"I must write"

The writer Sue Monk Kidd owes her profession to the Brontës, at least according to what she says to Metro today:

Reading was a huge part of my life as a child – we were a family of storytellers. I learnt the power of stories. It seemed if I could create stories and weave that spell, that would be a great way to spend my life. What drives me is to tell a very vivid story. I always wanted to be a writer, even as a child. When I read Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, that did it. I thought: I must write.

Which, although in different contexts and situations, reminds us of Charlotte Brontë's statement when at school at Roe Head:

I'm just going to write because I cannot help it.

She was referring to that moment only, even if writing also became her profession later on.

More letter-writing to Australian newspapers discussing the literature syllabus. A letter from a reader of The Sydney Morning Herald says,

Christopher Bantick feels schools do not do enough to promote cultural elitism (''Another brick in the wall of Gen Y cultural decline'', smh.com.au, January 7). Surely, Mr Bantick, your job is to give your students the skills to discriminate between Jane Eyre and Looking for Alibrandi rather than tell them one is better than the other. In my high school art class, this is how we would compare a Banksy with a Hogarth - as is required by the NSW Visual Arts syllabus.
It is the ability to make distinctions that gives insight, and this must be the core of all good teaching, regardless of the subject matter.
Karen Mors Mt Keira

Mental_Floss lists Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights among songs inspired by literature:

An 18-year-old Kate Bush was inspired to write her breakout song after seeing just 10 minutes of Wuthering Heights on TV in 1977.
“I am sure one of the reasons it stuck so heavily in my mind was because of the spirit of Cathy, and as a child I was called Cathy. It later changed to Kate. It was just a matter of exaggerating all my bad areas, because she's a really vile person, she's just so headstrong and passionate and... crazy, you know? And it was fun to do, and it took - a night and a half?” (Stacy Conradt)

The Independent (Ireland) also reports the changes in the second-level schools' English syllabus.

The range of novels prescribed for study is broad. They range from Animal Farm by George Orwell and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, to modern works like The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly and The Dare by John Boyne. (Kim Bielenberg)

The Brontë Sisters shares a picture of Top Withins circa 1960. Of Books and Reading and Find Your Next Good Reading post about Wuthering Heights. A video review of Jane Eyre on Words of a Reader. The book is also reviewed on Miss Reader's Reading Adventure.  Jayne's Books writes about Villette. Librarian Tells All reviews the Cozy Classics take on Jane Eyre.