Bookish and self-possessed

The ITV1 Autumn Schedule Press Release confirms that Wuthering Heights will be broadcast in the UK this upcoming season. Exact dates are not known yet. In reply to several readers who have written to us, we are aware that a DVD edition is announced on Amazon for next September 7. But it doesn't (yet) appear on the ITV DVD shop.

The Cleveland Literature Examiner reviews Edward Mendelson's The Things That Matter (click here to read BrontëBlog's review), especially the section on Wuthering Heights:

Wuthering Heights is assigned to the section about childhood in Edward Mendelson's book The Things That Matter, and even readers who disliked the story of Catherine and Heathcliff will be intrigued and fascinated by his analysis of the ideas of unity and childhood as they relate to the passion between the two characters. Mendelson begins by telling readers that,
“All the conventional values of adult life are reversed in Wuthering Heights. Childhood, in this novel, is a state of titanic intensity, adulthood a state of trivial weakness. Heathcliff and Catherine can find no words to describe the childhood unity they once shared, and everyone else disdains or ignores that unity, but nothing else in the book has its depth, strength and dignity.”
Throughout the rest of the section on childhood, Mendelson delves very deeply into Emily Bronte’s conception of the powers of childhood and unity, and he makes incredibly convincing arguments for the command Bronte had over the symbolism and structure of her story.
Childhood is a time of passion and complete unity, as Catherine and Heathcliff experience it; they are shown as feeling and acting as one person at many places in throughout their experiences together. At one point, hiding, they cover themselves with a shared garment –the type worn by children of both sexes at the time the novel was written –and they think and react as one. It is when their childhood is stripped from them by separation that they lose this unity, but the rest of their lives are an attempt to reclaim that passionate feeling of sameness.
Mendelson incorporates Bronte’s own life and experiences, as well as her thoughts on what it meant to experience unity, into his analysis of Wuthering Heights. Although the wild, titanic passions both writers associate with childhood may seem to be a bit of a stretch, as a literary device, it works very well for Bronte; so well, in fact, that the detailed and symbolic structure of the work went unnoticed for ages.
The true complexity of Wuthering Heights is hidden by Bronte’s complex writing. She hid truths within truths and Mendelson suggests that the message she truly wove in the story was something she wanted to keep hidden from readers: the unity of Catherine and Heathcliff, so often attributed to mere desire, is the impassioned unity of childhood, and something Emily Bronte sought to reclaim through her writing. (Bailey Shoemaker Richards)

We are a little late announcing this TV interview with Syrie James, author of The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë as announced on the Tampa Books Examiner:

So, lovers of classic lit, are you aware of tonight’s Up Close on Channel 3 (WEDU) in Tampa? Tonight, Cathy Unruh hosts Syrie James author of The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë and The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen. The show airs tonight at 8:30pm, and if you miss it, (or if you're not in the Tampa area and you're reading this) it will no doubt be up on their website soon, and then you may watch it at their site. (Julianne Draper)

It's not on their website yet but you can catch it if you are in the Tampa area:

Sunday, July 26 — 02:30pm WEDU
Sunday, July 26 — 02:30pm WEDU-HDTV
Tuesday, July 28 — 09:00pm WEDU+
Tuesday, August 04 — 09:00pm WEDU+

The Independent discovers another Brontëite, author Monique Roffey:

Choose a favourite author, and say why you like her/him
Jean Rhys. She taught me how to write a sentence and she had the literary skill and courage to pull off a book like Wide Sargasso Sea. (...)
Which fictional character most resembles you?
Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, who is bookish and self-possessed. At the same time, I recognise myself in the madwoman in the attic, an outsider in British society. (Arifa Akbar)

Another very (very) different writer and Brontëite is erotica author Laura Tolomei:

Q: Do you have a favorite book or movie?
A: I’ve got plenty of both, but especially books. “Gone with the Wind”, “The Three Musketeers”, “Wuthering Heights”, “The Lord of Rings”, “The Lord of Flies”, “The Mists of Avalon”, “Fahrenheit 451”, “The Women’s Room”, “The Life and Loves of a She Devil”, “Blonde”, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” and the list could go on forever. (Amanda Young on Romance Without Inhibitions)

Associated Content publishes a belated review of last February's Kent State University's production of Jane Eyre. The Musical:

The show was a musical with all of the necessary elements to lift you from your seat and submerse you into a society in nineteenth century England from the time the cell phone shut-off announcement was made until the last note at the curtain call. The recurring arches, darkened, soft lighting, and the use of a classic chorus to go along with them alluded that a sinister underbelly of social status and reputation were present in the performance.(Read more) (Rachel Thornton)

Librarians Do It Between the Covers reviews Wuthering Heights, Parisgirl gives 3 of 5 stars to Jane Eyre, Kissed by Venus suggests a Wuthering Heights gay twist:

And what if in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff had instead been Heather?

Emily's Blog posts a mini-review of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Con-Secuencias (Alfredo Rosso's blog on the Argentinian newspaper Clarín) describes a visit to Haworth and Brontë country.

Categories: Books, Brontëites, Fiction, Haworth, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Theatre, Wuthering Heights