Perverse and morbid book

Tim Holland celebrates on To The Center the return of the Brontës thanks to the new version of Wuthering Heights with a not-to-be-missed article:

They’re back. Or at least Emily is. Yes, PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre Classics is about to broadcast Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë, the middle surviving sister of the three Brontë sisters of Haworth, England. Ever wonder why their works remain on the front burner of the English literature world while others are moved to the rear or periodically disappear altogether?
Because they write well; not just the one but all three: Charlotte, Emily and Anne.
The three major novels of the sisters have made it to Masterpiece Theater, as well as other theatrical productions: Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. They continue to endure much to the delight of new generations of readers. But there is another element that enters into the Brontë equation that makes them so appealing and it’s called biography.
The novels of the Brontë sisters are, virtually, never introduced without the biography of not just the sister whose novel is about to be read or watched but the whole family. It is not possible to separate one sister’s life story from that of the others, they are so intertwined. The experts spend lifetimes delving through every page of every novel seeking further clues to the sisters’ collected life stories.
While, quite often, I will try to ignore a writer’s biography when reading the words they have written and simply concentrate on the story and the quality of the writing, I must admit it is not easy to do with the Brontës. So much of their writing is entwined with not only their own lives but also the physical attributes of the land around them. One needs only to sit on a stone wall on a cold, cloudy, wind swept day looking out on the moor to understand the sometimes brooding, bleakness of their novels. (Read more)

SFera rescues an essay by George Orwell included in Inside the Whale (1940) where the author of 1984 describes Wuthering Heights like this:

Evidently these books are of the sort to leave a flavour behind them—books that ‘create a world of their own’, as the saying goes. The books that do this are not necessarily good books, they may be good bad books like RAFFLES or the SHERLOCK HOLMES stories, or perverse and morbid books like WUTHERING HEIGHTS or THE HOUSE WITH THE GREEN SHUTTERS

A contemporary author, Edmund White, defines himself as a Brontëite for the Financial Times:

What book changed your life?
I was a teenager when I read Wuthering Heights, while I was in my school infirmary with a fever. It gave me a sense of the dark glamour of literature. (Anna Metcalfe)

The adventure romance novelist, Marcia Lynn McClure is interviewed on The Canny Fox where she says:

Alanna Webb from Love Stories: What authors do you enjoy reading when you’re not writing?
Marcia: Well, I really adore children’s books. I read one every night before I go to bed. But when it comes to other authors…I love the humor of Pat McManus! L.M. Montgomery is a favorite…um…let’s see…Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen, Victoria Holt, Jill Tattersall, Elizabeth Peters, Phyllis Whitney, Georgette Hayer. I like the older authors best.

Lots of Wuthering Heights writings on the blogosphere: The Farm Lane Books Blog is reading and discussing Wuthering Heights, A living obsession, Hiss Hiss Purrr: The Media Kittens Meow and The Onion Cellar review the novel, The Egalitarian Bookworm (Chick?) promises a review of Wuthering Heights 2009 and recommends Jane Eyre 1944.

The Brussels Brontë Blog posts about a recent meeting of the Dutch members of the Brussels Brontë Group, Lady Elizabeth makes a ranking of the Jane Eyre adaptations (but she is not able to choose a winner between Jane Eyre 2006 and Jane Eyre 1973). Shinning Pearl posts about Jane Eyre 2006 in Portuguese.

And finally, a pleasant surprise: several blogs celebrating Anne Brontë's birthday: Bygone Books, Meg North - lover of all things Victorian, Lynn Spirit: A Personal Expression and Jane Austen in Vermont. EDIT: and Romenu (in Flemish).

Categories: Anne Brontë, Brontëites, Brussels, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Wuthering Heights,