Heathcliff and Hermione

Newsday interviews writer and professor André Aciman (Call Me by Your Name).

You’ve said in interviews that you read no contemporary fiction. Why? I like the classics. I’d much rather reread a book that was formative for me. Like now, I’m rereading Proust for the umpteenth time. I reread “Jane Eyre” a few months ago. I’m looking for something ancient, archaic or obsolete. (Tim Murphy)

Entertainment Weekly interviews writer Heather Webb, who is about to publish her novel The Phantom’s Apprentice, inspired by Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera.

WEBB: [...] I also really like the 2011 version of Jane Eyre with Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska, as well as Great Expectations with Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke. (David Canfield)

Meanwhile, The Boar imagines several 'First Dates in the World of Books', including one between Heathcliff and... Hermione Granger from Harry Potter.

An unlikely pairing sits not too far away from Jay and Daisy in the form of Heathcliff and Hermione. Heathcliff does not know why he is there; Catherine has just married Edgar Linton, and his heart is broken. But, he has a plan. Hermione asks him all sorts of things – what he thinks about the University and Colleges Union strike, and other grand political ideas he knows nothing about. She even tries to lighten the mood with a question on how he feels now Jin’s has announced it won’t be closing. The response to every question is a grunt. He is too wrapped up in his emotions regarding Catherine Earnshaw’s marriage to Edgar Linton – how is he supposed to have room to care about a café closing?
‘Tell me about your school,’ he requests, tearing the conversation away from himself and directing it in the way of his revenge plans. Hermione instantly begins talking about Hogwarts and her adventures with Harry and Ron. Heathcliff shows a particular interest in her magical ability, and how he can use it to execute his revenge plan. Level-headed as ever, Hermione refuses and uses her time-turner necklace to disappear from the sea of dates in the restaurant. (Georgia Simcox)

Echo News features the life and work of social reformer Reverend Benjamin Waugh who, among many other things, set up the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Great Britain. But also,

Waugh and his wife Sarah Elizabeth had 12 children including a daughter, Edna, who would become a notable watercolour artist and draughtsman and most famous for providing the illustrations to Emily Brontë’s blockbuster novel Wuthering Heights. (Emma Palmer)

We are somewhat baffled by this demand by an English philologist in Cuba, as reported by Vanguardia.

«En las últimas ferias me he ido con las manos vacías. Un spot de este año mostró que se venderán en la feria Papa Goriot y Cumbres borrascosas, una vez más. ¿Quién no se ha leído esos dos libros en Cuba? ¿Por qué no se imprime otra obra de Balzac o de Emily Brontë?», refuta Alejandro, joven filólogo, y añade un sinfín de cuestionamientos.(Yinet Jiménez Hernández) (Translation)

We are also rather indignant about it, to be honest ;)

Sandra Danby has romance writer Julie Stock tell about her 'porridge and cream' read, which is Jane Eyre. Lisabeth Westwood posts about a trip to Haworth. Lots of pictures of the visit of HRH The Duchess of Cornwall to Haworth and the Brontë Parsonage Museum can be seen on the Brontë Parsonage Museum Facebook page.

Finally, an alert from Ascoli Piceno (Italy):

February 21, 17:00
"Biblioteca Creativa 2018" alla Biblioteca Comunale Gabrielli di Ascoli Piceno.
Il libro ottocentesco "Cime tempestose", romanzo d'amore per antonomasia, sarà al centro della lezione spettacolo che vedrà protagonisti Cesare Catà nel ruolo di Hitcliff e Pamela Olivieri in quello di Catherine.
“In questo romanzo – spiega Catà - terrore e meraviglia si mescolano a dialoghi struggenti, si indagano le parti più nascoste, terribili e trascinanti dell'animo umano, che hanno da sempre affascinato generazioni di lettori. Cogliamo l’occasione per ringraziare l’Amministrazione Comunale per la fiducia e il pubblico che continua a seguirci sempre più numeroso”. (Informazione.tv)