He can be seen in various BBC online videos, for example this one from The One Show.
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
New president announced
This Saturday, the current President of the Brontë Society, Rebecca Fraser, chaired the Annual General Meeting for the last time. A popular and approachable figure at the annual June Weekends for the past seven years, she has now stepped down. It was announced that Brontë Society Council has just invited the actor, entertainer, ex-MP and television presenter Gyles Brandreth to be the new president, and that he has accepted.
He can be seen in various BBC online videos, for example this one from The One Show.
He can be seen in various BBC online videos, for example this one from The One Show.
Sunday, 8 June 2008
Heather Glen in Haworth
The title of the annual lecture at 11am on Saturday was The Originality of Wuthering Heights. It was given by Heather Glen, a frequent visitor to the Parsonage, who is Professor of English in the University of Cambridge. This is a very brief summary which can not do full justice to a lecture which was fresh, accessible and full of new insights for most of the audience, the obvious product of meticulous research:
She began with a focus on the fact that Emily Brontë is sometimes referred to in various terms as a ‘one-off’, a lone genius who lived in a kind of “rustic ignorance”.
“Emily chose Scott as her hero at the age of nine….there is plenty of evidence in the Juvenilia,” we were told. “She was sharply aware of literary tradition."
There are many connections with Scott’s work – for example the fact that he often uses servant narratives - and Lockwood could be said to be in the Scott tradition to some extent, because of all the “polite, young civilised men” in the Waverley Novels who encounter a rude, uncivilised world, from which they eventually learn something. Lockwood, however, learns nothing: “Emily had nothing of Scott’s geniality, his sense of the ultimate triumph of civilised values….she was more racy than Scott….Wuthering Heights ends in ambiguity, not in moral richness…”
In Wuthering Heights, dialogue is used directly, without the intervention of an intervening narrator: “complex emotions and relationships are rendered through dialogue,” a product of Emily’s “precise, imaginative intelligence.”
We were asked to look at the passages printed out for us. The first was from Chapter 9:
I was rocking Hareton on my knee, and humming a song that began:
It was far in the night, and the bairnies grat,
The mither beneath the mools heard that –
When Miss Cathy, who had listened……..etc
This was followed by an extract from ‘The Ghaists Warning’, Appendix to Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake, which began:
…He’s married a may, and he’s fessen her hame
But she was a grim and laidly dame
When into the castell court drave she,
The seven bairns stood wi’ the tear in their ee.
The bairns they stood wi’ dule and dout;-
She up wi’ her foot, and she kicked them out.
Nor ale nor mead to the Bairnies she gave:
“But hunger and hate frae me ye’s have.”
…’Twas lang I’ the night, and the bairnies grat:
Their mither she under the mools heard that;
Etc
This was accompanied (as in the original which Emily would have read), by explanations and glosses, for example:
May maid, fessen fetched, dule sorrow, dout fear, grat wept, mools mould; earth
The story is about threats, revenge and the supernatural. A dead mother returns to her children from her grave because they are crying, a walking corpse which inspires terror and causes the dogs to snarl and howl. One of them is put on her lap and suckled…
“It is about a passion which transcends mortality… think of all the allusions to ballads and ballad motifs……”
With further examples, Heather Glen talked about the ‘leaping and lingering’ techniques which are common to ballads and to Wuthering Heights, where the lingering is on climactic scenes, and there are echoes……think of the first Cathy ‘captured’ until she is well at Thrushcross Grange and the second Cathy held at Wuthering Heights.
The rude, uncivilised world is perceived with the ‘protection’ of glosses, explanations……..and books. What does Lockwood pile against the window when the terrifying child ghost tries to get in?
She began with a focus on the fact that Emily Brontë is sometimes referred to in various terms as a ‘one-off’, a lone genius who lived in a kind of “rustic ignorance”.
“Emily chose Scott as her hero at the age of nine….there is plenty of evidence in the Juvenilia,” we were told. “She was sharply aware of literary tradition."
There are many connections with Scott’s work – for example the fact that he often uses servant narratives - and Lockwood could be said to be in the Scott tradition to some extent, because of all the “polite, young civilised men” in the Waverley Novels who encounter a rude, uncivilised world, from which they eventually learn something. Lockwood, however, learns nothing: “Emily had nothing of Scott’s geniality, his sense of the ultimate triumph of civilised values….she was more racy than Scott….Wuthering Heights ends in ambiguity, not in moral richness…”
In Wuthering Heights, dialogue is used directly, without the intervention of an intervening narrator: “complex emotions and relationships are rendered through dialogue,” a product of Emily’s “precise, imaginative intelligence.”
