Wuthering Heights' unlucky day

St Valentine's is less than a month away and typically many websites are trying to compile lists of 'the most romantic [insert anything at all here]'. The first we have encountered with a Brontë connection is Associated Content, where Wuthering Heights 1939 makes it to number 10 (out of 10).

10. Wuthering Heights with Sir Lawrence Olivier and Merle Oberon. Oberon is the heartless Catherine who loves Olivier's Heathcliff but marries David Niven's character instead as Heathcliff is a poor stable boy. The film ends in tragedy as Catherine dies in the arms of Heathcliff and he kills himself on the moors. (Michelle Williams)

BrontëBlog has never endorsed the oh-so-romantic (in the love sense) vision of Wuthering Height, but we wonder why you would write a synopsis for such a list where the movie doesn't sound at all romantic. Based on that description we don't see many couples picking this for St Valentine's night.

Today's clearly not Wuthering Heights' lucky day. Another list - although altogether different - has been compiled by The Daily Orange reviewing the required reading for spring semester. What they say about Wuthering Heights:

The Greatest Love Story Ever Told (Or Not)
Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights" (ETS 242)
Yep, another version. Romeo and Juliet redux. Told through flashbacks and a pretty boring writing style, the love of Catherine and Heathcliff is thwarted by those snobby English aristocrats. Don't worry though; Heathcliff will get some sweet, sweet revenge. Also, there are ghosts.

Not the way we'd summarise the story either. Wide Sargasso Sea is on the list as well:

Don't read this book unless you read Jane Eyre (and liked it)
Jean Rhys's "Wide Sargasso Sea" (ETS 440)
Rhys's novel is a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's celebrated "Jane Eyre." Yes, a different author wrote this sequel. So this novel is like the postmodern equivalent of a Star Wars nerd writing fan fiction. On the other hand, "Wide Sargasso Sea" does deal with important themes, while explaining the tragic background of the first Mrs. Rochester, who in "Jane Eyre" is merely a raving lunatic.

InsideBayArea and the Bay Area Reporter reminds us that Lucy Simon (Carly's sister) is still working with Marsha Norman on a Wuthering Heights musical called Heathcliff. Hopefully they will get the story right.

Finally, Au Pays D'Ori reviews Jane Eyre - the novel - in French.

Categories: Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights