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Justine Picardie and Rebecca Fraser at the British Library
2008-04-14 00:02:00
A very interesting alert for today, April 14, at the British Library :Possession: A Brontë MysteryMonday 14 April 2008The trail that leads to the Brontë manuscripts is a shadowy one, crossing continents and centuries, and over the borders into criminality. Justine Picardie's new novel, Daphne, is based on her research into a true literary detective story, uncovering a series of forgeries and thefts. She will be in conversation with Rebecca Fraser, the acclaimed biographer of Charlotte Brontë, discussing the whereabouts of missing manuscripts, and the obsessive collectors through whose hands they passed.Justine Picardie is author of four books including My Mother's Wedding Dress and Daphne ( Bloomsbury , March 2008) and writes for the Sunday Telegraph Magazine and Harpers Bazaar. Rebecca Fraser is a writer and broadcaster. Charlotte Bronte (Vintage) and A People's History of Britain (Pimlico) are her most recent books.Event time: 18.30-20.00Location: Conference Centre, British L...

Against clichés: romance, motherhood....
2008-04-13 13:18:00
The Baltimore Sun discusses the appeal of the works of Jane Austen today and although we agree with many of the things the article says, we find the following comment rather reductionist and - well - being politically correct, superficial:What is it about Jane Austen that we find so compelling? Other great Victorian writers provide fodder for colorful costume dramas (Charles Dickens), others are steeped in romance (the Bronte sisters) while others skewer courtship rituals insightfully and with humor (Edith Wharton and Anthony Trollope).All these writers remain popular today, and most were far more prolific than Austen - which would seem to confer a considerable advantage on enterprising producers searching for neglected gems.But for none of these brilliant stylists do we demonstrate the same, seemingly insatiable appetite. Observing that the novels' appeal crosses gender and class lines is a statement in the obvious. (Mary Carole McCauley)Reducing the Brontës to the 'romantic' c...
More About: Motherhood , Romance

Brontë Editions. Update
2008-04-13 00:05:00
More recent Brontë related editions:The Collected Novels of the Brontë Sisters ISBN: 978-1-84022-075-9Wordsworth Editions Ltd (March 2008)Total Pages: 1396Includes Jane Eyre, Villette and The Professor by Charlotte Brontë, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë. No idea why Shirley is not included.Agnes GreyAnne BrontëISBN: 1906059594PaperbackHV Publishers (March 2008)A Level 3, RLA, adaptation of Jane Eyre published by Penguin Longman Readers:Jane Eyre (Level 3, RLA) Charlotte BronteEdition 2nd Revised editionMultimedia Item ISBN: 1405879130Paperback ISBN: 1405876638 Pearson Education LimitedCategories: Agnes Grey, Books, Jane Eyre,The Professor,The Tenant of Wildfell Hall,Villette,Wuthering Heights
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How to choose your Jane Eyre edition
2008-04-12 14:59:00
The Times has an excellent article on 'How to choose your classic' by Margaret Reynolds. The beginning itself is so promising despite the de rigueur Brontë vs Austen mention:We have become so used to the idea of “classic books” that it is easy to forget that there was a time when there weren't any. The great writers of antiquity have been “classics” in Europe since the Renaissance, but Latin and Greek were not available to everyone. So when the young Brontës, for instance, were educating themselves in that Yorkshire parsonage, they had to construct their own canon. There was Sir Walter Scott (they adored him). There was Jane Austen (Charlotte thought her insipid). But then they had to make do with the Christmas annuals of the 1820s with titles such as Friendship's Offering or The Keepsake. No wonder they created their own “classic books”, transcribing tales from their imaginary worlds of Angria and Gondal into the minute manuscript volumes now in the British Librar...
More About: Choose , Edition

An astonishing novel on so many levels
2008-04-12 13:51:00
The Lebanese Daily Star reviews the exhibition Creation of The Creator by Leila Kanso in the Al-Mada Gallery in Beirut, Lebanon (until next April 25). It contains a piece entitled Wuthering Heights (in the picture(?), source):Any art exhibition that includes a painting entitled "Wuthering Heights" might be expected to yield a heady sense of emotion and corporeality. Emily Bronte's classic Victorian gothic novel is a tale of fierce passion set among the moors of Yorkshire, one whose exploration of the darker side of humanity retains the ability to shock 161 years after its publication.However, the tone of the exhibition at hand - Leila Kanso's "Creation of The Creator" - is not as dark as the title of this particular oil-on-canvas piece would suggest. Nor, indeed, is the subject matter of the painting itself. Just as Bronte's novel offers conflicting aspects of Cathy and Heathcliffe's destructive but loving relationship, Kanso's "Wuthering Heights" reflects powerful emotion wit...

Wuthering Trance
2008-04-12 00:55:00
A couple of very different musical alerts/releases:The Swiss progressive house act Dinka releases Chemistry which contains two tracks with the name Wuthering Heights:Dinka - ChemistryUnreleased Digital Label (March 2008)2. Wuthering Heights (original mix) - MP3 Sample Preview4. Wuthering Heights (Tribute To Enigma mix) - MP3 Sample PreviewAnd the Italian Trio Gondal (which was presented some months ago on BrontëBlog) gives a concert today, April 12, in Padova:Studio Teologico, Basilica del Santo12 aprile 2008, ore 17:00TRIO GONDALMaria Maddalena MAIN, violinoPaolo MENCARELLI, violoncelloEmanuele ARDICA, pianoProgrammaL. van Beethoven: Trio in re maggiore op. 70 n. 1 “Gli spettri”D. Shostakovich: Trio n. 2 op. 67Categories: Music, Wuthering Heights
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Natalie Portman to play Cathy
2008-04-11 12:46:00
Several newspapers report the big news: Natalie Portman is to play Cathy in the upcoming adaptation of Wuthering Heights.From the Guardian:Natalie Portman is to star in a new version of Wuthering Heights, the tragic Emily Bronte romance which has been the subject of numerous big screen outings.Portman will play Cathy Earnshaw, whose love for her foster brother Heathcliff starts a ball rolling which destroys the lives of family members across two generations. ...The film's UK producers Ecosse Films, who made Becoming Jane and the upcoming Brideshead Revisited, are currently searching for their Heathcliff to appear opposite Portman.The Daily Mail discusses the possible candidates to play Heathcliff:I understand that discu[ssion] involved four possible names.Colin Farrell, who is excellent in the tantalising black comedy In Bruges; Sam Riley, the young up-and-coming actor who broke through with a sublime portrayal of singer Ian Curtis in the film Control; and Dominic Cooper, a fast-...
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"Brontë got pushed", says Evan Rachel Wood
2008-04-11 12:37:00
Los Angeles Times interviews actress Evan Rachel Wood who, as you know, was supposed to be on the biopic Brontë. And according to the official Brontë movie site she's still part of the cast. Yet she is pretty clear about it: You're back to back [on sets, but before that], did you, like, sit around and think about roles and look at scripts?Yeah, I mean, I've been keeping an eye out for things. I just waited to see what was going to come my way. I was supposed to do a film called "Brontë," but it's hard with those independent films sometimes to get them off the ground, so that got pushed. (Choire Sicha)This film's story is neverending.Categories: In the News, Movies-DVD-TV
More About: Evan Rachel Wood

Straight out of a Brontë novel
2008-04-11 12:01:00
The Christian Science Monitor publishes a lukewarm review of The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë by Laura Joh Rowland. However, you decide whether you want to trust a review which has clearly got the very background and beginning of the book completely wrong: Laura Joh Rowland imagines the Brontë sisters as crime solvers in a mystery that doesn't exactly reach wuthering heights.If there was anyone less likely to be a spy than frail, nearsighted Charlotte Brontë, it was her shy sister Emily. Yet well-regarded mystery writer Laura Joh Rowland has sent both undercover in "The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë."Rowland begins the action with a real event: Charlotte and Emily, who have published "Jane Eyre" and "Agnes Grey" [sic] under pseudonyms, travel to London in 1848 to resolve a breach-of-contract allegation with Charlotte's publishers. On their way, they meet up with a fleeing governess who is subsequently murdered. Determined to find the killer, Charlotte and her ...
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Fictionalised Foreign
2008-04-11 00:05:00
An alert from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia for today, April 11:EMSAH Research Seminar - `The Fictionalised Foreign : Charlotte Bronte`s Belgian Novels`presented by Lesa Scholl, PhD Candidate, University of LondonDate: Friday, 11 April 2008Time: 1:00pm - 2:00pmRoom: 437UQ Location: Michie Building (St Lucia)Event InformationDescription: Charlotte Brontë’s Belgian novels, `Villette` (1853) and `The Professor` (1857), work within the conventions and concerns of travel writing to comment on Continental culture for a British readership.This paper addresses the way Brontë constructs these texts as narratives presented by travellers. Lucy Snowe and William Crimsworth are read as critical observers who, like travel writers, present mediated images of the foreign culture for the home readership. I use a postcolonial perspective of translation studies to examine Brontë’s fictional representations of Belgium.About the Presenter:Lesa Scholl is a PhD candidate fro...

Knutsford vs Haworth. The ultimate battle
2008-04-10 18:11:00
According to the Knutsford Guardian we are on the verge of a Gaskell vs Brontë war:The Gaskell Society said the town just needed to do more to promote its links to the story's author."I don't see why it shouldn't be like Haworth, said Judith Rees who runs the Gaskell Society's website."I'm sure there could be something similar done for Elizabeth Gaskell."The Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, West Yorkshire, tells the story of the three sisters - Charlotte, Emily and Anne - who became literary legends, and welcomes about 90,000 visitors every year.Knutsford has failed to capitalise as much on its links to Mrs Gaskell.But Mrs Rees believes the town could offer even more to visitors than Haworth does.However, she said Knutsford would have to forge better links to the author's former home - Plymouth Grove - in Manchester."People could easily get from here to see that," she said.Hundreds of people visited Plymouth Grove after Cranford attracted almost eight million viewers for ...
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April Theatre
2008-04-10 17:36:00
Three local newspapers announce upcoming performances of Brontë-related plays:The Huntingdon Town Crier talks about Jane Eyre - A Musical Drama which we assume is the Gordon & Caird's version):This month the ever-popular St Ives Musical Amateur Dramatic Society (SIMADS) will stage a musical adaptation of the much-loved classical novel by Charlotte Bronte - 'Jane Eyre'.The production, which will take place at the St Ivo Recreation Centre in the Burgess Hall, St Ives, from April 23 to April 28, is a dramatic first in East Anglia and has been adapted in a style not wholly dissimilar to 'Les Miserables'.A spokesperson for SIMADS said the production is the most challenging undertaken by the society with a completely new approach to staging, lighting and sound.However, everyone involved is proud, excited and looking forward to the opening night.There will be a nightly performance, starting at 7.30pm, with a 2pm matinee on the Saturday.Tickets are available from Metamorphosis box...
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Manly Leaders
2008-04-10 00:02:00
More Brontës in recently published scholar books:Manly Leaders in Nineteenth-Century British LiteratureDaniela Garofalo, SUNY PressSUNY series, Studies in the Long Nineteenth CenturyRelease Date: March 2008ISBN13: 978-0-7914-7357-3Examines fantasies of charismatic, virile leaders in British literature from the 1790s to the 1840s.From the 1790s to the 1840s, the fear that Britain had become too effeminate to protect itself against the anarchic forces unleashed by the French Revolution produced in many British writers of the period a desire to portray strong leaders who could control the democratic and commercial forces of modernization. While it is commonplace in Romantic studies to emphasize that Romantic writers are interested in the solitary genius or hero who separates himself from the community to pursue his own creative visions, Daniela Garofalo argues instead that Romantic and early Victorian writers are interested in charismatic males—military heroes, tyrants, kings, and c...

