The Brat era is behind us, and it’s time for new Charli XCX music (and film projects)! On Thursday, the pop diva shared a short, eerie teaser of a new song called “House” featuring The Velvet Underground’s John Cale, set to be featured in Wuthering Heights. The song’s out Monday.On Instagram, Charli called it “the first offering from my album for Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights.” She also shared a longer statement on social media, saying she felt “immediately” inspired to start making music for the film.“After being so in the depths of my previous album, I was excited to escape into something entirely new, entirely opposite,” she wrote. “When I think of Wuthering Heights, I think of many things. I think of passion and pain. I think of England. I think of the Moors, I think of the mud and the cold. I think of determination and grit.”The video teaser Charli shared features eerie, horror film–like sound effects and the haunting sound of violins as Charli is pinned down by an elderly hand while staring directly into the camera. “Can I speak to you privately for a moment?” an ominous voice asks, as a raven-like bird flashes on screen.In her post about the song, she called herself a “huge fan” of the Velvet Underground and recalled a quote from Cale in the band’s documentary, when he said, “any song had to be both ‘elegant and brutal.'”Charli wrote: “I got really stuck on that phrase. I wrote it down in my notes app and would pull it up from time to time and think about what he meant.” The phrase came up as she made the music for this film, and so she decided to reach out to him for his opinion and they ended up collaborating.“That voice, so elegant, so brutal. I sent him some songs, and we started talking specifically about House. We spoke about the idea of a poem. He recorded something and sent it to me. Something that only John could do. And it was… well, it made me cry,” she wrote. “I feel so lucky to have been able to work with John on this song. I’ve been so exited to share it with you all, sitting quietly in anticipation.” (Tomás Mier)
The Invention of Charlotte Brontë by Graham Watson (The History Press, £22) was published in the UK last year but received almost no notice until its US publication this summer. How could a book this riveting have slipped under the radar? Watson’s subject is the turbulent history of Elizabeth Gaskell’s classic biography, The Life of Charlotte Brontë. It was written to expose everyone she believed had hastened her friend’s death, and Gaskell went at her task with an ice pick. Accusations of libel led to the appearance of the diluted edition with which we are now familiar. ‘I don’t think there ever was such an apple of discord as that unlucky book,’ Gaskell reflected.
Perhaps the most admired sequel is Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, providing a back story for the first Mrs Rochester in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. (Anthony Gardner)
Jane Eyre (2011)Director: Cary FukunagaThe classic gothic romance, Jane Eyre treads a fine line between love story and thriller, as our governess heroine falls in love with brooding Mr Rochester while simultaneously being terrorised by a strange presence that stalks the corridors at night and seems determined to see everything burn.This 2011 adaptation is ably supported by the cast: Mia Wasikowska is a contained and non-histrionic Jane; Michael Fassbender makes an intense and desperate Rochester; Judi Dench gives Mrs Fairfax a steadiness that helps ground the far-fetched aspects of the tale.The Derbyshire Dales feature heavily: Haddon Hall becomes Thornfield Hall; Rochester's horse rears up in the woodland of Chatsworth House; and Jane flees in distress to the rain-soaked moors. Director Cary Fukunaga is loyal to the darkness of the novel, capturing its psychological grimness, and has said that the film's location was key. "Northern England – Yorkshire and Derbyshire, the moors and dales – they look like they're something straight out of a Tim Burton horror film.The trees are all twisted by the wind; the bracken and the heather on the moors have this amazing hue. And the weather is so extreme and it changes all the time. The house even, Haddon Hall, is just so steeped in history, the spaces, the galleries, they sort of just breathe and you feel the presence of the history." [...]Wuthering Heights (2011)Director: Andrea ArnoldThis 2011 adaptation of Emily Bronte’s classic dark romance stars Kaya Scodelario as Catherine and James Howson as Heathcliff, although the first half is dominated by their younger counterparts, Shannon Beer as young Cathy and Solomon Glave as early Heathcliff.The film is formidable in its raw earthiness, rich with foreboding shots of the moor and whipped through with a biting wind that seems to inform every scene. Artfully weighty shots of a dying rabbit or hung pheasant and beautifully bruising panoramics of the landscape accompany the mean, harsh existence of life at the farmhouse.Everything is raw and brutal, creating a savage and uncomfortable love story that seems wildly unsuited to the word 'romance'. It is a hard, heavy experience, much like the life of its protagonists. Filmed in North Yorkshire, Cotescue Park in Coverham became Thrushcross Grange, while Moor Close Farm in Thwaite is Wuthering Heights. (Maria Hodson)
by Seema GogoiDibon Journal of Languages, 1(3), 253–265 (2025)This paper aims to analyse Jean Rhys’ critically acclaimed novel, Wide Sargasso Sea, and the “other side” of the story of Antoinette, who is dehumanized in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. The objective is to critically engage with the issues of gender, race, and ethnicity in the Caribbean Islands as portrayed in the novel with the purview of postcoloniality. The colonial mission and the rampant exploitation of the natives in their land can be seen as a kind of madness under the guise of bearing the torch of civilization. The research has been conducted through the Postcolonial reading of the text, and the lens of Postcolonial Feminism helps to discuss the intersectionality in the novel of gender, race, ethnicity, hybridity, and the burden of a colonial self. This novel is also a quintessential example of studying Caribbean literature and its colonial history. Rhys shows the colonial history and heterogeneous culture and ethnicity of the islands like Jamaica and Martinique, slavery and the dehumanizing effect of it, and the question of identity, especially of Creole identity. As Chimamanda Adichie in the speech “The Danger of a Single Story” reflects how one side of the story creates stereotypes and provides kind of incomplete information. In Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Antoinette, who is later named as Bertha by Rochester, is portrayed as a beast that does not have agency of her own and as she is from a colonized and “uncivilized” island. Jane describes her anatomy and behaviour as similar to that of a beast and refers to as “it” not as “she”. This one-sided narrative has been deconstructed through Wide Sargasso Sea and gives voice to the colonized beings. Rhys writes about the “the other” side of the story of Antoinette and how she and her mother Annette are driven into madness by their imperialist husbands. I will also analyse the major debate on madness in the novel- who is really mad Antoinette or the whole dehumanizing, exploitative imperialist mission. This paper will be analysed from the theory of Edward Said, Homi K. Bhabha and other Postcolonial thinkers, and also from the Postcolonial Feminist perspective.
