Well, who are you? (Who are you? who, who, who, who?)
I really wanna know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
Tell me, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
'Cause I really wanna know (Who are you, who, who, who, who?)
The Who
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| LIAM JOSEPH MCNIFF-NIKOL-HE KNOWS WHO HE IS |
The author Sheila Kohler imagines a tale of Charlotte writing Jane Eyre
.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/books/review/Benfey-t.html
We see how Charlotte imbues Jane with her own qualities, sorrows, and dreams. Many of Jane Eyre's famous characters are very similar to the real people in Charlotte's own life- a short one-1816-1858, but still longer than all of her five siblings. A current movie, one of many made over the years has just been released. So Jane/Charlotte is out in public again. See review if you like
http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/movies/jane-eyre-starring-mia-wasikowska-review.html
And is Jane, Charlotte herself? This Becoming Jane Eyre novel is not huge, passionate and illuminating, but has merit for the questions it poses about the autobiographical nature of Jane Eyre. I liked the novel not so much for its content as for the imaginings released in me-this family of women writers in a man's publishing world in the mid 1840's. March after all is women's history month.
Apparently, Patrick Brontë was not born with that surname. He wanted to marry up and believed to do so he would have to hide his ancestry. He changed his Irish last name from Prunty to Brontë. He was ashamed of his Irishness and fearful that his heritage would hold him back. So Patrick Prunty became Patrick Brontë, married Maria Branwell- a marriage that came with a dowry and a position.
Why do I care? We have many Pruntys on my mother Ruth's side. Her mother Rose was a Prunty. Rose had six sisters, so there were many Prunty aunts as well. Then there were two Prunty uncles who disappeared. Seems no one cared enough to retrieve either of them from anywhere.
Ruth had always said that folks thought the Prunty name to be English but it was not-just that many Irish had to work in England, some never returning and thus the name commonly thought to be English. And now I have discovered that this exotic Brontë surname evolved from Prunty.
Charlotte Brontë is becoming Charlotte Prunty.
I am also thinking about Charlotte's "fictional self" Jane Eyre. Isn't Eyre, really like Eire, the Gaelic name for Ireland? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89ire
Was Charlotte giving a shoutout to her heritage?
My mother, Ruth, was toying with naming me Charlotte. It was Carol or Charlotte for my father, Charles. She chose Carol. If grandmother Rose and mother Ruth had kept the Prunty surname going I could have been Charlotte Prunty. I am well on my way to Becoming Charlotte Brontë
Am I related to the Brontë/Pruntys? Is this LiamLicks blog, my Jane Eyre? I downloaded Jane Eyre to my Kindle-old books are free- I want to see If I feel a psychic connection.
This is the type of story I miss sharing with my mother. The duality of her nature-Ruth/Ruthless always made for interesting exchanges. Would she be Ruth and be excited and flattered to be a possible descendant of a famous female writing family? Ruth, a talented writer herself, possessing a quirky independence, a unique worldview far ahead of her time. Or would she be Ruthless and say something like "Come on Carol, who cares about the past, all these people are dead anyway. the desolate moors, orphans, true love, Oh please."
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| LIAM ON THE DESOLATE WINTER BACKYARD MOOR-LOOKING FOR JANE |
Okay, I didn't have any public gathering. But now that I am becoming Charlotte Brontë -what would a writer do?
I know.
Writers acknowledge, mention, prologue, footnote, dedicate
So no party, no service, but here is what I will do today-
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| RUTH CIRCA 1939 |
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Woof, Woof
