Nestled within the Yorkshire countryside, Haworth was the former residence of the Brontë sisters: Charlotte, Emily and Anne, whose surrounding moorlands provided inspiration for Emily's novel Wuthering Heights. Their ancestral home has been converted into a museum, cementing Haworth's status as an essential stop for enthusiasts of English literature. (Christopher Megrath)
4. HathersageHathersage has strong literary connections - having inspired Charlotte Brontë while she was writing Jane Eyre. The nearby North Lees Hall (pictured here) also became the main inspiration for Thornfield Hall. (Tom Hardwick)
Where did this book even come from? “The novel started out as my thesis during my MFA at Cornell,” the author explains. “I had this idea of a girl and her brother, this sibling relationship, which is at the heart of the novel. The dynamics of this family and the relationship between the siblings, and the roots of all of that, was also something I was interested in very early on. I read Jane Eyre for the first time in graduate school (late, I know!) and soon after that I read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, and I was mind-blown. The Gothic as a vehicle for the story of this family started to appeal to me early on, this picture of a house that’s no longer able to hold its secrets, and the novel grew from there.“Jane Eyre and Rebecca both play with things that are revealed and the things that are kept hidden, both from the characters and from the reader. I was also very fascinated by black Gothic, with books like Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Octavia Butler’s Kindred, and a lot of Buchi Emecheta’s work, like Second Class Citizen, which plays with the idea of not just physical confinement but psychological confinement within systems. Add to that the burden of innocence on a character when human beings and circumstances conspire to paint you guilty or deprive you of a voice.” (Neil Nyren)
Swift subverts the classic "scorned woman" trope by recounting these wrongs, not with vengeful rage, but with calm, chilling clarity. "When the fever turns a dreamer into a pathetic ghost / If he's killing you, I see you, I was patient zero," she sings in the song's final lines.She's like Bertha Mason in the attic, warning Jane Eyre of Mr. Rochester's evil, or Rebecca, hovering like a wraith over her murderous husband's estate; she's the woman who haunts the narrative long after she's gone. (Callie Ahlgrim)
studying Jane Eyre in school and being drawn to characters who are always unapologetic and tenacious, some characters come into your life to teach you lessons – that you should take up more space or challenge the rules a little. (Harriet Curzon)
Many critics cite Brontë’s noticeable personal prejudices throughout the story as well as a plot lacking intensity and depth as reasons to consider this the lesser of her four novels. They may be right on one level, but others note that Brontë cleverly used a male narrator to point out and address areas in which women weren’t treated as they should have been, most noticeably in the workforce and in terms of their pay.Whether you see the story’s flaws or prefer to see its good points, “The Professor” deserves a read by anyone wanting another glimpse into the mind of the woman who gave us “Jane Eyre.” (Tammy Marshall)
“It’s mad, isn’t it? But I’m from North Yorkshire, and I just thought Jane Austen wasn’t a writer for me. She was more for posh southern people. I used to read loads of Brontë because that was the world I was from,” the actor said. (Amy Glover)
“Like a great character in a romance novel, Evelyn plays a leading role in life. Her fierce independence, passion for life, and intense love for family makes her a modern Jane Eyre.” (Chris John Amorosino)
The Brontë Sisters UK explores her personal collection of Wuthering Heights editions.
Bonnie Greer was a joiner. She was on the board of everything, from the Women’s prize for fiction to the British Museum, she was president of the Brontë society – she got stuck in. (Zoe Williams)
Role in the Brontë SocietyA lifelong admirer of literature, Greer brought a fresh perspective to the organisation, which is dedicated to preserving the legacy of sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë and operates the famous Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth.During her presidency, Greer championed efforts to broaden the appeal of the Brontës’ work and attract more diverse audiences.She argued that the Brontës belonged to the world rather than a narrow literary elite and wanted the society to connect with younger people and communities across Yorkshire, including Bradford’s large and varied population.After several months of internal disagreements, she resigned as president in June 2015. (Amelia Short)
When teenagers went back to school in China earlier this month, one book on their new mandatory reading list stood out: the 19th century English novel “Jane Eyre.”The literary classic, originally considered a trailblazing tale of female empowerment, might seem a surprising choice in a country where textbooks are tightly curated by the state to ensure ideological conformity.But Beijing sees another message in Charlotte Brontë’s work –– the value of finding true love.The story presents a counterbalance to the “superficial notions about appearance and wealth” of the social media age, according to the state-run Beijing Daily newspaper.In recent years, online novels and micro dramas featuring outlandish plots of wealth flaunting, wronged lovers, brooding billionaires and ill-fated mistresses plotting revenge have become mainstream entertainment. And that’s attracted the attention of China’s censors.In June, the broadcasting regulator launched a campaign to crack down on “harmful and lowbrow” content seen as promoting “distorted” views on relationships and marriage.But reading the story of Jane Eyre –– an orphan girl who finds her independence while suffering a series of hardships and eventually falls in love with her wealthy employer –– will help China’s 14-year-olds “develop sounder values,” said Beijing Daily.“When children are first beginning to experience romantic feelings and are still naive and inexperienced, it is a crucial stage for developing a healthy character,” it said.The coming-of-age story has been wildly popular in China since it first arrived in the country in 1925 and has been translated, published and adapted into theatre and screen productions countless times. A British film even made its way to Chinese theatres in 1979, following the country’s turbulent Cultural Revolution.Jane Eyre –– who famously says to her future husband “do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong” –– has long been seen as an anti-repression heroine by the working class in China. And the book has long been accepted by China’s ruling communist party.But its inclusion in the curriculum is striking at a time when other forms of feminist discussion and activism have increasingly come under scrutiny in China.And some parents have questioned whether modern day Chinese youths who have been raised in a relatively comfortable environment, could understand or relate to the deep and complicated love story portrayed in the novel.One parent said that her son had asked whether reading Jane Eyre was “teaching girls in (his) class that their brain should being wrongly ruled by love.”The parent, writing on social media platform Xiaohongshu, said that her son couldn’t understand why Jane chooses to marry a man who was blind, and the whole thing looked like a bad deal.Qin Shiwen, a recent Chinese literature graduate in Beijing told CNN that including a classic like Jane Eyre into primary education “is very necessary.”“China’s basic education system places a heavy emphasis on academic knowledge and high achievement, but very, very little focus on love or character development,” said Shiwen.But the book, first published in 1847, has in recent years been criticized for its treatment of a character Brontë often describes as a ‘mad woman.”“The more I think about it, the more problematic I find it,” said Yan Hairong, a sociology scholar at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, pointing to the portrayal of the “mad woman in the attic” and the book’s “underlying themes of colonialism.”Yan has doubts whether the novel will help Chinese teenagers build up healthy values, saying some students may just absorb it “without critically examining the problematic ideas embedded within it.”“I have some concerns about teaching the novel at the middle-school level, particularly if it is presented as a textbook or as an example of profound romantic love,” Yan told CNN. (Sylvie Zhuang)
Beijing, however, sees a message about the importance of true love in the novel. According to the state-run Beijing Daily newspaper, the book offers a counterbalance to the “superficial notions about appearance and wealth” that have become widespread in the social media age.In recent years, online novels and short dramas featuring plots about flaunting wealth, unrequited love, billionaires and revenge have become popular entertainment. In June, China’s regulator launched a campaign against “harmful and lowbrow” content, including material portraying “distorted” views of marriage and relationships.According to Beijing Daily, the story of Jane Eyre – an orphan who goes through a series of hardships, asserts her independence and falls in love with her wealthy employer – could help 14-year-old students develop “sounder values.”“When children are first beginning to experience romantic feelings and are still naive and inexperienced, it is a crucial stage for developing a healthy character,” the publication said.The novel has been popular in China since 1925 and has been translated, published and adapted for the stage and screen many times. Jane Eyre has long been seen in the country as a heroine who stands against oppression, and the novel has also been accepted by China’s ruling Communist Party. Its inclusion in the curriculum, however, comes at a time when feminist debate and activism in China have come under increased scrutiny.
a windswept soundtrack that more or less saved the otherwise dreadful Wuthering Heights (Adrian Horton)
Quick lightning round! Tell us:The [book] that made you want to become an author: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (Elise Dumpleton)
like a cross between Jane Eyre and an especially nasty slasher movie. (Luc Haasbroek)
The Brontë sisters’ father was the parish priest of Howarth [sic]. The museum is a renovated parsonage where the sisters lived. Traces of the sisters remain everywhere, including the fireplace used by Emily Brontë and the dress of her elder sister Charlotte, who wrote *Jane Eyre*.After leaving the parsonage, I began a trek across the moor—the wild, open landscape that inspired *Wuthering Heights*. Top Withens, the ruined farmhouse said to have influenced the novel, sits atop a hill approximately 430 meters above sea level.Walking for about an hour and a half across the moor, where only the wind’s whisper could be heard, I reached the desolate scene: two trees standing beside a crumbling stone house at the hill’s summit. Sitting on the roof of the abandoned house and looking down, I saw vast plains dotted with purple heather flowers swaying in the wind—a serene yet beautiful sight. I realized that the author, having grown up in such scenery, could depict a love that is both tranquil and ferocious. Facing the strong wind, I quietly recited Catherine’s famous line expressing her passion for Heathcliff: “I am Heathcliff!” (Kwak Ah-ram)
Conversely, the trailer for Wuthering Heights: House of the Damned does a pretty solid job of selling it as being just as faithful of an adaptation as many of the others have been over the past century. There’s Catherine’s ghost, a look at Cathy (meaning that the story will at least dabble in the decades-spanning material), and even looks to be taking significant inspiration from the latter pieces of the book that rarely see any play in cinematic versions. Notably, the film has even cast Sky Cheema, a non-white actor, in the role of Heathcliff, which was famously played by the very white Jacob Elordi most recently, inciting a great deal of controversy.All in all, this is a fun riff on the idea and is just as valid as any number of the countless other adaptations over the years, in theory. My hope is that Hirani and co. keep their heads up and resist the urge to just turn it into a hack-and-slash feature with Wuthering Heights cosplay, instead embracing the story’s actual text in meaningful ways. To their credit, the trailer looks like much more of the latter rather than the former, so I’m more than down to check it out. (William Jones)
A book Min Jin Lee would give to her younger self:Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Originally published in 1847, this novel has become one of the most-read books of all time. It’s the story of every chapter of Jane Eyre’s life, from her harsh upbringing as an orphan to her position as governess for a young French girl at Thornfield estate, where she meets and falls in love with the charming Mr. Rochester. It’s a powerful tale of love, classism, religion and feminism.What Min Jin Lee says about this book: “[I] recall reading this in [my] 20s, but [I] should have read it in [my] teens and then revisited it in [my] 30s.” (Carissa Mosness)
What are some of your favorite novels?This is such a tough question, because I feel like it is constantly changing depending on the season, my mood, where I am… But God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë will always be on my list, for sentimental reasons: I read both in high school, and they were two of the first novels that unlocked my love of devouring and discussing books with others. (Heather Caliendo)
She awarded the literary classic 5 stars, and high praise — the only thing she disliked about the book was “that the story had to end! I wish it could have gone on forever,” [she] said.She felt picking up the Brontë novel also boosted her vocabulary.“One thing I like about this book is that it’s a older book and has older words to learn, so you can learn what they mean,” [she] said.
9. Performative male bookHe has one whole book – a copy of Wuthering Heights he bought for his GCSEs (because he thought it was the same as Jane Eyre). The book is displayed prominently opposite the door, to demonstrate what an erudite feminist he is. (Claudia Cox)
S4 E7: With... Ruth RossingtonMia and Sam chat to their colleague Ruth on this episode! Ruth is part of the Visitor Experience team at the Museum and has previously worked as a journalist and London tour guide!We look at the progression of photography in the nineteenth century and discuss the mysterious backstory of one particular item in the collection...
One of the biggest challenges in adapting Jane Eyre is that the novel is deeply personal.Written in the first person, readers experience the world through Jane's thoughts, feelings and reflections.On stage, those internal monologues cannot simply be narrated.Instead, they must become performance.As John Caird explained during the media day, the production solves this by allowing the ensemble to share Jane's narrative voice, preserving the intimacy of Charlotte Brontë's writing while embracing the possibilities of live theatre.Music becomes another extension of that voice.Rather than interrupting the story, the songs continue it. (...)The score also reflects another defining feature of the production.Rather than functioning as individual showpieces, the musical numbers become part of the ensemble's collective storytelling.Co-director Megan McGinnis explained that casting focused not only on vocal ability but also on finding exceptional storytellers capable of serving the narrative together.That collaborative approach was evident throughout the rehearsal room, where every performer contributed to Jane's journey rather than simply stepping forward for individual moments. (...)Following our rehearsal room visit, one thing became abundantly clear: the music isn't simply accompanying Jane Eyre.It is helping tell Jane's story.Having now experienced the completed production, it is fascinating to reflect on how those early rehearsal excerpts formed part of a much larger emotional journey, demonstrating once again why Jane Eyre continues to inspire artists almost 180 years after Charlotte Brontë first introduced readers to one of literature's most remarkable heroines.
It feels like one of the closest adaptations to the original novel, encompassing the major themes of love, loss, abandonment, independence and belonging, while also displaying its greatest scenes. Could some have been developed further? Yes, but on the whole, this adaptation by John Caird and Paul Gordon was on point - the mix between music, narrative, stage presence and performance was exceptional. (...)The music is another huge strength in this adaptation. The songs fit naturally into the storytelling and are beautifully performed, allowing some of Jane's thoughts and emotions to be expressed in a way that are in keeping with the original character. (...)There is also some intimacy with being at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant because it's small and therefore you feel so much closer to the actors on stage, it makes the energy of the performers feel more intense.For those who already love Jane Eyre, there is plenty here that will feel familiar. For those coming to the story for the first time, this musical provides an accessible introduction into Jane's world. It's a fantastic adaptation that should definitely not be missed. (Junita Aswal)
Upon entering the theatre, the most striking feature is the enormous, thorn-like vine curling around the edge of the stage (Morgan Large). It evokes Rochester’s confinement and the cage-like world surrounding him. Above the stage, a line is carved into the stone: “I am no bird, and no net ensnares me, I am a free human being with an independent will.” This, too, is taken from Jane’s words shortly before she leaves Rochester. Like the earlier quotation, it immediately conveys Jane’s resilience and strength of character. At the same time, it reminds us that everything taking place on stage is a reflection of the book rather than a reality unto itself. Indeed, in this production, every actor seems to function almost like a piece of the text that makes up the novel. (...)The songs are one of the production’s greatest strengths. I particularly enjoyed the conversational quality of the writing and the delicacy with which it handles emotion. Among the many lyrical and beautiful melodies, Painting Her Portrait and My Hope of Heaven stood out to me. The former captures Jane’s insecurity, her harshness towards herself, and her pain with remarkable clarity. The latter expresses Rochester’s passionate, turbulent, forceful, and at times tender love in remarkably simple and direct language. (...)Overall, it is a genuine pleasure to see the story of Jane Eyre brought to the London musical stage. Although it is a story born nearly two centuries ago, its emotions and struggles still feel remarkably close to our own, reflected in Rochester, whose heart is caught in the vines, and Jane, who reaches towards freedom. While the production has not yet quite reached its full potential, the delicate emotional world of the original novel is already there within it. With only a few light touches, these words from the page could become much more vivid and alive on stage. (Ziwen)
The show's Jane (Charlie Burn) and Mr Rochester (Ashley Gilmour) give it their all and the pair sparkle as they duet, “Secret Soul” being their standout song. Neither can be described as plain despite all around them claim- the audience’s chuckles confirming this. Gilmour’s Rochester is rakish and playful, making it easy for Burn’s elegantly innocent Jane to fall. Although her character comes to resemble a watered-down Belle of Beauty and the Beast– no fault of Burn’s as all she is given to do is sing pining ballads. When flashes of Jane’s anger and insecurity break through in “Painting Her Portrait” she is electric in her range and colour. It’s a Jane I wish we got to see more of. (...)A stylish and charming show full of music, Jane Eyre would be better served by trimming its blur of Act 1 songs to allow more direct conversation between its characters. Jane sings of hunger for knowledge and independence in “Sweet Liberty” only for this interest to rarely emerge again And Burn and Gilmour barely let the sexual tension simmer before off singing their attractions.
Charlie Burn leads the company as Jane, bringing warmth and emotional depth to one of literature’s most beloved heroines. Ashley Gilmour plays Rochester, and the pair share an engaging chemistry, particularly during their sweeping and heartfelt musical moments. Emily-Rose Samuel also impresses as the young Jane, capturing the character’s determination and spirit.Gemma Page showcases the prowess of a seasoned actress switching between the contrasting roles of Mrs Reed and Mrs Fairfax. She brings a grounded and assured presence to both. Morgan Large’s striking monochrome costumes, complete with corsets, ruffles and delicate detailing, create a beautiful visual world, while projections of misty moors, graves and barren trees provide the perfect gothic backdrop.With its excellent cast, outstanding vocals, atmospheric design and timeless romance, Jane Eyre the Musical offers London audiences a passionate and engaging journey into Charlotte Brontë’s unforgettable world. (Zia Trench)
London theatre does not have to mean booking the biggest production in the West End. Southwark Playhouse Elephant offers a more intimate alternative, and Jane Eyre is an especially appropriate choice for a girls' weekend. The five-time Tony-nominated musical adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's classic makes its UK premiere here, recasting Jane's story of independence, ambition, mystery and passionate love for a contemporary stage. (Olivia Liveng)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte BrontëJane Eyre might have been published 180 years ago, but it’s still relevant today, telling the story of a woman reinventing her life by falling in love with a man who thinks he can reinvent his life by simply ignoring his past—or, more accurately, locking it away. No spoilers (again, the book is 180 years old, what are you waiting for!), but you might want to check the attic before you crack this open late at night. (Carly Hillman)
Meeting Stuart, the Yorkshireman, who becomes the love of the narrator’s life, she writes:Is it then that I sense in him Mr. Rochester, the love object of Jane Eyre, and the ultimate hero of the English novel?She expands the reference to include Stuart’s Polish ex-wife Olga:When I first met Stuart, Olga had been but a shadowy figure, the ex-wife to thicken the plot of my novel. In Jane Eyre, the governess is vaguely aware of the shadowy presence of Mr. Rochester’s first wife, Bertha Mason, who lives hidden in the attic. (Roopa Ramamoorthi)
Sarah Gill: What are your top three favourite books of all time, and why?Kevin McManus: It’s difficult to limit it to three. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë has stayed with me for its emotional intensity and unforgettable sense of place. Post Office by Charles Bukowski showed me that literature could be funny, raw and deeply human without being polished or sentimental. Plainsong by Kent Haruf is a novel I return to again and again for the quiet compassion with which it portrays ordinary people finding dignity, community and hope.
Siddhesh Shirsat: Which book, film, song or piece of art has stayed with you over the years?
Shreya Sachdev: Jane Eyre, when I need inspiration to remain enterprising; any Agatha Christie novel, when I want to be transported back to childhood afternoons reading with my mother.
[Interviewer] What are you reading right now?Wuthering Heights.
True self-worth and lasting peace come from honoring your moral integrity and self-respect, even when tempted to compromise them for love or security.
1. It’s All Coming Back to Me Now (1996)Writer Jim Steinman claimed It’s All Coming Back to Me Now was inspired by the scene in Wuthering Heights when Heathcliff exhumes Cathy’s corpse and dances with it on a beach. No such scene exists, but that’s Steinman for you. His songs are so wilfully overblown that they require a singer with total emotional commitment to pull them off without sounding silly – and Dion perfectly fit the bill after a version by the girl band Pandora’s Box flopped. She sings it as if it’s a matter of life and death, her voice supremely powerful and emotive even amid Steinman’s characteristic Wagnerian bombast. The end result is a mad, spectacular triumph. (Alexis Petridis)
The Lancaster Guardian has an article on the upcoming performances of the Conn Artists Theatre Company's new touring Jane Eyre adaptation at Lancaster Grand Theatre on Tuesday, September 22. Both The Yorkshire Post and the BBC discuss the Yorkshire tourist tax project and the possible consequences of its implementation.
When asked about potential collaboration, Mia Ferullo, digital engagement officer at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, said: 'We’re always happy to help research and facilitate museum visits.'This resurgence of the Brontës in popular culture helps us to do our work in preserving our designated collection and making it publicly accessible to visitors and researchers.'A lot of readers connect to Jane, partly because the novel is one they pick up as a teenager.'Ms Ferullo said screen adaptations introduce the Brontës’ work to new audiences, which in turn supports the museum’s mission.She said: 'We’re open to different creative interpretations of the novels and I think each generation will have their own version that is their favourite.'She also welcomed the casting of Aimee Lou Wood as Jane Eyre and drew parallels with Emma Mackey’s portrayal of Emily Brontë in the 2022 film Emily, which attracted younger visitors to the museum.She said: 'Her Sex Education co-star Emma Mackey portrayed Emily Brontë in the 2022 film Emily and we noticed that there was a draw for younger audiences to visit the museum.'I’m looking forward to seeing Aimee Lou Wood’s Jane.' (Amelia Short in Great British Life)
This new production is adapted for the stage by Nick Young and Ross Muir, and directed by Nick Young. Young is a director who has worked for the RSC and Connaught Theatre in Worthing; he also founded Rainbow Shakespeare, which creates open-air Shakespeare productions for family audiences. Muir is an Artistic Director, producer and actor who has performed in a range of Shakespeare classics and enjoyed playing Santa! Jane Eyre is performed by an ensemble cast of five actors and features original music and songs.
(...) reflects on the early impact of choreographer Pina Bausch; her residency at Edvard Munch’s former studio at Ekely in Norway; the physicality in the paint of Lovis Corinth; the “razor-sharp sentences” of the writer Annie Ernaux and her fascination with Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre; and the inspiring vision and “ecology” of the film-maker Agnes Varda.Love London Culture reminds us of the upcoming London premiere of Jane Eyre. The Musical and the Sirens video they posted a few days ago. A columnist of Clarín (Argentina) is fascinated by the Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever event in Haworth. Vietnam.vn quotes how Wuthering Heights is one of the favourite novels of the writer Tang Thanh Ha.
Andrew McMillan: If you’re having a fragile day while midway through a tour, how do you take care of yourself?Kate Ceberano: It’s very infantilising, but you’ve got to feed yourself and put yourself to a little afternoon nap. You’re just going to think me completely ridiculous; I don’t know why, but I find listening to old English novels, like Emily Brontë in an audiobook, and it’s just the weirdest thing. I find it so soothing to go to a drawing room in 1870 or 1880, and know that there’s nothing out the window (in the story) except for a few lowing cows, and one spare lamb, you know? (laughs) And she’s just sitting out of that window, wondering what Darcy’s doing that afternoon. I find that has a sort of a therapeutic kind of “om” (effect) for me.So when I’m driving from one venue to the next, sometimes it’s up to 4½ hours’ drive, and I know I’ve got to recover, put it back up on soundcheck, and then the gig in the evening … God help me if I don’t go and escape to Jane Eyre, or Wuthering Heights, or Pride and Prejudice. It’s definitely comforting to me to cuddle into that space. I’m like a kid: put the kid on the couch, put on something quiet on the television, take everything away and make sure the stomach’s fed, give her a little “nanna nap” – and then she’s good to go.
The show opens with the Narrator (Kady Lyon) trying to settle on which scary story to tell the audience (“we couldn’t get Jacob Elordi so Frankenstein is out… we couldn’t get Jacob Elordi so Wuthering Heights is out”), before settling on Gagula. (Rebecca Mahar)
Tras muchos años de abandono, la ruinosa mansión de Wildfell Hall es habitada de nuevo por una misteriosa mujer y su hijo de corta edad. La nueva inquilina, una viuda, no tarda, con su carácter retraído y poco sociable, sus opiniones a menudo radicales y su extraña, triste belleza, en atraer las sospechas de la vecindad, y a la vez la rendida admiración de un joven e impetuoso agricultor. Pero la mujer tiene, en efecto, un pasado... más terrible y tortuoso si cabe de lo que la peor de las murmuraciones es capaz de adivinar. La inquilina de Wildfell Hall (1848), segunda y última novela de Anne Brontë, une al bello relato de un amor prohibido e invernal el retrato intensísimo del fracaso de un matrimonio degradado por el abuso y la violencia. (Translation)
Desde su aparición en 2020, la novela ha sido calificada como una adaptación de los elementos del gótico romántico al contexto mexicano. Sin embargo, Silvia Moreno-García, en una entrevista para el podcast “Books Connect Us”, de Penguin Random House, revela que esto no es del todo cierto.“En realidad no estaba pensando en el gótico romántico como el de ‘Cumbres borrascosas’ o ‘Jane Eyre’, sino más bien en el gótico de terror. Es decir, títulos como ‘Drácula’, ‘El monje’ o los relatos de Horacio Quiroga”, dice la autora que relata que la historia surgió de un viaje a Real de Monte en Hidalgo, donde hay minas que fueron explotadas primero por españoles y luego por ingleses. (Kevin Aragón) (Translation)
The Brontë Sisters UK publishes a video about this 1850 painting by Abraham Solomon, Portrait of Charlotte Brontë. An intriguing portrait, hardly of the real Charlotte but curious, anyway. The latest post by AnneBrontë.org marks two Brontë-adjacent clergy anniversaries: Sutcliffe Sowden, who married Arthur and Charlotte and later died tragically in a canal, and Hammond Roberson, the fiercely anti-Luddite Dewsbury vicar known to Patrick Brontë and immortalized as Charlotte's Reverend Helstone in Shirley.
One of the world's leading Brontë experts is to attend the 2026 Kilkee Bronte Festival, which will take place this coming weekend.Ann Dinsdale, principal curator at the Brontë Society and Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, England will be joining the festival in Kilkee, the place where Charlotte Bronte honeymooned, and where the Atlantic coast made such an impression on the famous author.Ms Dinsdale who has 36 years' experience caring for the museum's collection, organising exhibitions and working on important acquisitions will be making her first visit to the festival in Kilkee.Speaking to The Clare Champion this week, Ann said she is really excited to visit the West Clare seaside town, "I have been reading biographies about the Brontës for years - since I was a child really - so all these names of places in Ireland are really familiar to me. (...) (Sharon Dolan D'Arcy)
Multiple Narratives brings together works by eight gallery artists. The pieces are linked through their use of repetition, series and classification, some are narrative-driven, while others focus on visual exploration. Spanning drawing, sculpture, photography and found objects, the exhibition ranges from the minimal and abstract to the richly figurative.The show includes Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press, Anna Barriball, Tacita Dean, Shilpa Gupta, Cornelia Parker, Raqs Media Collective, Thomas Schütte, and Dayanita Singh. (...)Progressing further into the gallery, the corner features two works by Cornelia Parker. White Cliff Crossings (2024) (...) [and] [a]djacent is Parker’s Brontëan Abstracts (2006) – photographs of Charlotte Brontë’s original manuscripts for Jane Eyre which are held in the British Library. These images give us a direct insight into the immediacy of the progress of the celebrated novel. Here Parker invites the viewer to be present at the author’s elbow, we enter Brontë’s consciousness as she edits her masterpiece and become privy to her ideas as they emerge and recede.
Sam and Mia are joined by their colleague Murray, who is one of the Museum's curators! Before taking on the role, Murray worked at other Museums and historic houses and undertook a PhD specialising in architectural history.In this episode, we ride the highs and lows of Britain's railways during the 1840s, looking at Branwell's time as a Railway Clerk and the investments the family made into this booming industry..
Wuthering Heights is a novel that has never been perfectly adapted, as even the Best Picture-nominated 1939 classic was only based on half of Emily Brontë’s novel. Instead of taking the opportunity to make a more thorough adaption, Emerald Fennell reduced the material even further by cutting out major characters and inserting more raunchiness; this is a complete misreading of the source material, as it is the unfulfilled longing between Catherine Earnshaw (Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) that is supposed to heighten the sexual tension.Fennell’s film casts actors who are far too old to realistically be playing their characters and uses shock value to visualize Catherine’s sexual awakening; the result is a film that feels made by someone who had only skimmed the novel and didn’t understand what it was actually trying to say about loss and love. (Liam Gaughan)
The Synchro StingRays will be performing to three Kate Bush tracks in the water at Lakeside Adventures in Hartlebury tomorrow (Saturday, July 18).That will be ahead of Kate Bush Day next Sunday, July 26.StingRay choreographer and swim coach Ray Farr will then lead the official Wuthering Heights dance on land before inviting wannabe Kates into the lake to perform the dance there. (Tristan Harris)
It’s classic Hitchcock, but not as a twist but as a pivotal, shocking revelation. When it first came out, I believe it was considered almost a poor man’s Wuthering Heights, but I think Rebecca actually was the more truly gothic one. It’s a masterpiece.
David Canfield: How would you describe that interpretation? I’m curious how you conceive of this character, this scene, when he first presents you with the role, and how it then evolves once you start digging in.Samantha Morton: I did a bit of research into the source material and I bought the Madeline Miller book [Circe]. But I opened that book and then something just stopped me from reading it. The thing about me and my work is, my relationship to a movie script or a play or a TV episode or whatever I’m doing — that’s my special thing. Research is incredibly important for me, but it also depends on who I’m playing. Years ago, I was about 19 years old and I was playing Jane Eyre. It was a big ITV production. It was a TV movie, but they’d spent a lot of money on it. I remember literally carrying the book around with me like the Bible, with passages highlighted and all my notes, and talking to the person who adapted it and going, “Why isn’t this there? This doesn’t make sense.” I was almost in conflict with the script, which was very good, because I had issues with the choices. I vowed to myself moving forward that, while you have to do your research, you have to know what you’re doing, I didn’t want to be bogged down by everybody else’s interpretation, view, opinion, anything.
Aoife Rooney: Who would you most like to go for a pint with?Maggie O'Farrell: I’d like to go for a pint with Charlotte Brontë. I think she’d be very interesting, and it’s probable that she died of extreme morning sickness, so I’d like to talk to her about that. I feel like we lost so many books because she died so young. I’ve also read that she had an Irish accent, and I would love to know if that was true. Her father was Irish and her mother died when she was young.
When Emily Brontë published Wuthering Heights in 1847, several critics used the word “strange.” As the New York Times’ B.D. McClay points out, one review simply began, “This is a strange book,” while others described the novel as “strangely original” and “a strange, inartistic story.”“Wuthering Heights is a strange sort of book—baffling all regular criticism; yet, it is impossible to begin and not finish it,” another observed. “We strongly recommend all our readers who love novelty to get this story, for we can promise them that they never have read anything like it before.”The novel’s first edition was divided into two volumes, released alongside a third volume containing Agnes Grey, a novel by Emily’s younger sister, Anne. Each one was covered with green-grey cloth, with arabesques and floral patterns decorating the cover. The siblings published under the pseudonyms Ellis and Acton Bell.Of the estimated 250 copies printed, only a few complete copies survive with their full-cloth binding intact. On June 30, Christie’s will sell the first edition’s three volumes in one lot at an auction in London, where the collection is expected to go for between $540,000 and $800,000.“The last time one appeared at auction was in 1908, so no collector alive has had a chance to acquire one,” Mark Wiltshire, a books and manuscripts specialist at Christie’s, tells the Art Newspaper’s Maev Kennedy. “Private and public collectors all over the world will want this book.”When Emily and Anne saw the printed editions, they realized that the books contained a numbllings of “Agnes Grey” (“Anges Grey”) and three misspellings of “Heights” (“Heer of errors. Some pages were marked with the wrong numbers, while others contained incorrect or missing punctuation. Perhaps the most egregious mistakes were six misspeghts”).In letters written in the weeks after publication, their sister Charlotte complained that the volumes were full of “errors of the press” that she described as “mortifying.” Writing under the pseudonym Currer Bell, Charlotte had published her own debut novel, Jane Eyre, earlier the same year, and it had been an immediate success. She was deeply protective of her younger sisters, and she was disappointed that their publisher, Thomas Cautley Newby, had allowed so many mistakes to make it to press. “If Mr. Newby always does business in this way,” she wrote, “few authors would like to have him for their publisher a second time.”Newby hoped to capitalize on the popularity of Jane Eyre, but Wuthering Heights, which explored darker themes, didn’t enjoy the same level of success. Readers were “shocked, disgusted, almost sickened by details of cruelty, inhumanity and the most diabolical hate and vengeance,” according to Douglas Jerrold’s Weekly Newspaper. North American Review criticized the novel, writing that “Nightmares and dreams, through which devils dance and wolves howl, make bad novels.”Wuthering Heights follows Catherine Earnshaw, a young girl who lives with her family in northern England, and Heathcliff, an orphan who grows up alongside them. The pair forms an inextricable bond that breeds misery across two generations. The story is set against the dramatic, untamed moors of Yorkshire—which is also where the Brontë siblings grew up. [...]Emily didn’t live to see her novel become so beloved, admired by the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Joan Didion and Virginia Woolf. “The impulse which urged her to create was not her own suffering or her own injuries,” Woolf wrote in 1925. “She looked out upon a world cleft into gigantic disorder and felt within her the power to unite it in a book.” The novel has inspired art, music and film, in addition to literature.“It remains a work that artists return to again and again because of its emotional force, its atmosphere and its psychological intensity,” Wiltshire tells the Associated Press’ Jill Lawless.Few surviving first-edition copies still have their original binding. Wiltshire has only been able to track down five others: Three are in the university libraries of Leeds, Oxford and Princeton universities, according to a statement, while the fourth is housed at the British Library in London. The fifth, which contains Charlotte’s annotations, is missing several pages, and it sold for $86,500 in 2009. (Ellen Wexler)
largely inspired by the wild beauty and dramatic landscapes of Top Withens and the Yorkshire moors that the Brontës capture in their work. (Laura Reid)
‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily BrontëWith more than 20 film and TV adaptations of Wuthering Heights, the classic story between Heathcliff and Catherine has been told in a number of ways—including a song by Nicks. While she was inspired to write “Wild Heart” after watching an adaptation of the story on the big screen, she’s been a fan of the books since her college days.“I first read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights when I was in college in California in the late 1960s,” Nicks shared. “They are two of my favorite books because they’re just so brilliantly written. The beauty of both these classics is that they were fantastic when I was a teenager and they still appeal to me now as a 63-year-old woman.”While those classic novels left a lasting impression on Nicks, literature wasn’t her only creative influence. Film also played a major role in shaping her songwriting. In fact, the singer has shared that seeing Wuthering Heights inspired her to write the title track for her 1983 album, Wild Heart.“I’d written “Wild Heart” early on,” Nicks recalled. “I remember singing it during a Rolling Stone cover shoot for Bella Donna [which came out in 1981] and I wrote it completely and utterly about the movie Wuthering Heights. I wrote it about Heathcliff and Cathy, and the fact that they were one person, that they couldn’t be together and they couldn’t be separate, and about the power and the drama of the closing death bed scene… All those amazing things he says to her.” (Julianne MacNeill)
Tell us about Possession from your perspective …Tonally, it’s Modern Gothic. A woman travels to a remote location. A foreboding ‘house on the hill‘. She has this vague feeling that something terrible is about to happen (spoiler – it does). It’s the same set-up as Jane Eyre, Dracula, or The Woman in Black, but it centres around the experience of a woman of colour in the present day. (Tamika Mitchell)
UWA Publishing (UWAP) has acquired world rights to Insolence, the fourth poetry collection by Melbourne-based poet, critic and arts journalist Thuy On.According to the publisher, Insolence “reinvents, reimagines and rearranges iconic figures in our literature, visual art, history, books, and screens”, bringing a contemporary feminist perspective to both real and fictional characters.In the collection, Eve explains why she ate the forbidden fruit, Medusa recounts her own origin story, and Jane Eyre, Emma Bovary and Ophelia update their Tinder profiles. From Ada Lovelace to the Mona Lisa and Hello Kitty, the poems offer “a witty and perceptive celebration of women’s voices across time and space”.On said, “Insolence offers poems from the point of view of female characters both real and fictional who have been historically sidelined or silenced and grants them centre stage.”
