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Thursday, October 29, 2009

A bit of virtual travelling to begin with, as the Belfast Telegraph takes us on a trip to Haworth.
Nestled amid the bleak Pennine moors, overlooking the Worth Valley, lies the quaint hilltop village of Haworth.
It’s a picturesque little place, with its cobbled main street, flower-fronted brick houses, cosy restaurants and pretty tearooms, not to mention the rolling hills and vast, lonely countryside that surround it.
And it’s to this place that tens of thousands of tourists make a pilgrimage each year, to follow in the well-trodden footsteps of the world’s most famous literary family, the Brontes.
Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte wrote most of their classic novels while living in Haworth, when their Northern Irish-born father Patrick was parson at the adjacent Church of St Michael and All Angels.
The trio drew inspiration from their environs, particularly Emily, who looked to the wild and windy moors as the backdrop for her one and only novel, Wuthering Heights.
Today, the old parsonage is a museum, maintained by The Bronte Society. Exhibiting original manuscripts and letters belonging to the sisters and their brother Branwell, as well as furniture, clothes and personal possessions, the museum is a mecca for Bronte devotees from around the globe.
Yet despite its position as the second most popular destination for literary tourists — next only to Stratford-Upon-Avon — Haworth somehow manages to retain its olde-worlde charm.
There’s still a sense of the Brontes’ presence here. Everywhere one looks there is a connection to the family — Villette’s coffee shop, Rochester art gallery, a gift shop called Eyres and Graces, Ye Olde Bronte Tea Rooms, Heathcliffe Mews. Even the local taxi firm, Bronte Cabs, borrows the name.
The October weekend I chose to visit with my friend, Michelle, was off-peak and was fairly quiet. The base for our break was the five-star Ashmount Country, a homely guest house set in beautiful gardens, just a minute’s walk from Main Street and the moors.
Like almost every aspect of Haworth life, there’s a link back to the Brontes. Ashmount once belonged to Dr Amos Ingram, physician to Patrick Bronte and daughter Charlotte, author of Jane Eyre, Villette, Shirley and The Professor.
Charlotte was the last surviving sibling of six and watched, one by one, as her four sisters, Maria, Elizabeth (who both died as children), Emily, Anne and brother Branwell passed away.
Patrick Bronte, who lost his beloved wife from cancer less than a year after moving to Haworth, outlived all his children. Not one of the six lived beyond the age of 40.
Ashmount today cleverly combines the character of a bygone age with modern facilities — much like the village itself.
Our first port of call was the Bronte Parsonage Museum. The old Georgian house, which has been extended since the Brontes lived there, looks onto the graveyard, adding to the ghostly atmosphere. Inside, each room has been laid out as close as possible to what they would have looked like in the Brontes’ day and most of the objects on display actually belonged to the family — the miniscule manuscript books that they made as children, letters, drawings, even Charlotte’s wedding bonnet.
There’s something quite poignant about standing in the same room that Emily penned my favourite novel, Wuthering Heights, and where it is rumoured she breathed her last breath, lying on the sofa in the dining room.
The following day we woke early to begin our trek across the moors, but the heavy downpours put paid to that. Instead, we opted for a ride on the Keighley and Worth Valley steam train, which has been used in numerous films including The Railway Children.
When the rain finally stopped, we took a taxi to the nearby village of Stanbury. Our destination was Top Withins, the remains of an old farmstead high on the moors, which many believe to be the inspiration for Wuthering Heights itself.
Quite a few public footpaths lead out of Haworth and form part of the 43-mile Bronte Way, but the route from Stanbury is shorter, and given the weather conditions that day, a more sensible option.
We had our lunch at the Wuthering Heights pub, situated on the edge of the moors. How could we resist? And then, clad in our walking boots, heavy coats and jumpers, we set off on our journey.
Our path took us high up onto the moors, passing one or two isolated farmhouses that remain there. We by-passed the walk to the Bronte Waterfall and Bridge, and headed on towards Top Withens instead, praying the rain would stay away. It would be no fun to be caught out in a downpour up there, with nowhere to shelter and miles to walk before finding any kind of civilisation.
I expected the moors to be teeming with tourists, but we only met a handful of ramblers on our trek.
I was struck by the beautiful colours of the moorland — golden, green, purple and red — and the rapid changes in the weather.
One moment, the sun flitted across the moors, bathing the countryside in a warm glow, next, the skies turned dark and threatened to spoil our walk.
But it was the strong winds up at Top Withins that really brought home to me just how inspirational these moors were for Emily Bronte. It nearly knocked us off our feet as we battled against it.
In Emily’s classic novel we are told “Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr Heathcliff’s dwelling. ‘Wuthering’ being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed, one may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house.”
These days, only one tree remains by the ruins of the old house, bravely defying the blustery gales. Standing there in eerie silence, looking over the moors, we could almost hear the sound of horses’ hooves galloping up the path or the chatter of farmhands as they set to work at the Heights.
Unfortunately we didn’t see the ghosts of Cathy and Heathcliff wandering the windswept moors and we never made it as far as Ponden Hall, believed to be the inspiration for the Linton’s home, Thrushcross Grange.
With dark clouds gathering ominously overhead, we decided to walk back through the moors to Wuthering Heights, where the host was much more hospitable than his fictional counterpart. But we both agreed we’d come back to Haworth and soon, to continue our Bronte journey.
For anyone who’s ever enjoyed a Bronte novel, or who likes to ramble in the great outdoors, Haworth is definitely worth a visit.
But you don’t have to be a literary know-all or a hill-walker to find this West Yorkshire village a magical place. Like the three Bronte sisters who lived and wrote there, all you need is some romance in your soul and a vivid imagination. (Maureen Coleman)
Those on the other side of the pod might enjoy going on a little pilgrimage (just joking!) to the Charlotte Brontë Villa in Riverdale (NY), which according to The Riverdale Press, is
probably the most interesting apartment building in Riverdale. . .
Now seriously, a more interesting visit might be to see the exhibition on Edgar Allan Poe 'From Out That Shadow' is at UT's Ransom Center through January 3rd. And while you are in the Ransom Center you might like to know that...
In fact, the Ransom Center has a fairly extensive hair collection, including the locks of George Washington, Napoleon, Byron, Charlotte Brontë, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Marie Antoinette. (Jeff Salamon in The American-Statesman)
And one more thing to do, this one today and only if you are a teenager. As seen in The Contra Costa Times.
Wuthering Heights Book & Movie Event: 6-8:45 p.m. Oct. 29. Teens are invited to discuss the classic book, "Wuthering Heights," by Emily Bronte. Participants will watch the 1992 movie starring Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes. (At the Concord Library at 2900 Salvio St., Concord. Phone: 925-646-5455)
This film is not included, however, in The Brontë Collection, which is reviewed by Edge San Francisco.
Back in 2005, the BBC may have set too high a standard for its period pieces with its five-star production of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House, starring the magnificent Gillian Anderson. Even masterpieces like I, Claudius (1976) look a little shabby in comparison. Today’s audiences expect dramas to be gripping from start to finish and, before Bleak House, the BBC didn’t always deliver. So why is it putting The Brontë Collection in its follow-up queue?
Now out on DVD are three BBC adaptations of three novels from Victorian England’s preeminent literary family-Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, and Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
Even as a period drama, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (2008) is remarkably current in flavor à la Bleak House. Yet the film anthologists curiously culled the 1967 television serial of Wuthering Heights and the 1983 serial of Jane Eyre to stand beside it. Ultimately, "anachronistic" is the only word to describe this newly released collection.
