So last night Katie and I went to a free event at the public library called "An Evening with Jane Austen, Emily Bronte and Emily Dickinson." It was a one-woman show written and performed by Patricia Hruby Powell . . . it was interesting, to say the least.
Katie and I were the youngest ones there of our own free will (unlike the seven-year-olds who were dragged there by their parents). Not counting those kids, we were two of probably five people under 35 in the whole room. But Katie and I have always enjoyed being Austenites together, so we felt that when a free show about Jane Austen came our way, we couldn't pass it up.
So I'm counting the show last night as my "learn something new" for this week on the list. Much of the Jane Austen info given during the performance I've already read on my own, but I did learn some biographical info about Bronte and Dickinson as well as hearing some of the writing recited aloud.
The weirdest, grossest and most disturbing bit factoid that I discovered last night is this: Emily Bronte, as well as many members of her immediate family, died of tuberculosis or other illnesses complicated by tuberculosis. Why, you may ask? Why did so many people in the same family die of this disease? It wasn't just proximity to each other, that's for sure!
Image this scene: the Bronte house on the left along with the well where they get their drinking water. Then over on the right side, you have the stream/lake/body of water that is the source of the Bronte well. What do you think is smack dab in the center between the Bronte home and well and the water source? A cemetery. Yep, a graveyard. So the poor Brontes have drink water that has filtered through dead bodies. Ick, how awful!
Never thought a one-woman show could make me value "modern" conveniences like water pipes so much!
Poor Emily Bronte (pictured). And Charlotte too.
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