We were asked to look at the passages printed out for us. The first was from Chapter 9:
I was rocking Hareton on my knee, and humming a song that began:
It was far in the night, and the bairnies grat,
The mither beneath the mools heard that –
When Miss Cathy, who had listened……..etc
This was followed by an extract from ‘The Ghaists Warning’, Appendix to Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake, which began:
…He’s married a may, and he’s fessen her hame
But she was a grim and laidly dame
When into the castell court drave she,
The seven bairns stood wi’ the tear in their ee.
The bairns they stood wi’ dule and dout;-
She up wi’ her foot, and she kicked them out.
Nor ale nor mead to the Bairnies she gave:
“But hunger and hate frae me ye’s have.”
…’Twas lang I’ the night, and the bairnies grat:
Their mither she under the mools heard that;
Etc
This was accompanied (as in the original which Emily would have read), by explanations and glosses, for example:
May maid, fessen fetched, dule sorrow, dout fear, grat wept, mools mould; earth
The story is about threats, revenge and the supernatural. A dead mother returns to her children from her grave because they are crying, a walking corpse which inspires terror and causes the dogs to snarl and howl. One of them is put on her lap and suckled…
“It is about a passion which transcends mortality… think of all the allusions to ballads and ballad motifs……”
With further examples, Heather Glen talked about the ‘leaping and lingering’ techniques which are common to ballads and to Wuthering Heights, where the lingering is on climactic scenes, and there are echoes……think of the first Cathy ‘captured’ until she is well at Thrushcross Grange and the second Cathy held at Wuthering Heights.
The rude, uncivilised world is perceived with the ‘protection’ of glosses, explanations……..and books. What does Lockwood pile against the window when the terrifying child ghost tries to get in?
Friday, 6 June 2008
Beryl Bainbridge in Haworth
Beryl Bainbridge started off the annual June Weekend today, talking to a large audience of Brontë Society members in the West Lane Baptist Church.
She was asked questions by Anne-Marie Sanchez, and finished by reading from her latest, unfinished, novel, provisionally entitled The Girl in the Polka-dot dress. It is set at about the time of the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, allegedly by Sirhan Sirhan, but it is not a straightforward matter in this version, as might be expected.
After talking about events in her childhood and the ways they have entered her fiction, she spoke about her admiration for the Brontës ("they wrote such jolly good stories") and explained why she was writing mainly historical novels at the moment ("because I've now written everything I can about my childhood.......but I still get into my novels....I still put in things from my past..") and revealed that four months is her normal gestation period.
"There's no need to make anything up - ever," was her parting message.
Tomorrow's events include a lecture by Heather Glen, a church service, the AGM and a panel discussion.
Below, Ann-Marie Sanchez and Beryl Bainbridge:
Saturday, 24 May 2008
Parsonage director to leave
Alan Bentley (pictured) writes:
I am leaving the Bronte Society on the 31st May to work freelance and to develop my consultancy business. It is sad to be leaving after seven highly enjoyable years and I hope it will not be the end of my association with the Brontë Society and the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
I am sure that with the redevelopment of the exhibition room and the extra media interest which will follow next year's adaptations of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre and the possible Brontë movie, coupled with the continuing development of the contemporary arts and education programmes, the Society will continue to go from strength to strength.
Monday, 19 May 2008
Elmet exhibition
Today, the Parsonage opens a special exhibition of photographs by Fay Godwin from her collaboration with Ted Hughes, Elmet. The evocative photographs of the local landscape will be displayed in the period rooms until 25 July 2008.
The photographs, on loan from the British Library, include images of the landscape that inspired the Brontës.
Elmet, published by Faber and Faber in 1994, is a revised and expanded version of Remains of Elmet, a celebration of places where the poet spent the first seven years of his childhood published in 1979. Hughes added several poems and left out others. The sequence is different as well. Hughes was unhappy with some of the poem-photo links in the first edition.
Below, Top Withins:
The photographs, on loan from the British Library, include images of the landscape that inspired the Brontës.
Elmet, published by Faber and Faber in 1994, is a revised and expanded version of Remains of Elmet, a celebration of places where the poet spent the first seven years of his childhood published in 1979. Hughes added several poems and left out others. The sequence is different as well. Hughes was unhappy with some of the poem-photo links in the first edition.
Below, Top Withins:
Monday, 5 May 2008
Pootering around in the churchyard
An activity day for families entitled Chaffinches and Churchyards was held today at the Parsonage Museum.
Spring was in the air this May bank holiday at the Parsonage. Families were offered a day of outdoor activities… with a difference. After children had visited the home where the Brontë family grew up, they all took special Discovery Bags and went to meet the inhabitants of Haworth Churchyard. Not the ghosts but some of the varied plants and creatures that like to call the churchyard home. The museum’s education officer Susan Newby, who ran the activities, said, “As well as being really interesting places to explore historically, churchyards can be a haven to a surprising range of species, all coming alive at this time of year. It was great to have a dig around and to see what turned up!”
In each bag was a pooter (yes, a real word!) to catch a mini beast and a ‘bug viewer’ to see it magnified. This was followed by drawing sessions - and grave rubbing when the churchyard trail was followed.
susan.newby@bronte.org.uk
Below, two enthusiasts:
Spring was in the air this May bank holiday at the Parsonage. Families were offered a day of outdoor activities… with a difference. After children had visited the home where the Brontë family grew up, they all took special Discovery Bags and went to meet the inhabitants of Haworth Churchyard. Not the ghosts but some of the varied plants and creatures that like to call the churchyard home. The museum’s education officer Susan Newby, who ran the activities, said, “As well as being really interesting places to explore historically, churchyards can be a haven to a surprising range of species, all coming alive at this time of year. It was great to have a dig around and to see what turned up!”
In each bag was a pooter (yes, a real word!) to catch a mini beast and a ‘bug viewer’ to see it magnified. This was followed by drawing sessions - and grave rubbing when the churchyard trail was followed.
susan.newby@bronte.org.uk
Below, two enthusiasts:
Remembering Patrick Brontë
Imelda Marsden writes:
The 7th June 1861 was the date Rev Patrick Brontë died. The BrontëSociety is holding its usual June weekend church service at St Michaels and All Angels, Haworth on the 7th June 2008.
Patrick is not mentioned on the member's leaflet about the church service. However, Sir James Roberts is mentioned, for we do not decry the generous gift of the Parsonage to the Brontë Society for use as a museum in 1928 - eighty years ago. An interesting fact about the Brontë Society AGM in 1927 held at Healds Hall, Liversedge, is that it was put to members that a fundraising effort was needed to purchase Haworth's Church Parsonage as the current museum was becoming too small.
The Church trustees were looking for a price of £3000 to build a new parsonage home for the vicar. Sadly some of the founder members of the Society, who worked very hard putting a lot of time and effort in to establish the Society and the first Brontë museum, did not live to see the Brontë museum move to the Parsonage in August 1928.
Next year, it will be 200 years since Rev Patrick Brontë came to Dewsbury as a curate and it is hoped the Society will acknowledge this fact. Mr W W Yates who was a prime instigator in setting up the Brontë Society and its first museum was on the Society's Council, and at one time, its chairman: one of his daughter's, Anna, was also on the Council. Both worked for the Dewsbury Reporter newspaper and are buried at Dewsbury Minster where their gravestones are still standing.
Sunday, 27 April 2008
Brussels Brontë Weekend 18-20 April
Helen MacEwan writes:
It's been a long cold winter in Brussels but the sun finally came out in time for our guided walk around Brontë places, led by Derek Blyth, during the second spring weekend of events organised by the recently-formed Brussels branch to mark Charlotte Brontë's birthday.
This year Robert Barnard joined us from Leeds in the UK to take part in a meeting with writers in Waterstone's and also in the all-day conference on Les Soeurs Brontë à Bruxelles organised by a public library, which to our surprise was inaugurated by the Mayor of Brussels, who switched effortlessly between French, Dutch and English.
Eric Ruijssenaars and Maureen Peeck O'Toole, who also spoke at the weekend's events, joined us too, together with other members from the Netherlands, France and the Czech Republic.
For some gourmets the high point of the weekend was a Victorian dinner arranged by the conference organisers to round off a long day.
Pictured below:
Place du Musée near Chapelle Royale, Protestant church where Charlotte and Emily worshipped.
