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Friday, February 07, 2014

Friday, February 07, 2014 10:43 am by Cristina in , , , ,    No comments
The Telegraph and Argus has an article on what to expect when the Brontë Parsonage Museum opens its doors again:
Tea with the Brontës will look a little different when the Parsonage Museum in Haworth reopens later this month.
Staff have changed the collection of the china teacups in the Brontë family’s dining room as part of the museum’s annual overhaul.
Collections manager Ann Dinsdale said items on display in all of the rooms were switched around each winter.
She said: “We have a huge collection of Brontë household artefacts, so we’ve put a few different ones out.
“In the dining room it’s mainly the china that’s changed. The room has also been thoroughly cleaned and all the furniture inspected.”
Patrick Brontë’s nearby study was extensively redecorated in 2013 following in-depth research into what it had looked like during the Brontës’ time.
This year the major change in the study is a new carpet, created by a specialist company using traditional techniques.
Ann said: “It’s what we believe Patrick Brontë would have had on the floor. We used our historical decorative consultant Allyson McDermott.
“We had hoped to put the carpet in last year, but it took longer than we expected to do the research.”
The Parsonage reopens on February 20.
The Independent carries the story of Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne misspelling Haworth on Twitter.
A PR stunt by George Osborne backfired when he misspelled the name of the town he was visiting on Twitter, on Thursday.
The Chancellor tweeted a photo of himself with MP Kris Hopkins and staff at the Cobbles and Clay café in the Yorkshire town of Haworth, famous for its links with the Brontë sisters and its heritage railway.
But in the post, which he used to promote a cashback scheme for businesses and charities, he incorrectly called the historic town “Howarth,” despite being there at the time.
Users of the social media website were quick to react to the Chancellor's lack of awareness, with JayneHowarth simply replying “HAWORTH” to his post.
Another asked: “@GeorgeOsborne Who do you think you are?” (Kashmira Gander)
Here's the original tweet:
Pictures of his unofficial visit to the Brontë Parsonage Museum can be seen on the Brontë Parsonage Facebook page.

And one more blunder today, as 7 días (Dominican Republic) claims that Wuthering Heights was written by one Emilio Brontë.
 El dirigente peledeísta Rubén Jiménez Bichara puso a circular este jueves la cuarta edición del libro “Páginas revueltas”, el cual recoge su visión respecto del contenido de parte de las obras que ha leído.
El análisis versa sobre obras como Los Miserables, de Víctor Hugo; Cumbres Borrascosas, de Emilio Brontë; y Doctor Zhivago, de Borís Pasternak. (Juan Enrique Tavárez) (Translation)
The Huffington Post lists Wuthering Heights (fortunately by Emily Brontë) as one of '9 Amazing Books That Feature Magical Realism'.
6. Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1848)
When the novel first came out, readers were shocked and disgusted; it falls through all the stylistic categories of its time; it is neither realistic nor "historical." You cannot fully identify with anyone and there is an inappropriate number of storms, ghosts and passions for a good Victorian reader. Today, it is listed among the most important novels of English literary history. It stands in the tradition of Shakespeare and anticipates the narrative techniques of the 20th century. (Katharina Hagena)
The Guardian has another list:
Heathcliff and Catherine (Wuthering Heights)
They are one of the best-loved literary couples, and one of the worst. Catherine and Heathcliff's relationship can only be described as mutually destructive and abusive – and deserving of a session or two on a Relate sofa. You know a pairing is on the rocks when they spend most of their time trying to hurt the other in the most malevolent means possible (like ruining their offspring). It's the kind of obsessive love that prioritises control over a person and loses sight of the individual's happiness. They are basically a version of Sid and Nancy on the moors. [...]
Edward Rochester and Bertha Mason (Jane Eyre)
Poor Bertha Antoinetta Mason, the archetypal "madwoman in the attic". While we don't get to see much of Bertha in Jane Eyre, except for the conditions of her loft-based incarceration, Jean Rhys gives us a glimpse into the young Bertha's betrothal to Rochester in her prequel novel, Wide Sargasso Sea. Bertha, then known as Antoinette Cosway, is wedded to Rochester in the Caribbean, though the couple barely know each other. Surprise surprise, these two never really hit it off and probably should have realised that en route to the aisle before the whole thing, literally, went up in flames. (Hannah Jane Parkinson)
That list is in view of JK Rowling's recent revelation saying that she regretted having paired off Ron and Hermione in the Harry Potter saga. The subject is also discussed by The Conversation.
It’s a quandary – does an author follow their head and the plotline, or acknowledge the heartfelt power of their readers? There are literary precedents here which might have helped Rowling out as we enter a longstanding literary tradition of endings being changed or plots being altered for fear of what the readers would say.
Think of Charlotte Brontë blurring the end of Villette so that it is no longer explicit that M. Paul dies at sea, leaving a Lucy Snowe who is not entirely unhappy with that outcome. (Gillian Rudd)
The Philadelphia Inquirer blog Blinq also talks about it.
As for bad endings, we never bought any moment of Wuthering Heights. (Karen Heller)
Poet laureate of the United States Natasha Trethewey also brings up Wuthering Heights in The New York Times:
At 19, I thought this was the most romantic thing I’d ever seen. I began to understand that love wasn’t just the deeply passionate and troubled relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy in “Wuthering Heights” — a book I’d loved since I was a child. 
El País (Spain) features writer Sophie Hannah.
“Todos tenemos un punto inquietante”, asegura Hannah, quizá para justificar que ella solo actualiza un género que ya está en la novela clásica. “Hay poco protagonista literario que no esté afectado emocionalmente, insatisfecho, que no se sienta amenazado por algo interior; ahí están Cumbres borrascosas, Jane Eyre... Una novela negra pretende resolver un crimen o una circunstancia y para ello se intenta encontrar las claves de un proceso interior; toda mi obra busca eso”. (Carles Geli) (Translation)
Bespectacled posts about Wuthering Heights 1939 and Stuck in a Book looks at some of the awful covers different editions of Wuthering Heights have had over the years. Deneuving has a curious Wuthering Heights 1939 gif.

The Brontë Parsonage Facebook page reports that Collections Manager Ann Disndale has now been working for 25 years at the Brontë Parsonage. We would like to end this post with our congratulations.

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