The BBC’s 1967 production of Wuthering Heights is an intriguing film study in that it aligns with the stark, dark realism of the then-current New Wave movement in British cinema, but it also demands more patience than today’s ADD audience may be able to muster. Moreover, it seems to have been filmed live from a rogue hot-air balloon with camera angles sweeping from ground to aerial without warning. On the upside, a young Ian McShane with his perennially brooding charm puts Laurence Olivier’s overly mannered Heathcliff to shame. Likewise, Drew Henley plays the drunkard Hinley to the hilt, mirroring the last days of the Angry Young Men era in British theater.
This BBC collection then makes a quantum leap-sixteen years and several pop-cultural eras forward-to its 1983 production of Jane Eyre. Alexander Morton seems to have devised his pedestrian script with an audience of homebound, crocheting spinsters and widows in mind. All the characters and the heroine herself constantly accuse Jane Eyre of being "passionate," but Zelah Clarke is nothing but dowdy in the role. Also, if they wanted to portray Rochester as a sexy-ugly villain, they shouldn’t have cast an all-out hottie like Timothy Dalton who barely approaches "hideous" even after he winds up a blind burn victim. Meanwhile, the story of the decorous but cruel society drags like an overstuffed laundry bag in the rain.
When we fast-forward to 2008, however, we find The Tenant of Wildfell Hall storming in as the collection’s dark-horse winner. Tara Fitzgerald is grand and alluring as Helen Graham, a reclusive painter who has moved into the derelict Wildfell Hall mansion with her young son. Fiercely possessive of her son and decked out in widow’s weeds, Helen arouses the suspicions of the townspeople who hear on good account that she’s a fallen woman. As they attempt to ostracize her from her new village, Gilbert Markham (Toby Stephens) pursues Helen as his destined mate and comes to discover that she has fled an abusive husband who can’t seem to lay off the sauce or the sluts. While it seems a bit contrived that Gilbert would pine for Helen, who is downright rude to him, the drama’s intrigue and pathos make it a strong successor to 2005’s Bleak House.
If you must watch adaptations of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, there are many worthier candidates for viewing than those represented in The Bronte Collection. Better to save a few bucks and, if at all possible, buy The Tenant of Wildfell Hall separately. (Kyle Thomas Smith)
The band Wolfmother played a version of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights.
But the most surprising and unexpected delight of the evening is the encore's Kate Bush cover. Stockdale and his fellow crazy-haired lead guitarist Aiden Nemeth take to the stage with just a mic and guitar to belt out 'Wuthering Heights' to an unsuspecting audience. (Matt Hamm on ClickMusic)
The Film Fanatic reviews Jane Eyre 1934 and gives it 3/10 (agreed! But watch it if you can - you'll laugh out loud at just how bad it is). And The Little Professor brings pop culture to Victorian novels and mixes couples' names à la Brangenlina.

EDIT: An alert from Jerago, Italy:
Nell'ambito degli ultimi incontri della rassegna Duemilalibri, una serata d'eccezione a Jerago con Orago: giovedì 29 ottobre, alle 21, il Castello Visconteo di Jerago aprirà i suoi battenti per ospitare Silvio Raffo, protagonista di un appuntamento dedicato alla letteratura gotica e di fantasmi, “Il piacere del terrore”, itinerari di letteratura “gotica” italiana e inglese.
L'atmosfera suggestiva della sala dove avverranno le letture sarà preparata da un percorso di fiaccole sul viale d'ingresso al castello, alla maniera delle scenografie di film horror d'antica data. Saranno interpretate le pagine più famose dei classici del genere fantastico (da "Il castello di Otranto"di Horace Walpole a "Jane Eyre" di Charlotte Bronte, a "Giro di vite" di Henry James) fino a giungere alla presentazione degli ultimi tre libri di Raffo, tutti aventi a che fare con il mystery o l'elemento soprannaturale. (Google translation)
And another one from Concord, California:
Concord Library
Oct 29 (Thu) 6:00PM MOVIE: discuss classic mentoned in Twilight and Evermore: Wuthering Heights, then watch the Wuthering Heights movie.
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