The guided walk, with Derek Blyth
Writers in Waterstones – with Robert Barnard
The Mayor of Brussels, Freddy Thielemans, inaugurating the Bronte conference organised by one of the main Brussels public libraries.
Eric Ruijssenaars speaking at the conference - with photo of Belliard steps down to rue Isabelle and the Pensionnat Heger
See link to Brussels group on the right.
It's been a long cold winter in Brussels but the sun finally came out in time for our guided walk around Brontë places, led by Derek Blyth, during the second spring weekend of events organised by the recently-formed Brussels branch to mark Charlotte Brontë's birthday.
This year Robert Barnard joined us from Leeds in the UK to take part in a meeting with writers in Waterstone's and also in the all-day conference on Les Soeurs Brontë à Bruxelles organised by a public library, which to our surprise was inaugurated by the Mayor of Brussels, who switched effortlessly between French, Dutch and English.
Eric Ruijssenaars and Maureen Peeck O'Toole, who also spoke at the weekend's events, joined us too, together with other members from the Netherlands, France and the Czech Republic.
For some gourmets the high point of the weekend was a Victorian dinner arranged by the conference organisers to round off a long day.
Pictured below:
Place du Musée near Chapelle Royale, Protestant church where Charlotte and Emily worshipped.
The guided walk, with Derek Blyth
Writers in Waterstones – with Robert Barnard
The Mayor of Brussels, Freddy Thielemans, inaugurating the Bronte conference organised by one of the main Brussels public libraries.
Eric Ruijssenaars speaking at the conference - with photo of Belliard steps down to rue Isabelle and the Pensionnat Heger
See link to Brussels group on the right.
Thursday, 24 April 2008
Behind the scenes tours
Director Alan Bentley writes:
There will soon be chances to see behind the scenes at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, by taking advantage of a new 'special tour' scheme.
The first two will take place on 3 May and 24 May, with more dates to be announced shortly.
Get a new view of the story of the Brontë Family! Your guide will try to give you a special insight into the lives of the Brontës, and an understanding of why they still inspire people today.
The tour will culminate in a visit to the Parsonage Library, with a chance to view at close quarters a selection of items from the Brontë Society’s collections
Tours are restricted to a maximum of twelve people.
9.45 - meet your guide for a short introduction to the house and the surrounding features
10.00 - tour of the house with your guide
11.15 - visit to the Library and opportunity to view selected items from the collection.
11.45 - end of tour and your opportunity to go back to view the house at your leisure or visit the exhibition in the Old School Room opposite the Museum.
All this is being offered for the special introductory price of £12.95 per head. Unfortunately we are not able to offer reductions for children or concessions. There will be a minimum number on each tour of six people.
Pre-booking is essential. Call 01535 642323 to do it!
There will soon be chances to see behind the scenes at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, by taking advantage of a new 'special tour' scheme.
The first two will take place on 3 May and 24 May, with more dates to be announced shortly.
Get a new view of the story of the Brontë Family! Your guide will try to give you a special insight into the lives of the Brontës, and an understanding of why they still inspire people today.
The tour will culminate in a visit to the Parsonage Library, with a chance to view at close quarters a selection of items from the Brontë Society’s collections
Tours are restricted to a maximum of twelve people.
9.45 - meet your guide for a short introduction to the house and the surrounding features
10.00 - tour of the house with your guide
11.15 - visit to the Library and opportunity to view selected items from the collection.
11.45 - end of tour and your opportunity to go back to view the house at your leisure or visit the exhibition in the Old School Room opposite the Museum.
All this is being offered for the special introductory price of £12.95 per head. Unfortunately we are not able to offer reductions for children or concessions. There will be a minimum number on each tour of six people.
Pre-booking is essential. Call 01535 642323 to do it!
Jane Eyre "progressing well"
Classical Comics reports that Jane Eyre is progressing well. Sample pages can be seen below. Click on an image to enlarge it.
These are described as "still rough in terms of lettering" ........judge for yourself.
There is the possibility of a display at the Parsonage at the end of the year or in early 2009.
The company welcomes your comments, of course.
These are described as "still rough in terms of lettering" ........judge for yourself.
There is the possibility of a display at the Parsonage at the end of the year or in early 2009.
The company welcomes your comments, of course.
