Final Conference Timetable

Please note the amended times:

29 January 2013 - Re-visioning the Brontës Conference Programme

9:30-10:00 - Registration, coffee (Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, University of Leeds)

9:50-10:00 - 'Air on Brontë Moor' (Wilson & Warner)

10:00-10:10 - Welcome and Introduction, Nick Cass, Conference Organiser, School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies

10:10-10:25 - 'Keynote' Welcome, Jane Sellars, Curator of Art, Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate

10:25-10:50 - 'Southern Flight: Brontëan Migrations in Kate Chopin’s At Fault', Dr Carl Plasa, Cardiff University

10:50-11:15 - 'Righting the Life of the Mind: The Significance of Psychological Discourse in the Brontës' Interwar Afterlives', Amber Pouliot, University of Leeds

11:15-11:35 - 'The Brontës, Materiality, and Resonance: Three Ways of Looking', Aislinn Hunter, University of Edinburgh

11:35-11.50 - Introduction to the Brontë manuscripts in Special Collections (University of Leeds), Sarah Prescott, Literary Archivist

11:50-12:10 - Discussion

12:10-12:15 - 'Air on Brontë Moor' (Wilson & Warner)

12:15-13:15 - Lunch break

13:15-13:20 - 'Air on Brontë Moor' (Wilson & Warner)

13:20-13:45 - '"…like a new picture introduced to the gallery of memory": Re-Visioning Jane Eyre through Paula Rego', Dr Sarah Wootton, Durham University

13:45-14:10 - 'Charlotte's Dress', Lisa Sheppy, Contemporary Artist

14:10-14:45 - Dr Richard Brown (University of Leeds) in conversation with Professor Blake Morrison (Goldsmiths, University of London) on Morrison's play We Are Three Sisters

14:45-15:05 - Coffee

15:05-15:30 - 'Listening Out: the Soundtracks and Film Scores of Wuthering Heights', Dr Jenny Bavidge, University of Cambridge

15:30-15:55 - 'Wuthering Heights in Japan: the film Arashi ga Oka (1988, dir. Yoshishige Yoshida)', María Seijo-Richart, University of A Coruña

15:55-16:40 - Roundtable discussion chaired by Adam Strickson (Teaching Fellow in Creative Writing, University of Leeds), Sarah Fermi (Writer and Trustee, Brontë Society), Simon Warner (Artist and Photographer) and Jenna Holmes (Arts Officer, Brontë Parsonage Museum)

16:40-16:50 - Discussion

16:50-17:00 - Closing Remarks, Ann Sumner (Director, Brontë Society)

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17:00-17:30 - Visit to the exhibitions 'Visions of Angria' and ‘Wildness Between Lines’, followed by a wine reception at Leeds College of Art.

Rogue by Name, Rogue by Nature?

“In all my past life, I have done nothing either great or good.” These were among the final words spoken by Branwell Brontë as he lay on his death bed, his body ravaged by chronic bronchitis, drink and opium, at the tragically young age of thirty one. His brutal reflection contains an element of truth. Branwell failed as a portrait painter; was dismissed from his work as a railway clerk for missing a discrepancy in finances; fired from his job as a tutor for falling in love with the employer’s wife and was forced to return to the family home in his late twenties a penniless, broken addict. However, as The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery’s ‘Visions of Angria’ exhibition illustrates, Branwell’s juvenilia is proof that he achieved something quite remarkable in his short life.

Born on 26 June 1817, Patrick Branwell Brontë was the fourth child and only son of Maria Branwell and Patrick Brontë. Following the death of his two sisters at the Clergy Daughters’ School in Cowan Bridge, Branwell was tutored at home by his Aunt Branwell and his father, a Cambridge graduate. It was a combination of this education with a heavy bias towards the classics, the Tory politics chronicled in Blackwood’s Magazine and a gift of a box of toy soldiers on 5 June 1826 that inspired Branwell, along with his sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne to create and write about their own imaginary world.

Each sibling selected a toy soldier and named him after someone featured in Blackwood’s Magazine. Branwell’s was initially called Bonaparte or Bony but this character was later reincarnated as Sneaky, then Rogue, then Lord Elrington, then finally his alter ego, Alexander Percy or Northangerland. The Brontë children invented a background story for their soldiers, ‘History of the Young Men’, which Branwell wrote down, and they used the west coast of Africa for the setting of their various fictitious cities and states.Critics believe the ruthless Alexander Percy was based on Milton’s Lucifer, Lord Byron’s Conrad and Walter Scott’s Richard Varney and claim that ‘The Life of Alexander Percy’, Branwell’s ongoing biography of this charismatic character, is Branwell’s best work. Branwell was also proud of his creation as he used the pseudonym ‘Northangerland’ when he was the first Brontë to have a poem published in the Halifax Guardian in 1841.

Yet, while there are some similarities between the personality of his fictional anti-hero and Branwell’s own passionate, increasingly melancholic and atheistic nature, the latter was not as roguish as Percy. Indeed, it could be argued that Branwell’s greatest crime was that he did not fulfil his early potential.

By Sarah Butler (Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery)

Three is the Magic Number

Saturday 5 November 2011 was a particularly memorable Bonfire Night for me, not because the neighbours had a firework display of Disney-like proportions (instead of the usual damp squib of a selection from ASDA) but because I trundled off to the delightful Lawrence Batley theatre in Huddersfield to see Blake Morrison’s play ‘We Are Three Sisters.’

I am a fan of both Chekhov and the Brontës so I was intrigued to discover how Morrison had used the Russian playwright’s ‘Three Sisters’ as a template for his own interpretation of the ‘Brontë Myth’. Indeed, there are many parallels between Chekhov’s masterpiece and the Brontës’ upbringing. Chekhov’s play revolves around three sisters living in a remote, rural town who yearn for change. In ‘We Are Three Sisters,’ Charlotte, Emily and Anne spend their days in Haworth, longing to travel to London. Like Masha, Olga and Irina, the Brontë sisters also have a roguish brother with addiction problems and a tendency to fall for unsuitable women. Both families have a loyal old maid and are visited by various local figures eager to woo the women.

However, as the renowned Brontë biographer, Juliet Barker, wrote in her blog, the play is “far more Brontë than Chekhov.”  Although there were some clever references to Chekhov’s script, for example, the Brontës cry “London! London! London!” instead of the Prosorovs’ triadic structure; “Moscow! Moscow! Moscow!”, most of the dialogue was a subtle fusion of the Brontës own words taken from their letters, diaries, poems and novels delivered in earthy Yorkshire accents. Neither did Morrison shatter the traditional perception of the Brontës’ personalities. Charlotte was portrayed as strong and ambitious, Emily was passionate and ethereal, Anne was gentle but socially aware and Branwell was the much-loved, talented yet tormented brother.  All four of the actors put in solid, if a little earnest, performances. Duggie Brown was a wonderfully laconic Patrick Brontë and comic relief was provided in the doughty form of ‘Tabby.’

Jessica Worrall’s set design was also deeply evocative and in many ways, was enhanced by the intimate setting of the Lawrence Batley Theatre.  The dimly lit stage filled with heavy furniture induced a sense of cosiness verging on claustrophobia.  To convey how doom, death and wild nature were constant presences in the family’s life, gravestones framed the stage and the soundtrack comprised the unrelenting howling of the wind and Emily’s hacking cough.

All in all, ‘We Are Three Sisters’ was not as “nuts”  as Morrison first feared it would be. There was a certain reliance on poetic licence concerning some biographical events and Russian and English Literature purists may have found the melding of the two plays a stretch too far for the imagination. However, for me, Chekhov’s zesty drama breathed new life into the familiar story of Acton, Ellis and Currer Bell and proved that when it comes to innovative dramatic productions, three really is the magic number.

By Sarah Butler (Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery)

The Madwoman in the Attic?

Bertha Rochester of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is commonly recognised as the archetypal 'madwoman in the attic'. Although multiple feminist re-readings have recognised her as the condemned expression of unconventional femininity, treatments of Bertha in adaptations of Jane Eyre has frequently struggled to meet the challenge of this complex character.

In the past, it was easier to lay the blame at the doorstep of society's taboos concerning polite femininity for failures to address Bertha's outrage. Take, for example, an early Hollywood adaptation of Jane Eyre, where Bertha appears perfectly civilised despite her husband's imminent wedding to another bride.

In 2006, a BBC mini-series took the daring approach of providing Bertha Mason with an empathetic backstory. By giving insight into Bertha's own love story, alongside the relationship of Jane and Mr Rochester, viewers were asked to question who is really the victim in this love triangle? The following fan video illustrates some of the subtleties in this interpretation.

The most recent film adaptation of Jane Eyre, released in 2011, captured the difficultly of portraying Bertha by expressing her predominantly in disembodied noises. Below is a central exchange between Bertha and Jane, where we see Bertha is aware of her husband's plans for a second marriage. However, this particular scene was removed in a last minute edit, reiterating the challenge of expressing Bertha's role in modern adaptations of Jane Eyre.

Is Bertha a dangerous woman, or an unfortunate victim of her society? Does the struggle some have with her character give an insight into contemporary taboos concerning manic behaviour? What can the various depictions of Bertha in adaptations and re-imaginings of Jane Eyre tell us about the changing role of women, and the social impact of mental illness?

Re-visioning the Brontës will take place at the University of Leeds on 29th January 2013.

Conference a Sell Out!

Places on the conference are now fully booked but if you've not been able to reserve yours, you can still sign up to the waiting list via Eventbrite: http://bronterevision.eventbrite.co.uk/.

Preview: Wildness Between Lines

Wildness Between Lines
An exhibition of work inspired by the Brontës.

Opening:
14 December  2012 - 2 February 2013
Monday - Saturday 10am - 4pm

Preview:
Thursday 13th December 5 - 7pm

Leeds College of Art
Blenheim Walk
Leeds
LS2 9AQ

Click here to see some of the artworks that will be on display.

Write like the Brontës! - Workshop at Leeds Central Library

For those of you interested in learning about how Brontës created their miniature books, join award-winning writer Char March for this fun and fast-paced writing workshop on Saturday 8 December 2-4pm, Exhibition space, Central Library, Leeds.

Char will explain how and why the Brontë sisters wrote their tiny little books in miniature writing, and give you lots of inspiration for writing your very own little book of secrets, which you can take away afterwards. Come for the full two-hours, or just drop by for 20 mins. Families welcome – as well as all the adults out there dying to write in really tiny writing! To book your free place, call Enquiry Express on 0113 2476016.

This workshop will run as part of the Writing Britain: Leeds exhibition (4 December 2012 - 30 January 2013), which celebrates the use of the Yorkshire landscape in literature. For further information, please visit:

http://www.visitleeds.co.uk/thedms.aspx?dms=13&feature=1001&venue=2192070