Three authors living or dead would you like to have a coffee with?The real answer is that I can be a bit socially awkward, so I’d like to grab a coffee with authors who are already friends, or at least acquaintances. But OK, let me try: Katie Kitamura, Kagiso Lesego Molope (I’m currently enthralled by her new novel, “We Inherit the Fire”), and, just to throw a bit of time travel in the mix, Emily Brontë. (Jean Marc Ah-Sen)
She famously sang ‘it’s me, I’m Cathy’ in her hit song Wuthering Heights.But passers-by could be forgiven for wondering which one was the real Kate Bush as hundreds of fans wearing red gathered on Edinburgh’s Meadows to recreate the dance from the 1978 chart-topper.The annual gathering is part of the global Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever, with this the fifth time it has taken place in Edinburgh.One previous participant has been quoted as saying: ‘It takes a certain kind of person to want to frolic in a field dressed like Kate Bush – a bunch of eccentric people celebrating a wonderfully British icon.’ (Emma Newlands)
The one that made you want to become an author: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (Elise Dumpleton)
Or perhaps read old books that continue to define our world, old books that feel profoundly new. Frankenstein resonates with those of us concerned by the inflated egos of any given tech bro. Critics tend to focus on the philosophy of the novel, the vitalism, the social contract of it all, but Mary Shelley writes with prose that feels sharp enough to perform surgery. Or turn to Wuthering Heights, a novel that reinvented the novel several times over, a book that speaks to contemporary narratives of class and race. [...]Good reading begets better reading. In The Novel: a Biography, Michael Schmidt writes: “Reading is a cumulative act, adding skills, increasingly creative as it goes. To become a ‘good reader’ one must give oneself over to a regime of concentrated pleasure.” The more you read, the richer the reading. You’ll start to appreciate how novels speak to each other. Connections will often appear obvious, as Wide Sargasso Sea responds to Jane Eyre.
15. Jean Rhys published her acclaimed novel Wide Sargasso Sea, a postcolonial response to Jane Eyre.
It seemed to me that the origins of writing could be found in episodes from childhood. It also seemed that recounting this episode, which caused me lasting shame and guilt, might provide a key. That last sentence shows that this attempt failed. In truth, I spent my entire childhood making up stories—of which I was the heroine—inspired by the ones I read in books. But those weren’t frightening. I transported myself to distant lands, into aristocratic circles, or into the past, to the time of horse-drawn carriages, or even to the first humans. I imagined that I was Scarlett O’Hara or Jane Eyre, wandering in the desert, on the streets of Calcutta, living in a cabin in Alaska. . . . When I actually started writing, it wasn’t to invent stories, or to project myself into fiction—which I’d always wanted to do. On the contrary, it was to interrogate reality. I wasn’t trying to move or horrify readers, only to uncover a hidden truth. In this story, I shed light on a form of cruelty in which I was involved. (Deborah Treisman)
From the minute the spirited and energetic cast clatter onto the stage in their proper Yorkshire boots, we are transported to the wild moors of West Yorkshire. The cold, austere atmosphere of the parsonage in Haworth is filled with the edgy, excitable spirit of the Brontë family.The play follows the efforts of the sisters to become published authors and is an intriguing recreation of their journey to success focussing on the part Anne played. It is humorous and poignant and has a remarkable gift to make these incredible writers come to life in front of our eyes. The modern interpretation - first produced at The National Theatre in 2024 - goes behind closed doors to reveal the dreams, fears and aspirations of this most talented of families. (Linda Shaw)
The mounting number of biographies of Emily is a testament to her elusiveness. Like a moth, she has been caught, chloroformed and staked onto the page many times over, but always with a new label. First, she was a genius recluse, then a wild spirit, and more recently an agoraphobic anorexic. But as Emily herself put it, ‘Vain are the thousand creeds’, ‘worthless as withered weeds’: she is not a woman who stays pinned for long. It is refreshing, therefore, that in Deborah Lutz’s This Dark Night: The Life of Emily Brontë, she has dispensed with these deadening labels, with what she calls the ‘twentieth and twenty-first-century ideas and identities [that] don’t import easily into the past’. Instead, she sets out simply to render the ‘texture’ of Emily’s days, ‘to ponder what she wore, saw, heard, smelled, and felt along her skin’.This tactile approach, a method Lutz developed in her earlier book, The Brontë Cabinet: Three Lives in Nine Objects, is employed to great effect. The Haworth Parsonage, with its graveside aspect, rears up darkly before our eyes, and the smell of its peat fires, of the various dogs and cats, of tallow candles and pungent bedpans wafts out from the page. With only four rooms, it was a crowded home for its many inhabitants, but when we learn that every member of the family aspired to be a writer, the space feels smaller still. What could be seen represented only a sliver of the bustling reality of this house, in which whole universes were dreamt up by children who found as much freedom in them as they did on the wild Yorkshire moors. Goethe wrote that ‘talents are best nurtured in solitude’, but it was among the chiming clocks and creaking floorboards of this cramped and dimly lit parsonage that three great writers were born.Given that creativity in the Brontë family was always a collaborative affair, no biography of Emily could consider her in isolation from her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, or from her wayward brother, Branwell. Even the ghosts of her mother and her two older sisters, Elizabeth and Maria, were ever present – their successive burials in the family vault having had a profound effect on the minds of the surviving children. Emily was not, then, as Lutz explains, the isolated genius of the Brontë myth but connected, as though by a series of ‘underground rivers’, to a shared familial source. Lutz is particularly good at setting out the various components of this spring of intellectual and creative life: Blackwood’s Magazine with its dungeon tales, Irish folk stories, the well-stocked library at Ponden House with its pornographic volumes, copies of Byron, of de Sade, of Virgil, of Horace, books on geometry, and a well-thumbed History of British Birds representing only a fraction of their shared reading. Like Mary Wollstonecraft and Jane Austen before them, George Eliot and, later, Virginia Woolf, the Brontë sisters had the run of their father’s library but with very little guidance. It was in this permissive atmosphere, and out of the tomes of a patriarchal culture, that they would make something entirely their own.While Lutz is attentive to this shared life, she tries not to lose sight of Emily for too long. We glimpse her ‘peripatetic creativity’ in the image of her reading while kneading dough, or writing on palm-sized pieces of paper that could be secreted away in an apron; we get a sense of her fierce stoicism from the story of the dog bite wound that she seared with a red-hot iron; from the various descriptions of her animals – including her intimidating mastiff, Keeper, and her wild falcon, Nero – we see a woman who gloried ‘in the ferociousness of nature’; and in her stream-of-consciousness-like journals and academic essays we recognise the cast of that original mind that would go on to write poetry like ‘No Coward Soul Is Mine’, and create the dark, primordial world of Wuthering Heights.But these are only glimpses, occasional flashes of illumination in a biography that otherwise contains a large amount of speculative padding. Few paragraphs go by that don’t pose unanswerable questions (‘Was Emily a whistler?’, ‘did she make herself sick, perhaps by not eating?’), and the phrase ‘she may have’ is used as reflexively as a full stop. Large swathes of conjecture about what Emily might have seen or done (often based on Charlotte’s experiences) serve as descriptive stepping stones when the facts are too thin on the ground. And a lengthy plot summary of Wuthering Heights reads like a narrative sleight of hand, meant to distract us from the fact that, with no original manuscript, we will never know how it was written. Obscured by a blizzard of unanswered questions and hypothetical experiences, Emily appears just as she did in her self-portraits: with her back to us, a subject who does not want to be known.Quoting Julian Barnes, Lutz prefaces This Dark Night by asserting that all biography is ‘a collection of holes tied together with a string’, and that ‘with Emily Brontë this is doubly true’. However, whether a biographer succeeds depends entirely on how she chooses to bridge the gaps. Were it only that Lutz relied too heavily on conjecture about what Emily saw or felt, it would merely be a frustrating book; but because her speculation extends to how Emily washed and with what material she managed her menstruation, it is a fundamentally flawed one. Never mind that no biographer of a male author would think to ask how he trimmed his nasal hair or applied his haemorrhoid cream, Lutz seems to have forgotten that her subject is the sublime poet who wrote: ‘I am happiest when most away / I can bear my soul from its home of clay’. She can look for Emily in her slop pails as much as she likes. She will not find her there.Virginia Woolf wrote that ‘there is no “I” in Wuthering Heights’, but she could equally have written that there was no ‘I’ in Emily Brontë. Like the bluebell, which Emily called a sacred watcher, she observed the world unhindered by the blot of the self – saw it as if from the falcon’s untethered eye, as if from some far-flung perch in the boundless universe.It is no wonder she remains so elusive. (Charlotte Stroud)
With its plethora of independent stores and coffee shops, walking up the village’s Main Street towards the Bronte Parsonage in 2026 is, of course, a very different experience to how it would have been when those three writerly sisters called it home.But now the village has been faithfully recreated as it would have been in the 1840s - in miniature.Paul Crossley is a volunteer at the Parsonage, and his impressive diorama, some three years in the making, merges his two passions: model making and the history of the Bronte family.A fan since being mesmerised by The Brontës of Haworth TV series in 1973, he has a particular interest in Branwell Bronte, who struggled with addiction.“I was reading one of Ann Dinsdale’s fabulous books about the Brontës. She’s the curator of the Parsonage and in the book was a map of how the street would have looked in the 1840s,” Mr Crossley explained.“And it got me to thinking, what if I could make a model of that? I’ve been doing model making for 60 years now and it’s almost a kind of illness.”Using a scale of 2mm to a foot, Paul recreated the maps on his kitchen floor, sellotaping A4 pieces of paper together to work out the exact layout of his planned village.“Lots of the buildings described have since been demolished,” he explained “So I had to use my imagination - I see myself as a bit of a frustrated architect.”The Parsonage, the Sunday School and Haworth’s Church tower are all recognisable in Paul’s diorama, although he had to do some digging to ensure accuracy, particularly in the case of the church, which was partially rebuilt in the 1870s.“I decided I was going to base the diorama in the year 1845, which was a milestone year in the Brontë saga. Patrick [the writers’ vicar father] had got himself a new curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls, who would go on to become Charlotte’s husband,” he said.“It was also the year Anne resigned her job, Branwell got sacked and Charlotte discovered Emily’s poetry.”Paul’s commitment to accuracy even stretched as far as ensuring replicas of gravestones were in keeping with the year he chose.He brought his diorama to the Parsonage for a short display, where he was told by one staff member that she’d “never been able to visualise Victorian Haworth, but now she saw it in an instant.”A spokesperson for the Brontë Parsonage said: “Paul has been a dedicated and valued volunteer at the Brontë Parsonage Museum for many years. We really admire the time and skill which he has put into this remarkable model, and we're all delighted that he's receiving recognition for his work.” (Victoria Finan)
Jackie was nominated because of her long-standing love of classic literature and old films, as well as a dream she had held for years of visiting Haworth, where Emily, Charlotte and Anne Brontë lived.In her nomination, Rosemary explained how much the trip would mean.She wrote: “Jackie has never been to Haworth and would dearly love to see where the Brontë sisters lived and the surrounding countryside which inspired their novels.“Jackie does not get out and about very much, and this experience would mean so much to her, and would be something she would remember and talk about for the rest of her life.”When Jackie learned she had been selected, Rosemary said she was “beaming” as she began planning what souvenirs she might bring back from the trip.The day was made possible by Marcus Edwards, a personal travel consultant and long-time supporter of Making Space, who volunteered to organise the visit and cover all associated costs for Jackie and Rosemary.Marcus said: “I am so happy to be able to support the work that Making Space does in the community to improve the lives of those who need a friendly face, a helping hand or some much-needed company and kindness.“I was really touched by this lady’s story and wanted to provide an experience that would make her smile, provide an opportunity for a break and for her to make some happy memories in a place she really wanted to visit.”During the day, Jackie explored the famous cobbled streets of Haworth, visited the Brontë Parsonage Museum and enjoyed lunch in one of the village’s cafés before travelling to nearby Thornton to learn more about the Brontë family’s early life.Reflecting on the experience, Jackie said: “I enjoyed every part of the day.“The Brontë Parsonage was wonderful, and I loved listening to the guide at the museum in Thornton.“I especially loved the Old Curiosity Shop. It looked like something from an old movie with chandeliers, beautiful mirrors and all the herbal soaps, lotions and potions. I absolutely adored it.“Thank you for everything. It was a very special day that I will always remember.”Rosemary added: “Jackie is a very thoughtful and reserved person, but it was clear how much the experience meant to her.“She kept saying how much she had enjoyed the day and really took everything in."It was wonderful to see her experience something she had wanted to do for such a long time.” (Safiyyah Tayyeb)
There’s a chilling promise in the preface of “This Dark Night,” Deborah Lutz’s account of the life of a celebrated early-19th-century English poet and novelist. “With this biography,” writes the author, “I work to place Emily Brontë in the history of more modern ways of thinking.”The phrase “more modern ways of thinking” may curdle the blood of the reader, who may brace for Ms. Lutz to inculpate her subject in matters of race, class and gender. Happily, there’s no cause for alarm. The reader’s blood can resume its easy flow. Such elements do appear in the book, but there’s no sense that Ms. Lutz has strained to find and exploit them. Rather than offering the usual tedious politics, she gives us lavish servings of literary aesthetics. By the end, the reader understands much of what went into Brontë’s making, and leaves feeling grateful, buffeted and a little awestruck by the intense, self-contained, short-lived author of one of the world’s most esteemed novels.Had Brontë survived past 30, she might have worked yet-greater literary marvels, but as it is she left us with “Wuthering Heights,” a bravura work of melodrama published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. The novel was slow to sell and slow to find its place in the canon. Brontë was dead before it bore her name. Early reviewers, writes Ms. Lutz, found the book “too gloomy, savage, and eccentric.” She speculates that its harsh reception may have to some degree gratified its author who, after all, “did mean to write a savage, cruel, and gloomy novel.”In “This Dark Night,” Ms. Lutz, a professor literature at Pennsylvania State University, deploys flash and elegance when tracing the wellsprings of her subject’s genius to their sources. Brontë was born in 1818 into a household acquainted with grief; her mother died in 1821 and her two eldest siblings within weeks of each other in 1825. She grew up primarily in the company of her sisters (Charlotte and Anne) and brother (Branwell), with their father (Patrick), in splendid seclusion in a parsonage near England’s West Yorkshire moors.From her earliest years, Emily thrilled to the austere glories of the landscape, with its great desolate stretches of rocky turf and rushing waterways all shaped and pummeled by winds that whistled and “wuthered.” She was alive to folklore that told of fairies and elves and the lingering dead. She developed, writes Ms. Lutz, a “weird, witchy” sense of humor, doodled violent images in the margins of her books and made a specialty, in her poetry and prose, of the “nocturnal and crepuscular.”Most importantly, Brontë spent her formative years in a kind of grand literary apprenticeship. Most children toggle back and forth between reality and fantasy and leave imaginative play behind (or become incapable of engaging in it) around puberty. The Brontë siblings were able to extend their time of enchantment by staying at home, socializing with one another and committing wholly to living in realms of their own creation: Charlotte and Branwell in the fictive land of Angria, Anne and Emily in Gondal.The siblings concocted complex lineages and histories for their countries, writing Angrian and Gondalian tales and verse in tiny homemade books. Their reading, writing and collaboration went on for years. It is hard to imagine a better hothouse for growing gaudy literary flowers, and therefore perhaps no surprise that all four Brontës would be published, but still it is a wonder that from this one crowded nursery should spring not one but two of the most distinguished novels ever penned: “Wuthering Heights” and, earlier the same year, Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre.”In adulthood, the need for ready money forced each of the Brontës to leave their creative idyll for a time—all of them worked as educators—before returning home. The three girls embarked on novels, writing alone during the days and meeting in the evenings to talk over points of plot and character.The turbulent Branwell was the first literary Brontë to be published (a poem, not a novel), but also the first to die: drink, despair and tuberculosis put him in a grave at 31. Emily, 13 months his junior, was soon to follow, though even as she sickened (probably also from tuberculosis), she likely continued to disappear into the parallel worlds of her imagination. In her subject’s consciousness, writes Ms. Lutz, “through the scrim of the real appeared, indistinctly, a land where people and objects could shapeshift, where dreams provided texture. Something might lie behind or deep inside the mundane; almost anything could function as an entryway to the miraculous, the sublime.”As to the elements of modern thinking, Ms. Lutz does explore Brontë’s love life. She alludes to a mysterious adolescent entanglement of which scholars know little (incredibly, for a woman who wrote so much, very little of Brontë’s correspondence is known to exist), and notes here and there the possible influence of lesbians.In another nod to modern thinking, missing almost entirely from this vivid narrative is the role of Christianity in the life of a young woman who in girlhood said her prayers, who as a teenager carefully reproduced an engraving of an ascetic saint and who would have heard church bells ringing every day of her life. Brontë was fascinated by silent crypts and tormenting passions. These are aspects of the gothic sensibility, of course; they might also, for a clergyman’s daughter, have come from a different guiding philosophy. (Meghan Cox Gurdon)
Emerald Fennell says period-realistic scene emphasising Cathy’s lack of razors was shot but did not make final cutThe Wuthering Heights director Emerald Fennell said it was “unfortunate” that a scene showing Margot Robbie’s hairy armpits did not make the final cut, because women in period adaptations are often shown with clean-shaven underarms.Robbie’s character, Cathy, had “extremely hairy armpits” in the 2026 adaptation of the novel, but “unfortunately the scene that we see them didn’t make it in there”, said the director.Cathy having unshaven pits “was so important to me”, she said, adding that she often wonders “where are the razors that these women are using?” when watching Jane Austen adaptations.“They’re all kind of hairless like eels. I’m like: ‘What’s going on? It’s completely mad.’”Fennell spoke to an audience at Hay festival in Wales on Friday evening. Her sexed-up adaptation of Emily Brontë’s gothic novel, starring Robbie alongside Jacob Elordi, was released on Valentine’s Day this year.Fennell described it as a “sister, not a twin” of the book, saying that she “couldn’t make” the original. “It’s so brilliant,” she added.Asked about the infamous “skin room” – Cathy’s husband, Edgar Linton, gives her bedroom a bespoke design with walls that resemble her skin – Fennell joked that in marketing meetings the team considered asking Farrow & Ball to make a Cathy’s skin themed colour.They also asked Robbie to send close-up images of the underside of her wrist in order to reproduce her veins on the walls.Fennell also spoke about the much-discussed “fish scene”, in which Cathy sticks her finger into a dead fish’s mouth.“I saw a fish in aspic and I thought: ‘I want to stick my finger in its mouth.’ And then I was like, ‘Well, I think if you were trapped, and you were extremely sexually frustrated, the first thing you’d do is …’“We had all of the different fish, we had fish with lipstick on, we had real fish, fake fish, in the end that was a real fish. But poor Margot. I mean she had to do that. There were 12 of them.”On her directorial approach, Fennell said that “being embarrassing, being cringe” is a “really big thing” for her.“Especially now in our culture, we are so phobic and terrified of being cringe, or being earnest, and so we’ve got this deadening ambivalence about everything, and I feel, for me, I want to get in and go for it, and push it off a cliff.”Fennell said she is taking time off from film-making to make jigsaw puzzles, see her family, disconnect from the internet and read Sarah J Maas novels.“And I’m coming up secretly with something so depraved, so profoundly evil, that nobody’s going to make it.” (Ella Creamer)
In the era of BookTok, many fans find themselves drawn to stories fueled by yearning. Some might want to step into a romantasy, where bat-winged boys sweep their powerful protagonists off their feet, while others prefer a more real-world scenario with some sports thrown in to spice things up. So it comes as no surprise that when said readers discover the hyper romantic content of the past, they find themselves either entrenched or disappointed with the lack of fangirl appeal. Either the material doesn’t have the steamy passages found in more modern romances or there’re too many problematic elements getting in the way of diving deep into the fantasy.One such example comes in the form of Emily Brontë’s tragic soap-operatic tale, Wuthering Heights. From the highly debated depictions of its lead characters to the evolving question of whether the central romantic pair are terrible people or victims of circumstance, there’s no shortage of topics to debate within this masterpiece. But when you add the controversial filmmaking choices of writer/director Emerald Fennell (Saltburn) into a new film adaptation, along with the casting of Margot Robbie (Barbie) and Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein)? The fandom disputes get turned up to 11. Now, thanks to Warner Bros., this highly deliberated version has landed on home video. Are the hot takes surrounding it warranted? Or is it a misunderstood gem? The answer is as full of twists and turns as Cathy and Heathcliff’s relationship. [...]Thankfully, Warner Bros.’s home release captures the visual splendor of Fennell’s adaptation in sparkling quality. Not only does the 4K release showcase the cinematography in all its beauty, but the sound, in particular, replicates that of its theatrical release (which works to enhance the Charli XCX’s songs as well as the Dolby Atmos version did.) Similarly brilliant are special features. From the delicious commentary by Fennell herself which dives deep into her mindset while making the film to a multitude of behind-the-scenes featurettes, it’s wonderful to see a home release befitting the efforts that went into the film, something that feels rare for most new movies getting the 4K treatment these days.Ultimately, regardless of whether you like this very different take on Emily Brontë’s classic or not, it goes without saying that Fennell’s adaptation is cinematic. Sure, it might be missing half of the story while also changing quite a number of the factors that make most readers love the original story, but there’s a degree of craft, detail, and genuine artistry found within every frame of this sumptuous romantic venture. It’s just a shame that this level of passion couldn’t have, instead, been poured into something we haven’t already seen many times over. (Dalin Rowell)
There are the faintest echoes of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre in the Yorkshire Moors setting. (David Rooney)
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