The Brontës and architecture

Let's start with one (well, two, actually) of those unexpected associations: the Brontës and architecture. Manchester Confidential pauses to look at Byrom Street in Manchester and some of the doorways there are reminiscent of the following:

These doorways are the novel Frankenstein, the poets Shelley and Byron messing about being epic in Italy, Wordsworth sheep bothering in the Lakes, the Bronte sisters and the vapours. They represent the age of laudanum better than anything else in Manchester methinks. Indeed this style of dream up Gothic gets its own title Gothick with a k. They’re something unusual in Manchester’s built environment too. (Jonathan Schofield)

We never ever thought we'd discover the doorway equivalent of the Brontë sisters.

The Telegraph and Argus opts for another architectural feature: the fireplace. An article on Exley Hall and its fireplace points out that, to its owners' knowledge, the other two similar fireplaces have Brontë connections:

The couple have certainly done their research when it comes to the history of this property.
“The only fireplaces of a comparable size which we have found are at East Riddlesden Hall in the main hall, and at Wycoller in the ruined hall which was used by Charlotte Bronte as her model for Ferndean Manor in Jane Eyre,” says Bruce. (Sue Ward)

Here's a picture of the intriguing ruins at Wycoller with their huge fireplace and its mysterious side 'chamber'. And of course East Riddlesden Hall has recently been the model for Wuthering Heights on the latest screen adaptation.

The rest of today's newsround focuses on Wuthering Heights, although the book of the day should be Elizabeth Gaskell's controversial biography The Life of Charlotte Brontë which was first published 152 years ago today.

The Daily Sound has an article on a project called Edible Book Festival (yes, books that you can eat) which takes place today from 2-4 p.m. today inside the Luria Library at Santa Barbara City College (among other places and countries). Thirty students and faculty members have participated, some of them coming up with titles such as,

Think “Green Eggs and Ham,” “Tortilla Flat,” or “Wuthering Heights,” changed to “Wuthering Bites,” as [Elizabeth] Bowman [the campus librarian who has organised the festival] said one person is doing. (Colby Frazier)

Voxy writes a piece entitled 'Chronicles of Poverty or How I Spent the Recession'. One of the suggestions leans towards the Classics.

Ways to find mirth when on the bones of one’s arse sometimes require stealth: party throwing to restock the booze cabinet is an oldie but a goody, reacquainting oneself with the classics is educational: abandoned on your bookshelf since you finished university are all the books you never read- was Wuthering Heights always so erotic? That Heathcliff. (Lisa Scott)

The Michigan Journal favours the 1939 film version of the novel:

"Wuthering Heights." If you thought the ending to "Titanic" was depressing, you haven't seen anything yet. This film is the ultimate love story. No film has come close in decades. It's really that heart wrenching; it's really that good. (Olivia Vizachero)

And an indirect mention to the novel comes from The Times of India, which records (?) a conversation between a man and his wife which touches on the subject of books.

"Which one of her books have you read?" "I glanced through the Interpreter of Maladies. I didn't read Namesake because we had already seen the movie. It was quite thought-provoking." But rather than satisfying her curiosity, it provoked her further and she asked who my favourite author was. I told her i hadn't read enough to have such pretensions, fighting shy of mentioning names like Jane Austen, Emily Bronte and Kiran Desai. (Satish K Sharma)

The focus is also on Wuthering Heights on a couple of blogs: Becky's Book Reviews and Clarissa's Book Blog. Literary Lunch has posted a brief biography of Anne Brontë. And Factual Imagining posts about Jane Eyre.

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights