Haworth-1940s-weekend

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BBC to dramatise Brontes' lives

The home life of the Brontes will be brought to life in a new BBC1 drama about the literary sisters, written and directed by Last Tango In Halifax author Sally Wainwright. ( I love this series.)

The one-off, two-hour drama will follow Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte's relationship with each other and their brother Branwell, who in the last three years of his life was plagued by alcoholism and drug addiction. To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters will be filmed in and around Yorkshire, where the most famous sisters of English literature lived. Casting is yet to be announced for the drama, described as "an original perspective on the Bronte sisters". BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore said: "The Bronte sisters have always been enigmatic but Sally Wainwright's brilliantly authentic new BBC1 drama brings the women behind some of our greatest literary masterpieces to life.
"It's an extraordinary tale of family tragedy and their passion and determination, against the odds, to have their genius recognised in a male 19th century world." Bafta-winning writer Wainwright, whose other credits include TV series Happy Valley, said of the drama: "I am thrilled beyond measure that I've been asked by the BBC to bring to life these three fascinating, talented, ingenious Yorkshire women." The drama explores the siblings' relationship with each other and their self-educated father, who grew up in an impoverished home in rural Ireland and encouraged his children - irrespective of their gender - to become passionate about literature. It also portrays their "increasingly difficult relationship with their brother Branwell, who in the last three years of his life - following a tragically misguided love affair - sank into alcoholism, drug addiction and appalling behaviour". Charlotte, arguably the most talented of the three sisters, died at the age of 38. Her most famous novel, Jane Eyre, was published in 1847 and was an instant success. Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, while Anne, the youngest of the three , penned The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall. expressandstar

The Brontë Society has announced on its website the subject of the 2016 conference.

The Brontë Society is pleased to announce that the 2016 conference will take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday 19 – 21 August 2016 at the Midland Hotel in Manchester.   In 1837 Charlotte Brontë wrote to the Poet Laureate, Robert Southey, for advice on a literary career. He replied that ‘literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life: & it ought not to be’. Our conference in 2016, the first of the three Brontë bicentenaries, takes up the challenge of what might be the ‘proper business of a woman’s life’. The many facets of this subject present a wide range of possible papers both academic and literary, including:

Women’s position in English culture and society in the nineteenth century
Contemporary writing on ‘The Woman Question’
Charlotte Brontë’s own writings on the matter
Her relationship with other women writers
Her literary reputation
Her influence on later feminist movements.
The Keynote Speaker will be Jenny Uglow, OBE.

 The conference weekend will include an optional excursion to The Gaskell House, the home of Charlotte’s friend and biographer, Elizabeth Gaskell, which has recently been opened to the public.
Abstracts for papers (no more than 300 words) should be sent by 28 February, 2016, to:
The Conference Organiser, The Brontë Society
The Brontë Parsonage Museum, Haworth, Keighley BD22 8DR
Successful speakers will be notified by 31 March, 2016.

A tumultuous year for the Brontë Parsonage Museum

Bad news from the Brontë Parsonage Museum as reported by The Yorkshire Post:
Managers at the Bronte Society are confident of boosting visitor admissions to the Parsonage Museum after new figures revealed they dipped to under 70,000 last year.
The year saw a seven per cent drop in admissions from 73,830 in 2013 to 69,503 during a tumultuous 12 months which saw the departure of several key people including director Ann Sumner.
However, the Society claimed the drop in visitors was caused by the late reopening of the Museum following the relocation of the admissions area. Russell Watson, honorary treasurer of the Society, who has written to members ahead of the annual meeting on June 6, said: “The operating income of the Society is heavily dependent on the number of visitors to the Parsonage Museum. In 2014 the Museum did not reopen until the third week in February due to the reconfiguration of the admissions area. “Visitor admissions started slowly after this late opening, although they picked up later in the year.” [...] Finance manager, Clare Dewhirst, is expecting visitors to increase as important bicentenaries approach. She said: “Although the 2014 accounts show a small decline in visitor numbers, this is largely attributable to the fact that we opened later than usual in 2014 due to the improvement and relocation of the admissions area. “Our general admissions income for the year exceeded budget, which was due in part to the increase in visitor participation in the Government Gift Aid scheme. “We look forward to welcoming more visitors to the Museum in the coming months and years ahead as we prepare for the bicentenaries of each of the Bronte siblings.” (Andrew Robinson)
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Brontë Studies. Volume 40, Issue 2

Brontë Studies. Volume 40, Issue 2

Editorial
pp. iii-iv Author: Adams, Amber M.

