Full Moon, Curtains Open

Clinton Herald interviews the new Youth Services Librarian at the Clinton Public Library:

Rachael Keating: What is your favorite book?
Gabriella Torres: That is a tough question. I love so many books. For a long time it was Jane Austin. I just love Jane Austin (sic). I still get a kick of Jane Austin (sic). I love the Brontë sisters, Emily Brontë and Charlotte Brontë. I’ve always been into the classic female authors.

 Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights 40th anniversary is celebrated by several news outlets:

On January 20 1978, one of the most iconic, interesting and entirely entertaining pop singles of all time was created. Kate Bush released ‘Wuthering Heights’ 40 years ago today and we thought we’d jump at the chance to celebrate a piece of pop music history.
The track, undoubtedly inspired by the novel written by Emily Brontë of the same name, was written in the leafy South London suburb in the summer of ’77. As London was swollen with the viscous angst of punk, Kate Bush was creating a masterful pop record.  “There was a full moon, the curtains were open and it came quite easily,” Bush told her fan club in 1979.
It wasn’t only the subject matter of the song, a ghoulish rendition of dry-ice filled moors and written from the point of view of a deceased Cathy Earnshaw’s longing for Heathcliffe (sic). It was the world’s introduction to Kate Bush. Her employment of dance, mime, theatricality began to herald in a new era for pop music. (Jack Whatley in Far Out Magazine)

Ad aggiungersi ai primati e al fascino di Bush e della canzone ci furono la sua ispirazione al famoso romanzo Cime tempestose di Emily Brontë (con cui Bush condivide il giorno di nascita, 140 anni dopo) e le danze con cui Bush ne accompagnò le esecuzioni pubbliche e in video. (Riccardo Mainetti in Il Post) (Translation)

And, of course, Kate Bush News.

Wired on how to fix capitalism:

In her book Creating Character Arcs, K.M. Weiland describes the animating principle of great fiction: “the lie the character believes”. Ebenezer Scrooge is convinced a man’s worth is measured by money; Jane Eyre thinks the only way to earn love is through servitude; the Wolverine of Logan believes caring for people leads to suffering. The lie prevents the protagonist realising their potential – more than any external hindrance, it stands in the way of progress. (Rowland Manthorpe)

The Bowling Green Daily News reviews Pearl Weaver’s Epic Apology by Rachel Keener:

Perhaps my favorite moment was when one member asked a question: “What literary character would you have chosen to be in high school?” because this is what Pearl does when she reinvents herself for school – she decides to become Jane Eyre. We had a lot of fun answering this question individually for ourselves, and debating why the ones we chose meant so very much to us.
Often, finding things we can connect with in a story makes it much more meaningful. When Pearl loses her father, the author does an accurate but beautiful depiction of what loss feels like, how it leaves us reeling and how we all deal with it in very different ways. Pearl is given a box to fill up with things she does not want to lose of her father’s, and in this box she puts a copy of the last book he was reading to her, “Jane Eyre.” Always one of my favorite novels, the way the author used it within this story was amazing. (Fallon Willoughby)

Film Ireland reviews the film Une Vie:

Brizé set the film in the 4:3 Academy Ratio (the same as Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights adaptation), with its square – as opposed to rectangular screen shape – claustrophobically boxing Jeanne into a life of marital servitude and imprisonment. After all, as Brizé depicts, this is a time when a priest could come to a wife’s home and request that she not leave her husband, despite his many affairs.
However, these tricks, as evocative as they are, do not engage the viewer or work cinematically. Arnold’s Wuthering Heights aimed for a similarly downtrodden depiction of the 19th century. Yet, that film had a stark but savagely beautiful environment – one which managed to capture the oppressiveness of the period but in a way which felt filmic and memorable. In contrast, Brizé’s film just looks dull, like a BBC made-for-TV Victorian novel adaptation. (steven)

El Correo de Burgos (Spain) presents an interesting literary contest:

El certamen [V Concurso de Microrrelatos] recuerda en cada cita a un escritor de relevancia internacional y este año, la dirección del certamen que encabeza el hontoriano Alberto Martín, ha querido ensalzar la figura de la poetisa británica Emily Brönte (sic) , al cumplirse el centenario de su nacimiento. Para ello, todos los trabajos presentados debían tener en común, comenzar con el último párrafo de su novela ‘Cumbres Borrascosas’. (R.F.) (Translation) 

Finally, Phil Hamlyn Williams tweets the unveiling by the Brontë Society London & South-East of a plaque celebrating William Smith Williams:

a privilege to unveil this plaque to William Smith Williams next to his memorial in Kensal Green Cemetery enabling future generations to know this mentor of young writers whose ‘smile and gentle manner charmed all those who had the pleasure of knowing him.’