My sister and I studied Wuthering Heights, our copy was used by my eldest for her Leaving Cert. To my daughter, it was a physical connection to me, her, much tidier, more precise, notes joining my decades-old scrawls. She was particularly interested in who the various boys my sister was in love with, each name crossed out and replaced with another. An appropriate scribble considering the themes of the novel.But this will no longer be the case. No longer will each family have time capsules contained in their studied novels. That sense of heritage, of connection, will be broken. There will be no love hearts, no names, no scribbles, no notes in any book. You can’t mark a book if you’re only borrowing it. (Conor Murphy)
Australia is likely to be a middle power when it comes to theatre though it’s interesting to see in cinema and streamer television that Jacob Elordi can jump from Justin Kurzel’s Narrow Road to the Deep North to Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein – about which there has been much debate – with the prospect of playing Heathcliff to Margot Robbie’s Cathy in an apparently off-beat Wuthering Heights: well, it’s not as though Emily Bronte’s story is anything other than craggy and black. Is there an affinity between Heathcliff and Milton’s Satan as antiheroes? (Peter Craven)
Salt and Broom by Sharon Lynn FisherSalt and Broom is a retelling of Jane Eyre with a fun, magical twist. Jane Aire resides and teaches at the Lowood School for girls. She is a healer and an herbalist, a.k.a. a witch. She is sent to Edward Rochester’s estate, Thornfield Hall, to help rid the manor of a mysterious curse. As she tries to solve the mystery of Thornfield’s troubles, she begins to fall for Rochester.While it has magic, mystery, and a Gothic Victorian setting, it isn’t scary. This is the book to read if you are looking for a cozy, light-hearted love story with a happy ending.If you haven’t read Jane Eyre, add that to your TBR, as well. It’s a classic! [...]Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren BlackwoodWithin These Wicked Walls is another fantasy retelling of Jane Eyre (okay, so just go ahead and read Jane Eyre). This Ethiopian-inspired retelling follows Andromeda, a debtera (an exorcist), who has been hired to cleanse Magnus Rochester’s home, Thorne Manor. As Andromeda dives deeper into the horrors of Thorne Manor, she also falls deeper into her attraction to Magnus. As the possession grows stronger, Andromeda begins to question if she can save herself or her beloved Magnus.While elements of this book obviously veer away from the traditional Jane Eyre (hello, this version of Jane is an exorcist), many elements and themes still ring true. It is full of magic, mystery, and an epic love story. (Brianna Jones)
Afterlives of the Brontës: An online, six-week courseHow have the Brontës and their works survived into the ‘afterlife’?This online course, led by Gothic literature expert Dr Sam Hirst, will explore different aspects of this question. We’ll examine the histories of publication and discovery, looking at the ‘afterlives’ of the Brontës in biographies and biopics – as well as claims of the Brontës’ afterlife return!We'll also look at how the Brontës' novels have inspired whole genres, rewrites and reimaginings, novels that speak back to the Brontës both critically and admiringly, and transformative works. This course will also include a book discussion group (with the text to be chosen by the class from a shortlist) and will have an optional creative element, working on our own concepts for adaptation.Sam Hirst completed their PhD on the Theology of the Early Gothic and since then has worked as a lecturer in Romanticism, Nineteenth Century literature and the Gothic at universities around the UK. They published their first book Theology in the Early British and Irish Gothic in 2023 and have run a number of courses for the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
The book I wish I’d writtenJane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, because this is the first grown-up novel I bought for myself, and it changed the world. I was flying to the former Yugoslavia for the first time at age 11 with my family to meet relatives, and I wanted a book that could protect me on the journey. My copy was a short, fat paperback with a picture of a wispy female on a lonely moor on the cover. I knew there was a world in those pages that could take me somewhere other than where my body was. It worked!
“Wuthering Heights” — Kate BushBush's 1978 debut single doesn't just reference Emily Brontë's 1847 novel—it's narrated from the perspective of the ghost Catherine Earnshaw haunting the Yorkshire moors estate that gives the book its name. Bush reportedly wrote the song after watching a 1967 BBC adaptation late one night, immediately sitting down to compose. The fictional Wuthering Heights farmhouse is widely believed to be based on Top Withens, a ruined farmhouse near Haworth in West Yorkshire, where the Brontë sisters lived and wrote. Bush's connection to the material deepened in 2018 when she contributed a rare public work: an inscription for a memorial stone dedicated to Emily Brontë on the Yorkshire moors between Haworth and Thornton, the sisters' birthplace. The inscription reads: “No coward soul is mine, No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere”—a line from Brontë's poem “No Coward Soul Is Mine.” (Julia Cancilla)
'Jane Eyre'Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is one of those books that has been influential in a whole host of ways. Not only has it been adapted to the screen multiple times, but it has also inspired other works that follow its formula. In addition to several silent versions of the story, it has been remade several times during the sound era. Some of the more notable versions are the 1943 version (in which Joan Fontaine co-starred with Orson Welles) and the 2011 version (which co-starred Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender). (Thomas West)
Samra Gul, Gul Rukh and Dr. Faheem KhanAdvance Social Science Journal, 4(01), 3999–4007 (2025)This paper takes a fresh look at Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, using Sigmund Freud’s ideas to explore the character of Nelly Dean. Most people see Nelly as a trustworthy storyteller and a moral guide in the novel. But what if her actions were driven by a hidden, unconscious desire for Heathcliff? This study argues just that. By looking at Freudian concepts like the unconscious, repression, and jealousy, I’ll show how Nelly’s small actions and things she didn’t say like not stopping Catherine’s famous speech or not telling Heathcliff the truth later on actually helped push the lovers apart. Because Nelly was about the same age as Heathcliff and didn’t have many options for love herself, it’s possible she developed a secret attraction to him, which made her feel hostile toward Catherine without even realizing it. I believe Nelly’s whole story is shaped by these hidden feelings, which come out in passive-aggressive ways, like holding back information and staying emotionally distant. By putting Nelly’s inner world front and center, this psychoanalytic reading shows her as a complex character whose unconscious desires mess with the main love story, changing how we see both her and the novel’s tragic ending.
