole thing looked like a bad deal.

Qin Shiwen, a recent Chinese literature graduate in Beijing told CNN that including a classic like Jane Eyre into primary education “is very necessary.”

“China’s basic education system places a heavy emphasis on academic knowledge and high achievement, but very, very little focus on love or character development,” said Shiwen.

But the book, first published in 1847, has in recent years been criticized for its treatment of a character Brontë often describes as a ‘mad woman.”

“The more I think about it, the more problematic I find it,” said Yan Hairong, a sociology scholar at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, pointing to the portrayal of the “mad woman in the attic” and the book’s “underlying themes of colonialism.”

Yan has doubts whether the novel will help Chinese teenagers build up healthy values, saying some students may just absorb it “without critically examining the problematic ideas embedded within it.”

“I have some concerns about teaching the novel at the middle-school level, particularly if it is presented as a textbook or as an example of profound romantic love,” Yan told CNN. (Sylvie Zhuang)

Also reported by BGNES:

Beijing, however, sees a message about the importance of true love in the novel. According to the state-run Beijing Daily newspaper, the book offers a counterbalance to the “superficial notions about appearance and wealth” that have become widespread in the social media age.

In recent years, online novels and short dramas featuring plots about flaunting wealth, unrequited love, billionaires and revenge have become popular entertainment. In June, China’s regulator launched a campaign against “harmful and lowbrow” content, including material portraying “distorted” views of marriage and relationships.

According to Beijing Daily, the story of Jane Eyre – an orphan who goes through a series of hardships, asserts her independence and falls in love with her wealthy employer – could help 14-year-old students develop “sounder values.”

“When children are first beginning to experience romantic feelings and are still naive and inexperienced, it is a crucial stage for developing a healthy character,” the publication said.

The novel has been popular in China since 1925 and has been translated, published and adapted for the stage and screen many times. Jane Eyre has long been seen in the country as a heroine who stands against oppression, and the novel has also been accepted by China’s ruling Communist Party. Its inclusion in the curriculum, however, comes at a time when feminist debate and activism in China have come under increased scrutiny.

The Guardian never misses a chance to put down Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights. Reviewing Charli xcx's Music, Fashion, Film tour:

a windswept soundtrack that more or less saved the otherwise dreadful Wuthering Heights (Adrian Horton)

The Nerd Daily has a Q&A with writer Hannah Mathewson:

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

The [book] that made you want to become an author: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (Elise Dumpleton)

Collider has selected and ranked 'The 8 Greatest Gothic Horror Books of the Last 25 Years' and one of them is Virginia Feito's Victorian Psycho, described 

 like a cross between Jane Eyre and an especially nasty slasher movie. (Luc Haasbroek)

Fairy Powered Productions reviews Conn Artists' take on Jane Eyre as seen at Windsor Theatre Royal.