Heathcliff's lost years and Rebecca's code

The Brontë sisters themselves, as you know, answer your questions about writing. Ask the Brontë Sisters has a new, hilarious post. Don't miss it.

If you'd rather go for the indirect kind of advice, we suggest you read their literary output. Such as the following people have done.

ejmbachenheimer writes and in-depth review of Wuthering Heights.

Another question I had upon finishing the book was: What happened during those three years that Heathcliff went away? It’s obviously not pivotal to the story, otherwise we would have found out in some way, but I still find it fascinating. I suppose that might be a question left to “Wuthering Heights” fan fiction, if such even exists…

We suggest you read Jasper Fforde's The Well of Lost Plots to find out ;)

My last question is this: I don’t know much about Bronte’s life. The only information provided at the beginning of the recording was that she was the middle of the three Bronte girls. Their mother died when they were young and they lived with their father, a strict preacher. Other than that, the short biographical note states that Emily died at the age of thirty and had a tortured girlhood. Wuthering Heights was the only novel she wrote and that into it she poured her heart and soul. I am left to wonder how much of the text is autobiographical and where those details are hidden. That’s what biographies of the Bronte sisters are for, I suppose…

We don't know which editions this is, but currently Patrick Brontë is known to be a modern, tolerant father. Strict, yes, but not the way Mrs Gaskell depicted him. As for Emily's 'tortured girlhood' - where was the torture? Wuthering Heights is not at all autobiographical, it's rather a continuation of her juvenilia: the Gondal saga. Here's hoping we are talking about an old, old edition.

Rose Cottage Lane writes about Jane Eyre, both the novel (unabridged audiobook version) and its most recent screen adaptation.

I absolutely fell in love with this novel, and this movie portrayal. It had a bit of everything, from drama to mystery to romance. Jane Eyre reminds me of Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier, in many ways. Now these two novels are tied for first place as my favorites. Rebecca has always been my favorite, but Jane Eyre has now been put right up there alongside.

Even though we understand it to mean it's in the reading order, it's actually Rebecca that reminds one of Jane Eyre.

Talking about Rebecca. A Spanish newspaper, El Correo, has recently featured Daphne du Maurier's - so ubiquitous as of late - in a couple of articles. The first one is a short biographical notice. The second one is about how the nazis may have used Rebecca as a code. Both include mentions of Jane Eyre and du Maurier's biography of Branwell Brontë.

Categories: Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Websites, Wuthering Heights