Diaries of Note: 366 Lives, One Day at a Time was finally published last month. The book gathers 366 diary entries, one for each day of the leap year, written by people from all walks of life, from Virginia Woolf to Alan Rickman, Elton John to Nelson Mandela, and countless others not touched by fame. It’s a reminder, says Manchester-based Usher, that the act of keeping a diary, however ordinary it might feel at the time, can end up offering extraordinary glimpses into someone’s life.“The book is a celebration of diaries,” he says. “It's a celebration of all these different diarists. It's a celebration of the year. And it's a celebration of humanity as seen through these little snapshots.” Usher will be in conversation with historian and author Lucinda Hawksley at the inaugural Whitby Lit Fest this week. Actors Miriam Margolyes and Ace Bhatti will give diary readings at the event, bringing to life such voices as novelist Charlotte Brontë, artist Salvador Dali, documentarian Louis Theroux and gardener Monty Don. (Laura Reid)
Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist/CD/performer.Emily Brontë, author of Wuthering Heights. She captured the wildness of the moors and the spirit of an isolated building. I’d like to think she would have stopped by Tan Hill in her day to warm herself by the fire.
3. Wuthering Heights, Emily BrontëOne hundred thirty years before it was a Kate Bush song, Wuthering Heights was a great Gothic novel. Like Frankenstein, it was the first (and in this case only) novel by its young female author, with vast, sublime landscapes for its setting and a tragic outcast for its protagonist. Like Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights explores how the haunted can come to haunt others.Heathcliff is the most Gothic element of Wuthering Heights. Depending on your reading of the novel, he might be considered literally haunted, or he might be a victim of trauma. Like Frankenstein’s creature, Heathcliff has an uncertain sense of his origins and is left eternally in search of a home. He believes he will find this at Wuthering Heights, the remote and forbidding house of the novel’s title.But Heathcliff is—like many of the Byronic heroes who entered the pages of fiction following Polidori’s The Vampyre—doomed. When his beloved Cathy dies, he descends into cruelty and dies himself after being visited by her ghost.The novel ends with a vision of the tragic pair’s phantoms haunting the desolate Yorkshire moors they once roamed. One character, keen to reassure himself that they are at peace, watches over their graves and asks himself, “how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth” (Brontë 1996, ch. 34), but the ghostly lovers have had a long, unquiet afterlife. (Dr. Victoria C. Roskams)
Yet the beleaguered question of how best to adapt a period piece — which, depending on your view, has either plagued or sustained the narrative surrounding Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights —is less interesting than considering why we’re obsessed with period pieces in the first place. (Will Hosie)
Lockhart described the new book as a “beachy gothic” that pulls inspiration from novels like Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle. (Kaitlin Reilly)
Windswept and awestruck, it’s the Brontë sisters gone goth – the Florence and the Machine witching hour glam revival aesthetic distilled into five irresistible minutes. (Ed Power)
Ahmed Faiq Almedee* & Aaya Adil Alrammah*** Department of English Language, College of Education, The Islamic University, Najaf, Iraq** Prosthetic Dental Techniques Department, Najaf Technical Institute, Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University, Najaf, IraqIndo American Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Review, Volume 8, Issue 2, July - December, 2024 131Reading is one of the skills that the reader or audience should have to understand beyond the text. I will apply different methods when analyzing the novel “Wuthering Heights”. It was first published at 1847. It was divided into 34 with no titles for the chapter. Its language was feasible and very simple as well as the sentences and paragraphs are coherent. In spite of various changes in the body of the text. This depends on the translation language which is Arabic. One words in Arabic language has many meanings, while the English word has only one meaning. The sentences and paragraphs are conveyed carefully, but the translators didn’t focus on the literal translation. The translator is like the painter who draws his paintings through his ideas and thoughts. Literary translation is a way of understanding the explicit meaning of a text, while the implicit meaning can be shown when using semiotics methods. I will show how the translator interprets the meaning and attempts to keep the exact meaning when translating the original text. I will divide the analysis of the study into various subheadings including the analysis original and target texts. In addition to that, I will mention a synopsis about the author's life and the translator. I will also deal with the proper nouns that are founded in the novel to show the purpose of this study, enabling the reader to comprehend different ways of evaluation. I will use the Systematic of Designificative Tendencies method in evaluating several interpretations that the original and target texts examined.
