A Manor on the Market

The Westmoreland Gazette reports that Whernside Manor in Dent is on the market:

A gentleman's residence in the Yorkshire Dales that may have helped to inspire Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights is for sale.
Whernside Manor, at Dent, has nine bedrooms and more than four acres of grounds. On the market with agents Richard Turner & Son for £665,000, the colonial-style Grade II-listed house was home to the wealthy Sill family in the 18th century. They had large plantations on the Caribbean island of Jamaica, and folklore has it they brought slaves back to Dentdale as servants.
With its sweeping Georgian staircase, beautiful fireplaces and wine cellar, the property dates back to the 17th century and was formerly called West House.
Legend has it Emily Brontë based the character of Heathcliff, in her classic Wuthering Heights, on real events in Dentdale overheard while she was a pupil at school in Cowan Bridge.
The story goes that Mr and Mrs Sill adopted an orphan, Richard Sutton, but he was kept with their servants, rather than with their children. Both Richard and the fictional Heathcliff were taken in by well-off families and poorly treated, and Emily Brontë may also have intertwined another legend about the Sills' daughter falling in love with a black coachman. (Rachel Garnett)

The claims were substantiated by Kim Lyon in a 1979 article in Dalesman Annual (pp 76-82)  and later in her book The Dentdale Brontë (1985).

The Independent and the evolution of feminist fiction:

Women’s writing has long been a thorn in the side of the male literary establishment. From fears in the late 18th century that reading novels – particularly written by women – would be emotionally and physically dangerous for women, to the Brontë sisters publishing initially under male pseudonyms, to the dismissal of the genre of romance fiction as beyond the critical pale, there has been a dominant culture which finds the association of women and writing to be dangerous. It has long been something to be controlled, managed and dismissed. (Stacy Gills)

The Irish Independent celebrates the music of Kate Bush:

Few songs as special have been inspired as clearly by one of the great works of literature. Bush was honest enough to admit that she had initially been turned on by a TV film version of Emily Brontë's only novel, but when she knuckled down to write a song from the point of view of the heroine, Cathy Earnshaw, she read the book for "research purposes".
If 'Wuthering Heights' and the pair of esoteric videos she made for it demonstrated how different she was from her peers, the album itself didn't disappoint either. (John Meager)

Also on Chemartaco (in Spanish).

The Daily Telegraph on the attraction of bad boys:

I despair at the stupid choices I made. It never occurred to me that someone’s jacket or reading material could easily be changed, but their soul could not. Teenage girls think it’s the passion of Heathcliff they want, but their mothers would take nice Edgar Linton any day. (Kerry Parnell)

Trouw (in Dutch) on the film vs novel eternal controversy:

Omgezet in mijn eigen ervaringen zou ik zeggen, inderdaad: een Jane-Eyre-verfilming kan heel bevredigend zijn, maar op de gedachten en gevoelens van de heldin biedt ze maar beperkt zicht. En omdat je Jane op het doek ziet, van buitenaf, als het negentiende-eeuwse meisje dat je zelf als 21ste-eeuwse niet bent, leer je haar niet zo intiem kennen als de lezer. Je leeft wel mee, maar je bént haar niet. Je stapt haar hoofd niet binnen. (Leonie Breebart) (Translation)

NLCafé (in Hungarian) on the 'history' of black dresses:

Az egyedülálló, munkát vállaló ifjú hölgyek immár nem sajnálatra méltó, Jane Eyre-szerű karakterek voltak, sokkal inkább erős, független személyiségek, akik azért arra is nyitottak voltak, hogy egy úriember megmentse őket. (Benecz Judit) (Translation)

Purepeople (Brazil) recommends Wuthering Heights:

Morro Dos Ventos Uivantes
Lançado em 1847 por Emily Brönte (sic), o romance mostra como o amor pode ser violento e a vingança, ultrapassar todos os limites. Uma história de interesse, ganância e ódio mostra o amor de uma menina com o seu irmão adotivo, mas separados pelas idas e vindas de um sentimento amargo e pela conveniência de uma vida mais oportuna. Trazendo um lado obscuro da paixão, Heathcliff, o personagem principal da trama, volta a encontrar seus irmãos adotivos e decide se vingar de todos que considera responsáveis pela separação de seu verdadeiro amor. O livro mostra que o amor ultrapassa a vida e continua depois da morte. (Ana Maria Braga) (Translation)

Zibeline (France) reviews a recent reading session celebrated in Marseille:

Il commence, par une lecture de Chômage monstre, paru il y a un an. Un texte poétique à la langue osée, incandescente, musicale, qu’il lit en faisant entendre ses rythmes. Un texte qui dit le refus du travail, de l’aliénation du smicard, « le travail est un mensonge » qui lui fait perdre jusqu’à ses mots, et qu’il décide de fuir pour retrouver sa langue, et sa réalité. Claudine Galéa lit à son tour, une pièce radiophonique en cours d’écriture pour France Culture, un texte choral qui dit sa fascination pour Les Hauts de Hurlevent, Emily Brontë et ses personnages, la lande, le rude, la violence des passions. On entend les voix de Catherine, de Heathcliff, de Nelly Dean la narratrice, d’Emily Brontë, et surtout de Claudine Galéa écrivant, admirant, fascinée, incarnant tous ces personnages en changeant légèrement de voix et en levant la main pour indiquer à quel niveau de mise en abyme elle nous entraîne. (Agnes Freschel) (Translation)

The Sunday Times's critical list for the week includes the Northern Ballet's performances of Jane Eyre. Sisterly love phrases in Lifestar (Italy). La Opinión de Málaga (Spain) reminds us how the Brontës had to use pseudonyms. Smart Bitches, Trashy Books posts about Mary Taylor and reviews her novel Miss Miles.