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
A little piece of history
There has been a rush to get hold of a slice of a tree said to be planted by Charlotte Brontë as part of her wedding celebrations in 1854. The tree unfortunately had to be felled in January as it had become unsafe.
The trunk is to be made into a sculpture but a limited amount of the wood from the smaller branches has been sliced up and packaged as a limited edition souvenir.
Members have been asked to donate money to the Brontë Society’s conservation fund in return for the package of history and have responded remarkably: in just over a week a thousand pounds has been raised to support the care and conservation of the Society’s collection of Brontë objects.
The limited edition packs have been offered initially to members of the Brontë Society in return for a donation of five pounds or more to the charity. Donations have been flooding in from around the world and include one donation of a hundred pounds.
The Brontës may have been surprised by the interest but they may have understood it. Charlotte was given a fragment of Napoleon’s coffin by her teacher while studying in Brussels. The small piece of wood is now in the Museum collection.
Mr William Callaghan - a Brontë Society member from Oxenhope - was the first to receive his slice of history from Alan Bentley, Director of the Brontë Parsonage Museum. The two men are pictured below.
When it was clear that the tree was sick the Brontë Society had sapling grown from seeds from the Cyprus Pine, and one of these has been planted in the Parsonage garden to replace the original tree.
The trunk is to be made into a sculpture but a limited amount of the wood from the smaller branches has been sliced up and packaged as a limited edition souvenir.
Members have been asked to donate money to the Brontë Society’s conservation fund in return for the package of history and have responded remarkably: in just over a week a thousand pounds has been raised to support the care and conservation of the Society’s collection of Brontë objects.
The limited edition packs have been offered initially to members of the Brontë Society in return for a donation of five pounds or more to the charity. Donations have been flooding in from around the world and include one donation of a hundred pounds.
The Brontës may have been surprised by the interest but they may have understood it. Charlotte was given a fragment of Napoleon’s coffin by her teacher while studying in Brussels. The small piece of wood is now in the Museum collection.
Mr William Callaghan - a Brontë Society member from Oxenhope - was the first to receive his slice of history from Alan Bentley, Director of the Brontë Parsonage Museum. The two men are pictured below.
When it was clear that the tree was sick the Brontë Society had sapling grown from seeds from the Cyprus Pine, and one of these has been planted in the Parsonage garden to replace the original tree.
Thursday, 17 April 2008
BBC Radio 4 and the Brontës
A reminder from Parsonage Director Alan Bentley:
Today at 2.15pm BST -
Afternoon Play - I Believe I Have Genius
This play by Judith Adams (who was Education Officer at the Parsonage a few years ago) is based on the writings and letters of Charlotte Brontë, describing her experiences when she travelled to Brussels, as humble and obscure as the heroines of her later novels.
This should be available to listen to on the BBC website (Listen Again) for the next seven days.
Tomorrow
On Friday 18 April at 15:00 BST
Ramblings - Clare Balding explores routes with connections to the past.
She strides out across the moors behind Haworth in the footsteps of the Brontës with Ann Dinsdale and Judith Bland. They intend to walk to Top Withins, thought to be the inspiration for Wuthering Heights, but they wander a little off course and in doing so forge a much stronger connection to the famous sisters.
Available online at the BBC's Listen Again.
Today at 2.15pm BST -
Afternoon Play - I Believe I Have Genius
This play by Judith Adams (who was Education Officer at the Parsonage a few years ago) is based on the writings and letters of Charlotte Brontë, describing her experiences when she travelled to Brussels, as humble and obscure as the heroines of her later novels.
This should be available to listen to on the BBC website (Listen Again) for the next seven days.
Tomorrow
On Friday 18 April at 15:00 BST
Ramblings - Clare Balding explores routes with connections to the past.
She strides out across the moors behind Haworth in the footsteps of the Brontës with Ann Dinsdale and Judith Bland. They intend to walk to Top Withins, thought to be the inspiration for Wuthering Heights, but they wander a little off course and in doing so forge a much stronger connection to the famous sisters.
Available online at the BBC's Listen Again.
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Brontë Exhibition in Brussels
Helen MacEwan writes:
One of the main Brussels public libraries, Bibliothèque Riches Claires, has organised an excellent exhibition on Charlotte and Emily Brontë's stay in Brussels in 1842-43. This is an initiative of the chief librarian, who had the idea after reading Brontë Society member Eric Ruijssenaars' books on this subject.
The library, with assistance from the Brussels Brontë Group, is also organising a conference on Saturday 19 April with six speakers including Robert Barnard and a member of the Heger family.
The organisers agreed to time the exhibition and conference to coincide with the Brussels Brontë Group's annual weekend of events.
This is an opportunity to see a lot of interesting pictures, photos and books on Brussels in the period of the Brontës' stay and to find out more about the Quartier Isabelle and the Pensionnat Heger. There is also plenty of material on the Brontë and Heger families, and a display of Brontë novels and biographies in French from Brussels libraries with Wuthering Heights translated in at least seven different ways!
Exhibition Les Soeurs Brontë à Bruxelles, Bibliothèque des Riches Claires, rue Riches Claires 24, 1000 Brussels, from 10 to 29 April 2008. Exhibition opening hours: Monday to Friday 13.00 to 17.00; Saturday (except for 19 April): 10.00 to 12.00
Details of the conference on 19 April and of the other events taking place can be found on the Brussels Brontë Group website
One of the main Brussels public libraries, Bibliothèque Riches Claires, has organised an excellent exhibition on Charlotte and Emily Brontë's stay in Brussels in 1842-43. This is an initiative of the chief librarian, who had the idea after reading Brontë Society member Eric Ruijssenaars' books on this subject.
The library, with assistance from the Brussels Brontë Group, is also organising a conference on Saturday 19 April with six speakers including Robert Barnard and a member of the Heger family.
The organisers agreed to time the exhibition and conference to coincide with the Brussels Brontë Group's annual weekend of events.
This is an opportunity to see a lot of interesting pictures, photos and books on Brussels in the period of the Brontës' stay and to find out more about the Quartier Isabelle and the Pensionnat Heger. There is also plenty of material on the Brontë and Heger families, and a display of Brontë novels and biographies in French from Brussels libraries with Wuthering Heights translated in at least seven different ways!
Exhibition Les Soeurs Brontë à Bruxelles, Bibliothèque des Riches Claires, rue Riches Claires 24, 1000 Brussels, from 10 to 29 April 2008. Exhibition opening hours: Monday to Friday 13.00 to 17.00; Saturday (except for 19 April): 10.00 to 12.00
Details of the conference on 19 April and of the other events taking place can be found on the Brussels Brontë Group website
Friday, 11 April 2008
Facebook Brontë
Alan Bentley, Director of the Parsonage Museum, writes:
Why not join the Facebook Brontë group?
There are now fifty-four members. The link to the site is here. Of course, you will have to join Facebook.
We are also looking at setting up a Myspace page and are about to tender for a revamp of the main website - www.Bronte.info
Friday, 4 April 2008
Brontë in Chicago
Remy Bumppo Theatre Company presents the American premiere of Brontë, 20 March to 4 May at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theatre, 2257 N Lincoln Ave. Chicago , IL 60614 .
Brontë Parsonage Blog readers are invited to take advantage of a special half price ticket offer for any Friday performance. Contact the company (see below)
This is from the publicity:
How is it possible that three Victorian spinsters, living in isolation on the Yorkshire moors, could have written some of the most powerful and passionate fiction of all time? Polly Teale's inventive drama - directed by James Bohnen - examines the lives of three of the most studied and discussed writers of all time.
Spurred by their brother's tumultuous personal life, Charlotte , Emily and Anne Brontë write from their remote home on the Yorkshire moors. Brontë evokes both the real and fantasy worlds of the Brontës, as the sisters' austere surroundings give way to the boundless power of imagination.
Contact Remy Bumppo
Tomorrow, 5 April, members of the Region 5 American chapter will attend a performance. You might still have time to join the party, in which case please contact the Region 5 representative, Dr Margot Peters at margot.peters@charter.net
Below, production shot of Heathcliff and Cathy:
Brontë Parsonage Blog readers are invited to take advantage of a special half price ticket offer for any Friday performance. Contact the company (see below)
This is from the publicity:
How is it possible that three Victorian spinsters, living in isolation on the Yorkshire moors, could have written some of the most powerful and passionate fiction of all time? Polly Teale's inventive drama - directed by James Bohnen - examines the lives of three of the most studied and discussed writers of all time.
Spurred by their brother's tumultuous personal life, Charlotte , Emily and Anne Brontë write from their remote home on the Yorkshire moors. Brontë evokes both the real and fantasy worlds of the Brontës, as the sisters' austere surroundings give way to the boundless power of imagination.
Contact Remy Bumppo
Tomorrow, 5 April, members of the Region 5 American chapter will attend a performance. You might still have time to join the party, in which case please contact the Region 5 representative, Dr Margot Peters at margot.peters@charter.net
Below, production shot of Heathcliff and Cathy:
Friday, 28 March 2008
April in Brussels
For information on the forthcoming Brussels Brontë Weekend (18 to 20 April) please scroll down a little and click on the link on the right for the Brussels group. All you need to know is there.
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
The Brontës: Revisiting Inner Space
This one-day conference is on 28 March, organised by l'Université Toulouse II-le Mirail, France (see previous post), with Catherine Lanone, Laurence Talairach-Vielmas and Charlotte Borie as directors.
This is the conference's introductory statement:
Much has been said about the way in which Charlotte and Emily Brontë transposed the Gothic sense of enclosure and located alienation within the domestic constraints imposed upon women. This colloquium aims to study the ways in which the sisters negotiate the boundaries of self and society and (re)locate or conceal intimacy, especially through the tropes of sincerity and theatricality.
Interest may range from the way in which they create a visual world of their own in the juvenilia, pictures, poems, letters or novels— not to mention the essays written in Belgium, which obey and challenge the constraints of form and language.
Particular attention may be paid to the function of embedded pictures or theatrical moments within the novels, reflecting or challenging the way in which the narrative voice represents the self. The dialectical play on mask and revelation may be connected with wider cultural debates and issues, possibly focusing on the way in which the private self may be exposed through
transpositions, from the Victorian performances of Jane Eyre on stage discussed by Patsy Stoneman to twentieth-century rewritings.
This is the conference's introductory statement:
Much has been said about the way in which Charlotte and Emily Brontë transposed the Gothic sense of enclosure and located alienation within the domestic constraints imposed upon women. This colloquium aims to study the ways in which the sisters negotiate the boundaries of self and society and (re)locate or conceal intimacy, especially through the tropes of sincerity and theatricality.
Interest may range from the way in which they create a visual world of their own in the juvenilia, pictures, poems, letters or novels— not to mention the essays written in Belgium, which obey and challenge the constraints of form and language.
Particular attention may be paid to the function of embedded pictures or theatrical moments within the novels, reflecting or challenging the way in which the narrative voice represents the self. The dialectical play on mask and revelation may be connected with wider cultural debates and issues, possibly focusing on the way in which the private self may be exposed through
transpositions, from the Victorian performances of Jane Eyre on stage discussed by Patsy Stoneman to twentieth-century rewritings.
Daphne
On Friday 18 April
at 7.30pm, at the Parsonage, Justine Picardie will be reading from her new novel Daphne
and discussing the Brontës and Daphne Du Maurier with Du Maurier's
eldest daughter Lady Tessa Montgomery.
This event includes champagne and canapes and a special opportunity to view rarely seen Branwell Brontë manuscripts once owned by Du Maurier. £10 - Tickets in advance (£10) from jenna.holmes@ bronte.org. uk/
See Kazam Media News
This event includes champagne and canapes and a special opportunity to view rarely seen Branwell Brontë manuscripts once owned by Du Maurier. £10 - Tickets in advance (£10) from jenna.holmes@ bronte.org. uk/
See Kazam Media News
Monday, 10 March 2008
Conference in Toulouse
Charlotte Borie writes:
At the University of Toulouse, we have created a website to promote a one-day conference on 28 March.
We invite everyone to take a look at it here.
At the University of Toulouse, we have created a website to promote a one-day conference on 28 March.
We invite everyone to take a look at it here.
Kosminsky's Wuthering Heights
Peter Kosminsky’s 1992 adaptation of Wuthering Heights stars Sinead O’Connor as Emily Brontë and Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche as Heathcliff and Cathy. It will be shown at 7.45pm at the West Lane Baptist Centre in Haworth on Friday 28 March
With a screenplay by Anne Devlin, Kosminsky’s is the first film adaptation to include the whole of the story. The film has spectacular cinematography by Mike Southon, a wonderful musical score by Ryuichi Sakamoto and the dubious distinction of having been spoofed in the Simpsons: Kamp Krusty.
Tickets are £5/ £3 (under 16s) and should be booked in advance from
jenna.holmes@bronte.org.uk - .
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