The sales patterns for classic novels are normally a fairly predictable business. “Every year it’s the same authors,” says Jessica Harrison, publishing director for Penguin Classics UK. “Austen is always at the very top, and then all the school ones: Orwell, An Inspector Calls, Of Mice and Men, Jane Eyre.”But last year it was different. (John Self)
Jane Eyre (2011)Cary Joji Fukunaga's adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's novel of the same name stars Mia Wasikowska as the titular character. After surviving a grim, abusive, orphaned childhood, she takes on a governess position for a ward at Thornfield Hall. There, she grows a bond with Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbender), the master of the house. As she finds herself falling in love with him, she gets closer to uncovering a dark secret the man has been hiding.Romantic, Eerie, and Emotionally ResonantFukunaga balances romance, suspense, and psychological depth. His direction emphasizes Gothic staples — storm-lashed landscapes, shadowy corridors, candlelit rooms. Jane Eyre's attention to detail and fidelity to the novel's themes of morality, love, gender roles, and independence make it a standout Gothic adaptation in the modern era. It doesn't just remain faithful to Brontë's story, but it reclaims it. (Natalia Vela)
El músico, cantante y compositor menorquín Guiem Soldevila vuelve a sorprender con un proyecto tan delicado como ambicioso. Su nuevo disco, titulado Brontë, recientemente publicado, transforma la poesía de las hermanas Charlotte, Emily y Anne Brontë en un viaje musical lleno de emoción, textura y profundidad. Grabado en Menorca y producido por el propio artista, el álbum combina la tradición literaria inglesa con una sonoridad contemporánea que une el folk, el pop y los arreglos clásicos y electrónicos.Soldevila, nacido en 1980, se ha consolidado como una de las voces más personales del panorama musical balear, con una trayectoria marcada por la sensibilidad poética y la búsqueda de nuevas formas de expresión. Brontë confirma esa línea: una obra donde la palabra y la melodía dialogan hasta confundirse, creando un territorio común entre literatura y música.El nuevo trabajo se inspira directamente en los poemas y libros de las tres escritoras inglesas, pilares de la literatura del siglo XIX, cuya obra reflejó una profunda introspección emocional y un espíritu de libertad poco habitual en su tiempo. A partir de trece textos originales o adaptaciones poéticas, Soldevila construye un paisaje sonoro que traduce en música el universo interior de las Brontë: la fuerza narrativa de Charlotte, la intensidad emocional de Anne y la libertad creativa de Emily.La producción, cuidada hasta el último detalle, incorpora instrumentos acústicos y electrónicos en un equilibrio que oscila entre lo minimalista y lo sinfónico. Los violonchelos, las arpas, los sintetizadores y el piano se entrelazan con guitarras, contrabajo, percusiones y timbres poco habituales como el oud o el handpan. En el apartado vocal, la voz de Soldevila se funde con las de Clara Gorrias y Neus Ferri, creando un tejido coral que potencia la carga lírica de los poemas.El resultado es un álbum profundamente atmosférico que invita a la escucha atenta, a dejarse llevar por la cadencia de las palabras y los silencios. Cada tema se convierte en un pequeño universo, una pieza que captura la esencia romántica, rebelde y melancólica de las autoras inglesas. [...]Guiem Soldevila no busca en Brontë una recreación literal, sino una reinterpretación emocional. Su intención es dialogar con aquellas voces, tender puentes entre dos mundos —el siglo XIX y el XXI— a través de un lenguaje común: la sensibilidad artística. En palabras del propio proyecto, Brontë es un “encuentro entre la literatura inglesa y la música contemporánea”, una exploración de la belleza que nace del contraste entre sobriedad y profundidad.Con este disco, Soldevila amplía su ya sólida discografía, que incluye títulos como Nura, Amoramort, Fins demà o la propera metamorfosi, Metaphora e Intimari. Todos ellos revelan una constante inquietud creativa, un gusto por el detalle y una profunda conexión con la palabra poética. Brontë, sin embargo, supone un paso más allá: una síntesis entre su formación musical, su amor por la literatura y su búsqueda de nuevos horizontes expresivos.El disco, mezclado por Mathias Chaumet y masterizado por Yves Roussel, cuenta con diseño y fotografía de Helena Aguilar Mayans, completando un proyecto que destaca tanto por su riqueza artística como por su coherencia estética.En un momento en que la música tiende a lo inmediato, Brontë propone detenerse, escuchar y sentir. Una invitación a redescubrir la poesía desde el sonido, a dejar que la voz de las Brontë —filtrada por la mirada contemporánea de Guiem Soldevila— vuelva a respirar en el presente con la misma intensidad con que fue escrita hace casi dos siglos. (Translation)
Helen VendlerLibrary of AmericaISBN: 978-1598538274September 2025Helen Vendler was our greatest reader of poetry, a scholar who illuminated its inner mechanisms and emotional roots for a wide audience. Always attentive to the stylistic and imaginative features of a poem, Vendler addresses the work of a wide range of American, English, and Irish poets both the canonical and the unexpected in 13 essays: Walt Whitman, author of the first PTSD poem. Sylvia Plath, and the lost poetry of motherhood. William Cowper, James Merrill, and A. R. Ammons on poetic charm. Emily Bronte and Emily Dickinson, linked by a poetic mystery. Ocean Vuong and the shaping imagination of poetry today, or a literary Wallace Stevens and the enigma of beauty. In these and other essays Vendler demonstrates once again why the Irish poet Seamus Heaney called her 'the best close reader of poems to be found on the literary pages.' The thirteen poignant essays gathered here were all published in the last three years of Vendler's life, in Liberties magazine, and intended as her final book. The author's preface was completed only three days before her death, at age ninety.Keats would go on and on about poets’ laurels and would write the Odes and Hyperion—and there is not a shred of snark in those. Emily Brontë, who Dickinson read and favored, never once let her poet’s mask fall, but adopts the elevated, lofty and literary distancing of her peers.Whether reflecting on a Black poet’s interest in creating the mind and language of an extraterrestrial (Robert Hayden), on the poetics of motherhood (Sylvia Plath), on the first PTSD poem (Walt Whitman), or on a literary conundrum (why, of the many poems known to her, Emily Dickinson requested on her deathbed that Emily Brontë’s “No coward soul is mine” be read at her funeral), Vendler demonstrates why the Nobel Prize–winning poet Seamus Heaney called her “the best close reader of poems to be found on the literary pages.”
I have written ten books. I see them published all over the world and I attend festivals and bookshops where I meet readers of all ages, but I never forget the young person I was who just wanted to own a single book. My benefactors at the time — the librarians, the great teachers — understood the wish to own a book I could write my name on. “This is yours,” a woman said to me at a jumble sale when she’d bought me a book for 10p: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.Not only could I keep the book but I could come back and talk to her about it. That was part of her gift, and the sense of possibility, of not being excluded from betterness, is part of the communicative magic that books represent, the mental handshake they offer. I remember meeting an old teacher before she died a few years ago. She asked me what my career as a writer had taught me and I didn’t hesitate. “That a book can save your life,” I replied.
