Wuthering Wars

We truly didn't expect to see a reference to Wuthering Heights in an article about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But here it is, courtesy of The Union Oracle Independent News:

Much like Andrea Arnold's 2011 version of "Wuthering Heights", this helps ground the tale, giving us insight into the daily hardships the characters had to endure in order to survive, all of which gives them a hard edge, a sense of toughness and cynicism that comes from living in an unforgiving world. (Taylor Byrd)

Back to more ordinary sightings, Quill and Quire reviews Worlds of Ink and Shadow by Lena Coakley, that will be published next month:

Like many a moody girl, I fell in love with the Brontës when I was only 11 years old. Drawn in first by Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, it was Emily’s darker, more twisted tale of tragic love gone awry that really hooked me, and I would revisit Wuthering Heights many times throughout my adolescence.
So it was with a sense of wary anticipation that I approached Lena Coakley’s new novel based on the teen years of the four Brontë children: Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne. Set in 1834, when eldest sister Charlotte is 18, Coakley’s book delves into the inner lives of the famed siblings, and adds a fantastical element to their already interesting story. [...]
But Worlds of Ink and Shadow is more than a mere fictionalization of the lives of long-dead authors. Coakley borrows liberally from the imaginations of Branwell and Charlotte for Verdopolis, but creates a narrative that is enticing in its own right. The story-within-a-story structure works well, because though the Brontës take on different personas in Verdopolis, they are, ostensibly, writing in real time, even speaking some sentences aloud to direct the behaviour of their creations. When the action starts to get away from Branwell and Charlotte’s control, and Emily and Anne are allowed to enter the previously verboten world, things get really interesting.
Coakley has written an intricate, evocative, and imaginative story that honours its subjects’ legacy while expertly building on the foundation of emotionally resonant storytelling at which they were so proficient. (Dory Cerny)

The Auburn Villager features local author Marian Carcache and her first book The Tongues of Men and Angels. This is how she describes her book:

"I was trying to write characters who were as powerful as Catherine and Heathcliff in "Wuthering Heights," trying to write magical realism like (Gabriel) Garcia Marquez, and trying to stay true to my Southern roots like (Flannery) O'Connor," Carcache said. "It's a lot. I was a lot younger then than I am now ... I think now I'm more humble and see my limitations a little bit, but kind of like looking back and remembering the me who though I could do that. So, I gave it my best shot." (Allison Blankenship)

This columnist from The New Yorker doubts

there is a better or more beautiful way to learn about the life of Emily Brontë than by reading Anne Carson’s poem “The Glass Essay.” (Kathryn Schulz)

A couple of The Times Literary Supplement quiz questions are quite Brontëish:

1. Disguises. Who went disguised as
a. A female gypsy? (...)
5. Fictional characters with the names of clerics
a. Mr Lockwood’s housekeeper (Tony Lurcock)

Vogue (Italy) recommends the Italian translation of Shirley as one of the books to read this holiday season.

Per chi non resiste alle brume della brughiera (sì, anche se siete sotto l'ombrellone ai Tropici)
Shirley di Charlotte Brontë, Fazi editore
Due donne litigano per un uomo. C'è la lotta di classe (perché sono di estrazione sociale diversa); c'è un maschio che vale meno di due femmine; c'è che una femmina, per un uomo, di soli
 toimpazzisce. Anche in pieno Ottocento. Questo infatti è un bel romanzone della maggiore delle  tre sorelle Brontë e chi non se ne innamora troverà il carbone, il giorno della Befana. (Ilaria Bellantoni) (Translation)

Still in Italy, Il libraio has compiled several pictures of secret passages hidden behind bookshelves. One of them elicits this sentiment

Uno scaffale che si apre e rivela… un tavolo pronto per il tè? Siamo in un libro delle sorelle Brontë? (Translation)

And one more from Italy as PopcornTV includes Jane Eyre 1996 on a list of Anna Paquin's best films.

The Huffington Post reviews the London premiere of Richard Greenberg's play The Dazzle:

It's like a wobbly Jane Eyre - people are going blind in big old houses and there are knocks on the door late at night - but there is nothing hiding in the attic here, other than a load of old clutter. (Jessie Thompson)

Bristol 24/7 offers locals the chance of winning two tickets to We Are Brontë.

Theatre company Publick Transport take to the Wardrobe Theatre's shiny new stage in January to perform a comic piece of visual theatre all about the real and imaginary worlds of Yorkshire's most famous siblings. This month we're offering you two tickets to the show, which is on from January 19-23, and has been called "physical theatre at its most superb."
To enter: Visit the Bristol24/7 website and make sure you are signed up to the newsletter (top right of homepage). Then email competitions@bristol247.com with the subject line ‘We Are Brontë’, your name and contact details. Enter by midday on Monday, January 18.

Finally, this columnist from El día (Spain) will vote on Sunday thinking of Jane Eyre.

Votaré pensando en Nueva Jersey, en el Uruguay de 1917 o en la elección presidencial chilena de 1970. Antes de iniciar el rito protocolario de cada cuatro años, mi conciencia guardará un minuto para acordarme de Jane Eyre, Olimpia de Gouges y Harried Taylor, las mismas que rompieron el té de las tertulias liberales de la época victoriana para sembrar la semilla del cambio y de los derechos fundamentales. (Luis F. Febles) (Translation)

Printcess reviews Wuthering Heights;   Linda's Book Bag has a guest post by Luccia Gray, author of the All Hallows on Eyre Hall set no novels.