The fiery William Grimshaw

The Telegraph & Argus publishes an article about the 300th anniversary of William Grimshaw's birth (Picture Source)

Celebrations are being held in Haworth, the shrine to the Brontes, which have no connection to the great literary family.
Almost 100 years before Patrick Bronte turned up with his family in the bleak Pennine village, it had been home to another preacher who had stamped his fame across the north.
He was the fiery cleric William Grimshaw, a friend of the great non-conformist brothers John and Charles Wesley, and George Whitfield.
His birth 300 years ago is being marked tomorrow at 11am by a free lecture at Hall Green Chapel, in Bridgehouse Lane, Haworth, by biographer Faith Cook.
Grimshaw was in charge of Haworth Church from 1742 until his death at 54, and he was one of the main figures in the 18th century evangelical revival. Patrick Bronte arrived from Thornton, Bradford, in 1820.
It was said Grimshaw’s preaching could “make a nation tremble” and he had Haworth folk on edge, especially the lads in the Black Bull in Main Street – later popular with Branwell Bronte.
He would walk into pubs in the village to demand that the tipplers attend church, but many jumped out of the windows when they saw him coming. Mrs Cook said: “His reputation as the flogging preacher is greatly exaggerated. But he was very fiery and once set about some thugs who assaulted local people trying to get to church.
“He was just the job for the wild and uncouth folk of Haworth at the time. They mocked him at first but loved him in the end.”
Starting with a congregation of only 12 when he arrived in the village, the church was later filled with hundreds inside and out.
People would travel miles to hear him preach and at times scaffolding had to be put up in the graveyard to accommodate the thousands.
“He was so admired that Wesley appointed him to be the leader of the Methodist movement after him, but sadly he died before Wesley,” she said.
For her book, William Grimshaw of Haworth, she re-discovered manuscripts written by Grimshaw, which had been mislaid for years.
“It was a treasure trove of new information which had hardly been explored apart from by a few academics. It was great – literally an open field for me,” she said.
Mick Lockwood, Minister at Hall Green Baptist Chapel, said the aim was to show that Haworth was not just famous for the Brontes but for Grimshaw.
“He was mega-famous at the time – hundreds walked miles to hear him preach. What he did was terrific,” he said. (Clive White)

The City Journal (Vol. 18, no. 3 Summer 2008) - in an article about the wonders of the glorious Black and White - mentions Wuthering Heights 1939:

Who needed color when the haunting landscapes of Wuthering Heights materialized on screen, as if photographed in Emily Brontë’s nineteenth century? (Stefan Kanfer)

Curiously, The New York Post talks about several Fox films included in the Fox Horror Classics Volume 2 DVD. Joseph Leo Mankiewicz's debut film Dragonwyck is compared to Jane Eyre:

"Dragonwyck" does feature genre icon Vincent Price in a juicy role as a sinister Dutch patroon in the 18th century Hudson Valley who turns to an impoverished distant relative (Gene Tierney, never more gorgeous) after his wife's mysterious death in this lavishly produced variation on "Jane Eyre." (Lou Lumenick)

In our opinion variation it is... as Star Trek could be defined as a variation on Iliad.

Several reviews with Brontë mentions: Anuradha Roy's An Atlas of Impossible Longing is reviewed on Tehelka Magazine:

Atlas is often compassionate and deeply aware of its location in space and time — the opening chapter’s detailed and angry depiction of a Santhal feast and the lascivious reaction of their non-tribal guests is compelling. In tone, it blends Wuthering Heights with The God of Small Things: two children growing wild and falling in love in a landscape that is as vast and untamed as their home is stultified by the barriers of caste, gender and the bitterness of unfulfilled ambition. Crucially, however, it lacks the uninhibited surrender to its characters that sustained both Brontë’s and Roy’s melodramas. (Parvati Sharma)

Los Angeles Times reviews HBO vampire mystery series True Blood:

Paquin strains every acting muscle in her body to make Sookie a Real Girl, but bubbly Southern waif savant -- "that's jest nasty talk" -- does not come naturally to her (or possibly anyone). Her infatuation with Bill is likewise inexplicable -- Moyer is going for a sadder, wiser Heathcliff vibe but winds up just plain mopey, not at all attractive in a vampire. (Mary McNamara)

Wiser Heathcliff? Where did we read something like that before?

The Sky-Hi Daily News discovers yet another Brontëite: historical western romance writer Joanne Sundell.

After 15 years as a nurse and eight years in the season pass office at Winter Park Resort, Joanne Sundell deep within yet another chapter in her life. This chapter features her as an author, sharing her passion for Colorado history. It features her honoring strong women of the past in her writing, women like those found in her favorite romance, Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre.” (Cindy Palmer)

Rough Draft reviews Justine Picardie's Daphne:

Having finished Justine Picardie's fine and thought-provoking novel, I went back to the photograph of Daphne du Maurier with Vanishing Cornwall at her elbow. We want to follow her gaze, to see whatever it is that she sees as she looks away from the camera. We can only imagine. Whatever it was, it has vanished.

Doddyland posts about Jane Eyre in French and decaminoalalibertad talks about Wuthering Heights in Spanish.

Categories: Books, Brontëites, Haworth, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Wuthering Heights