Nature Blazes with Mythic Aplomb

The 40 best books to read before you die, according to The Independent:

Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
Will there ever be a novel that burns with more passionate intensity than Wuthering Heights? The forces that bring together its fierce heroine Catherine Earnshaw and cruel hero Heathcliff are violent and untameable, yet rooted in a childhood devotion to one another, when Heathcliff obeyed Cathy’s every command. It’s impossible to imagine this novel ever provoking quiet slumbers; Emily Brontë’s vision of nature blazes with poetry. (Cris Harvey)

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronë
You will need a cold, dead heart not to be moved by one of literature’s steeliest heroines. From the institutional cruelty of her boarding school, the “small, plain” Jane Eyre becomes a governess who demands a right to think and feel. Not many love stories take in a mad woman in the attic and a spot of therapeutic disfigurement, but this one somehow carries it off with mythic aplomb. (Ceri Radford)

A short stories selection in The Guardian. Chris Power selects among others

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)
During her lifetime Gilman was best known for her nonfiction, and she was forgotten after her suicide. Her fiction, in particular “The Yellow Wallpaper”, was rediscovered in the 1970s by feminist academics. This chilling story takes the “madwoman” figure of gothic fiction, memorably used by Charlotte Brontë in Jane Eyre, and describes her experience from the inside looking out. Having been told to avoid mental stimulation by her doctor following an episode of depression, Gilman wrote the story to “convince him of the error of his ways”.

Also in The Guardian a look at the new period dramas:

Period drama had always been unusually interested in women’s inner lives, but films such as Sofia Coppola’s post-punk Marie Antoinette (2006), Jane Campion’s dreamy Keats biopic Bright Star (2009) and Andrea Arnold’s influential Wuthering Heights (2011) took that further. (Ellen E Jones)

The Sid Vicious/ Nancy Spungen story is explored in The Independent:

Whatever the truth, Vicious and Spungen have become as inseparable in death as Cathy and Heathcliff – not least as a result of Alex Cox’s 1986 biopic Sid & Nancy, starring Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb. (Joe Sommerlad)

Winter walks in The Telegraph:

Brontë Walk, Haworth, Yorkshire (eight miles)
Charlotte Brontë’s spirit lives on, with those of her sisters and brother, on Haworth Moors, which are at their wildest and most atmospheric in winter and the inspiration for so much of the Brontës’ work.
Heading out west from the pub, past Lower Laithe Reservoir and then back through Stanbury to the Museum Parsonage, you will pass, on the return, the Brontë Waterfall described by Charlotte as a “perfect torrent racing over the rocks, white and beautiful”.

Instigated by the Marie Kondo minimalist hysteria, the Belfast Telegraph asks North Ireland personalities about what books they cannot live without:

Kerry McLean, BBC Radio Ulster presenter
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
This is the first book that I remember reading as a child and I remember being carried away with the romanticism of it all. I was about 13 when I read it and it blew my head off.
I would still lift it up and read it and it takes me right back to that age and the first stirrings of romantic love.

The Daily Telegraph (Australia) announces the upcoming Sydney performances of Jen Silverman's The Moors:

This new play by Siren Theatre Co and award-winning director Kate Gaul is sure to be a hit with literary fans, drawings its inspiration from the works of enigmatic 19th century authors Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë. This dark comedy, written by Jen Silverman, introduces audiences to young sisters Agatha and Hudley, who live on the misty English moors. Their lives change with the arrival of a governess and what follows is a story of two sisters bent on getting what they want. The production’s Sydney run is part of the 2019 Mardi Gras Festival, and is playing at the Seymour Centre from February 7 until March 1. Tickets $30-$50. (Angira Bharadwaj)

Bustle and classics that are 'worth your time':

Jane Eyre. In Charlotte Brontë's most famous novel, a young governess falls in love with her employer, only to find that he harbors a dark secret — a wife he keeps locked in the attic.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The better-known of Anne Brontë's two novels, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall tells the story of Helen Graham, a married woman on the run from her good-for-nothing husband, who lives under an assumed name and paints to support herself. (Kristian Wilson)

CGTN talks about the recent Chinese New Year celebrations at the Science Museum in London:

The UK-China cultural exchange was another theme of the night. Bradford, the UNESCO City of Film, and the British Library came together to reveal China's long-standing affection for the works of the Brontë sisters and the growing relationship between British and Chinese films.

