A very ironic plot twist

The Christian Science Monitor calls the fact that Jane Eyre is now mandatory reading in China and banned in some US school districts a 'plot twist!'

“We are talking about the Victorian period, after all,” says Sue Newby, learning officer at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, England. But even still, these critics were the minority. The book was an immediate bestseller, and has only grown more popular in the nearly 180 years since. 

That’s why Ms. Newby – and many parents – are so stumped by the novel’s recent debut on PEN America’s banned books list. This year, at least three Texas school districts restricted access to the novel as state lawmakers try to rid public school libraries of what they consider explicit content. 

Even more perplexing is where the book is being celebrated: China. The country known for its strict internet and literary censorship just made “Jane Eyre” required reading for ninth graders from Beijing to Chengdu. The mixed reception hints at authorities’ shifting priorities in both countries. 

“Maybe this isn’t the truth anymore, but we still think of America as being this kind of bastion of liberal values, and we think of China as being the opposite,” Ms. Newby says. “It’s very ironic.” 

Reader, nobody knows. 

Two Texas school districts – McAllen and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City – have announced plans to move “Jane Eyre” out of middle school libraries, citing compliance with Senate Bill 13. That’s a law passed last year that redefines what qualifies as harmful, indecent, or profane content in library books. New Braunfels’ school district went a step further, restricting the title to advanced literature students only.

Yet supporters of the bill, which also gives parents and school districts greater oversight of school library catalogs, say that books like “Jane Eyre” were never the intended targets.

“‘Jane Eyre’ is not profane, it is not indecent,” says Bonnie Wallace, a grassroots activist who helped lead the campaign to scrutinize the content of public school libraries. She suspects that some school districts “are going well beyond the intention of SB13 and trying to make it seem like [the law] is overreaching or exclusionary or reactionary.”

Another theory: These districts have all used AI “pretty extensively,” says Anne Russey, co-founder of the Texas Freedom to Read Project, which might have erroneously flagged “Jane Eyre” as problematic.

To be sure, the novel tackles some heavy themes, including mental illness. But Abigail Gordy, a mother who recently moved with her family from Schertz, Texas, to San Antonio because of the book bans, says these things are part of life.

“There’s nothing in there that’s too dark for an intermediate child to read. They see way worse online,” she says, adding that restricting children’s access to books “makes us closed-minded.”

Ms. Newby calls it a “perfect transition novel,” teaching teens resilience, compassion, and the importance of speaking truth to power as they start to confront the adult world for the first time. [...]

Her story has taught generations of young readers “to love ourselves and other people around us,” says Zhao Dongqing, a mother and physician in Beijing. “It’s very good for teenagers to read – as well as for adults.” 

For Ethan Huang, a ninth-grade student who recently finished reading “Jane Eyre,” it was the childhood scenes that resonated the most – particularly when a young Jane stood up to her principal. “This made me think,” he says, standing outside a large bookstore in the Xidan neighborhood of Beijing. “I can take the initiative. When the teacher says something wrong, I will point [it] out.”

“How students respond to Rochester has changed quite a lot,” says Ms. Newby. “Young girls are much less romantic about him than I used to be.” 

Instead, they’re more likely to see Jane’s marriage as “a cop out,” and say she “should have blazed her own trail and gone off traveling” at the end. (Lindsey McGinnis)

West End Theatre reports that Sadler’s Wells has announced its 2027 season and it includes:

Wuthering Heights (Northern Ballet, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, 4 to 8 May): David Nixon’s gothic classic returns 25 years after its Bradford premiere, with a score by Claude-Michel Schönberg. (Julianna Barnaby)

Also on WhatsOnStage and The Stage.

Leamington Observer announces that

The public's ‘One and Only’ novel has been revealed by Stratford Literary Festival after its most successful festival yet.

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is the novel most people would keep if they were only allowed one book on their shelf, with Warwickshire native George Eliot’s Middlemarch taking second place.

The results of the nation’s One and Only novel were revealed at the end of a packed Autumn event, with bestselling novelist John Boyne and Shakespeare scholar Professor Emma Smith discussing the top five most chosen novels.

The other three were Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. (Philippa Mingins)

CulturizArte (Chile) reviews the play Las hermanas del viento.

Las hermanas del viento es una obra que emociona. La actuación de las tres actrices resulta armónica, afiatada, contenida; y por eso mismo, hermosa. Sus voces manejan perfectamente el tono íntimo, porque pareciera que los espectadores tenemos el privilegio de entrar en la casa parroquial de Haworth para ser testigos de sus rutinas de lectura y escritura, de sus pausas para tomar té, de sus dudas.

En total consonancia con el mundo emocional de las tres escritoras, el vestuario que evoca la época: negro, sobrio pero sutil gracias a las adecuadas transparencias; los detalles de la escenografía minimalista, como los taburetes que sirven de escritorios; la luz que conversa con cierta dimensión fantasmática de la puesta en escena; todo el lenguaje parateatral brinda una experiencia estética que merece ser vista, que se queda con el espectador cuando las luces se encienden regalándole una reflexión de alto vuelo lírico sobre cómo la escritura tiende un puente entre las almas y brinda un camino hacia la libertad. (Ana Catalina Castillo I.) (Translation)