The Battle of the Brontës

Let's begin with an addition to the cast of Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights. According to the IMDb Nichola Burley is playing Isabella Linton and Steve Evets has been cast as Joseph. (Photo Credits: Red Dawn) EDIT: Curtis Brown also lists him as part of the WH cast.

Imogen Russell Williams has written for the Guardian Book Blog an article - 'How the Brontës divide humanity' - on what she calls the Battle of the Brontës.

In Alison Flood's recent blog about the books she remembers most vividly from school, she mentioned that Jane Eyre bored her, but that the melodrama of Wuthering Heights kept her enthralled. This reminded me of my long-held pet theory about the Battle of the Brontës: everyone who's read both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights is passionately devoted to one book but nose-holdingly repelled by the other. If you want to be particularly contentious, you can divide those who satisfy the basic entry criteria into two types – those drawn to demure, bookish Miss Eyre and those for whom the pyrotechnical hanky-panky between Cathy Earnshaw and black-browed Heathcliff is paramount – and call them Librarians and Rock Stars. Alison is undoubtedly a Rock Star. I, on the other hand, am a Librarian.
A socially-inept only child, precociously devoted to solitary reading and with a wide-ranging, frequently pompous vocabulary, there was no way I wasn't going to adore Jane Eyre, the pale little scrap who introduced me to words like "moiety" and "redolent". But she was also a significant feminist role model, surviving the rigours and humiliations of education at Lowood to become a self-reliant artist and teacher; a grey-clad governess with a secret, banked core of embers, breaking out in occasional white flame to assert her revolutionary right to be respected and loved. It still thrills me to reread Jane's defiance of Rochester [...]
My Librarian loyalties, however, were nearly a deal-breaker for my partner during my first year at university. A hot-blooded northerner with a penchant for Kate Bush, he remained an Emily man to the core, finding Jane's post-mad-wife-revelation flight particulaqrly spineless: "No, really, though, what does she do? Walks for a few miles and then falls down!" Meanwhile, I turned up my nose at the apparently chaotic ordering of Wuthering Heights, and at the fact that I didn't like or identify with any of the characters. [...]
I still detest Cathy Earnshaw – to me she'll always be a selfish prima donna, who "never endeavoured to divert herself with reading, or occupation of any kind"; who deliberately shrills, starves and tantrums herself into the grave, leaving torment behind her. And Heathcliff is an absolute swine. In fact, the only WH character I have much time for is Nelly Dean the nursemaid, who is at least loyal and generally competent (although we only have her word for it and she's a notoriously unreliable narrator). This, naturally, is because I am a Librarian at heart and boringly inclined to favour neatness and productivity over bellowing, breast-beating, and the wilful hanging of inoffensive little dogs. (Click here to read the full article)

Though we generally agree that people tend to like one or the other, it is also our experience that people can like both books (to speak just of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre; there are also Charlotte's other novels or Anne's works), even if they still prefer one over the other. They must be rock star librarians.

And because reading the Brontës is part of growing up for many, there are a few connections to education in today's news items. The Independent reports that 'the Brontës' are approved texts (we wonder which texts in particular, though) for International Baccalaureate. A columnist from The Faster Times worries that computers may 'kill creativity' in children and compares her children's experiences to her own:

Reading Jane Eyre for fun or wandering out in the backyard to make things with leaves seemed like attractive alternatives. Instead, my kids must cope with the siren song of laptops and X-boxes that offer infinite amusements, click click click. (Jennifer king Lindley)

ParentDish has an article on the 'crazy courses' being imparted at some colleges.

Goldman says the unusual courses simply give students an opportunity to apply their academic skills in more fun, "now" contexts.
"For example, a course on 'The Simpsons' might push students to use the same close reading and analytical skills they'd use when writing a paper on 'Jane Eyre' ... but this time, they're applying those modes of analysis to Bart and Lisa and Milhouse," he says. (Mary Beth Sammons)

However, today's 'police blotter' from The Daily News (Lower Columbia) restores (if it was ever lost) our faith in students:

Theft
A 16-year-old Kelso High School boy told police his backpack was stolen from a bus stop at Pacific Avenue and Yew Street Tuesday morning. It contained $200 worth of Magic cards and a school book, "Wuthering Heights."

Never mind that he probably reported it because of his valuable Magic cards in the first place, the important thing here is that he didn't forget to add Wuthering Heights as well. Is he a rock star (see above) in the making?

The San Francisco Chronicle doesn't seem to think of fans of Twilight or the MTV's adaptation of Wuthering Heights as rock stars, judging by the comment on Twilight included in the article '11 teen movies based on classic books'.

9. "Wuthering Heights"
"Twilight" heroes Bella and Edward just love Emily Brontë's novel. That's only half as revolting as MTV's dreadful revamp, starring Mike Vogel as Heath. (Louis Peitzman)

The Galway Advertiser features Irish poet Rita Ann Higgins. She tells how she fell in love with books.

“I was 22 when I had TB,” she says. “I was in a sanatorium and I don’t know if it was the boredom or the cold weather - it was December ‘77 - but I started reading. I never had any interest before. The first two books I read were Animal Farm and Wuthering Heights and after that I thought ‘Books are the way to go’ and from then on I never looked back.” (Kernan Andrews)

The Telegraph and Argus on the Ilkley Literature Festival (beginning October 1st):

Of course, it’s not just the Bronte-esque countryside and afternoon tea which explain the success of the prestigious festival. (Suzy Poole)

Teenreads features a guest post by Clare B. Dunkle (with special attention to Heathcliff) and Largely Unrepeatable posts about Jane Eyre.

Categories: Books, Brontëites, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Wuthering Heights