Found: The ‘Lost’ Portrait of Emily Brontë
pp. 85-103    Author:   Heywood, Christopher
An illustration in The Woman at Home (1894), captioned ‘EMILY BRONTË. From a painting by Charlotte Brontë, hitherto unpublished’, matches an unsigned portrait, recently found in a private collection. The illustration was copied from the portrait of Emily Brontë that was seen in Haworth in 1879 by William Robertson Nicoll (1851–1923), owner and editor of The Woman at Home. A pencilled inscription on the back of the newly found portrait, apparently in Charlotte’s handwriting, reads: ‘Emily Brontë / Sister of Charlotte Bro[nté] / Currer Bell’. In 1908 Nicoll declared in an article that the original portrait had become ‘irrevocably lost’. This article proposes that it has been found. The painter is identified here as the Bradford portrait artist, John Hunter Thompson (1808–90).

The Library at Ponden Hall
pp. 104-149    Author:  Duckett, Bob
Abstract:The long-established Heaton family of Ponden Hall (also known as Ponden House), 2½ miles (4 km) west of Haworth, was important to the people of Haworth, the Brontë family included. This article considers the remarkable library at Ponden Hall to which the Brontës had access. Hitherto, the contents of this library have been known only by a poorly compiled auctioneer’s sale catalogue. An improved version of this catalogue has been compiled. The role of the library in the Brontës’ extensive knowledge of literature, travel and law is considered. An abridged version of this revised catalogue is appended to this article as an appendix.

New buses and a new brand to promote Brontë Country's attractions

There are new buses in Brontë country to help promote the Brontë sights according to Keighley News.

A £210,000 investment in new Brontë branded buses aims to tighten the link between the main route serving the Worth Valley and the area's visitor attractions. Bus firm Transdev in Keighley is rebranding its 500 route between Keighley, Haworth, Oxenhope and Hebden Bridge as the Brontë Bus. It features brand new vehicles with free WiFi and more comfortable seating. The service runs hourly, seven days a week. The company say it will also work with the Brontë Society and Parsonage Museum to help bring the Brontës to the world and the world to Yorkshire. Alex Hornby, Transdev’s managing director, said: “Along with the many things to see and do locally in Haworth and the surrounding area, the bus journey is an attraction in itself with amazing views across the Worth Valley. "We look forward to bringing more visitors into the area and contributing to the growth of the local economy even further.” Rebecca Yorke, marketing and communications officer at Brontë Parsonage Museum, said: The Brontë Bus 500 between Keighley and Hebden Bridge has always been a great way for local residents and visitors to travel to the museum, particularly as part of the route offers such fantastic views of the moors that inspired the Brontës’ famous novels.
“We’re delighted Transdev has decided to rename it the Brontë Bus, especially as we approach our celebrations for the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth next year." (Miran Rahman)

Haworth 1940s weekend 16-17 may

To celebrate Haworth 1940s weekend, we are offering an insight into life at the Parsonage during the wartime years.

Visitors can meet Mrs Mitchell, wife of Custodian Harold Mitchell, and hear about the life of their young son Eric, the last child to be born in the Parsonage, and his 1940s childhood.

Visitors will also have the chance to see our special 1940s display which features a copy of the original screenplay for the 1943 film adaptation of Jane Eyre along with stills and other memorabilia from the 1940s Brontë films.

 

 

The Brontes Film

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Makers of multi-million pound new Bronte film preparing to cast actors to play the remaining members of the famous literary family

by Miran Rahman

THE producers of a major new film about the Bronte family say they soon hope to make further progress on casting actors for the key remaining roles. The film, called The Brontes, is being made by Yorkshire-based Clothworkers Films, and is due to be released in April next year.

 

Actors’ roles are being chosen by casting director Sarah Leung.
One of the actors announced so far is Matthew Lewis, who will play Branwell Bronte. Mr Lewis is well known for playing the part of Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films. Director David Anthony Thomas said he was expecting the rest of the selection process to be complete “within the next few months".
“A lot depends on the dynamics and interplay between the Brontes, both as family members and as chief protagonists, so that's where we've been focusing so far,” he said. “The cast will be announced upon the completion of the casting process. “The level of interest and anticipation has far surpassed our expectations, and it's unusual for a project at an early stage of development to achieve this level of excitement. “It is very encouraging, and we look forward to building on this as we release more news over the coming months. We will be sharing our work with the thousands who've been following our progress so far.” keighleynews

Haworth 1940s weekend

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Letters from Charlotte Brontë to Prof. Constantin Heger

 In 1842 Charlotte and Emily Brontë travelled to Brussels to study at the Pensionnat Heger, a school for young ladies run by Madame Zoë Heger. There the sisters studied French literature under the instruction of Madame’s husband, Constantin Heger. This connection with the dynamic and rigorous Monsieur Heger had the most profound influence on Charlotte Brontë’s life and work.  After Charlotte left the pensionnat on New Year’s Day 1844 she was unable to forget Monsieur Heger. At first she wrote to him every fortnight and then, on Madame Heger’s insistence, she attempted to limit herself to a letter every six months. These letters to Constantin Heger are increasingly unguarded expressions of her torment as she waited for replies that dwindled and then halted altogether.

What language are the letters written in? 

All four surviving letters to Heger are written in French – the language in which he tutored Charlotte – though the post script to the last letter she ever sent him is in English. In her parting words to Heger, she declares that the French language is ‘most precious to me because it reminds me of you – I love French for your sake with all my heart and soul’. Biographer Lyndall Gordon and scholar Sara Dudley Edwards have speculated that writing in a foreign language allowed Brontë the licence to express feelings that she mightn’t have voiced in her native English.

Why were the letters torn up and repaired? 

Of the four remaining letters, three were torn up. The first has been mended with strips of paper; the second and third have been sewn back together; the fourth is intact, though the name and address of a Brussels shoemaker has been scribbled in the margin. Critics have speculated that Monsieur Heger tore up the letters, only for Madame Heger to retrieve them from his wastepaper bin and piece them together again.
 bl.uk/collection-items/letters-from-charlotte-bront-to-prof-constantin-heger

‘I’ll walk where my own nature will be leading’

 

Poem Emily Bronte

 

Discovering Literature: Romantics and Victorians

Discover 1,200 Romantic and Victorian literary treasures, new insights by 60 experts, 25 documentary films, 30 inspirational teachers’ notes and more. Discovering Literature has been supported since its inception by Dr Naim Dangoor CBE, The Exilarch's Foundation

From: .bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians
So when thinking about Wuthering Heights, we should not see it as a novel that simply depicts or belongs to the moors. The final stanza of one of the Brontës’ most celebrated poems (we do not know if it was written Emily or Charlotte) begins ‘I’ll walk where my own nature will be leading’. It is concerned with both an essential human ‘nature’ and an absolute freedom that goes beyond any particular place or time. The speaker’s deep sense of embodiedness and place is seamed with the hope of radical freedom. At the very end of Wuthering Heights, a little shepherd boy who is ‘crying terribly’ tells Nelly that he has seen the dead Heathcliff and Cathy ‘walk’ on the moors (ch. 34). It confirms how they remain simultaneously deeply identified with the landscape and sinister and alien presences within it. Their own deep sense of belonging to the moors is a source of terror and estrangement for others. Belonging is the way not to belong. - See more at: http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/walking-the-landscape-of-wuthering-heights#sthash.vImHr8hH.dpuf

Violent Seizures and Lexic

Violent Seizures and Lexic



 A recent thesis and a paper published in a recent conference:

Privately deviant, publicly disciplined: the violent seizure of female narratives in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, The Woman in White, and Lady Audley’s Secret
Amanda K. Hand, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 2015

In Victorian England, women were subjects within their patriarchal society. What Anne Brontë, Wilkie Collins, Mary Elizabeth Braddon emphasize and “sensationalize” is the subjugated marriage relationship, violently portraying men forcing their wives into submission. Brontë’s Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Collin’s The Woman in White, and Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret provide examples of men attempting to control the women in their lives. These novels deploy moments of violent seizure to dramatize and critique the inequalities inherent in the strict Victorian marriage laws. However, despite this usurpation of the female narrative, the insurgent testimony of the female voice persists in the mind of the reader. This thesis will examine the Sensation genre, focusing on the female narratives within the three novels. It will argue that the female narrative cannot be shut out or stifled. Once it has been released into the world, it must evoke power and create a culture of change.

The Lexical Characteristics of Jane EyreLiu Chunling
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
2015 International Conference on Social Science and Technology Education (ICCSTE 2015)
Atlantis Press
ISBN:  978-94-62520-60-8
  Jane Eyre is a famous masterpiece of Charlotte Brontë. The novel’s literary achievement is immortal, especially the brilliant language. The description not only brings readers aesthetic pleasure but also hint the fate and emotion of characters. Charlotte’s original description forming a colorful picture makes Jane’s image more perfect and vivid and drives readers to search more for the beauty of the novel and the life. Moreover, Charlotte endows words with indefinite sense and deep connotation. This thesis aims to explore the lexical characteristics on the theory of linguistics.

I’m working to help diversify membership and bring on younger members - local, regional, national and international - who are all crucial to the future of the Brontë Society.”

 The Telegraph and Argus has an article on the goings-on within the ranks of the Brontë

Society.Campaigners pushing for the modernisation of the Brontë Society are standing for election to the organisation’s ruling council. The controversial campaign’s two leaders are among those responding to the society’s call for new blood to fill a ‘skills gap’ on the council. Success for John Thirlwell and Janice Lee could help drive through far-reaching changes to the way that both the literary society and Brontë Parsonage Museum is run.  Also standing for the ruling council is Haworth vicar, the Reverend Peter Mayo-Smith, who hopes the society will do more to attract tourists to the village.  The Haworth-based Brontë Society, which runs the museum, recently relaxed its rules governing council membership to help fill a shortfall in nominations.  It is understood that at least five of the 12 council members are due to stand down on the annual meeting in June.
Mr Thirlwell this week warned that whoever was elected, it was vital the new-look council responded to concerns raised by the modernisers.  He said key to this would be the findings of a review, currently being carried out, into the structure and governance of the Brontë Society.
Mr Thirlwell said: “The agreement was that we would see the report before going to the annual general meeting in June, so we can have some sensible debate about how the Brontë Society should operate. “The museum should be a separate entity with a trust running it. We’re hoping the review will give us a way to put a new structure in place. “We’ve had a lot of support from the people of Haworth saying ‘let’s get the society to work with local people, so that Haworth gains from this literary history’.” Mr Mayo-Smith, priest in charge at Haworth Parish Church, hopes to bring his past business experience to the council if he is elected.  He also believes Haworth is failing to the most of its tourism potential, and wants the Brontë Parsonage Museum to pack a “harder punch”.
A spokesman for the Brontë Society said a sufficient number of members had put their names forward by April 11, the deadline for nominations, and the aim was to ensure the council had the “best possible skill set”. The spokesman said membership numbers had risen since the beginning of the year.  Bonnie Greer, president of the Brontë Society: “It’s great that new members are coming forward to join council and we hope that any new members on the Brontë Society Council will continue the work and dedication of the present one.”  “I’m working to help diversify membership and bring on younger members - local, regional, national and international - who are all crucial to the future of the Brontë Society.” (David Knights)

Yorkshire Census Case Study

Read all: yorkshirecensus/bronte

 

All three are to be found on the 1841 census, but Emily died of tuberculosis in 1848 and Anne of an unknown illness a year later, and only Charlotte appears, back in Haworth, on the 1851. She died in 1855, having revealed her true identity as the author of Jane Eyre only a few years previously.
With that information in hand, I set out to look for their census records in the Yorkshire 1841 & 1851 Census CD sets from British Data Archive.

Charlotte Brontë on www.TheGenealogist.co.uk by doing a search under the 1841 Yorkshire census transcripts, and immediately found her. I decided to view an image of the census record (see the excerpt below) and found her to be living at Upper Road House. The search results informed me that I could also find this record on the CD set (CD 28, HO107 / 1313 / 7, folio 13).
The other two sisters, Emily and Anne. I searched for Emily first, again on www.TheGenealogist.co.uk, loaded up the census image, and found her living at Parsonage House with her sister Anne and their father Patrick. The search results showed me that I could also find this record on the CD set (CD21, HO107/1295/6/, Folio 41).