Mr Rochester's moral superiority?
2008-04-09 14:10:00
The Times re-examines the eternal debate, that is, do (female) looks matter? Jane Eyre of course is always a handy example: Where the plain are allowed to exist (Jane Eyre, Northanger Abbey) there is, alas, often a whiff of disingenous Ugly Betty-itis. It's implicitly clear that Jane and Mr Rochester's unflashy looks are a manifestation of some kind of moral superiority. Either way, looks have become a battleground. (Lisa Armstrong)Really, we wonder where in the book Rochester displays 'some kind of moral superiority'. If anything, the exact opposite could be said of him: trying to commit bigamy, taking on lovers, trying to persuade Jane to stay... yes, all of that is highly moral. Don't get us wrong, we are not saying here that Rochester is necessarily bad (as he himself says, he could easily have got rid of Bertha by locking her up somewhere cold and humid and not catering for her at all), only that he is not morally superior either by his - and Jane's - own admission.Someth...
More About: Superiority , Moral

Jane Eyre read by Juliet Mills - a review
2008-04-09 00:05:00
The staff at Blackstone Audio were so kind as to provide us with a copy of their Jane Eyre audiobook, read by Juliet Mills.Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc.; Unabridged edition (February 1, 2008) Language: English ISBN-10: 143320956X ISBN-13: 978-1433209567 Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 5.4 x 1.9 inches 16 CD LIBRARY 1-4332-1355-7 $120.00 16 CD RETAIL 1-4332-0956-7 $29.95Jane Eyre is available in all sorts of formats and versions: films, comics, paintings, music, plays, handbags, etc. Yet what about the unabridged and untouched novel read by a British female voice? Now this was a new thing for BrontëBlog, apart from a few samples.Juliet Mills does a brilliant job(1). At first, however, and this might vary from listener to listener, it caught us unawares. We should have known what to expect yet we were expecting to hear a younger voice read that famous first sentence, 'There was no possibility of taking a walk that day'. But not to worry, Juliet Mills's flexible, musical, soo...
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Wuthering Heights is not for the sleep-deprived
2008-04-08 17:03:00
Time Out London publishes an interesting article where Justine Picardie guides us through some of the London sights related to Daphne du Maurier's childhood:Cleverly, Picardie builds this disjunction into her potent, pulse-quickening novel, which works both as homage and as a distillation of a longstanding obsession. One half, set in the present day, tracks the intellectual oppression by her academic husband of a young student as she attempts to write a PhD on Daphne. The other is a fictionalised biography of the novelist which pivots on a particularly dramatic point in her life. 'In 1957, Daphne was close to a breakdown,' Picardie explains. "Her husband, Tommy, had actually had a breakdown and was also having an affair, and I found a reference in a letter to her feeling as if she was being haunted by the ghost of Rebecca.' In a bid to stabilise herself, Daphne threw herself into researching a biography of Branwell Brontë, determined to give the drunken wastrel the credit she f...
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Daphne walked with a zombie
2008-04-08 00:03:00
A couple of alerts for today, April 8.1. In London:Justine Picardie, DaphneWATERSTONE'S HAMPSTEADTuesday, 8 April 2008, 7:00PM - 8:00PMTickets £3, available from the shop and redeemable against purchase of the promoted title on the nightJustine Picardie discusses her extraordinary new novel of a double haunting. A young PhD student in present-day Hampstead struggles with her new marriage and the ghost of du Maurier. In 1957, Daphne, despairing as she witnesses her husband’s mental breakdown, begins to feel the malevolent presence of her most famous creation, Rebecca…2. In Los Angeles, California:UCLA's Hammer MuseumTuesday, Apr 8, 7pmHammer ScreeningsI Walked with a Zombie (1943)Legendary horror producer Val Lewton teams with director Jacques Tourneur (Cat People) to retell Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. A Canadian nurse (Frances Dee) is hired to take care of the lifeless wife of a plantation owner. Resorting to voodoo in order to find a cure, she soon realizes the terrifyi...

Bela Lugosi as Heathcliff
2008-04-07 16:35:00
Let's begin this post talking about two new books. First, the Burlington Free Press has brought to our attention Women's Worlds: The McGraw-Hill Anthology of Women's Writing. And you guessed corrently, the Brontës are definitely in it: The volume includes well-known authors such as the Bronte sisters and novelist Virginia Woolf, poet Elizabeth Bishop and short-story writer Alice Munro. It contains work by writers many people have never heard of, but probably should have. (Sally Pollak)According to the table of contents this is the Brontë material to be found therein: Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855; England)[We wove a web in childhood]Library of Women’s Literature: Jane EyreEmily Brontë (1818–1848; England)A.G.A: To the BluebellSong [O between distress and pleasure]Love and Friendship[Shall Earth no more inspire thee]A.G. to G.S.To Imagination[No coward soul is mine]Anne Brontë (1820–1849; England)The Narrow WayAs well as bit on Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea.Soft Skull ...
More About: Heathcliff

Written on the Body in Alabama
2008-04-07 15:12:00
Two newspapers from the University of Alabama echo the news that Dance COLEctive- with their Written on the Body - will be there today and tomorrow. Today, April 7, a lecture-demonstration - open to the public -takes place at the Morgan Auditorium at 7pm. And tomorrow, at the same venue, a free public performance will be held at 7:30 pm.From the University of Alabama News:The Dance COLEctive, a top contemporary company from Chicago, will present two days of master classes and lectures culminating in a free public performance of its seminal work, “Written on the Body,” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 8, at The University of Alabama’s Morgan Auditorium.The Dance COLEctive is presenting “Dance COLEctive Southeast Tour – Tuscaloosa,” a collaboration between the company and UA’s department of theatre and dance. The company’s artistic director, Margi Cole, is a graduate of the Alabama School of Fine Arts and has served as a guest choreographer and teacher with the Alabama Ball...
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Suggestions for the Classical Comics Jane Eyre
2008-04-07 00:05:00
Karen from Classical Comics recently e-mailed us concerning the forthcoming edition of Jane Eyre (September 2008):One thing you (or your bloggers) may be able to help with.We are putting together the information pages for the book, and wondered if there were any specific image that you felt to be iconic, or perhaps under used/rare that we should include?Suggestions always welcomed.As are ideas for topic heading for those pages.For instance, with Macbeth we covered the real Mac Bethad, his family tree, Scotland in the 11th century, that sort of thing.As we understand it, it can be about either Jane Eyre, the Brontës or their background, something you feel that ought to be featured in the information pages. It's a great opportunity to speak your mind concerning what you'd love to see in this kind of book.Leave your suggestions in the comments of this post or send them to us at bronteblog (AT) gmail (DOT) com. Karen said we had until the end of April to send them to her so you may y...

Jane Eyre faces them all
2008-04-06 13:45:00
Rachel Cooke cekebrates in The Guardian the Virago Modern Classics 30th anniversary. An interesting article that includes a reference to Showalter's study on women's writing (from Brontë to Lessing, you know):It was not hard to find other suitable books. 'The world came to my door. Bookshops would ring, and the public, and friends. They were wonderful: Hermione Lee [Goldsmith's professor of English Literature at Oxford University and biographer of Edith Wharton and Willa Cather; Virago publishes Cather and Wharton], Anita Brookner, Angie [Angela Carter], Margaret Drabble... Michael Holroyd [Drabble's husband] suggested Sylvia Townsend Warner.' And when - as if! - these resources were exhausted, there was always Elaine Showalter's ground-breaking study of women's writing from Charlotte Bronte to Doris Lessing, A Literature of Their Own, which Virago published in 1982, after it had come out in the US. 'A tremendous influence. I read every novel in that book: all the Victoria...
More About: Faces , Jane

Charlton Heston. In Memoriam
2008-04-06 13:04:00
American Hollywood legend, Charlton Heston , died yesterday. As reported by Associated Press:Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing "Ben-Hur" and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s, has died. He was 84.The actor died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia at his side, family spokesman Bill Powers said. (...)Film producer Hal B. Wallis ("Casablanca") spotted Heston in a 1950 television production of "Wuthering Heights" and offered him a contract. (See Note below) (Bob Thomas)Therefore, Charlton Heston is also present in the history of the Brontë adaptations as one of the few actors who has played both Rochester and Heathcliff:Westinghouse Studio One: Jane EyreDirector: Franklin J. SchaffnerWriters: Sumner Locke Elliott (adaptation)Original Air Date: 12 December 1949 (Season 2, Episode 14)Episode Credited cast Charlton Heston ... Edward RochesterMary Malone .....
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Brontë exhibitions
2008-04-06 00:05:00
Several exhibitions across Europe feature Brontë connections:In London:Francis Kyle Gallery9 Maddox Street, Mayfair, London, W1S 2QEJohn Fisher: Writers' Rooms III18 March - 17 April 2008For his third series of Writers' Rooms, John Fisher has been working over the past two years in four countries, refining his response to the character of houses which once were homes of some of his favourite writers and composers. Often drawn first to the working desks, studies or libraries of his subjects, he was also attracted sometimes by other areas such as bedrooms, which may have nurtured dreams and musings, as well as drawing- and dining-rooms where echoes may still be caught of conversation among family and friends. (...)For the last groups of works in the exhibition, painted at the Brontë family parsonage at Haworth in West Yorkshire, Fisher has chosen to digress, untypically, from his focus on interiors subjects only, as the surrounding countryside seemed to play so la...
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Spock, Wonder Woman and Jane Eyre
2008-04-05 12:34:00
How to begin an article about how and when to explain your little secrets to the person you are dating? You guess it, the madwoman in the attic is the choice of The Examiner:So maybe Mr. Rochester should have admitted to Jane Eyre early on that he had a crazy wife living in his attic. She might have decided to date other people. Seems all of us have a skeleton or two in our life’s closet, but when’s the best time to trot them out in a new relationship? After one month? Three months? On Halloween? (Dan Collins & Joan Allen)Today we find in the news curious Brontë mentions in lists: TidBits includes Jane Eyre among literary introvert characters:[I]n fiction (Batman, Jane Eyre, Dr. Jean Gray, Harry Potter, Mr. Spock ). (Joe Kissell)And Cinematical pairs her with Wonder Woman : Or maybe a fictional heroines from Wonder Woman to Jane Eyre. (Monika Bartyzel)TVScoop informs that on tonight's episode of ITV1's sitcom Benidorm there is a Wuthering Heights (Kate Bush's not Emily's)...

Jane Eyre Storybook Home Journal
2008-04-05 00:25:00
We present today a recent issue of The Storybook Home Journal (Al Young Studios) devoted to Jane Eyre:Vol. 8 No. 2 - Jane Eyre (February 2008)$7 USD - Includes Domestic ShippingFeatures Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Full color issue containing 24 pages with 105 illustrations. 8 articles. 8.5 in. x 11 in. booklet.Product No.: 3.24.0143.010Articles In This Issue Storybook Decorating: Domestic Pleasures and Household JoysRecreating the beauty of Moor House through "pleasure cleaning." The Hearth: Fetch Me Your PortfolioHow to make an exquisite artist’s portfolio to carry a range of treasures.The Kitchen: A Share in Our RepastRecipes for creating British tarts plundered by Jane Eyre from the larder. The Music Box: Delighted in ListeningA listening list of mood pieces perfect for a wintry afternoon. The Garden: Under the HedgesCreating your own "Thornfield" hedge. The Workshops: A Small Latticed WindowInspiration for a casement and stained glass window that Jane Eyre might have “...

