Does a Sufi reading of Wuthering Heights prevent anti-social behaviour?

Let's begin with a different reading of Wuthering Heights. It comes from the BanglaDesh newspaper The Daily Star, from an interview to the author Kamila Shamsie:

Ahmede Hussain : Many will argue that novel itself is a western form of expression. We had epic. Is it not so that the history of novel is also the history of the so-called modern man, his crises?

KS: Many can argue that. I find the argument irrelevant. Are novel writers from the non-Western world able to use the novel to look at their own particular nation and its concerns? That's the only important question. The greatness of the novel form lies in the very thing many people find objectionable about it: the looseness of its structure. You can have epic novels. The epic and the novel don't have to be seen as walking different paths. Is Wuthering Heights really about the crisis of modern man? As I see it, the story of Heathcliff and Cathy has more resonances with Sufi concepts of love - losing yourself in the Beloved - than with modernity. But of course in saying that I'm bringing in my reading of non-Western Sufi texts into my reading of Wuthering Heights. And the best novels will always accommodate different ways of reading.

EInsiders.com has a double review of the Wide Sargasso Sea 2006 DVD:

What Jon Ted Wynne says:
I had mixed feelings about this film. The idea is a brilliant one: to investigate the circumstances prior to the events of Jane Eyre and, in addition to making a number of observations about Colonialism, prejudice, and the oppression of women, to flesh out the character of Edward Rochester. (...)
There is much to commend this version. It is strikingly moody, with an omnipresent veil of oppression. While this is appropriate to the story, which the viewer knows will lead to the unhappiness and insanity of its central character, Antoinette—later renamed Bertha, one of the many ways in which she is oppressed—it becomes a little bit tedious in spots. There is simply nothing to relieve the tension.
A significant aspect of this adaptation (possibly following the style of the book) is the emphasis on the initial sexual attraction of Rochester and Antoinette. While not overly graphic, the sex scenes do attempt to be erotic. For this viewer though, they seemed quite unnecessary (as most sex scenes are).
Returning for a moment to the visuals, the one scene that stands out in my mind occurs when Rochester picks up a piece of fruit to eat it, then realizes the fruit is worm-infested. He drops it to the floor and the fruit bursts open, and several worms crawl out. Revolting to look at, the spoiled fruit serves as the perfect metaphor: how something beautiful on the outside is really rotten to the core on the inside. The metaphor applies to Rochester’s view of the country, as well as his and Antoinette’s marriage (which starts off with genuine love then disintegrates into suspicion, cruelty and infidelity), and finally to Antoinette herself: young, beautiful and full of hope, but driven to insanity and, ultimately, to self-destruction.
My biggest concern about this film is the contemporary shooting style. The director applies the camera work of an episode of NYPD Blue and the jump editing of The Bourne Identity to a period story, which has a very disorienting effect. To the director’s credit, this seems an earnest attempt to reflect the teeming, swirling events that doom the couple to mutual hatred and despair, but it comes off, in my opinion, as a conflict of styles that went from being distracting to downright annoying after awhile.
Fortunately Rebecca Hall’s acting is first-rate. Rafe Spall as Rochester is a bit one-note, but Ms. Hall as Antoinette definitely earns the acting accolades here. There is some fine supporting work from the rest of the cast, too, which helps maintain the sinister mood of the film.
Fans of Jane Eyre will find Wide Sargasso Sea interesting and worth watching, but possibly less enlightening than the filmmakers intended. See it and decide for yourself.
What Rhiannon Benedict says:
At the risk of bucking Academia (not my first offence of this nature, I must admit), my first viewing of Wide Sargasso Sea left me completely cold. Hot on the heels of reading zealous reviews and academic accolades for the film as a brilliant prequel to Jane Eyre, I fell immediately and firmly into the trap of comparing the two. I was entirely disappointed and completely failed to see how this modern film could inform classic Charlotte Bronte in any way. Part of the problem, admittedly, was my personal attachment to Timothy Dalton’s 6’2”, green-eyed, brooding characterization of Edward Rochester, purely because, well, he’s Timothy Dalton, what’s not to like? Poor Rafe Spall, an actor I was completely ignorant of, was doomed from the start.
After several days and numerous attempts to write this review, I decided to view it a second time. Measuring the two stories against one another deprives a full appreciation for Wide Sargasso Sea, as the balance is, at least for me, tipped heavily in favour of Charlotte Bronte. I re-approached Jean Rhys’ story, determined to actively not think about Jane Eyre. In allowing the film to speak for itself, I was richly rewarded. The poor second cousin rating from the first viewing was entirely erased. Surprisingly, I also finally found some very real insights that did expand my understanding of Jane Eyre, a novel I have studied to some degree. Now that I have completely contradicted myself, here are some of the treasures unearthed in Wide Sargasso Sea the second time around.
A searing love story set in Colonial Jamaica, Wide Sargasso Sea pulsates with intrigue and lust. Due in large part to brilliance in direction, cinematography and editing, the oppressive, prickly, fever-inducing heat of the island is palpable. The heady aroma of the flowers on the breeze, the thickness of the air, the blazing green foliage, the foreign sounds, the inner turmoil, the confusion and fear - all of it is deftly played to its utmost. The soundscape, without your awareness, surreptitiously slips in and out of a scene, playing the moment to its highest intensity. The play of light against darkness rips secrets from their hiding places and cruelly exposes them. One lover is pushed into darkness in the midst of light, and the other desperately searches for light in the midst of darkness. While there is no such thing as a perfect film, occasionally it is possible to find perfect moments. Wide Sargasso Sea offers more than its fair share.(...)
The key to this prequel is to appreciate it for itself first, then think about its relationship to Jane Eyre afterward. For those unfamiliar with Jane Eyre, watch Wide Sargasso Sea, then watch Jane Eyre. You won’t be disappointed by either of them.

