The hopeless timelessness of Wuthering Heights

The Hindu brings up the eternal question of sequels, etc.

Move away from the Bennetts and you have books that are works of art in their own right. The sweeping Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys fleshes out the background of Bertha, written off as the madwoman in the attic in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. “The book dismisses the cliché, making Bertha Rochester the playful and unhappy Antoinette, a Creole heiress,” says 24-year-old Ananya Menon, “Jean Rhys brings in all these elements that were sidelined in the original – racial inequality, displacement – making it a fascinating read. The fact that it dovetails with Jane Eyre is only a bonus.”
The options are endless, from disappointing The Wind Done Gone which looks at the story of feisty Scarlett O'Hara's half-sister and mulatto slave, to the delightful Wicked series by Gregory Maguire which completely revises L. Frank Baum's land of Oz. There's also Jasper Fforde's masterful Thursday Next series, pursuing the story of a literary detective. The lines between literature and reality blur to a point where characters created by Dickens, Shakespeare and Charlotte Brontë cheerfully tumble across the pages. (Jayashree Arunachalam)

The Irish Times misses the point of the Classics by stating that,

Even the few texts that are considered “suitable” for ordinary-level students (Wuthering Heights, The Plough and the Stars and Hamlet) are hopelessly dated – in terms of language and themes – for these students. (Joe Coy)

Apart from the fact of how important it is to bring students into contact with vocabulary and themes they wouldn't normally encounter, there's also the question of whether a text like Wuthering Heights can be seriously considered 'hopelessly dated' when in fact Twilight, film adaptations and countless stage productions are ever present. The great thing about Wuthering Heights is its timelessness.

There's currently a production of Wuthering Heights on stage in Hull and the Yorkshire Post presents it.

The book, Emily Brontë's only novel, was adapted by Jane Thornton, writer of I Want That Hair and Say it With Flowers, and is directed by John Godber. (...)
Godber said: "Wuthering Heights is known as a love story, but it is also very brutal. There is a lot of death and illness in the play and we need to get that across.
"The relationships, the way that people are with each other, is also very harsh. In that way, the text is very modern. I hope this adaptation will help introduce Wuthering Heights to a new audience." (Simon Bristow)

The Palladium Item mourns the death of local resident Mary C. Sample who was apparently a member of The Brontë Society.

Pulp & Powder posts about Jane Eyre and Gender. Image. And Rhetoric discusses gender in that novel. Flickr user Jackie & Dennis has uploaded a picture of Top Withins.

Categories: Jane Eyre, Sequels, Theatre, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights