Reading Wuthering Heights at ten ~ BrontëBlog

Friday, September 23, 2011

Reading Wuthering Heights at ten

Friday, September 23, 2011 10:19 pm by M. in Books, Brontëites, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, References, Talks, Wuthering Heights No comments

Two different reactions after reading Wuthering Heights. In the Daily Mail, Barbara Taylor Bradford says:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. This was first read to me by my mother, and then when I was a little older, around ten, I read it for myself. It has been one of my favourites ever since. It led me to read all of the books by the Brontë sisters. And my mother often took me to Haworth to visit the Brontë museum. As a child, Charlotte, Emily and Anne always fascinated me. That fascination continues to this day.

But in the Burlington Patch we read that:

We all remember being in school and the teacher handing out a new book the class would be reading for the next couple of weeks. Some we enjoyed and perhaps returned to again as adults. Others, well, not so much. (...) I did not enjoy reading Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights. (Richard Hosford)

At BrontëBlog we wonder how many headlines like this one on Spiked we have read in the last few months, reviewing Jane Eyre 2011:

Did the world need another Jane Eyre? Cary Fukunaga’s new adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s classic is beautifully shot and acted, but a bit pointless. (...)
His devotion to the source material is admirable, but this refusal to bring anything new to the story means it is likely to remain just another big-budget adaptation which will be instantly forgotten as soon as the next one comes along. This film is much like a piece of flat-pack furniture: while one is to be commended for constructing it exactly as per the instructions, with no remaining pieces, it’s still not all that impressive. (Tom Slater)

We don't know if 'bringing something new' to the story means something like Cowboys vs Madwomen in the attic or what.

Click Liverpool loves the film:

In a largely faithful re-interpretation of the original, this new cinema treatment of the Jane Eyre story brings a major classic back to the big screen with great finesse. (...)
Totally absorbing from start to finish, thanks to the masterful direction from Cary Fukunaga, it is well worthy of a clutch of Oscars.
Marred perhaps only by its rather abrupt and foreshortened final scenes, it is most enjoyable and well worth seeing. (Christine Johnson)

Film News is also very positive about it:

Cary Fukunaga successfully brings Brontë’s tale to the screen developing Eyre's maturation, whilst capturing the emotions and experiences that accompany her growth to adulthood...beautifully executed. (Amanda Hall-Davis)

The Dumfrey & Galloway Standard says:

There have been many versions of Charlotte Brontë’s romantic drama but the new Jane Eyre (PG) is the most visually spartan so far.
There is a rawness to the landscape and the grim walls of Thornfield Hall that sends a chill across the film. (Sara Bain)

The Irvine Herald's reviewer knows exactly what she likes about the film:

I saw the new Jane Eyre film and have to say Michael Fassbender makes a dashing Edward Rochester.
From his sexy half Irish, half Yorkshire rich accent to his acting ability to carry off this classic leading man, he is perfect for the role. (...)
I am sure if Charlotte Brontë was alive she would approve of the choice too. (Lorraine Howard)

And from New Zealand:

Michael Fassbender is a superlative Rochester but only gets a fraction of the screen time he deserves. It is to his credit that we realise why Jane loves his character so, because he certainly gets no help from the script.
The delicious Gothic cliché that Charlotte Brontë invented of the mad woman locked in the attic is also underplayed. But none of the faults matter, because it plunges you immediately into Jane's despair and that heightened emotion carries the entire film. (Christine Powely in The Otago Daily Times)

The Independent reviews the Dario Marianelli's soundtrack:

Maranelli's (sic) score for Jane Eyre is aided immeasurably by Jack Liebeck, whose sporadic flourishes of wild Gypsy violin lend a windswept, romantic character to tracks like "Wandering Jane" and "Waiting for Mr Rochester", in which the rippling piano motif cranks the tension inexorably up.

But there's a pleasing unity to the score, a sensibility which links the brooding warmth of "Mrs Reed Is Not Quite Finished" and the chill shiver of strings that concludes "Jane's Escape". Particularly effective is "The End of Childhood", in which the harp, strings and piano are tinted with hints of woodwind and vocal in the upper register, like harbingers of complex adulthood. (Andy Gill)

Wuthering Heights 2011 gets also some belated comments after its Venice and Toronto screenings:
HeyYouGuys:

Award winning British Filmmaker Andrea Arnold makes her first appearance at the Venice Film Festival with Wuthering Heights, her third feature film and based on the novel by Emily Brontë. The attempt to strip the story down to its barest elements is unfortunately more interesting in theory than on film and the mostly inexperienced actors don’t convey the passion the story needs.

Geeks of Doom:

With tinges of Terrence Malick and a particularly deft similarity to this year’s Jane Eyre, the film appears to be far more meditative and full of Arnold’s patented neo-realist style than anyone could have expected. The film was nabbed up by Oscilloscope after its Toronto debut last week, and it is clear why. It looks to be a brooding and mood driven piece with one hell of a cast, and some stunning cinematography. (Cinemumra)

The actress Elisabeth Hopper is eager to see it. In the Independent:

I can't wait to see 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' and 'Wuthering Heights' looks pretty good as well. (Charlotte Cripps)

Two Daily Mail mentions in the same newsround is something slightly worriying, but here comes the second one:

The knee-length pleats and Jane Eyre hair suggested she was taking her royal role seriously. Now Clarence House reveals that the Duchess of Cambridge has been taking lessons at princess school. (Jan Moir)

Los Angeles Times mourns the cancellation of the soap opera All My Children:

The plot lines, always complicated and occasionally gothic, featured characters who returned from the dead and evil twins (including the fabulous David Canary, who played both Stuart and Adam Chandler for more than 20 years). There were mysterious men modeled on Heathcliff, and several first wives hidden away (a la the first Mrs. Rochester in "Jane Eyre") in Oakhaven, the busy local psychiatric hospital. (Alice Hoffman)

Westfair Online traces a profile of the author Nava Atlas:

As a writer herself, confronting such matters as dealing with rejection, balancing family with the solitary writing process, she selected 12 celebrated women authors of past years, including Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë, and studied their journals, letters and diaries, weaving them into “The Literary Ladies’ Guide to the Writing Life,” recently published by Sellers Publishing Inc. (Catherine Portman-Laux)

The Chicago Tribune announces the upcoming release of

"Freud's Couch, Scott's Buttocks, Brontë's Grave" (University of Chicago Press) by Simon Goldhill. Nov. 15. The 19th century was the great age of literary tourism, when besotted readers flocked to the homes of their literary crushes. Stratford-upon-Avon went from a sleepy village to a drama fan's Disneyland; the lonely moors over which Charlotte and Emily Brontë once roved began to lure the multitudes. Goldhill, classics professor at the University of Cambridge and author of the marvelous polemic "Love, Sex, and Tragedy: How the Ancient World Shapes Our Lives" (2004), travels to these spots of worship — and does so, as much as possible, using Victorian-era transport. (Julia Keller)

DJ Chelsea Leyland has created a Fall Playlist for BlackBook:

6. “Wuthering Heights” - Kate Bush. I’ve fallen back in love with Kate Bush after giving her a rest for a couple of years. This is not a dancing track but a great wintery song to play at an event - especially fashion events since it has such a unique sound. (Natalie Alcala)

Finally, an alert from the Australian Brontë Association:

24 Sep 10:30am Sydney Mechanical School of Arts
Rowan McAuley - Who Are You Miss Snowe?
A discussion about the dead ends, obfuscations, red herrings and misdirections in the narration of Villette. Rowan is has published many children's books, including several titles in the Go Girls series. She recently gave a course on the Brontës at the WEA.