La Opinión de A Coruña (Spain) interviews the actress Ariadna Gil about her role as Jane Eyre in the Spanish touring production of Teatre Lliure's Jane Eyre:

Rompió con los esquemas de la época a base de fortaleza y valentía, y se convirtió en poco tiempo en uno de los grandes clásicos de la literatura. Jane Eyre, la obra de Charlotte Brontë, toma un nuevo formato estos días con la pieza que produce el Teatre Lliure. Dirigida por Carme Portaceli, y con Ariadna Gil como protagonista, la historia llegará la próxima semana al teatro Rosalía, donde estará el 8 y 9 de febrero a partir de las 20.30 horas.
Alicia Pardo: Enfrentarse a un clásico de tanto calado como este, ¿inspira más respeto?
A.G.: ¿Sabes lo que pasa? Yo no había leído la novela, con lo cual no tenía ese peso que hubiera tenido alguien para el que es una de sus referencias. Había visto alguna adaptación del libro al cine y había leído cosas de Emily Brontë, pero no de Charlotte. Así que fue como un descubrimiento. El personaje me interesó desde el primer momento.
A.P.: Le llegan muchos como Eyre, que arrastran experiencias duras, ¿le han encajado en ese registro atormentado?
A.G.:Probablemente sí, en cine también he hecho muchos personajes así [ríe]. Pero no suelo fijarme en eso cuando decido. De repente, ves una cosa que quieres contar y que crees que puedes entender, y te metes. De todos modos, el personaje de Eyre tiene una gran ironía... (Translation)

Le Télégramme (France) reviews the album Numéro by Auren:

Avec « Numéro », la chanteuse lyonnaise dresse des portraits de femmes (« Edith », « Emilio »). « Moi, Jane » évoque des femmes que la chanteuse dit observer, admirer et porter en elle. « Je pense à l’esprit de conquête et de rébellion de Calamity Jane ; aux excès et à la force de Janis Joplin ; au refus du patriarcat de Jane Eyre, à la multiplicité de Jane Birkin à la fois chanteuse, comédienne et réalisatrice, muse et icône ; à l’humanité et à l’engagement de Jeanne Cherhal….», explique-t-elle sur Facebook. (Translation)

Granice (Poland) recommends Wuthering Heights as a Valentine book (really?):

Wichrowe wzgórza – Emily Brontë
Podobnie jak w przypadku wspomnianej powieści Jane Austen, tak i Wichrowe wzgórza Emily Brontë stanowią prawdziwy klasyk literatury romantycznej. Wichrowe wzgórza to historia dziejąca się na przełomie XVIII i XIX w. Pewnego dnia Earnshaw, właściciel majątku Wuthering Heights, a jednocześnie głowa rodziny, po podróży z Liverpoolu przywozi ze sobą bezdomnego, cygańskiego chłopaka. Mężczyzna nakazuje swoim dzieciom – córce Cathy i synowi Hindleyowi, traktować nowego chłopca jak własnego brata. Jednak relacje pomiędzy dziewczyną a cygańską znajdą stają się niezwykle silne i zdecydowanie wykraczają poza standardowe, braterskie więzi. Tymczasem Hindley zrobi wszystko, by uprzykrzyć życie przyszywanemu bratu. (Mojebestsellery) (Translation)

Elle (France) insists on the same mistaken idea:

Parfois, on a lu trop tôt ce beau roman, imposé par un professeur de français soucieux d’analyser chaque micro-mot d’un texte qui nous paraissait alors ennuyeux. Il faut pourtant relire Les Hauts de Hurle-vent, et se laisser emporter par la passion et les paysages sauvages, bien calé au fond de son lit.
La citation : "J'aime le sol qu'il foule, l'air qu'il respire, et tout ce qu'il touche, et tout ce qu'il dit. J'aime tous ses regards, et tous ses gestes, je l'aime entièrement et complètement. Voilà !" (Adèle Bréau) (Translation)

La Vanguardia (Spain) reviews the Spanish translation of How to Suppress Women's Writing by Joanne Russ:

Tal y como afirma Virginia Woolf en Una habitación propia, “todas estas buenas novelas, Villette, Emma, Cumbres borrascosas, Middlemarch, las escribieron mujeres tan pobres que no podían permitirse comprar más que unas cuantas manos de papel de una vez para escribir. En cuanto al tiempo libre, en muchas ocasiones iba acompañado de la pobreza. “A la famosa Marian Evans, quien más tarde se convertiría en George Eliot, se le requirió su tiempo cuando era veinteañera para llevar la casa y atender a su anciano padre”. (Lara Gómez Ruiz) (Translation)

Some other things around: Valentine memes on Your Tango, including Wuthering Heights quotes. Popular baby names including Jane on Babygaga. A Charlotte Brontë joke in The Clarion Herald. Archive of Our Own posts a new fan fiction Jane Eyre story: My Antoinette. Philip Hamlyn Williams posts about William Smith Williams and Art. The Dirty Club of Books (in Italian) reviews a new Italian translation of Mary Taylor's Miss Miles. The Eyre Guide posts a list of the worst adaptation choices in Jane Eyre movies and TV series.