Colin Farrell, carriages and Jane Eyre as a Furniture Salesman
2008-04-04 14:26:00
Some rumorology about the latest Wuthering Heights project (the Ecosse Films production directed by John Maybury). The Daily Mail says:There's a lot of interest in playing Heathcliff in the big-screen Wuthering Heights that John Maybury is preparing to direct this autumn.I gather he has met Colin Farrell , Dominic Cooper and Sam Riley, but no decisions have been made. Maybury has the film The Edge Of Love coming out, with Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller giving top performances, but neither will be in Wuthering Heights. (Baz Bamigboye)Keighley News reports another initiative to promote the tourism in the region: advertisement Vivid images of tourist attractions in Keighley and Bronte Country are to be emblazoned on a pair of railway carriages.Members of the Bronte Country Partnership (BCP) were told last Wednesday that Northern Rail has made two carriages available to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway (KWVR).Once they have been decorated, they should ad...
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Loving but frustratingly flawed tribute
2008-04-04 12:03:00
The Daily Herald reviews the ongoing performances of Polly Teale's Brontë by the Remy Bummpo Company in Chicago. It's not a very positive review but includes an interesting video of the production:Polly Teale weaving historical fact with literary fiction in her play "Brontë" will no doubt delight fans of sisters Charlotte ("Jane Eyre") and Emily ("Wuthering Heights"). That, plus the match-the-character-to-its-real-life-coun terpart, combined with a glimpse of the lesser known Brontë siblings: sister Anne, also a writer, and brother Branwell, a minor painter, should keep Brontë aficionados entertained.But it's unlikely Teale's earnest but problematic bio-drama will satisfy theater-lovers. James Bohnen's U.S. premiere for Remy Bumppo Theatre is competent and well-acted. "Brontë's" main problems rest with contrived storytelling that too often pulls us out of the action. The play finds its footing in the more straightforward second act. But that can't quite make up for a tedi...
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Brontë Society Literary Lunch 2008
2008-04-04 00:03:00
An alert from the Brontë Society for this weekend. The annual Brontë Society Literary Lunch :Brontë Society Literary Lunch:Stratford-upon-Avonby kind invitation of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.Friday 4 April: 6: 30 PmDr Paul Edmondson, Director of Education at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, talks about Merchant of Venice. Venue: The Shakespeare Centre, Henley Street.Saturday 5 April: Literary Lunch at The Shakespeare Centre11.30 am Literary Lunch Lecture. Speaker: Dr Paula Byrne (in the picture)Best selling author of Perdita, the life of Mary Robinson (chosen by Richard and Judy bookclub) and Jane Austen and the theatre ('best book on Jane Austen' - The Spectator) will speak on Juvenilia in women's writing.7.15 pm Merchant of Venice, The Courtyard TheatreSunday 6 April Visit to Charlecote House (National Trust)Categories: Brontë Society, Talks
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Floating in the Eyre
2008-04-03 18:20:00
Let's begin with some dance news. Written on the Body by the COLective Dance Company is performed today and tomorrow in Huntsville as we can read in The Huntsville Times:Margi Cole, the artistic director of the Chicago-based modern dance company the Dance COLEctive, looked into the world of literature for her latest production, "Written on the Body."The piece, which uses images of power, strength and intimacy, is based on the lives of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte.The Victorian sisters penned such classic books as "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights." But, because of the time period, the sisters wrote under male pseudonyms." 'Written on the Body' is an exploration of the masculine side of the sisters," Cole said.The Dance COLEctive will present "Written on the Body" today and Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Arts Center, 2211 Seminole Drive. Tickets are $12.The Dance COLEctive will be joined by local musician Phil Weaver. (Jon Busdeker)On the Flying Monkey Arts Center'...
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Branwell and Halifax
2008-04-03 17:37:00
The Halifax Evening Courier devotes an article to the history of the Woolshops area of Halifax and there's a reference to Branwell's visits to the city: The whole area was relatively poor yet The Square – originally Caygill's Square – had some of the earliest brick-built houses in Halifax, probably of the late 18th century, housing doctors, solicitors and and wealthy professional people.One of the houses was connected to the early printing of a Halifax newspaper; another housed a famous sculpture and another was said to have entertained Branwell Bronte. (Bill Clay)We don't know if the author is thinking in The Talbot or the Old Cock Inn (it's more likely to be the latter) but browsing through the journal's archives we have found this other recent article (last December) that somehow we failed to report:IF there was any link between John "Almighty" Whiteley, of Sowerby, and the Brontes ("Spookier and spookier: Ghostly goings-on linked with John Almighty", by Allan Kenny, No...