Incluso Simone Rocha, maestra de la delicadeza romántica, jugó con la tensión entre la pureza y la oscuridad: faldas vaporosas, perlas teñidas y botas con cordones que parecían salidas de un sueño lúgubre de Wuthering Heights. (Marta Días de Santos) (Translation)
Fans of a historical series may not have heard of this one. Starring Tom Hardy, this 2009 TV serial is a retelling of Wuthering Heights, and fans hail it as the "best adaptation" of all. (Molly Toolan)
Both artists spoke about the haunting song “Frozen Love.” Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham described it as a story of two people deeply connected yet divided by their differences. Nick compared it to a modern “Wuthering Heights,” filled with passion and tragedy. She admitted she never liked “happy songs,” preferring the emotion in complex stories. (Ruth A)
The third and last on the list is the Old Post Office in Haworth."What they offer is the epitome of cosy season for me,” [Victoria James, Instagram influencer] said. (...)“You’ve got the main cobbled street of Haworth, you’ve got the Brontë Waterfall walk which is a little drive away, probably about five or 10 minutes out of the centre of Haworth.“The walk through [the place] where the Brontë sisters used to write some of their novels out by the waterfall.” (Liana Jacob)
Home of the famous Brontë sisters, it’s been hailed as the “cosiest autumnal day out” that you “must visit”.It’s also said to be an “undisputed literary mecca, attracting visitors from all around the world”.Welcome to Yorkshire adds: “The Brontë Parsonage Museum, the former family home turned museum, is a must-visit for literature enthusiasts. (...)On TikTok, @thecosy.home shared a video of Haworth, along with the caption: “For the cosiest autumnal day out you must visit Haworth in Yorkshire. From the Cabinet of Curiosities to the Brontë Parsonage there is so much to do.” (Molly Court)
Hathersage is a village in the Derbyshire Dales that is brimming with characterful spaces and acclaimed eateries and shops. North Lees Hall on Birley Lane, Hathersage is a great space to explore on foot. Literary fans will be delighted to learn the site is inspiration behind Mr Rochester's Thornfield Hall in the Charlotte Brontë's classic, Jane Eyre. | The Historic England Archive, Historic England. (Ria Ghei)
The Tan Hill Inn’s stark beauty has made it a magnet for filmmakers for decades.In 1970, the pub was transformed into a moody backdrop for a film adaptation of Jane Eyre, starring George C. Scott and Susannah York. Recently unearthed photographs by former Northern Echo photographer Ian Wright reveal how the crew braved the wind-swept moors to capture the Brontë atmosphere. (Patrick Gouldsbrough)
Drawing from the 18th century, creative directors imbued their fall-winter collections with brooding romanticism through moody color palettes and rich textiles, resulting in an abundance of velvet trousers. The fabric’s presence could be a visual exploration of our current psychological state; it’s akin to the burgundy curtains you’d imagine in a Gothic castle or a Brontë novel. But it’s not all doom and gloom; Sunnei styled low-slung velvet pants with graphic T-shirts and strappy sandals, while Tory Burch went with a matching embellished blazer and riding boots—the high-fashion version of the perfect holiday-party ensemble. (Jasmine Fox-Suliaman)
The Japan Brontë Society Blog posts about the recent 40th Japan Brontë Society 2025 Conference.
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by Stephen KnightRoutledgeRoutledge Studies in Nineteenth-Century LiteratureISBN 97810327390522024English Industrial Fiction of the Mid-Nineteenth Century discusses the valuable fiction written in mid-nineteenth-century Britain which represents the situations of the new breed of industrial workers, both the mostly male factory workers who operated in the oppressive
mills of the midlands and north and, in other stories, the oppressed seamstresses who worked mostly in London in very poor and low-paid conditions. Beginning with a general introduction to workers’ fiction at the start of the period, this volume charts the rise of an identifiable genre of industrial fiction and the development of a substantial mode of seamstress fiction through the 1840s, including an analysis of novels by Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Kingsley, Elizabeth Gaskell and Charles Dickens, and more briefly Charlotte Brontë, Geraldine Jewsbury and George Eliot. This volume is essential reading for students and scholars of industrial fiction and nineteenth-century Britain, or those with an interest in the relationship between literature, society and politics.
