Heathcliff vs Harry Hill & the Zulus

The Charleston Gazette invites Kanawha County readers to vote in the second round of the Kanawha County Public Library's Book Brawl. Wuthering Heights is one of the choices:

You still have until midnight Sunday to vote in the second round of the Kanawha County Public Library's Book Brawl. The competition to determine Kanawha County's favorite book is part of the library's 100th anniversary celebration. (...)
New pairings are posted on KCPL's Web site. Vote online at www.kanawhalibrary.org each week until the last book emerges victorious on Jan. 4.

News of the world talks about Heathcliff's fatal attraction:

And we're showing no signs of getting over our attraction. Even Gordon Brown, who's more dancing bear than brooding sex-panther, recently compared himself to Heathcliff in a bid to win votes. As the black-hearted anti-hero of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, his balanced approach to relationships involved digging up the grave of his love, Cathy, so he could see her one last time. Ghoulish, yes, but that hasn't stopped generations of us fantasising about inspiring that kind of deranged frenzy in a man.
Unfortunately, normal men are more Harry Hill than Heathcliff. (Flic Everett)

This kind of attraction seems quite different from the Zulu ways. From The Times (South Africa):

Now, the challenge is for you to be able to stop a girl in her tracks, and get her to respond to your poetry. This stage of verbiosity is called ukweshela. In English it's called courting - but the Zulu way is not exactly courting. It's more sophisticated, more involved than the simple courting I've seen in movies and read in books such as Wuthering Heights. (Fred Khumalo)

Some Twilight Zone. Santa Monica Reporter:

It’s evident the two have a powerful attraction, but their chemistry is more “Wuthering Heights,” than “Romeo and Juliet.” That is, simmering, beneath the surface. (Dan Cohen)

Psychology Today has a Freudian dream with a Twilight University:

Only recently had I been appointed the new Assistant Professor of Wuthering Heights Adaptation Studies. I had not bothered to style my hair because I was reckless and defiant and lacked appropriate hair products as well as self-awareness. My young-adult-sized apartment was only a short drive from the campus, too. I lived in the one of the outlying neighborhoods, the Paradise Lost district, near Twilight U.. (Gina Barreca)

The boys-don't-like-classics-routine reappears in this article in the Casper Star-Tribune:

"If I had it my way, the kids would be reading 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Jane Eyre,' but the reality is they don't want to be reading those," said Liz Masterson, who teaches the English section. (Jackie Borchardt)

Some blogs now: nourishing obscurity posts about Charlotte Brontë's ideas about love, A Day in the Life of an Obsessive Taylor Swift Fan publishes an original Wuthering Heights-inspired poem, the Brussels Brontë Blog informs of an upcoming exhibition (2011) at the Brontë Parsonage Museum of the Belgium artist Franklin:

Franklin first made contact with our group earlier this year when he came to one of our events and told me about his fervent interest in the Brontës, dating back to his childhood. His fascination with the whole Brontë family has led him to scour second-hand bookshops in Brussels for books about them. He has also been working for years on a series of drawings inspired by their lives and works. His drawings are fascinating for their symbolism and vision of the Brontës' imaginative, spiritual world. Like the Brontës, he works on a small scale (though not quite as small as that of their minuscule manuscripts!), with intricate detail painstakingly and patiently built up, one small drawing often taking months to complete.
For years Franklin's dream has been to exhibit his pictures in Haworth to be seen by as many Brontë enthusiasts as possible in the place that inspired them. As a result of his contact with our group, he travelled to Haworth (his first trip to the UK) to show his work to the staff at the Brontë Parsonage Museum. His mission was successful and they have agreed that he is to have an exhibition there in 2011. (Helen MacEwan)

Que livro leio agora? posts about Jane Eyre in Portuguese.

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, References, Wuthering Heights