Book Releases and More on Chapters

We have a few new editions and other books to look forward to next year. But first, there are a few new editions available today including:

The Bloomsbury Editions, reported here back in June, and known for their quirky marketting to teen readers.

Villette by Dover publications. And another edition by Oberon Books.

New editions of Shirley, and a 3 CD audio book of Jane Eyre will be available March 15th and August 1st, 2007.

Alas, Chapters, when will you believe that Charlotte Bronte did not, ever, write In Her Nature, a novel about werewolf sex. How it even got on their catalogue is baffling, but why it has stayed there... Here is original post from when it first came to our attention.

Romanian Jane Eyre (Valeria Seciu and Victor Rebengiuc)


Especially for Liantasse and the other Romanian readers too shy to speak up in my previous post. I was mistaken, this is not an audiobook but a radio adaptation of some kind starring Valeria Seciu as Jane Eyre and Victor Rebengiuc as Mr Rochester. My information does not include the date of the production, nor any other details about the production. A note sent along with it- an annonymous note!- informs me that the production begins when Jane arrives at Thornfield and that there are some changes, although it includes almost all of the dialogue between Jane and Rochester. So, this is one of those adaptations focussing largely on their relationship. The note-writer also describes Valeria's performance as being in the style of Joan Fontaine while Victor is described as a great narrator and storyteller without wickedness or 'minxiness.' (Clearly the note-writer has been talking to my friends... We (at the League of the Extraordinarily Rochester Obsessed) have identified the minxy-Rochester as a type among adaptations of the character.

(ex. James Barbour. When I first saw a recording of the musical I had to laugh because it decidedly looked like Rochester had used his horse as a diversion so he could pounce on unsuspecting governesses in icy lanes, and then he proceeds to lounge seductively on a rock, while rubbing his chest. He rubs his chest a lot, actually... And during the proposal scene he does this hair-nuzzling thing. But you don't want to hear about that... Oh, and there's the flirting thing he does when he's impersonating Celine Varens too...).

I believe the productions runs to about an hour and a half. Enjoy!

Jane Eyre Romanian Radio Adaptation.

Jane Eyre with Ciaran Hinds and Sophie Thompson


I promised a few readers that I would post this 4 part radio adaptation when I had the chance, and so, here it is! It is my understanding that this adaptation led to the casting of Mr. Hinds in the 1997 film, because they found his voice 'passionate.' If you like the 1997 film, you will probably enjoy this, but if on the contrary you cannot stand it- this radio version will hardly be an improvement. Sorry. So, he's had two tries, and they're both pretty much as obnoxious and OTT. Sophie is a tad lispy and, the entire production is middling. Sorry. Better things to come, I promise.

On another note, I know there are a few Romanian readers out there... Does anyone want a Romanian audiobook of Jane Eyre?

Interestingly, in reverse order parts 4-1!
http://www.sendspace.com/file/xrd519
http://www.sendspace.com/file/457hfn
http://www.sendspace.com/file/7ll6ep
http://www.sendspace.com/file/s8bs6k

Janian Media Presentations

I am overwhelmed by the amount of media handed to me this week, mostly thanks to Thisbeciel. Since my earlier post about the Doyle/Harris musical I have been offered a DVD of the production- so watch out for a review of that sometime later. Off the top of my head, there are the two television films from 1957 and 1949 with Patrick McNee and Joan Ilan, and Charleton Heston and Mary Sinclair. There's the renown Bloom/Quayle audiobook, an opera, a Romanian audiobook (perfect for a family friend...), perhaps a dozen radio adaptations? One of these features Ingrid Bergman as Jane, another has Michael York as Mr. Rochester. On top of this, there's the BBC radio adaptations of Wuthering Heights, Villette, The Professor, Shirley, and Jane Eyre (with Sophie Thompson and Ciaran Hinds).

Phew.

And that's just what is relevant to Bronte studies. In addition, there's this Multimedia Presentation for the BBC's 1973 mini-series. It is described as a 'teaser' of sorts. I have not seen it yet, since I am still on the old dial-up connection but others have complimented it. From the same site there are also three video clips from the 1944 Jane Eyre with Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles here.

Bronte News.

It is time to catch up on a few more items I have indexed. Firstly, it is now possible to order tickets online for the BFI September 16th screening of the BBC's new mini-series of Jane Eyre in London.

WOWIO, a new online audiobook 'store' launched this month. It is not quite a store. Users download audiobooks free of charge but these books include 'dynamic advertisements' to 'compensate publishers.' Considering how much publishers make on each book, seems like a good plan. But how will we care for adverts in the middle of Wuthering Heights? Read more about it here.

The Things That Matter: What Seven Classic Novels Have to Say About the Stages of Life,By Edward Mendelson features chapters on what Wuthering Heights can teach us about childhood, and Jane Eyre about growing up. The book is reviewed here.

Each of his chapters is devoted to how these novels help us understand the phenomena of birth ("Frankenstein"), childhood ("Wuthering Heights"), growth ("Jane Eyre"), parenthood ("To the Lighthouse") and so on. The brooding "Wuthering Heights," for example, subverts the values of adulthood; Catherine and Heathcliff, hankering after the intense, visionary bond they formed as children, want nothing to do with the values of grown-ups: "Childhood, in this novel, is a state of titanic intensity," Mendelson writes, "adulthood a state of trivial weakness." (Though Mendelson doesn't make the parallel, this is similar to what J.D. Salinger gets at in "The Catcher in the Rye.")

Jane Eyre in the park. If I understand correctly, Penguin Books will be placing shelves of classics in London parks as part of a celebration of the 60th anniversary of their 'sub-brand' 'Penguin Classics.' Their slogan? 'The Best Book Ever Written.' Their selection of 'the best book(s)' includes our very own Jane Eyre.

This post is utter silliness.

...Where do I start? Well, something ordinary, I think. I finally figured out how to create a links list on this blog by stealing the codes from my good friend, Glaukopidos! ha ha! And so, now you can find the best Bronte related links that I have stumbled upon, on the left. The umlauts are not working today. I am very sorry for that.

Last Christmas my sister sent me a gift certificate for a website where you can download audiobooks. After a friend recommended the Emma Fielding audiobook of Jane Eyre, I bought that one, as well as their unabridged Pride and Prejudice. I have been having a really tought time appreciating Miss Austen. I have never liked Neo-Classicism in any form. And yes, I know that I am a Classicist- but shut up. I don't like it. It's not the same thing as Classicism. I wanted to tear my hair out while reading Emma, and even with this very good audiobook of P&P I still not only fell asleep several times, but I also zoned out, and once I caught myself reading Jane Eyre. I kid you not. I keep it close by me, and I must have sought it out for comfort.

Anyway, several of my friends who appreciate Austen's works told me that it might be a good idea for me to see the A&E adaptation first. I did. And it was very good. It did help me to stay focussed, I think, but when I came to the scene where Mr.Darcy and Elizabeth meet suddenly at Pemberley, I couldn't help but notice that he had not been swimming in a pond a few minutes earlier. While I was telling my friends my feelings about this, I remembered something. I remember how odd it seemed to me that Austen would include such a scene. It seemed like something Charlotte might do- I mused. And then I realised that she had.

Several times.

4 times, if I remember correctly.

Mr Rochester gets soaked 4 times in Jane Eyre: once when Jane so liberally baptises him in bed, once when he and Jane are caught in the rain after the proposal under the Chestnut tree, once while he is riding home in a storm, and once while he stands outside of Ferndean! I really have been ruined by my education... all I could think about was whether or not this solved a sticky point in one of my papers on the novel. *sigh*



"In the name of all the elves in Christendom..."