The mysterious man on a horse

The Academy Awards are rapidly approaching and many newspapers are weighing the nominees' possibilities. Apparently, according to the news agency AFP, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are only the seventh couple to be nominated in the same year, which takes us back to Wuthering Heights 1939:

In 1940, Laurence Olivier and soon-to-be second wife Vivien Leigh arrived at the Academy Awards just months before tying the knot.
Leigh was riding high from the success of "Gone With the Wind" while Olivier had came to the attention of US audiences with his performance as the brooding Heathcliff in "Wuthering Heights."
Olivier would have to wait for his first Academy Award however, losing out to Robert Donat for "Goodbye Mr Chips." Leigh meanwhile won for her legendary performance as Scarlett O'Hara.

Merle Oberon, who played Cathy in the adaptation, is mentioned in The Ridgefield Press, where Byron Nilsson - an ex-usher at the Ridgefield Playhouse - reminisces about the 'good old times':

For example, Merle Oberon attended a movie there in 1973, a quiet but dazzling event that nonplused me. She still looked as she did in “Wuthering Heights,” and paraded on the arm of a much younger man. Even in the anonymity she sought, she had star presence.

As for music, we must mention the a capella version of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights by Not the Midnight Mass again as, according to Art Zone (again),

Tiffin’s rendition of Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights later had me sobbing at its sheer haunting beauty. (Christina Kennedy)

The Washington Post asks a few (female) writers to pick 'any fictional character in the world' with whom they would spend 'one unbridled night'. Two of them pick the one and only Mr Edward Fairfax Rochester:

Susan Isaacs: You have to ask? Edward Rochester, of course, from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. He's got that quivering-with-barely-suppressed-passion business, but he's also elegant. (A guy has to do more than simply spritz testosterone when the sommelier hands him the wine list.)
Adriana Trigiani agrees: Rochester -- he's a mysterious man on a horse in the English countryside -- sounds like a keeper to me. (Ron Charles)

Meanwhile, Sudha Devi Nayak writes for Express Buzz (India) about a well-known feeling among book-lovers: 'the quiet joy of coming back home'.

Out came Emma and Jane Eyre and Billy Bunter with names and dates scribbled on them bringing home the reading pleasures of a whole family. I must reread them for the sake of all of us who thumbed these pages with such excitement and joy.

Now for some fun things: the BBC has a quiz on biblical references whose first question is from Jane Eyre:

In the very last line of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, which book of the New Testament are the words "Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus" taken from?
1. Corinthians
2. Colossians
3. Revelation

If you are a Sagittarius, your horoscope comes with a Brontë mention in the Winipeg Free Press today:

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
Lucky Sagittarians are not reading this column today; they're off on vacation somewhere. It's a play day! Romance, love affairs, the arts, the entertainment world, the theatre, movies, sports and all other kinds of playful diversions are calling your name. "Heathcliff!" (Georgia Nicols)

And if you are in the Somerset (UK) area today you might have a plan according to the Somerset Standard:

Fans of Inspector Morse and anyone with a taste for classic literature can head for Strode Theatre, in Street, to see and hear from the inimitable Colin Dexter, writer of the Inspector Morse novels, when he visits the theatre on Wednesday. [...]
He is an avid lover of Wagner's music, a cryptic crossword wizard, teacher and educationalist, classical scholar, great wit, real ale enthusiast and, most of all, a man with an all-consuming love for the finest English literature and poetry.
Colin is also a born entertainer and loves a good tale with a humorous twist. He will read from his own work and talk about his life, work and professional relationships.
In addition, you will hear his favourite passages from such literary greats as Hardy, Dickens, Charlotte Bronte and AE Housman read on stage by the actor Gabriel Woolf, Colin's "all time favourite BBC Radio voice".
Tickets for the talk cost £14.50, concessions £12.50 and are available from the Strode Theatre box office on 01458 442846.

More information about Colin Dexter's readings can be found in previous posts.

As for blogs: Outside of a Dog, He is the Potter, we are the clay and Critica Letteraria (in Italian)all write about Jane Eyre, the novel. A Truth Universally Acknowledged doesn't like Jane Eyre 2006. Word of the Day posts thoughts on Wuthering Heights. The Geek Files picks up all those recent rumours about would-be adaptations of the classics featuring zombies. And Flickr user Starchild_***'s has uploaded a few recent pictures taken in Brontë country.

Categories: Alert, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights