La nostra Emily*

Hilary Robinson comments on The Huffington Post on the fact the Emily Brontë's poems have been translated into Catalan:

It's enough to spur excitement into Heathcliffe's restless spirit.
Whether Emily Brontë's secret hoard of poems - almost two hundred of them --would ever have seen the worldwide light of day had it not been for the vision of her sister, Charlotte, is doubtful. In memoriam, Charlotte released the genius of that private, anguished soul and, in so doing, balked against the views of the former Poet Laureate, Robert Southey, who in 1837 had written to her to say that "literature cannot be the business of a woman's life and it ought not to be."
Recognised today as one of the country's greatest lyric poets, and translated worldwide, well almost, how would Emily Brontë have reacted to the announcement this week that her poetry has been translated into Catalan? Yes Catalan - a language with roots in Vulgar Latin and the national and only official language of Andorra and a few other European territories.
Given that Emily was essentially writing for herself rather than for public consumption, and given that this announcement has taken place over 150 years after her death from, strangely enough, consumption, it is, in writing terms, not to be sniffed at. [...]
So, reflecting on this vita post mortem achievement of Emily Brontë I confess to being full of admiration not only for the fact that it breathes even more life into that isolated parsonage in Haworth but also for the translator who was charged with the responsibility of recreating the effect the poems had in the first place. One reviewer, in 1864, noted that Brontë "had things to speak that men will be glad to hear" - indeed she does - and, perhaps, fortuitously, that she had "an evident power of wing that may reach heights not here attempted." Or was that a criticism? The translator has not only had to have the ability to recreate the metronomic rhythms of Emily Brontë's carefully crafted stanzas but also, at the same time, had to find a way of communicating the pantheistic vision inspired by, to quote Kate Bush, those "wily, windy moors" - not to mention of course, the essential bit, what rhymes with what, in Catalan.
So, whether or not Emily Brontë would welcome this latest development in her literary longevity lies with the ghosts of that rugged moorland that informed her incredible talent in the first place. But one thing is for certain - she can take heart in the fact that the decadence of modern cafe society was yet to infuse her work for, had Heathcliffe (sic) ridden out beyond those moors to, say, Lunenberg Heath in Germany and ordered a "latte" he might well have got more than he bargained for. Latte is German slang for ... well look it up - I am a children's author after all.

We do wonder whether she found out about it through BrontëBlog.

The Derby Telegraph announces that the Marlowe Players have won the Best Drama NODA Award in the South Derbyshire region with their production of Jane Eyre, staged in November:

For their latest success, the Marlowes chose Willis Hall's adaptation of the Charlotte Brontë classic – one of the biggest productions they have mounted since moving to the village hall in 2007. A cast of 13 took on the roles of more than 40 characters. Janet Townes and Sue Orme co-directed adding a few innovations to give it a unique touch, including making Charlotte Brontë the narrator of the story. 

Louisa Reid recommends 'dark teen reads' in the Guardian's Children's Books section:

Gritty contemporary fiction has been around for a while and I'm certainly not claiming to have invented this genre. The Brontës were superlatively good at exploring the darkest recesses of the human heart and showing the violence and cruelty within Victorian society, as was Thomas Hardy. I'm the sort of reader who grew up devouring Judy Blume and Virginia Andrews, alongside Wuthering Heights and Tess of the D'Urbervilles and the kind of fiction that still gets me excited is that which explores what lies beneath the civilised mask and hides behind closed doors.

Another Brontëite author is featured on Bella Naija:

In 2010, Chibundu Onuzo, a 19-year-old Nigerian undergraduate at the King’s College London made the headlines, from BBC to CNN, after signing a two-novel deal with revered British publisher of literary fiction, Faber & Faber, making her its youngest ever female author. She started writing The Spider King’s Daughter when she was 17, got an agent at 18, signed with Faber at 19, finished editing while 20 and got published at 21. When she started writing at ten, her first inspirations included English classics like Jane Eyre and David Copperfield, after which she discovered the rich literary tradition of Nigeria in her favourite authors – Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. (Gbenga Awomodu)

Cinema Blend recommends '16 Great Books About To Become Movies'. None by the Brontës, of course, but there's this comment at the beginning of the article:

"Yeah, but it wasn't as good as the book."
You hear that about movies all the time pretty much no matter what, whether it's a spin on a huge best-selling series like Harry Potter or an intimate adaptation of a highbrow novel like Jane Eyre. 

Which film is, coincidentally, to be screened this afternoon at Morpeth’s Community Cinema as reported by the Morpeth Herald:

The latest film of classic novel Jane Eyre will be shown at Morpeth’s Community Cinema this week.
The production, which stars Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender and Jamie Bell, will be screened at Morpeth Town Hall tomorrow (Friday).
It tells the tale of a mousy governess who softens the heart of her employer, only to find he is hiding a terrible secret. The film starts at 7pm and tickets cost £5, available from the Greater Morpeth Development Trust, Morpeth Tourist Information Centre in the Chantry, or the Town Hall reception.
For more information, call 01670 503866.

And speaking of adaptations. Remember that Ed Westwick was once attached to the Wuthering Heights film project which eventually became Andrea Arnold's? Well, we wonder whether the staff from The Philippine Star's Young Star knew that when they said,

I see him on West End, playing cruel bastards like the bad guy in Oliver! or Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. (Karen Bolilia, Ralph Mendoza, and Raymond Ang)

This is a disclaimer by a Central Plains Herald-Leader columnist:

Outside of the masters – Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Woolf, the Brontës – not many authors have been able to make me cry. (Tara Seel)

Onereadleaf posts about 'Jane Eyre: Gothicism and Jane'. Bookaholic Girls writes in Portuguese about Anne Donovan's Being Emily. And finally Yorkshire and Beyond features Haworth's St Michael and All Angels.

* That would be 'our Emily' in Catalan.