Chapter 5 Industry in the work of Mainstream Authors: Charlotte Brontë, Shirley, Geraldine Jewsbury, Marian Withers, George Eliot, Felix Holt
When Emerald Fennell, the provocative filmmaker behind Saltburn, announced her next project: a modern, erotic adaptation of Wuthering Heights, the internet couldn’t get enough of it. Emily Brontë’s only novel, published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, has always fascinated readers and filmmakers alike. Only a few works spark as much debate when reimagined. Now, with Fennell in charge and a Charli XCX soundtrack rumored to accompany the mystical moors, her Wuthering Heights is already becoming one of the most divisive literary adaptations in years.The announcement of Heathcliff and Cathy’s casting divided audiences instantly. Some fans applauded Fennell, excited to see current famous hot-shots: Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in the old classic Wuthering Heights. Others accused her of whitewashing, absolving the original literary piece of one of its core aspects. The irony, of course, is that Brontë herself left Heathcliff’s ethnicity deliberately ambiguous, a literary decision that continues to haunt every adaptation.But that ambiguity is intentional. Heathcliff’s difference: racial, cultural, and social, defines his place in the novel. Brontë describes him as “a dark-skinned gipsy in aspect”, with “a half-civilised ferocity lurked yet in the depressed brows and eyes full of black fire.” She even calls him a “lascar”, a term once used for sailors from the Indian subcontinent. Scholars argue this suggests he was likely of Romani or South Asian descent. The Roma people, historically displaced from the Indian subcontinent, faced deep-rooted prejudice in Europe, exactly the kind of hostility Heathcliff endures from the Earnshaws.The racism portrayed isn’t just background texture; it’s his origin story. Heathcliff’s mistreatment because of his skin and class fuels his transformation from abused orphan to a vengeful antihero. As stated in Catherine’s diary: “Hindley calls him a vagabond, and won’t let him sit with us, nor eat with us any more.” Those early humiliations shape his character. He transforms into a calculated and ruthless person; someone who doesn’t mind playing the long game. “I don't care how long I wait, if I can only do it at last. I hope he will not die before I do!” When Heathcliff later swears revenge, “I want you to be aware that I know you have treated me infernally—infernally!”, it’s not just personal; it’s systemic, and reveals more about Brontë’s social and political context.That’s why the casting debate matters. A white Heathcliff can still embody class struggle, but it strips away the racial commentary Brontë was making. By erasing his visible ‘otherness’, the story loses one of its sharpest critiques: how society creates monsters out of those it refuses to accept.In Fennell’s adaptation, this long-standing ambiguity has become the film’s lightning rod. Is her Wuthering Heights revising history, or reclaiming it?If the casting didn’t stir enough controversy, the trailer certainly did. The film looks to amplify the sexual tension that simmers beneath Brontë’s text, transforming emotional torment into pure explicit eroticism. Critics have accused Fennell of turning a novel about cruelty and obsession into stylized and romanticised pornography of pain. In a lot of ways, this can be very problematic, glamorizing abuse and toxicity within romantic relationships. On the other hand, supporters counter that her approach exposes the raw sexuality that Victorian critics suppressed.After all, Wuthering Heights has in some ways zoomed in on the violent intersections of desire, control, and social constraint. Fennell’s unapologetic eroticization may not betray Brontë’s vision, and it may in fact reveal it. [...]Personally, I’m always intrigued when I hear about a new film or series based on a book I’ve read. Yet, honestly I’m almost always disappointed, no matter how “faithful” it tries to be. If the adaptation doesn’t perfectly match the version of the story that played in my head, it feels off. That’s the curse of being a reader: no film can ever recreate the imagination that built those characters for you.Still, maybe that’s the point. Screenwriting is its own art form, limited by time, by what the camera can capture, by what dialogue can convey. It’s impossible to expect a film to transmit every inner thought, every shadow of emotion, and every complex relationship the way prose does. So maybe we shouldn’t judge adaptations by how closely they mimic the book, but by how honestly they reinterpret it.The outrage around Wuthering Heights is really part of this bigger debate: what do filmmakers owe the source material? Adaptations have always walked a tightrope between faithfulness and reinvention. What about Harry Potter’s missing subplots, or how The Hunger Games shifted from social critique to a trilogical spectacle? Even the recent One Day series sparked discussion when Ambika Mod was cast as Emma; a choice that reframed the story through a new lens of representation.Fennell’s Wuthering Heights belongs squarely in that tradition. Whether you see it as a daring evolution or an unforgivable desecration depends on how you view art itself, as preservation or as provocation. Of course, there is a thin line between just having an artistic opinion and fully removing elements that are core parts of the original piece’s identity.Wuthering Heights has never been a comforting story; nor should it be seen as an idealised love story. It’s a howl of obsession, revenge, and love at its ugliest. To sanitize that would be a betrayal. And maybe, for all its controversy, Fennell’s version will capture that brutality better than any before. We can’t know for sure yet. The real question is whether her characteristically unorthodox and maximalist approach will highlight Brontë’s darkness, or bury it under excess. (Carol De Rocha Caruso De Lima)
People keen for a cosy Saturday afternoon drama are in for a treat with an adaptation of the classic book, Jane Eyre, being shown on BBC Two today.There have been countless film and TV adaptations of Charlotte Bronte’s gothic romance and coming-of-age novel but the most notable recent big screen version, which will air on TV today, was released in 2011 starring Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender and Jamie Bell.Described as a ‘feast for the eyes’ by reviewers, it’s got an 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Wasikowska’s turn as the title role earned her an accolade in Time magazine as one of the Top 10 Movie Performances of 2011. [...]A much-beloved classic, adaptations must tread a fine line to gain audience approval. Fortunately, this 2011 retelling appeared to get it right and a review by New York Times critic A. O. Scott described it as ‘neither a radical updating nor a stiff exercise in middlebrow’.Rotten Tomatoes reviewers agreed with one writing: “Simple and beautiful at once. Stunning photography and great acting. A movie for my heart.”Another said: “Totally wonderful smolderingly passionate version of the classic book with perfect casting and marvellous cinematography. A film to watch again and again.” (Charlotte Owen)
A "mesmerising" period drama that's based on a much-loved book is set to air on TV today. [...]Jane Eyre was released in March 2011 to widespread acclaim from critics. It quickly became hailed as one of the best Brontë adaptations ever, with its costume design, led by Michael O'Connor, earning an Oscar nomination. (Sara Baalla)
Heathcliff, Wuthering Heights – Emily BronteFor me, Heathcliff even beats bad-dads King Lear and Agamemnon. Most readers won’t remember that Heathcliff is a dad at all, which is part of what makes him so bad. The sadistic, dysfunctional passion between Heathcliff and Catherine dominates Brontë’s novel, leaving young Linton, the kid Heathcliff has with another woman, Isabella, neglected, abused and dominated by his terrifying father.Heathcliff doesn’t even meet his son until he’s 13, after Isabella dies. Linton is then forced to live in tormented isolation and tortured into marrying his first cousin, Cathy. All this so Heathcliff can take revenge on Cathy’s father Edgar, who married his beloved Catherine Earnshaw. (Sophie Gee)
by 김미정 (Kim Mi-jeong), Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Institute of Foreign Literature외국문학연구 (Foreign Literature Studies) 100 (August 2025), p 129This paper provides a comparative analysis of the literary characters Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights and Gatsby from The Great Gatsby through the lens of Lacan’s concept of “Between Two Deaths” and Freud’s theory of “Mourning and Melancholia.” Despite their creation in different times and cultures, Wuthering Heights and The Great Gatsby share the commonality of failing to return to the symbolic order after the loss of love, existing as ghosts of desire outside the order of the real world. This study interprets these two characters as “beings between two deaths,” who remain physically alive despite experiencing “symbolic death,” thereby offering a more profound understanding of the dissolution and tragedy of the subject in literature. This theoretical framework integrates philosophical and psychoanalytic perspectives to illuminate the themes of desire, loss and the fragmentation of the self.
Like Dr Frankenstein, directors like Maggie Gyllenhaal, Guillermo del Toro, and Emerald Fennel are sparking new life into the Victorian Gothic… even if they should leave well enough alone.We are to be blessed (or burdened) with a burst of new releases retelling classics: Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein, and The Bride!. [...]Emerald Fennel has received the worst of the public’s reaction due to readers’ dissatisfaction with the accuracy of her version of Wuthering Heights, partly down to the inaccurate costuming and the sexualised nature of her retelling, but also because of the white-washing of Heathcliff’s ‘dark-skinned’ character (now portrayed by Jacob Elordi). Fennel has unashamedly updated the original text, bringing Charlie XCX on board for the soundtrack and casting Barbie’s Margot Robbie as Catherine – a beautiful, talented actress but decidedly ‘un-Victorian’ in her appearance.Ironically, by making changes which have infuriated audiences, Fennel’s work is more like the original text than expected, both having brought moral outrage from the public upon their release.After her work on more modern narratives in Saltburn and Promising Young Woman, Fennel broaches new ground by diving deep into the past. An interesting contrast for someone who so clearly concerns herself with topical issues, such as social class and the mistreatment of women in contemporary society.So, why Wuthering Heights?Well, the original text does tackle the issue of social class, with it being a key reason for the separation of Heathcliff and Catherine, and that may well appeal to her if we are to consider her work on Saltburn. However, I think there is a whole other angle here which appeals both to Fennel and wider audiences; the destructive and tumultuous romance between the two leads speaks to modern heterosexual dating frustrations.For men, many are worried post #metoo about being misconstrued as predatory or creepy if approaching a woman for a date. Meanwhile, women are fearful of men’s reactions, concerned that they will become victims of abuse. Just like Catherine, women are perceived as leading men on and, just like Heathcliff, men are seen as aggressive, possessive, and violent. With almost 60% of single Americans not looking for a relationship, many people have decided that romance just isn’t worth the trouble. (Laura McCarthy)
Not mentioning Classics Illustrated, other readers nominated other books as the best they’ve never read.Jim Verni has yet to read “Jane Eyre.” He’s not alone. [...]“’Wuthering Heights,’ by Emily Bronte is my answer, an absolute classic (so I hear),” Maura wrote. (Jim Memmott)
by Zarifa Sadiqzade, Nakhchivan State University, AzerbaijanSpectrum of Research and Humanities , 2(5), 102-114The Gothic literature of Victorian England was a labyrinth of candlelit corridors, ghostly apparitions, and psychological dread that reflected the anxieties of a rapidly changing 19th-century society. This article explores the evolution and characteristics of the Gothic genre in Victorian prose, examining how writers from Mary Shelley to Bram Stoker revitalized and transformed Gothic conventions. It discusses major figures of the era – including the Brontë sisters, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Oscar Wilde, and others – who infused their narratives with supernatural encounters, haunted spaces, and disturbed minds. Through a literary analysis of key themes such as the supernatural versus rationality, madness and the divided self, decay and degeneration, and repression of secrets and desires, the study illustrates how Victorian Gothic prose mirrored its cultural context. The historical development of the genre is traced from early 19th-century precursors through mid-Victorian domestic and sensation fiction to the fin-de-siècle Gothic revival, highlighting how the genre both upheld and subverted Victorian values. Drawing on twenty scholarly sources, the article situates Victorian Gothic literature within its social and publishing history and demonstrates its lasting impact on English prose.
Timbers from the childhood home of the Brontë family are to be sold off to raise funds for its restoration.Thin sections of beam taken from the parlour ceiling where Charlotte, Emily, Anne and their brother Bramwell [sic] were all born, have been valued at £250 a piece.Money raised from the sale will fund ongoing conservation work at the property in Market Street, Thornton, which opened to the public for the first time earlier this year.A total of 240 fragments of the beams have been framed, using museum-quality art glass.Each of the slices has been given holographic authentication and a register of ownership will also be kept.Brontë Birthplace, the community organisation responsible for renovating the property, said each piece would be a "timeless keepsake from the very place where the Brontë story began".Fundraising co-ordinator Nigel West said: "This is a limited edition. We do not anticipate any further major works in our lifetime, and you can take the opportunity to own this little slice of history, secure in the knowledge that removal was completely necessary to ensure the safety of the building."Dating back over 200 years, each beam once supported the very floor beneath the feet of the Brontë family." (David Spereall)
'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte BrontëAnother centuries-old entry in the enemies-to-lovers canon, Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel starts with governess Jane arriving at Thornfield Hall and initially finding her employer, Mr. Rochester, unbearably scornful and arrogant. As time goes by, however, they find themselves falling for one another—though their love story won’t be a straightforward one, thanks to Mr. Rochester’s big secret. (Andrea Park)
Wuthering HeightsBy Emily BronteIf you have been scrolling on TikTok in recent weeks, perhaps you’ve come across the trailer to Emerald Fennell’s reimaging of Wuthering Heights, set against a remix of “Everything is Romantic” by Charli XCX.Although many of us are apprehensive about this heralded classic, there is always the source material to fall back on. The story centers on the recounting of the passionate love affair between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff.Told with raw emotional intensity, the reader, much like the central character, relives the tragedy in a work that has remained influential since its publication in 1847. (Lola Bosa)
“Wuthering Heights” is named after the 1847 novel of the same title by Emily Brontë. It had a similar resurgence in protest to the creation of the new and controversial Wuthering Heights adaptation, which was deemed inaccurate to the original plot of the novel by fans; especially in comparison to the emotion in Kate Bush’s song. (Lou Medley)
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You on the Moors Now
by Jaclyn Backhaus
Originally developed with John Kurzynowski and Theater Reconstruction EnsembleThe Lab Theatre at FSU, s 32304, 502 S Copeland St, Tallahassee, FL 32304, United States
Performance Schedule
Friday, October 31, 2025 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 2, 2025 at 2:00 p.m.
Wednesday, November 5, 2025 at 8:00p.m.
Thursday, November 6, 2025 at 8:00 p.m.
Friday, November 7, 2025 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 8, 2025 at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 9, 2025 at 2:00 p.m.
Four iconic heroines. One epic showdown. Elizabeth Bennet, Catherine Earnshaw, Jane Eyre, and Jo March are so over playing by the rules. When their legendary suitors show up with rings, these literary rebels ignite a fire of passion and defiance, rewriting their stories with a 21st-century twist. Get ready for a literary smackdown where romance meets revolution, and happily-ever-after is just the beginning. This audacious mashup of Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and Little Women will leave you cheering for these heroines who are finally writing their own endings!
Throughout the making of [her latest record] Scream, Welch says she channelled Mary Shelley and the Brontë sisters through the lens of nineties cult classics such as The Craft and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. “I wanted to build a world where these contrasting [references] could co-exist – Georgian and grunge, all at once.” (Elio Iannacci)
Whilst the film release date was my kick up the backside to finally get through part one, Wuthering Heights has sat on my bookshelf since I was seventeen, because I could never get through the jungle of words I’d never heard in my life in the first chapters. That, and there was no romance at all, fully convincing me of the stereotype that Victorian books really are just people going to each other’s houses. However, once I got through a very lengthy set-up, I found one of my new favourite books.Wuthering Heights focuses on two young people in the Victorian Yorkshire moors who fall in love. Aw. But they’re both a bit too into each other to the point that it’s unhealthy, and this negatively impacts everyone around them, reaching levels of loved-up so drastic that they destroy their small community and make them act in truly questionable ways.The book contains romance, but calling it a romance book isn’t an accurate description (at least not a healthy one). Obsession, motivated by genuine romantic feelings, drives the plot, but what happens is not romantic. And this isn’t in an ultra-woke, feminists ruin everything way, because what some people do in this book is genuine freak behaviour, both today and in the Victorian era. This pair are critically judged by their peers. But regardless, it’s incredibly intense, and isn’t that what we all want anyway? But I fear that the adaptation, due out this Valentine’s Day, hasn’t interpreted this intensity correctly.I picked up Wuthering Heights expecting a slow-burning if not slightly tragic love story about two people in the Victorian era who have to hide their love, a la Romeo and Juliet for goths. It was not that.It was still absolutely fantastic, but if Emerald Fennel plans on keeping the film true to the book, this is maybe not the Valentine’s date for relatively new couples, to the point I think it’s a bit twisted that the release date is the 14th.Saying that, it’s a twisted book and could make for a sick film, so if this is revelling in itself? I think it works. But please, please, please don’t go in expecting a heartwarming story. This was Normal People for Victorian freaks.Not to rain on everyone’s parade, but Emily Brontë would not want her gothic novel’s adaptation to be released on Valentine’s, starring two white, very beautiful actors, and advertised by a trailer focusing on how hot they are for each other.I can’t write off that Catherine was thinking the way Margot Robbie portrays her to be thinking at the start of the trailer, but Brontë never actually comes out and says that. If anything, Catherine can seem quite aloof from time to time, but I digress.We’re doing ourselves an injustice if we’re only focused on their obsession in and of itself. The plot and drama of Wuthering Heights come in the form of the consequences of this obsession, so not only does a hyperfixation on romance significantly dilute the story, but it would rob the audience entirely of moments that left me audibly gasping and throwing my copy across the room. Cathy and Heathcliff do not exist in a vacuum, yet they seem to think that they do. The trailer seems to show what they think is happening in their minds, but that doesn’t make it true.Speaking of inaccuracy, I need to beat a dead horse here in terms of online discourse about the film’s casting. Heathcliff is not a white man. This isn’t a coincidence; it’s central to his character.Heathcliff is an orphan, taken in by a wealthier man, and described as a “gipsy”, with one character speculating if his father “was Emperor of China, and your mother an Indian queen”. We don’t know much, but we know that he’s destitute and at the mercy of the wealthy folk around him. Not only is there a class power dynamic, but a racial one, as Heathcliff’s “inferiority” to his environment is visible. Characters are racist towards him, he’s called a “ruffian”, and Heathcliff’s “moodiness” or whatever you want to call it, comes from this.He’s not so shallow as not to have a source for his chronic anger. Without the class barrier, which comes from the racial power dynamic, Heathcliff is reduced to a Wattpad boyfriend stereotype. Hence, with no disrespect to Jacob Elordi, this role was not exactly made for him. (Jess Urquhart)
by Heather HindPalgrave MacMillanPalgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture (PNWC)Hardcover ISBN 978-3-031-78778-2Published: 20 October 2025eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-78779-9Published: 19 October 2025Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-78781-2Due: 03 November 2026This book presents an original and engaging study of the cultural history and literary significance of hairwork – the crafting of decorative objects, such as jewellery, from human hair – in Victorian Britain. Hairwork became increasingly fashionable and commercialised in the mid-nineteenth century, before swiftly declining in popularity. Yet, in the Victorian imagination, hairwork held a peculiar capacity to emerge from and capture moments of tension: it was made to mark relationships as they were redefined or consolidated; to process transitions and articulate hope for the future; and to express identities as they were questioned and explored. This book reconstructs and interprets the role of hairwork in revealing and negotiating such desires and anxieties by studying its historical trajectory, surviving artefacts, and practices alongside its literary representations in works by Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Wilkie Collins, and Margaret Oliphant. It shows how the combination of hairwork’s matter, form, and craft – the material of hair, the designs and uses of hairwork, and the processes of its making – expose the complexities and tensions within identity, affective relationships, and social relations and thus contributed to its unique place in Victorian culture.