Remember this? The Spenborough Guardian says today:

SPEN Valley Civic Society brought a ray of sunshine to rain-soaked Cleckheaton on Saturday for the fifth birthday celebrations of Savoy Square.

Thankfully the rain held off for most of the proceedings and members of the public joined in the party atmosphere with balloons, displays and entertainment. (...)
Several costumed characters also put in an appearance to highlight the poster commemorating Charlotte Bronte’s Shirley. (Margaret Heward)

The Redditch Standard announces an upcoming new theatrical adaptation of Wuthering Heights that will be performed in September/October at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre:

A brand new stage adaptation of another much-loved classic, Wuthering Heights, brings Emily Bronte’s passionate and spellbinding tale to life. Set on the wild, windswept Yorkshire moors, this physical production by one of the UK’s most innovative dramatists, April De Angelis, will be directed by Indhu Rubasingham. (Andrew Powell)

Georgina McEncroe writes in The Herald Sun about some awful holidays and slips this Jane Eyre reference:

My daughter felt like Jane Eyre. And acted a little like her, too.
I hadn't sent her out to a bleak typhus-ridden charity school, but I had sent her out into the desert.

Nevertheless we don't understand really what acting like Jane Eyre means in this context.

Cinematical Seven talks about rap singers trying to be actors and puts this (very) perturbing question concerning Eminem:

Who's with me on Eminem as MacBeth? Or perhaps as the darkly brooding Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights? Hey, I bet Heathcliff could bust out a rap while wandering the moors in the depths of despair. (Kim Voynar)

Even more perturbing is the following comparison by the Airedale and North Bradford neighbourhood policing team inspector as can be read in Keighley News:

Police community support officers are wearing new head cameras in a bid to tackle anti-social behaviour and domestic violence.
PCSOs are patrolling Keighley wearing the cameras on their heads in the hope that recording footage of crimes will help with prosecutions and preventing offences. (...)
Airedale and North Bradford neighbourhood policing team inspector Mark Allsop said: "In cases of domestic violence sometimes people are afraid of making a complaint against their partner and this camera is one way of picking up evidence.
"When PCSOs visit scenes of domestic violence, where the victim is upset, sometimes it is difficult to describe what you see.
"Our officers might not be wordsmiths like the Brontës but the camera captures that scene and what people's demeanour is like when they get there, which can often be difficult to describe.

The Guardian reviews Seth Lakeman's album Poor Man's Heaven:

His songs also tend to have a slightly bodice-ripping bent, peopled as they are by dashing pirates, fearless highwaymen, Heathcliff types brooding on the moors and, at one particularly imaginative juncture on Poor Man's Heaven, a lifeboatman risking life and limb to rescue a maiden whose hair has become entangled in the rigging of her yacht. (Alexis Petridis)

As for the blogs: Chaosophy discusses they why and wherefore of literary pseudonyms used by women. And Lizzy's Literary Life reviews Anne Donovan's Being Emily.

Categories: Books, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, References, Shirley, Theatre, Weirdo, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights