"It's like Emily's scared of the puberty thing and the baby thing"

As we said, the Daily Star turned out not to be all that trustworthy - Haworth locals are 'baffled' by the village's 'sex claims', as reported (with video and all) by The Telegraph and Argus.

Claims that Brontë Country is a magnet for fans of al fresco love have left locals in bewildered disbelief. [...]
But the claims have been met with puzzlement from local councillors and the Brontë Society, while police said they had received no reports of the activity in the area.
Bradford Councillor Glen Miller (Con, Worth Valley) said: “I’ve been the local elected representative for 14 years and never once has a resident, businessman, worker, walker or car park user ever contacted me about such ‘bawdy fresh-air frolics’.
“I’ve been more concerned with complaints about clamping in car parks.”
National tabloid journalist turned Haworth Parish Council chairman John Huxley dared to question the veracity of the Sunday paper’s probe.
“It looks like a figment of somebody’s imagination to me,” laughed Mr Huxley. “I’ve heard most things, but never this. I have regular meetings with community police and such behaviour has never been mentioned. But if there was such a problem, I’m sure the police would know and sort it out.”
Sergeant Chris Watson, of Bingley and Worth Valley Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “We are not aware of any reports. However, we would encourage anyone with any concerns or information to contact the Neighbourhood Policing Team and we will investigate.”
In the article, the theme of the Brontë sisters’ literary magic wove its way through the paper’s racey prose.
Having correctly said literary lovers flock to Haworth, home of the famous sisters, it then revealed that: “When night falls, the deserted country roads lure sexual thrill-seekers.” The article promised to expose some of the “nocturnal nookie” taking place in a car park near the Brontë waterfalls.
A woman, identified only as “Sam”, was reported to have said: “I’ve read Wuthering Heights a few times and the thought of being out on the moor with a fella like Heathcliff really gets my blood running (sic).”
But it was the literary reference to Heathcliff which left the Brontë Society’s Ann Dinsdale shocked.
“I find it very hard to believe anyone who had actually read Wuthering Heights ‘a few times’ could view Heathcliff as a romantic figure,” said Ann. “I’m not too sure about this story, but it makes a change from wheel-clampers,” she laughed. (Chris Tate)

Perhaps there is more to Yorkshire being chosen as the best holiday destination in the UK after all? Chef Marco Pierre White writes about this lovely county in The Sun.

It has amazing landscapes. It isn’t surprising that people have focused on the county when writing — it inspired the Brontë sisters.

Coincidentally, though on the standard, streamlined, tourist-y side of things, The West Australian also carries an article on a trip around Yorkshire.

Suddenly we arrive, crossword done, all the text messages answered. The sooty reminders of its industrial history are etched in the walls of the villages and towns of Brontë country west of the city of Leeds. (Martin Stewart)

Still in Yorkshire, The Telegraph and Argus recommends Ways to the Stone House by Simon Warner at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

Back to Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights in the US. The director is interviewed by NPR:

Q: This film could be read as a fable about race and class, both of which are ground into the very fabric of English film, but they may be tougher for American audiences. To me Heathcliff has always been a gypsy. Why choose black actors to play him?A: In the book it was clear he wasn't white-skinned. I felt that Emily was not committing exactly; she was playing with her own difference as a female. Heathcliff's difference creates a lot of anger, especially from Cathy's brother Hindley, and that's why Heathcliff gets brutalized. They put cocoa powder on [Laurence] Olivier, which was ridiculous. Merle Oberon had Asian blood, which she had to hide to work in Hollywood. And the Romany gypsies were originally from Asia, I found. There's also this suggestion that he was taken from Liverpool, which had a massive slave trade at the time. [...]
Q: How do you think Emily would like this film?A: I'm not an expert on Emily, but I came to feel, what an amazing thing that she wrote that book, because at the time women couldn't say anything about their feelings, and they got married often at puberty. So much of the book is metaphors for being female at that time, and I don't know if she was aware of it. I find it fascinating that any woman who has a baby dies in the book. I think that's Emily's fear of getting married off. It's like Emily's scared of the puberty thing and the baby thing.
I think it's a really feminist and feminine book in that way. That's why women are attracted to it. A lot of men don't like Wuthering Heights. There are lots of allusions in the book and the film to wings being ripped off, and feathers — the baby has feather stuck on his fingers. When Edgar arrives and Heathcliff's locked up, Cathy loses her freedom. (Ella Taylor)

Wuthering Heights 2011 is reviewed by Living in Cinema, Je m'appelle Kellie and Influence Film.

Rebecca Harrington writes for NPR Books about her love for Jane Austen.

The next couple of years became a blur dominated by Jane Austen. I couldn't get enough of her novels, the withholding heroes, the impossibly witty heroines and the inept curates who always ruined everything. When I was done with her entire oeuvre, I was bereft. I tried reading other things — the Brontës or Thomas Hardy — but nothing was the same. The heroines were alienatingly spirited, the heroes far too verbal (sometimes insane!), and there were no curates of which to speak.

Curates do abound in Shirley, though. A very Austen-ish one is to be found in Agnes Grey.

Gallerist NY recalls the origins of the A.I.R. (Artists in Residence) Gallery:

A.I.R. started with Barbara Zucker, Susan Williams, Dotty Attie, Mary Grigoriadis, Maude Boltz and Nancy Spero seeking out women artists based on files that the critic Lucy Lippard kept in her apartment. They did studio visits and picked out 14 additional artists who became the core of the gallery in its first years, and Ms. Bernstein was among them. They’d meet to discuss finding a space and what they should call themselves. The artist Howardena Pindell suggested “Jane Eyre.” (Michael H. Miller)

Klar Tale (Norway) finds a Brontëite in writer Anne Aukland:

 Aukland har studert engelsk, og liker forfatterne Charles Dickens, Brontë-søstrene og Jane Austen. (Translation)

The Telegraph claims that 'a poor school report is no barrier to success' and uses Charlotte Brontë - among others - to 'prove' it:

Charlotte Brontë, of all people, was told that she wrote “indifferently” and “knew nothing of grammar”. (Max Davidson)

She was barely eight at the time, though.

I Walked with a Zombie is chosen by Paste Magazine as one of the '15 best zombie movies of all time'. JNYnita's Treasures posts in Malay about Jane Eyre. Chapters and Tea recommends Little Miss Brontë: Jane Eyre. And Great Minds Think Alike (in Portuguese) writes briefly about the Italian screen adaptation of Wuthering Heights.