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Monday, August 31, 2015

Monday, August 31, 2015 12:20 pm by M. in , , , ,    1 comment
The Conversation on the evolution of female pen names:
The evolution of female pen-names from Currer Bell to J.K. Rowling (...)
Most discussions of contemporary women writers who have adopted male pseudonyms or initials to mask their sex draw connections between these writers and a long line of literary women, such as the Brontë sisters and George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), who have published under assumed names. (...)
Likewise, women authors challenged expectations of women’s domestic and maternal roles. Budding writer Charlotte Brontë received the following comments in a discouraging letter from English poet laureate Robert Southey in 1837: (Michelle Smith)
Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life, and it ought not to be. The more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure she will have for it, even as an accomplishment and a recreation. To those duties you have not yet been called, and when you are you will be less eager for celebrity 
The New York Times talks about selfie drones, the dark side of technology, indeed:
Imagine sunsets at the lake or beach with dozens of selfie-drones cluttering the sky, each vying for that perfect shot. Picture canoodling on a seemingly remote park bench during your romantic getaway and ending up on video. The intimate walks and tête-à-têtes that call to mind Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester would hardly be the same with drones whizzing by. Think of your children building sand castles and being videotaped by passing drones. Who will be watching and recording us, and where will that information end up? (Stephanie Rosenbloom)
The model Neelam Gill in  ABP:
Neelam agrees she is "uncool" in some ways: "Reading! Since a young age I've always loved reading books and I've never grown out of it. It's a form of escapism."
Books she has read in recent months include Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights and Khaled Hosseini's And The Mountains Echoed.
Lisa Ma vindicates the Luddite activism innovations (wtf?) in The Huffington Post but saying that Charlotte Brontë was a pro-luddite writer is a bit misguided (did she read Shirley?):
The Luddites left a legacy of pro-craftsmen literature in some of the most influential cultural figures such as writer Charlotte Brontë, novelist Mary Shelley, industrialist William Morris, critic John Ruskin and writer Thomas Emerson.
And Los Angeles Times pays tribute to the retiring News Group Managing Editor, Carolina Garcia:
But an absent father and a dedicated mother growing up drew her to stories with strong women. She keeps an old, hardbound copy of “Jane Eyre” on her bookshelf and reads it regularly. (David Moreno)
The Misfortune of Knowing shares her opinions on Jane Eyre;  The Indiependent revisits Catherine Earnshaw's character. Nick Holland's Anne Brontë explores the stay of Anne in London in 1848.

1 comment:

  1. Charlotte is hardly pro-luddite but Shirley has been misread to an odd degree, in my opinion. It is fairly sympathetic to their cause, as she was, and even further from being pro-Tory, even if some scholars have tried to paint it as such. All in all though I'd say the book is less about the luddites and more about savaging the patriarchy.

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