CNN Style discusses the current exhibition at Somerset House:"
North: Fashioning Identity"
For over a century, the evocative words of the Brontë sisters have carved out in the collective mind a vision of windswept life on the moors. The central narrative of our nation's struggles throughout the 20th century is littered with northern stories. (Joseph Delaney)
Currants in
The Times:
The currant is not a plant for shade, (although it will take a little if necessary), but it will certainly take the hard life. If you have an up-country, Brontë-esque garden that gets the wind and the rain, it will serve you well. (Stephen Anderton)
The Times's The Pedant discusses the use of 'fulsome':
Now, it’s true that fulsome has long borne a disparaging connotation, but note that Evans’s assertion of what the word means is different from (and more accurate than) Bryson’s. Consider this comment by Lucy Snowe, the narrator in Charlotte Brontë’s great novel Villette: “That worthy directress had never from the first treated me otherwise than with respect . . . Not that she was fulsome about it: Madame, in all things worldly, was in nothing weak.” (Oliver Kamm)
Anita Desair evocates Ruth Prawer Jhabvala in
The Guardian:
Could our drab, dusty, everyday lives yield material that surely belonged only to the genius of a Chekhov, an Austen, a Woolf or a Brontë? Taking home the copy Ruth inscribed for me and reading it, I made the discovery that she had found, in this ordinary, commonplace world I so belittled, the source for her art, the material for her writing, using its language, its sounds and smells and sights with a veracity, a freshness and immediacy that no other writer I had read had.
The Quietus publishes an extract of
The Digital Critic: Literary Culture Online, edited by Houman Barekat, David Winters and Robert Barry
For the Brontë sisters or George Eliot it was a matter of concealing femininity in order to be published. Yet even J. K. Rowling herself, the queen of a now large and unruly publicity machine, originally made the decision to hide her femininity behind her initials on the advice of her publisher in order to appeal to a larger target audience of teenage boys. The degree of concealment was obviously far greater at a time when women were not taken seriously as writers, but one wonders how the Brontës or Eliot would have fared if the Internet had been alive and well, and investigative journalists had been able to uncover their identities? Would the literary canon be the same? Luckily for us author interviews and head-shots had yet to take such keen precedence in the priorities of publishers.
Chuck Palahniuk on being a snowflake in
Entertainment Weekly:
In college, for example, I took a 400-level literature survey course. For the final exam I bought a fountain pen and a bottle of ink and sketched out exterior views of all the key buildings mentioned in Jane Eyre. The recollection makes me shudder. The professor, who’d boasted about being among the world’s foremost Milton scholars, gave me an A.
Thrilled as I was, I’d no idea that doodling Thornfield Hall on a sheet of 20# bond typing paper counts for squat in the job market. Even something more thoughtful, say, exploring the idea that post-war American housewives seized upon the Gothic thriller — as typified by The Turn of the Screw, Jane Eyre, Rebecca, and The Haunting of Hill House — because so many found themselves still young, trapped in largish, isolated houses, caring for children who seemed to be strangers, and slowly going insane (that was my second choice for a final project, except I was too baked on Thai stick to keyboard) … sadly, even that thesis wouldn’t have translated to most jobs. But doing it would’ve forced me to think and to practice expressing my ideas in a clear, convincing manner. (Christian Holub)
A lost literary genre, the teen love letter, in
The Irish Times:
“A young black man with his arm behind his head, staring at the ceiling with moist eyes, and a young white woman resting her head on his arm, alone and facing the swirling expanse, outside the room, inside themselves, separate in the eye of the storm,” he wrote on another occasion, presumably high on Brontë or Shakespeare, or something much more fun, as he imagined their love as an Egon Schiele painting. (Jennifer O'Connell)
Pittsburgh City Paper reviews the local performances of
You on the Moors Now:
It’s easy to see why Point Park Conservatory Theatre Company selected Jaclyn Backhaus’ new comedy You on the Moors Now as a vehicle for its students; it’s a large ensemble comedy featuring 16 strong roles. And as a mash-up of Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights — four novels written by four women focusing on the pre-20th-century lives of four heroines — there’s a strong emphasis on the distaff side of things, which isn’t always the case in theater.
We’re introduced to Eliza (from P&P), Jo (Little Women), Cathy (Wuthering Heights) and Jane immediately after they reject marriage proposals. In Backhaus’ telling, the four flee to the wilderness, relentlessly pursued by their suitors, and this collective struggle ends with a literal battle of the sexes. The story ends a decade later, when everyone meets up at an academic conference celebrating the battle. (Ted Hoover)
The Weekend Australian talks about the current and previous works of
Gerald Murnane:
Inland (1988) is the one the author admits is the God-given book. Under whatever ghostly shadow of Wuthering Heights, of whatever wind of language he writes on, Murnane produced an extraordinary work, at once poetic and mundane. (Peter Craven)
The Writing Cooperative lists the most influential books read in high school:
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Emily Brontë introduced me to many themes in literature that I love — the Byronic hero, strong impact of landscape on a plot, mystery, and passion.
Wuthering Heights was the first time I saw these things in literature and was able to explore them. Other authors do it well — maybe even better — but Brontë will always be first for me. (Jen Sanfilippo)
Nachrichten and
Tips (Austria) announce the performances of a production of the Gordon & Caird
Jane Eyre musical in Gmunden, Austria next year (March-April):
Das Festival am Traunsee bringt zwischen 22. März und 8. April das Musical „Jane Eyre“. Es handelt sich um Paul Gordons Bühnenversion des berühmten, 1847 erschienenen Romans von Charlotte Brontë. Am Broadway feierte das Musical bereits große Erfolge, auf deutsche Bühnen war es bislang aber nicht zu sehen.
„Es war nicht einfach, die Rechte zu bekommen, aber dafür rechnen wir jetzt mit großem Publikumsinteresse“, sagt Markus Olzinger, der als Regisseur und Bühnenbildner gemeinsam mit Caspar Richter (musikalische Leitung) seit drei Jahren den Musical-Frühling am Traunsee organisiert.
Die düster-romantische Geschichte des Waisenmädchens Jane Eyre, das sich unglücklich in seinen Dienstherren verliebt, ist wie geschaffen für die Musicalbühne im Gmundner Stadttheater. „Das Stück ist anspruchsvoll, aber sehr unterhaltsam und hierzulande noch unbekannt“, sagt Richter. „Wir rechnen damit, dass auch viele Musical-Fans aus Deutschland und aus der Schweiz an den Traunsee pilgern.“ (Translation)
Im vierten Jahr des Gmundner Musicalfrühlings steht mit „Jane Eyre“ eine deutschsprachige Erstaufführung auf dem Programm. Trotz „engem“ Budget verspricht das engagierte Team auch heuer ein aufregendes Musicalerlebnis.
Am Broadway feierte das Musical „Jane Eyre“ große Erfolge, im deutschen Sprachraum war das Stück, das auf dem gleichnamigen Roman von Charlotte Brontë beruht, bisher noch nicht zu sehen. Dass es gelungen ist, die Rechte für eine deutschsprachige Erstaufführung zu bekommen, spreche für die Qualität der Gmundener Produktionen, betonte Regisseur Markus Olzinger. (Daniella Toth) (Translation)
Iberarte talks about an exhibition at the Biblioteca Nacional de España,
Pasa página. Una invitación a la lectura:
Todo es empezar es un espacio lúdico que propone un juego por el que el visitante tendrá que identificar fragmentos de reconocidos textos clásicos de la literatura universal, desde Cumbres borrascosas, de Emily Brontë, a Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal, de J. K. Rowling, y relacionarlos con la obra y autor al que pertenecen. (José Belló Aliaga) (Translation)
Cadaminuto (Brazil) recommends
O morro dos Ventos Uivantes – Emily Brontë
Na fazenda chamada Morro dos Ventos Uivantes nasce uma paixão devastadora entre Heathcliff e Catherine, amigos de infância e cruelmente separados pelo destino. Mas a união do casal é mais forte do que qualquer tormenta: um amor proibido que deixará rastros de ira e vingança. 'Meu amor por Heathcliff é como uma rocha eterna. Eu sou Heathcliff', diz a apaixonada Cathy. (Amanda Falcão)(Translation)
Barbadillo (Italy) interviews the author Giuseppe Casa:
Poi lessi Emily Brontë, Cime tempestose, che mia sorella aveva fatto rilegare, dopo averlo raccolto da una pubblicazione a puntate di una vecchia rivista femminile chiamata Confidenze. Il romanzo mi colpì per le sue atmosfere gotiche. Ho un gusto particolare per il gotico e, soprattutto, per il tema del male e del mistero. (Interview by Matteo Fais) (Translation)
Targatocn (Italy) reviews the film
Una questione privata:
“Cime Tempestose” è il romanzo di cui parlano Milton e Fulvia nell’apertura del film e il romanticismo incestuoso della Bronte sembra trasferirsi negli occhi inquieti d’un Marinelli innamorato ma anche strozzato dalla timidezza che guarda con cameratesca invidia la bellezza poco letteraria dell’amico Giorgio capace di arrampicarsi sugli alberi e danzare con l’inconsapevole oggetto d’un triangolo amoroso laddove lui è solo in grado d’insegnarle l’inglese e scriverle struggenti lettere (“Fulvia, splendore…”). (Germano Innocenti) (Translation)
A local student and
Wuthering Heights reader in
Harker Heights Herald; Sarah Shoemaker (author of
Mr Rochester) posts on
H for History about Love, marriage and divorce in the world of
Jane Eyre.
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