Mary Jane Mason and the Gypsy

John Mullan doesn't fail. His weekly literary top ten for the Guardian never lacks a Brontë. This time it is ten of the best disguises in literature:

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë
One of the great episodes of transvestism in literature comes when Rochester togs himself up as a Gypsy woman to read the palms of the guests he has invited to Thornfield. Blanche Ingram, Jane's rival for his affections, gets uncomforting news, but Jane is told "the cup of bliss" is going to be offered to her.

It seems that Emer Kenny, from EastEnders, is a Brontëite. From Press Association:

EastEnders star Emer Kenny has revealed her dream role is that of Catherine Earnshaw from Wuthering Heights.
The actress, who plays Zsa Zsa Carter in the soap and also helped pen the web spin-off, EastEnders: E20, is a massive fan of the Emily Brontë novel.
She said: "I've always wanted to play Catherine Earnshaw. I read the book in two days when I was about 10 and have been obsessed with her ever since."
She went on: "She's not a very nice character but I love her and I love that book to death. But there have been so many adaptations that I don't think they'll do it again."

The Telegraph travels around England by country trails. One of them near Wycoller Hall:

Then there’s the tranquil Wycoller Country Park, near Colne – once beloved of the Brontë sisters and referenced in several of their works. Both places offer hire of trampers. (Kevin Coyd)

Nancy Knight from The Baltimore Sun is going to read Clare B. Dunkle's The House of Dead Maids:

I'll be reading a spooky little book by Clare B. Dunkle titled "The House of Dead Maids." It's a prequel to Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights" and gives an account of Heathcliff's dark past that "doomed" his future. I'm not a huge fan of the Brontës, but if anyone can attempt to explain why Heathcliff and Cathy were so spectacularly awful to each other and everyone else, I'll give it a shot. (Nancy Knight)

The Huffington Post republishes an essay, In the Absence of Mentors/Monsters: Notes on Writerly Influences by Joyce Carol Oates first published in Narrative Magazine, which mentions Wuthering Heights:

Add to which, in early adolescence, at a time when I borrowed books from the Lockport Public Library each Saturday when my mother drove into town to shop for groceries, such thrilling titles as Henry David Thoreau's "Walden," Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights," Ernest Hemingway's "In Our Time," William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury"--the great books of a more self-consciously literary era in my life.

The Icelandic theatre company Vesturport's production of Kafka's Metamorphosis is described as follows in The Times:

In November, its thrilling Metamorphosis (imagine Jane Eyre’s madwoman in the attic crossed with Spider-Man) opens in New York[.]

Just Press Play reviews the DVD release of The Secret of Moonacre:

Starting with the positives, there were some performances in the film that showed promise. Ioan Gruffudd’s Sir Benjamin was channeling Jane Eyre, ’s Mr. Rochester playing a character who puts up a tough exterior to hide a broken heart. (Rachel Kolb)

On the Box selects a top ten of period pieces. Including:

7. Wuthering Heights.
Not really enough space to fully explain the plot here but it spawned endless sexual fantasies about Kate Bush and the need for social workers.
In a nutshell Heathcliff is an orphan adopted by a rich family who mentally and physically abuse him. He falls for his half sister Cathy, she marries the toff from the next farm, Heathcliff isn’t happy, he runs away, comes back rich, loads of people die, Cathy dies, he does a Fritzl and locks up Cathy’s daughter, he suffers a mental breakdown and starts to see Cathy. He dies.
Oik rating: 5/10 – Heathcliff is found abandoned on the streets of Liverpool but ends up owning Wuthering Heights and Thurcross Hall [sic]. Although Heathcliff is Nouveau Riché [sic], you can’t polish a turd.
Unresolved sexual tension from beyond the grave: 10/10 – Heathcliff suffers a mental breakdown and begins to see Cathy’s ghost, he abandons his life-long vendetta and dies so he can be with her. Some people will do anything to get their leg over. (Joe Mellor)

The Tallahassee Democrat talks about the benefit recital for the Carlisle Floyd House performed yesterday, September 14, at the Monticello Opera House. What we don't know is whether some fragment of his Wuthering Heights opera was played though.

The "little green house" that gave birth to "Susannah" is also where Floyd composed his successful follow-up opera, "Wuthering Heights," as well as his ambitious, virtuosic Sonata for Piano. (Mark Hinson)

Rant! reviews Atreyu's album The Curse. About the song This Flesh A Tomb:

The notion of liebestod has been so beautifully rendered by great writers and composers including Wagner, Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet) and Emily Brontë (Wuthering Heights)

Seculo Diario (Brazil) has an article about important dates in history. Anne Brontë is once again ignored:

Em 1847, as irmãs Brontë publicam seus romances, Jane Eyre (Charlotte), e O Morro dos Ventos Uivantes (Emily). Ambos continuam vivos até hoje, com reedições e adaptações.  A mais famosa versão cinematográfica do belo livro de Emily, com Merle Oberon e Lawrence Olivier, continua na lista dos melhores filmes de todos os tempos.(Wanda Sily) (Microsoft translation)

Tara (Spain) carries an article about the author Yolanda Soler Onís:

Yolanda clarividente y con mirada de gata mimosa y decidida que necesita estar aquí y allá con Celia y las maletas siempre dispuestas para afrontar el vuelo, Yolanda que te guía hacia Hebden Bridge y las Cumbres Borrascosas, que te señala donde reposa Sylvia Plath, en las suaves colinas de las Midlands, entre prados y ríos silenciosos. (Luis León Barreto) (Microsoft translation)

Calabrian politics is discussed on MediterraneonOnline:

[Enzo] Vinci e [Giuseppe] Iaria  non assomigliavano per nulla agli spiriti di Catherine e Heathcliff, di “Cime tempestose”, finalmente liberi di amarsi, e vaganti per la brughiera tenendosi per mano.(Domenico Salvatore) (Microsoft Translation)

Both Märkische Allgemeine (Germany) and Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Switzerland) publish articles about the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Elizabeth Gaskell:

Da sie mit Charlotte Brontë befreundet war, wurde sie nach deren Tod vom Vater der Schriftstellerin gebeten, ihre Biografie zu schreiben. «The Life of Charlotte Brontë» (1857), im Jahr 1995 erstmals in deutscher Übersetzung erschienen (Ars-vivendi-Verlag, nur noch antiquarisch greifbar), gilt als bedeutendste Biografie einer Schriftstellerin des 19. Jahrhunderts – obschon sie es mit der Wahrheit nicht sehr genau nahm. Um das Bild ihrer verstorbenen Freundin als keuscher Frau nicht zu kompromittieren, unterschlug Gaskell Brontës amouröse Affäre mit Monsieur Heger, die sich während deren Zeit in Brüssel ereignet hatte. (Susanne Ostwald) (Microsoft translation)

DeutschlandRadio reviews Szilárd Rubin's Eine beihanhe alltägliche Geschichte:

Vielmehr versieht der Autor in bewährter nationaler Tradition seinen Erzähler mit Melancholie und Sarkasmus und verschafft ihm Trost bei Kierkegaard, Proust, Freud, Kafka, Brontë.  (Microsoft translation)

And  Gießener Zeitung (Germany) publishes a review of Louise de Vilmorin's Julietta:

Es ist ein Liebesroman, der an die Brontë-Schwestern und an Jane Austen denken lässt. In zauberhaft antiquierter Sprache wird eine aus der Zeit gefallene Geschichte erzählt. (Simone Linne) (Microsoft translation)

Cacahuète has read Jane Eyre but is not very impressed (in French); emma_in_oz considers The Professor a poor substitute for Villette; books i done read compares Jane Eyre and Rebecca; Herra Tulitikku discusses Jane Eyre on YouTube (in German). Finally Flickr users takethetoyz and thenikonkid uploaded pictures of North Lees Hall and Wycoller Hall respectively.

Categories: Brontëites, Elizabeth Gaskell, Jane Eyre, Music, Opera, References, The Professor, Villette, Wuthering Heights