Brunty speaking

The Spenborough Guardian features the local Brontë Christmas event taking place on December 15th.

THIS month sees the 200th anniversary of the marriage of the Rev Patrick Brontë to Maria Branwell and celebrations are being held in Spen, where the couple set up their first marital home.
Patrick, who was curate at Hartshead Church, married Maria on December 29, 1812, at Guiseley parish church in Leeds.
To commemorate the marriage, the Kirklees Brontë Group is holding an event at Red House Museum on Saturday December 15 from 1.15pm-3.15pm when mulled wine will be served by a descendant of the Brontës.
Santa will also be present and there will be books and toys for sale to help raise money to publish a book about past residents and visitors to Red House. Money from the sale of the book will go to Holly Bank and Friends of Red House.
The following day at 2pm there is a Christmas get-together for the Friends of Red House – all welcome.

A couple more reviews of Wuthering Heights from France. From Krinein, which gives it a 9 out of 10:

Pour conclure, c’est beau. Mais c’est austère et certains détesteront certainement. Préparez-vous avant, c’est comme lorsqu’on regarde 2001, Odyssée de l’Espace pour la première fois, on sait qu’il va y avoir des longueurs ! Ici c’est la même chose, la progression est linéaire, la photographie est rude et sans finesse, les personnages sont quasi-muets… Mais on n’a pas besoin de tout ça pour faire un bon film et Les hauts de Hurlevent est une expérience vraiment à part qui mérite qu’on s’y intéresse. (Flammes-and-co) (Translation)

The film is one of Libération's picks:

Déjà archi-adapté, l’unique roman d’Emily Brontë se voit ici à nouveau investi par le regard de la cinéaste anglaise Andrea Arnold, révélée en deux films, Fish Tank et Red Road. Comme le Bright Star de Jane Campion sur le poète John Keats, elle nous engage dans une envoûtante exploration du lyrisme anglais. Tout confine à l’épiphanie, et les brusques notations sur des détails d’une nature souveraine se mêlent au puissant désir destructeur des personnages principaux. (Translation)

The Guardian thinks that the original novel is one of '10 great works of literature to use in your classroom'.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
OK, I know a woman of my age really should know that men like Heathcliff are to be avoided but having studied this novel in my mid-teens I have to confess to being drawn to the brooding intensity of one of literature's great lovers. Yes, its hyperbolic passion is cringe-worthy. And yes, it is largely unbelievable, but the desire and destruction borne out in the relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff is, at least, something that we can all identify with, whether we've experienced it or not. (Sally Law)

A columnist from the Mansfield News Journal is not so enthusiastic about the classical adaptation of the novel though.

As for television, the only channels I watch these days are for the weather and for ad-free movies. That’s the Turner Classic Movies channel, which shows the old black-and-white classics without commercial interruptions.
Not every movie shown is that appealing. “Wuthering Heights” may be a film classic, but it’s not to my taste. (Ron Simon)

The Orlando Weekly thinks that artworks need a context.

It's a fine idea – that a poem or a painting should be complete in itself, needing no supporting data to act as a sort of user's manual – but I've always felt that supporting data enriches my understanding of an artwork. Knowing more about the Brontë family situation gave me new ways to interpret the psychological dread of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Villette. . . (Jessica Bryce Young)

And now the moment you have all been waiting for: more on Patrick Brontë on the ghost phone, courtesy of the Newry Democrat.

Ghost Searchers Ireland (GSI) visit haunted buildings across the country in the search of spooks and spectres and last month their travels brought them to Drumballyroney Church outside Rathfriland.
Drumballyroney was the birthplace of the well known Anglican clergyman Patrick Brontë who went on to preach in the church there for a time.
Amy O'Reilly is one of the team's investigators and as a native of Rathfriland she was very excited about the investigation.
The team arrived at the deconsecrated building on Thursday, November 15 with an array of gadgets designed to pick up paranormal activity and Amy said the church certainly didn't disappoint.
“We actually picked up quite a bit of activity in the church," she said.
“After about 15 or 20 minutes our zoom mic picked up moans, whispers and footsteps.
“At one point we got a very strong smell of burning wood which disappeared after a while as quickly as it came.
“The most exciting aspect was when we picked up a voice on the radio frequency scanner.
“We asked it a number of questions, for example it was able to finish book titles that we gave it.
“When we asked it its name it said Brontë. I'm not saying it was Patrick Brontë but it pronounced the name as Brunty, which was his original name before he changed it."
It's an intriguing tale and it's not the team's first experience of ghosts in the area.

The Dead Authors Club posts about Jane Eyre and By the Broomstick reviews Jane Eyre Laid Bare. Yorkshire Life Magazine talks about walks around Haworth this Christmas.