Heathcliff-esque heroes and gardens

Goodness knows Gordon Brown is the Brontë character par excellence, at least for political writers. What's more, he changes costumes extremely easily. One day of being Heathcliff is no obstacle to being Mrs Rochester again the next day, as today on IndiaTalkies, which looks back on Mr Brown's time as Prime Minister.

In the midst of Brown’s coup attempt, Frank Field, a former minister, told Blair: ‘You can’t go yet. You can’t let Mrs Rochester out of the attic.’
Blair is said to have ‘roared with laughter’ at the reference to the famous fictional character – a madwoman who is locked away in an attic – created by the 19th century English writer Charlotte Bronte in her book ‘Jane Eyre’.

We have a couple more usual suspects today. Dennis Lehane continues talking about Shutter Island in connection with the Brontës. Thompson on Hollywood quotes him today as saying,

“It’s very much the Bronte sisters and Mary Shelley,” he added. “It’s all in the pot and I just stirred.” (Anne Thompson)

The Gateway imagines literary theme parks à la The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and considers a Twilight theme park should include

“Where’s Edward?” where the fans must run around a larger-than-life model of a teenage girl’s brain, searching for the brooding, sparkling, iridescent, shiny, and — dare I say it — Heathcliff-esque hero hidden amongst the mirrors and angst. (Catherine Lee)

Weirdly enough, Heathcliff is also mentioned in an article about a garden in The San Francisco Examiner.

The festuca, or grasses, give a “Heathcliff” air to the garden, making it more welcoming and further removed from the hustle and bustle of a busy street. (Elisabeth Laurence)

Honestly, we never thought we'd find 'welcoming' and Heathcliff in the same sentence. Or perhaps they mean Heathcliff the cat?

Sugarscape is excited about Louise Rennison's new book:

We're uber-psyched to announce that the next series from Louise Rennison is going to be called Wuthering Tights.
Y'know, as in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, but funnier. (Kate Wills)

Only Amazon seems to list it as Withering Tights. And it's not yet on the publisher's website.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reviews a stage production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast:

In other words, it's the path that this strange romance takes that makes it satisfyingly romantic, not its conventional ending. Most romantic fantasies end with just another lovely couple, which makes Christine and her Phantom, Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester, and many a romance novel duo the gratifying exception that proves the rule. (Christopher Rawson)

Basia Bulat's 'Brontëiteness' is mentioned by North by Northwestern:

Bulat first made waves at the University of Western Ontario, where she was pursuing a Master’s in English Literature, and she still counts on Bronte and Bukowski to keep her sane. “I think I start to feel frustrated if I don’t have something to read. I’ve always been a bookworm,” she said. (Gus Wezerek)

The Brussels Brontë Blog posts about their Gaskell year event. Le Blog de Delilah reviews Wuthering Heights in French and Old Horse Ran Faster writes about Jane Eyre. Flickr user Poetas has uploaded a few pictures of a 1907 American edition of Jane Eyre.

Categories: Books, Brontëites, Brussels, Elizabeth Gaskell, Jane Eyre, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights