He did better than the man who bids fair to be the most famous English railway clerk – Branwell Brontë, brother of the literary sisters who lived at Haworth.In October 1840 Branwell was taken on by the Manchester and Leeds Railway as an assistant clerk in charge at Sowerby Bridge station, near Halifax, on £75 a yar.Within a year he was promoted to clerk in charge at Luddendenfoot station, on £130. But in 1842 he was sacked due to a deficit in the counts of £11-1s-7d (£11.19). The money was probably stolen by the porter, Watson, who was left in charge while boozy Branwell went drinking. The deficit was attributed to incompetence and the missing sum deducted from his salary. But that didn’t save his job, and he had no union to help him. (Paul Routledge)
Wuthering HeightsBy Emily Brontë (1847) + Kate Bush (1978)By rights of course, the lyrics for Kate Bush’s 1978 chart-topper Wuthering Heights should go: “Heathcliff, it's me, I'm Cathy/ You remember: that stuck up cow who said she loved you but you weren’t rich enough to marry?/ And then to rub yer fucking nose in it, I married yer arch enemy Edgar?/ Yeah, that Cathy/ Anyway, I’m dead now but I thought I’d come back and ruin your life some more/ Fancy it?” Etc.But no. Instead it’s all ballet shoes and bullshit warbling and, somehow, the moors are described as “wily”. Wily, FFS!*shakes fist* “Why you wily moors!”A loada sixth form am-dram nonsense.The book’s pretty good though, from what I remember. (Scott Rowley)
However, she gives us the glorious piercing quality of Edith Piaf, in excellent French, with ‘Non, je ne regrette rien’ and also nails Kate Bush’s distinctive vocals in both ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘Running Up That Hill’. (Suzannah Conway)
So here’s the remarkable things about Swift. She appropriates way more than Shakespeare in her syntax, sampling the literary scales of F Scott Fitzgerald, Emily Dickinson, Daphne du Maurier, Emily Brontë, Jane Austen, William Wordsworth, Ernest Hemingway, Robert Browning and more. (Stephen Short)
Der Film handel von Emily Brontë, eine Rebellin und Außenseiterin, die ihre innere Stimme findet und den literarischen Klassiker Wuthering Heights schreibt. Der Film erforscht die Beziehungen, die sie inspirierte - die leidenschaftliche Schwesternschaft mit Charlotte und Anne, die verbotene Liebe zu Weightman und ihre Fürsorge für ihren Bruder. (Translation)
PJ Harvey – I Inside The Old Year DyingMood : pour les apéros sur la plage en relisant les sœurs Brontë. (Emmanuel Jean) (Translation)
Ich romantyczną relację porównała zaś do losów bohaterów XIX-wiecznej powieści Emily Brontë "Wichrowe wzgórza"."To było bardzo tragiczne, to były moje Wichrowe wzgórza." (Translation)
4. "Uğultulu Tepeler" - Emily Brontë"Uğultulu Tepeler", insanın iç dünyasının karmaşıklığını ve tutkulu bir aşkın yol açtığı yıkıcı sonuçları etkileyici bir şekilde anlatan bir başyapıttır. Catherine Earnshaw ve Heathcliff arasındaki yoğun duygusal bağ, sınırları zorlayan bir aşkın izlerini taşır. Bu roman, tutku ve ihanetle dolu karmaşık ilişkilerin derinliklerine inmek isteyenleri cezp eder. (...)4. "Uğultulu Tepeler" - Emily BrontëRomantizm ve gotik unsurları bir araya getiren "Uğultulu Tepeler", tutku dolu bir aşk hikâyesini anlatır. Catherine Earnshaw ile Heathcliff'in karmaşık ilişkisi ve Yorkshire'daki çarpıcı manzaralar, bu romanı unutulmaz kılar. (...)Bir diğer çarpıcı örnek, Charlotte Brontë'nin klasik eseri "Jane Eyre"dır. Roman, yetim olarak büyüyen Jane Eyre'in içsel yolculuğunu anlatır. Jane'in zorlu hayatı, okuyucuları duygusal bir yolculuğa çıkarırken, onun iç dünyasındaki çatışmalar ve duygusal derinliklerle bağlantı kurmalarına olanak tanır. Jane Eyre'in güçlü karakteri ve içsel dönüşümü, psikolojik romanların en etkileyici örneklerinden biridir. (Translation)
Almudena Cruz: Entonces al lector medio le faltan herramientas.C.D.: Le falta leer (risas). El problema es que si no lees sino youtubers o Cincuenta sombras de Grey, por poner un ejemplo, piensas que la literatura es eso. Yo recuerdo siempre a Corín Tellado y a Marcial Lafuente Estefanía. Tienen el gran mérito de hacer que la gente lea pero sin quedarse solo en sus novelas. La gente de aquella época, poco a poco, también iba buscando otras cosas y llegaba a Cumbres Borrascosas, por citar una novela. Hacían lectores. (Translation)
Jane Eyre– Emily BronteUno dei capolavori indiscussi della letteratura vittoriana, questa è forse la storia più struggente d’amore mai scritta. Heathcliff e Catherine si amano intensamente. Eppure si odiano e si disprezzano allo stesso modo. Sono troppo orgogliosi per dirselo, al punto da sposare persone che non amano per farsi un dispetto. Si rincorrono continuamente senza perdersi mai e senza mai confessarsi e vivere a pieno il loro amore. L’ orgoglio è veleno, follia ma è esso stesso passione, ragion d’essere dello stesso amore. (Costantino Gisella) (Translation)
Far Out Magazine rescues one of those topics that has been published a (large) number of times: Brian Cox's favourite books, including Wuthering Heights. We first published it in 2011, and we are not even sure that it was the first time it was published. Thoughts about happiness, including one by Charlotte, on Astrosofa. British Theatre Guide mentions the project created by Obscura Theatre for the Brontë Parsonage Museum and Ilkley Literature Festival, Soundlandscape: The Wild Hauntings on the Moor. AnneBrontë.org posts about the Brontës and technology and plays a bit with ChatGPT,
A school where all three of the Brontë sisters taught has undergone a £150,000 restoration.The Old School Room in Haworth was built by the literary trio's father, Patrick, in 1832 and, in 1854, played host to Charlotte's wedding reception.Now used as a community hall, a three-month project to repair the 191-year-old roof has been completed.Alex Ross-Shaw, from Bradford Council, said the work would help preserve the district's literary heritage.Work to repair and insulate the roof was funded by a £130,000 grant from Keighley Towns Fund, with additional funding from the Bernard Sunley Foundation and Pilgrim Trust.Mr Ross-Shaw said: "The Old School Room is a very important building not just for Haworth but also for the nation."It's a crucial part of the district's literary heritage, as well as a community hub and I am delighted that money from the Keighley Towns Fund has been able to secure and protect the fabric of the building well into the future." (...)Averil Kenyon, chair of The Brontë Spirit charity, which manages and maintains the building, said: "The building is Grade Two listed so it was important that all the work kept the integrity of the building while ensuring it's in the best condition to continue as a thriving village hall at the heart of the community."
EmilyFictionalizing the real life of an author so it better resembles their most famous work is a tricky proposition. It often can play as aggressively twee (Becoming Jane) or too satisfied with its winks and asides (Shakespeare in Love). So Frances O’Connor’s moody and effecting directorial debut, Emily, is something of a unicorn. Without a trace of irony or hauteur, the film walks the line between biopic and wish fulfillment while examining the life of Emily Brontë through as Gothic and forlorn a lens as the one she used in Wuthering Heights.A breakout showcase for actress Emma Mackey, Emily lives happily in the gloomy cynicism that the middle Brontë sister found ever so invigorating. Hers is a life of poetry by tombstones and stolen kisses by flickering candlelight; it’s also of a gushing romantic heart that’s kept smothered by the religious mores of her day, as well as the far more earthy human vices of jealousy, cruelty, and selfishness. Emily, her brother, and her illicit lover (an easily corruptible vicar, no less!), make for a bizarre kind of emotional love triangle that proves as vampiric as the cold gaze of Heathcliff on the moors. What a refreshingly bleak, and authentically Gothic, slice of romanticism. (David Crow)
Desimartini mentions Emma Mackey's role in the film.
Vous connaissez peut-être ses sœurs, Charlotte et Emily, monuments de la littérature anglaise, mais moins la plus jeune de la fratrie, Anne. Eclipsée par le génie des deux autres, Anne Brontë fut pourtant une romancière audacieuse, aux idées très modernes. (...)Parmi ses autres inspirations, Anne Brontë est très influencée par la religion qui tient une place importante dans son écriture. L’éducation donnée par sa tante, une méthodiste convaincue, a trouvé un écho particulier en elle. “Elle croyait en le salut universel pour les pécheurs quels qu’ils soient. Même pour Arthur Huntingdon, le personnage débauché, atroce, de La locataire de Wildfell Hall*, elle croit que tout aussi endurci qu’il soit comme pécheur, il peut espérer le salut universel*”, précise la chercheuse. (Auriane Guerithault)(Translation)
One could argue, justifiably, that it was not until I reread Jane Eyre in college that I fully appreciated it. But Charlotte Brontë’s book was not wasted on me, even as a precocious third grader reading well above her grade level. I read Jane Eyre at precisely the right time, because it was less important to understand the nuances of the book as it was to feed my desire: my desire to read as much as I possibly could, my desire to know the world, my desire to read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. I had read a classic and felt special to now be a member of the world of serious readers. (Jocelyn Ruggiero)
What do you remember from your childhood?[...] When I was seven years old, my father passed away. After that, WW II and the German occupation followed, bringing four dark and difficult years. I remember the bombings vividly. We faced hunger and sadness, black despair. To block out any light, we covered the windows with black paper. To obtain some cheese and wheat for us to eat, my mother would travel to the villages and sell her bracelets and rings.Fortunately, the storm eventually passed, and better times were on the horizon. Our education during those years was very limited, so when the war ended, we eagerly immersed ourselves in learning. At that time, we had a magazine in circulation that serialised works by great authors such as Victor Hugo, Emily Brontë, Shakespeare, and more. I would eagerly await the release of each issue, eager to read the next installment. Through reading, I received a tremendous education. May that magazine continue to inspire others. (Vassilios Nicolaos Vitsilogiannis)
More than 90 new homes to be built on Chatteris Meadow compared to 'something out of Jane Eyre (...) Campaigners including Lawrence Weetman and Kirsty Pattison spoke against the development at FDC’s planning meeting, highlighting the loss of the space for local people. Mr Weetman likened the meadow, which was once a public park, to something out of Jane Eyre or Mansfield Park. (Joanna Taylor)
After an initial failed attempt by the headmaster to have Vedant shipped off to his parents, it is decided that he must simply be kept hidden from public view — like Jane Eyre’s attic-dwelling metaphor — in the hope that his creepy antics don’t derail the reunion. (Rohan Naahar)
Y de hecho ésa es la mayor virtud de esta novela: la de lograr una síntesis funcional y moderna de Emily Brontë, Patricia Highsmith y la novela romántica actual. (Luis Artigue) (Translation)
L'enfance ("Autumn Term"), celle décrite dans les tableaux de John Millais - autre symboliste anglais, vient faire irruption dans des morceaux comme "Seem and I" qui débute comme une comptine ou "A Child's Question, July" qui évoque une formule kabbalistique, la voix changeante de Harvey rappelant parfois Kate Bush.Pas de "Hauts de Hurlevent" ni de "Wuthering Heights" ici, mais, délivré délicatement, un nuancier de jolis gris qui s'étirent jusqu'au noir et au blanc. (Bernard Roisin) (Translation)
Wuthering Heights by Emily BrontëBut then The Irish Times features Kenny’s Bookshop in Galway.
You’d be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t read this classic book (or, at least, seen the period drama adaptations). Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, which was written in secret in 1845, is a classic, passionate love story that’s been retold many times. Take note: Emily, a biopic on the British author, is set to hit our screens in 2021. (Susan Devaney)
“As soon as we closed the door, our library business stopped because all the university libraries closed at the same time,” says Sarah Kenny. “But at the same time, our online orders went up almost overnight. Fiction was the absolute biggest increase. Everything from current best-selling fiction to a lot of classics.Book Riot has selected 'Your Summer of Great YA Horror Books', including
“Books that people had maybe intended to read someday but never got around to. So there was big demand for titles like Ulysses or War and Peace and Jane Austen’s novels and Wuthering Heights. (Keith Duggan)
Thornhill by Pam Smy: This hybrid novel, combining art and narrative, is about a haunted house and it’s set in two timelines: 1982 and 2017. It’s packed with the tropes of horror, including creepy dolls and ghosts, while remaining a deliciously modern gothic tale. A good pitch for this one might be Jane Eyre meets The Secret Garden. Smy uses a dark palate for the art, adding another level of the spookiness to the book. (Kelly Jensen)UDiscoverMusic features singer/songwriter PJ Harvey.
Harvey’s seventh LP, 2007’s White Chalk, was, however, her most radical record to date. Eschewing virtually all vestiges of her guitar-based alt.rock sound, the LP presented a set of mournful, intimate, piano-based songs that Harvey sang in a voice pitched higher than her usual range. Streaked with British folk and gothic horror, it featured remarkable compositions such as the Emily Bronte-esque ‘The Devil’ and the eerie ‘When Under Ether’, and concluded with a blood-curdling shriek on closing track ‘The Mountain’. Though the album was arguably Harvey’s most challenging yet, it again wowed the critics and sold well, going silver in the UK (where it peaked at No.11) and also reaching No/65 on the US Billboard 200.We do indeed recall a lot of reviews comparing it to the Brontës at the time.
The most famous female authors, on the other hand, are remembered as solitary eccentrics. The Jane Austen of popular imagination is a timid spinster, devoted above all else to kith and kin. Charlotte Brontë knows little of the world beyond the moorland parsonage where she languishes with only the company of her sisters. (...)The Providence Journal reviews A Girl Walks into a Book: What the Brontës Taught Me About Life, Love and Women’s Work by Miranda K. Pennington
Charlotte Brontë also had someone outside her close-knit family to whom she could turn for literary support. Mary Taylor, the future author of the early feminist novel Miss Miles, met Brontë in 1831, when they were both adolescent boarding school students. An outspoken and unconventional personality, Taylor challenged the then socially conservative views of her classmate, particularly concerning the position of women in society. Later, when they’d both reached their twenties, Taylor convinced Brontë to accompany her to Brussels. Here, the pair would further their education, but Brontë ’s stay ended in heartbreak after she fell in love with a married man. Taylor’s influence on Brontë can be felt not just in the books directly influenced by her Brussels years, but also in her most outwardly political novel Shirley, in which Taylor inspired the character of the forward-thinking Rose Yorke.
Pennington excels at interpreting Charlotte’s ambition, and she is an astute literary critic. She freely admits her preference for “Jane Eyre” over “Wuthering Heights,” so her take on Emily Brontë’s masterpiece might not sit well with fans of Heathcliff and Catherine. But her accounts of all the books, particularly the under-appreciated novels of Anne Brontë, are full of insight.The Independent falls for the dark side of questionable listings and presents 'five literary classics that will only make sense in your twenties':
Less interesting are her attempts to tie her own life and romantic disappointments to the travails of Jane Eyre, Agnes Grey and Catherine Earnshaw. (Betty J. Cotter)
Wuthering Heights by Emily BrontëThis article on the 2017 Summer issue of Invisibility is quite controversial:
Forbidden love doesn't exist in the age of Tinder
The tale of Heathcliff and Cathy will forever hold a place in any literary buff’s hearts. But in 2017, the whole “but we’re from different worlds” concept doesn’t fly, mostly because since dating moved online, romance is governed by omnipotent Tinderellas and Bumblers, who employ algorithms to ensure that we’re all operating within the same digital world, or your money back. The lovers in Brontë’s novel were kept apart by torturous social constraints and agonising bigotry whereas today all they’d have to do it both swipe right. All’s fair in love and apps. (Olivia Petter)
The title character of Jane Eyre, and by extension the entire novel, was racist.The Times interviews some book tubers. Including Lucy Powrie, aka Lucythereader:
Many discussions of race in Jane Eyre tend to center on Bertha Mason, Rochester’s insane first wife, and with good reason. Bertha’s ethnicity as a Creole is directly connected to her insanity and the dissipated evil she allegedly possessed before going insane. (...)
White feminists who champion Jane Eyre as a bastion of female self-actualization don’t talk about its racism or colonialism enough. You cannot satisfactorily and honestly champion the story or its author without drawing attention to the ways in which its feminism is exclusionary, cruel, and white. (...)
White feminist readings of the novel have triumphed over a century and a half of literary criticism because Jane Eyre is about gender; Charlotte Brontë, a white woman living in Yorkshire through one of the largest and most brutal expansions of empire in human history, explicitly wrote it to be so. But it can never be just about gender. Readers drawn to Jane Eyre read with the understanding that it has a place in the Anglophone canon, malecentric as that canon has been. (Li Sian Goh)
What she’s reading now:
Shirley by Charlotte Brontë
“It’s one of the underrated Brontë novels, but for no fault of its own. It’s quickly becoming a favourite read.”
Remezcla presents the works of the artist Krystal Quiles. Including:Her newfound love of GIFs has led her to create a spectacular J. Lo and Ja Rule graphic from the “I’m Real” music video, as well as a very on-point GIF of Katie Bush – inspired by the “Wuthering Heights” music video – swaying back and forth. (Yara Simón)(Source)
It’s worth getting up early in Scarborough: this is the east coast and dawn can be spectacular. The town spreads around two broad bays with a promontory in between, topped by the castle – Brontë fans will want to go up there via St Mary’s churchyard, where Anne is buried. South Bay is the earlier settlement: the harbour is a joy to explore and early birds who have an appetite should not miss the Harbour View Café, aka “the tea shack”, which serves superb fish and chipsfrom 6am till lunchtime, largely for the homecoming fishermen. (Kevin Rushby)The actress Mandy McElhinney is getting married. In The Age, she explains why:
I went to an all-girls boarding school, Stella Maris Presentation College in Geraldton, and didn't really notice boys. But later I attended a co-ed high school in Perth, St Joachim's. I would take long bus and train journeys to get home and that's when I started noticing boys. I spent a lot of time reading romantic novels like Wuthering Heights and had a warped vision of romance. (Jane Roca)Financial Times mentions that the film director Frances Lee lives near Haworth:
The 48-year-old film director is in his cottage near Haworth, the village that was home to the Brontës. (Tom Seymour)SparkLife has a curious experiment:
Fall Out Boy is notorious for their song titles that go on forever. Most 19th-century novelists did the same thing with chapter titles. But that's not the only thing these two have in common. Specifically, pretty much every quote from Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights sounds like a line straight out of "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark." Can you tell them apart?Multiple Esclerosis News recommends some books:
Books help improve memory and empathy, improve focus and increase critical thinking skills. That’s why “War and Peace,” “Love in the Time of Cholera,” and “Swann’s Way” are all on my “to read” list, and books including “Jane Eyre,” “Heart of Darkness” and “Dubliners” are among my all-time favorites. (Jamie Hughes)Le Devoir reviews the recent French translation of Brontë letters Lettres choisies de la famille Brontë 1821-1855:
Le génie a parfois dans ses coulisses des pensées bien sombres, un « silence fatal » aussi que vient aujourd’hui faire entendre, avec éloquence, l’imposante correspondance que les soeurs Brontë ont animée entre elles, leur famille et leurs amis au milieu du XIXe siècle. Près de 300 lettres, inédites en français, traduites et annotées par Constance Lacroix, qui racontent un Yorkshire d’antan, mais entre surtout dans l’intimité d’un incroyable phénomène littéraire qui y a émergé d’entre les murs du presbytère de Haworth sous la plume de trois romancières ayant traversé leur époque en coup de vent. (Fabien Deglise) (Translation)Brecha (Uruguay) reviews Rodrigo Fresán's La Digresión Infinita:
el encuentro con Vladimir Nabokov, genio tutelar de la novela, con las hermanas Brontë y una historia de vampiros, con Bob Dylan, omnipresente en el imaginario de Fresán, con una fundación futurista dedicada a preservar los sueños. (Translation)Not the first time we read this applied to PJ Harvey. In L'Echo (Belgium):
Et s'il y a un point commun à ses multiples facettes, c'est cette indéniable "englishness" magnifiée sur "White Chalk" (en 2007), interprété entièrement au piano par une sorte d'Emily Brontë du Dorset qui aurait choisi d'écrire au clavier. (Bernard Roisin) (Translation)Ghigliottina (Italy) talks about the novel An Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim:
Intitolato Un incantevole aprile, ristampato e imbellettato recentemente da Bollati Boringhieri, è uno dei romanzi di madame Mary Annette Beauchamp, in arte Elizabeth Von Arnim. Donna di suprema intelligenza che si trovava a suo agio nel bel mondo (fu a lungo amante di H. G. Wells), la scrittrice fu una mancata sorella Brontë novecentesca, e regalò alle sue eroine vite avventurose e intrighi in perfetto stile de Staël. (Gloria Frezza) (Translation)Reel Illustrated reviews Jane Eyre 1944.
A country hotel originally built as the residence of Charlotte Brontë’s doctor has gone on the market. Ashmount, in the author’s home village of Haworth, has a five-star rating and dates back to 1870, when Dr Amos Ingham was the first owner. The villa, which has stained glass windows, is situated on Mytholmes Lane, just five minutes from the Brontë family parsonage. The property was built after Dr Ingham, the village surgeon, tended both Charlotte and her father Patrick before their deaths in 1855 and 1861. He is believed to have been the source of the story about the only Brontë son, Branwell, setting fire to his own bed while drunk. The doctor was present when Charlotte died. Leisure property specialists Fleurets are marketing Ashmount’s freehold with an asking price of £650,000 after its current owners put it up for sale due to ill health. The luxury hotel has eight guest bedrooms - including the chamber once occupied by the doctor - three of which are spa suites with whirlpool baths and hot tubs. There is a private apartment for the owners, dining and breakfast rooms, a residents’ lounge and extensive gardens. Nick Thomas from the Fleurets Leeds office said: “Ashmount is a successful, luxury operation with plenty of repeat and regular custom. It also offers new owners the opportunity of continuing to run the business along established lines, or to explore the potential to increase trade with non-resident dining. Furthermore, there is lapsed planning permission to add a conservatory and an additional ground floor letting bedroom.” (Grace Newton)Bdaily has more information for potential buyers.
If Thomas Hardy’s literary genius brings the West County to life and Charles Dickens evokes Victorian England, then surely Yorkshire’s strongest literary connection must be with the Brontë family. And we continue to heap praise upon these three seemingly innocuous sisters, described by their publisher as ‘rather quaintly dressed little ladies, pale faced and anxious looking’.The Oxford Eagle is unfair to Jane Eyre, expecting her to be satisfied with the burnt porridge served at Lowood.
Anyone lucky enough to visit their former home, Haworth Parsonage, will probably concede that it still seems to possess their ghosts. You can imagine them rattling away, discussing ideas at the parlour table and playing with their toy soldiers in the bedroom. Since their deaths, the Brontës’ home has remained virtually untouched, which makes the atmosphere even more suffocating, verging on sinister, but also totally thrilling. [...]
I recently read a wonderful new book on the Brontës called A Life in Letters by Juliet Barker. Despite being over 400 pages long, I finished it in two days. It’s an incredible collection of personal letters, making their long deceased voices come to life. I was surprised to find that rather than being the shy wallflower who hid behind her writing desk in the parsonage, Charlotte stormed down to London together with her sister Anne to convince her publisher that the Brontë novels were written by three separate people rather than just one person.
Charlotte took a shine to her handsome publisher George Smith, though he sadly said of her: ‘It may seem strange that the possession of genius did not lift her above the weakness of an excessive anxiety about her personal appearance; but I believe that she would have given all her genius and her fame to have been beautiful.’
I’m currently a quarter of the way through writing my first novel and I can’t explain what a hard slog it is. I find it very difficult to imagine how those women managed to be such prolific authors in a world where they had to create pseudonyms, Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell and, during their lifetime, only took brief trips away, being mainly based at the imposing but stifling parsonage. But, as well as being inspired by the stunning, if often bleak countryside, a few unrequited relationships and the loss of family members at a young age, I think the family also shared intense and joyful relationships full of love and adoration. And their legacy is bound to live on for another 200 years. I even named my own daughter Brontë after Yorkshire’s greatest literary family. (Lisa Byrne)
Jane Eyre, who seemed dissatisfied with any food put before her, once found grudging satisfaction with these berries while out on the moor one day: “I saw ripe bilberries gleaming here and there, like jet beads in the heath: I gathered a handful and ate them with the bread. My hunger, sharp before, was, if not satisfied, appeased by this hermit’s meal.” (European blueberries were slightly different from ours and were usually referred to as bilberries.) (Taylor Watkins)She wasn't dissatisfied if the food was worth it. Case in point from chapter VIII:
Having invited Helen and me to approach the table, and placed before each of us a cup of tea with one delicious but thin morsel of toast, she got up, unlocked a drawer, and taking from it a parcel wrapped in paper, disclosed presently to our eyes a good-sized seed-cake.Reviews of PJ Harvey's works tend to include Brontë mentions as Town Topics has noticed:
“I meant to give each of you some of this to take with you,” said she, “but as there is so little toast, you must have it now,” and she proceeded to cut slices with a generous hand.
We feasted that evening as on nectar and ambrosia; and not the least delight of the entertainment was the smile of gratification with which our hostess regarded us, as we satisfied our famished appetites on the delicate fare she liberally supplied.
The Brontë ConnectionThe Sentinel shares a Wuthering Heights book trailer made by local high-school students.
One reason I’m thinking of Emily Brontë is that my first listenings to Hope Six coincided with a rereading of Wuthering Heights. More than that, it’s because Harvey’s vocal hovers like an eerie act of nature above the subtly incantatory “River Anacostia” as the poet takes over from singing reporter poetry with lines like “A small red sun makes way for night, trails away like a tail light.” I wish the real-life residents of Anacostia who find Harvey’s depiction of their down-and-out neighborhood unfair could hear the rapture in her voice when she sings “Oh my Anacostia, do not sigh, do not weep” as if she were mourning the broken heart of her homeland.
I’m not the first to read Wuthering Heights into PJ Harvey. A November 2000 review in Vanity Fair dubbing her “the Emily Brontë of rock’n’roll” found her music similarly “foreboding, intricately designed, and, at times, just a little out of control.” It was also noted that Polly Jean, like Emily, “grew up in the English countryside — in a hamlet just outside of Yeovil.” (Stuart Mitchner)
Kirklees Council:Nick Holland on his blog AnneBrontë.org explains quite nicely the importance of the Red House Museum with their links to the Brontës and the Taylors.
We will be holding information sessions at our museums and galleries, which will give you an opportunity to find out more about the ‘Cultural Vision’ and ask questions.
Tues 19 July 6pm Red House Museum
Places must be booked in advance here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/kirklees-museums-galleries-information-session-tickets-26370689442
Dating back to 1742, Greenacres is steeped in local history but its best claim to fame is that the Bronte sisters used to play in the garden.It's a sign of our times when a private property tries to increase its value with a loose connection with the Brontës whereas a public property, like the Red House Museum, with a strong link with them is threatened with closure.
Charlotte was a pupil then a teacher at nearby Roe Head School and her sisters Charlotte and Anne also studied there.
“They used to jump over the wall and play in the fields, which are part of our grounds,” says retired GP, Dr Abdul Hamid, who bought the house in 1988.
7:45 Monday 18 Jul 2016 Imperial College UnionThis brief Charlotte Brontë comment on The Hindu In School section is a bit bizarre:
Arts & Ideas: Marking the bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth, Claire Harman, her biographer and Yorkshire-born novelist and author of ‘Chocolat’ Joanne Harris discuss her life and work.
The discussion is presented by Dr Gregory Tate from the University of St Andrews who is one of the New Generation Thinkers selected by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council in a scheme to find academics interested in turning their research into radio.
Producer: Torquil MacLeod.
Edited version broadcast on BBC Radio 3 during tonight’s interval
This English author made us cry with the story of Villette and inspired us through Shirley. The passion, with which she wrote and diligence with which she expressed her love for life, is evident in her books.Also in The Hindu a game, Qwikipedia:
She was a narrator from whom we couldn’t get a clue as to what lay before us. Brontë wrote under the penname Currer Bell as she recognised that society was male dominated. Her works include Jane Eyre, Villette and Shirley .
An inspiration : I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. (Jane Eyre)
All about teeth : Bronte spent much of her earnings from Jane Eyre on dentistry.
Ever been on Wikipedia to look up an article? More often than not, we start with one topic, click a few links and within no time, are reading about something else.And this is today's challenge:
Qwikipedia is a game that tries to quench this curiosity in us. The objective is to get to a particular Wiki page, starting from a specific article, using minimal clicks.
Monday’s MarauderYorkMix announces that next November
Uganda —> Charlotte Brontë
Send in your paths for the above to school@thehindu.co.in with the subject: Qwikipedia . (Visudha Nagarajan)
BBC History Magazine’s History Weekend returns to York for the second year running on November 18-20.Gulf News summarises Wuthering Heights:
Building on the success of last year’s debut festival, more than 20 leading historians and authors will be sharing their passion for the past with fellow history lovers at the Yorkshire Museum and the 14th century Hospitium. (...)
Also appearing will be Juliet Barker on discovering the real Charlotte Brontë.
Though the Victorian novel portrays reality and strained relationships, the plot turns chaotic with disturbing elements. Critics have observed that a reader will understand better every time he/she reads between the lines.The Straits Times thinks that Engelbert Humperdinck, the singer is an 'huggable Heathcliff':
One of the powerful quotes from the book that tugs at my heartstrings is: “If he loved you with all the power of his soul for a whole lifetime, he couldn’t love you as much as I do in a single day.”
The novel starts off as a not so delightful reading, but gradually gets engrossing and intriguing. The author has deftly handled contradictions amidst melodrama and tragedy. (Priyanka Nateri)
With his slicked bouffant, screaming-red shirt and pocket square, black jacket and trousers, he was a swarthy, huggable Heathcliff, swaggering such that it seemed the evening might descend into cheesy "I was there" reverie. (Cheonk Suk-Wai)La Región (Spain) talks about the paintings of Nuria Guardiola and quotes from Wuthering Heights:
Es esta una propuesta que coincide en verano mas no es de verano, que hay en ella un decir coherente y maduro, con sabor autobiográfico, de la profesora artista. Pues ‘la gente honesta no oculta sus actos’, como diría la Emily Brönte (sic) de ‘Cumbres borrascosas’. (Xabier Limia de Gardón) (Translation)LubimyczCzytać (Poland) recommends holiday reads:
Wichrowe wzgórza. Emily BrontëFroggy Delight (in French) gives some examples of the madwomen in the attic examples in music:
A jeżeli w te wakacje macie ochotę na dobrą opowieść o miłości, to koniecznie sięgnijcie po „Wichrowe wzgórza” Emily Brontë. Tylko ostrzegam: To naprawdę mroczna historia! Miłość, obsesja, zemsta... a wszystko to w atmosferze bezkresnych, smaganych wichrem wrzosowisk. No i ten Heathcliff! (Catherine Pużyńska) (Translate)
Vous connaissez le mythe littéraire de la Folle dans le grenier ? Les exemples sont légion, de Bertha dans Jane Eyre à La Prisonnière des Sargasses de Jean Rhys, l’histoire de cette prétendue folle, relue d’un point de vue féministe. Aucune ne l’est vraiment, au fond. En musique aussi, il y a des disques de Folles dans le grenier : "You’re not mad you’re just lonely" de Delphine Dora et Half Asleep, "White Chalk" de PJ Harvey, et tout un tas d’albums des soixante dernières années.Badische Zeitung talks about the Stimmen Festival at the Rosenfelspark in Lörrack, Germany:
Dans son dernier album, Cate Le Bon va encore plus loin : "I’m a dirty attic", chante-t-elle. Autrement dit, elle dépasse la condition de Folle dans le grenier : elle EST le grenier. Deleuze aurait adoré. J’avais envie d’en discuter un peu avec Sing Sing, du groupe Arlt, parce que je vois une filiation assez évidente entre leur musique et la sienne. (Mickaël Mottet) (Translation)
Holly MacVe aus Yorkshire, jenem armen Landstrich Nordenglands, der die Fantasie der Dichterinnen beflügelte, hatte es zum Einstieg ungleich schwerer. Die blonde Sängerin knüpfte so gar nicht an die Wuthering Heights-Romantik der Brontë-Schwestern aus ihrer Heimat an, sondern hat sich einem US-amerikanischem Klangidiom verschrieben – insofern auch sie Nomadin. (Stefan Franzen) (Translation)Hello! (Serbia) lists passionate couples in literature:
Džejn i Mr. RočesterE. Lockhart writes on the WHSmith Blog about the connection (if any) between her novel We Were Liars and Wuthering Heights; Literary Branches has a post on Jane Eyre. On Les Soeurs Brontë (in French) continues the analysis of Villette.
Radnja je smeštena u ruralnu Englesku 1820. godine u vreme kada su novac i imetak bili značajnijih od svega ostalog. Junakinja čuevanog romana Šarlote Bronte, Džejn Ejr još kao devojčica ostala je bez roditelja, a odgajala ju je okrutna ujna, koja je vrlo brzo šalje u internat ne bi li se tamo obrazovala. Bledunjava i neugledna Džejn nakon toga se pojavljuje kao guvernanta u domu Ročesterovih. Između nje i gospodina Ročestera za koga ona veruje da je udovac, strasti se polako rasplamsavaju, ali ona otrkiva da je njegova žena (inače mentalno obolela) živa i da se nalazi zatočena u jednoj od prostorija kuće. Nakon ovog saznanja Džejn je skrhana, ali ponajviše jer ju je Ročester lagao, zbog čega odlazi. Iako nam se sve vreme čini kako je ovo jedna od onih tmurnih i tužnih engleskih drama, kraj je ipak srećan: Ovo dvoje život ipak ponovo spaja i ljubav se među njima ponovo rasplamsava, and they lived happily ever after! (Translation)
Stage, screen and radio star Maxine Peake will visit Haworth on Saturday to perform readings of Charlotte Brontë’s novels Jane Eyre and Villette.West End Wilma announces a new UK tour of National Theatre's Jane Eyre production in 2017:
The actress will read at The Great Charlotte Brontë Debate, a highlight of this year’s Brontë Society summer festival weekend.
A panel of writers, including biographer Claire Harman and novelist Joanne Harris, will form two teams each championing one of Charlotte’s best-known novels.
The discussion will be chaired by Brontë Parsonage Museum Creative Partner 2016, novelist Tracy Chevalier and accompanied by selected readings from both books, which will be read by Maxine.
Arts officer Jenna Holmes said: “2016 is a very exciting year for the museum, and this event is one of the highlights of Charlotte Brontë’s bicentenary programme.
“We have a passionate panel of writers to champion ‘Team Jane’ or ‘Team Lucy’ led by our Creative Partner Tracy Chevalier, and a performance by Maxine Peake will make it a very special evening indeed. We’re absolutely delighted that she is able to join us.” (David Knights)
The National Theatre has announced details of its upcoming tour of Sally Cookson’s energetic and imaginative new adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s masterpiece Jane Eyre.The Wall Street Journal reviews the latest Jane Austen adaptation, Love & Friendship by Whit Stillman:
The highly acclaimed co-production between the National Theatre and Bristol Old Vic opens at The Lowry in Salford on 8 April and will continue its journey around the country to Aylesbury, Plymouth, Southampton, Edinburgh, Woking, Glasgow, Canterbury, Cardiff, Milton Keynes, Leeds, Aberdeen and Birmingham. Further cities and venues to be announced.
This is a very significant time to be announcing the tour, as 2016 marks the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth and 2017 is the 170th anniversary of when Jane Eyre was first published.
It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that there are two types of people when it comes to love. The first belong to the school of Brontë, named for the 19th-century English sisters whose dark, romantic novels (Exhibit A: “Wuthering Heights”) send the message to women to seek their soul mates in psychos like Heathcliff.The Irish Times reviews the novel Foxlowe by Eleanor Wasserberg:
At the opposite end stands Jane Austen. (...)
Mr. Stillman is speaking during a visit to New York City over a plate of ham and eggs at the Plaza Hotel. While sipping his coffee, he likens the Brontë-Austen clash to “an early 19th century gang war between the Jets and the Sharks.” Charlotte Brontë, he notes, “was one of Jane Austen’s fiercest critics.”
In sharp contrast to the works of the Brontë sisters, Austen’s fiction champions the head over the heart. It follows that her heroines are perceptive, intelligent and, as we would say today, low-maintenance. (William McGurn)
Of all the themes that we recognise as belonging to the Gothic tradition, secrecy is perhaps the most enduring and indispensable. Ever since Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, the ur-text of the genre, crumbling manors have harboured their locked rooms. Whether they held a captive (as in Jane Eyre), an appalling secret (as in The Bloody Chamber) or nothing at all (as in Northanger Abbey), what was inside them was of secondary importance. What mattered, as any resolute heroine would tell you, was getting hold of the keys. (Paraic O'Donnell)BBC asks several writers at the Hay Festival about their favourite books:
Maxine PeakeThe Hollywood Reporter reviews the film So B. It:
My favourite book of all time is Wuthering Heights. Not particularly original but it was the first book I read that really turned me on to literature, and I just loved the romance and the mysticism and the spookiness of it. And I just think how evocative it was of the Yorkshire landscape.
Bernadette, whose agoraphobia keeps her inside their apartment, has awakened Heidi’s interest in literature, and some of their favorites are 19th century novels like Jane Eyre. But the novel that So B. It most closely resembles is Oliver Twist, the tale of a lost orphan boy gradually uncovering the truth of his privileged family background. (Stephen Farber)Bustle on songs every bookworm should love:
11. "Wuthering Heights" by Kate BushYahoo News! remembers a curious story told by Harriet Beecher Stowe:
Ah, beautiful and strange, Kate Bush captures the spirit of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights in this cool song. (Melissa Ragsdale)
Stowe was a fervent Christian with a strong interest in spiritualism, whereas [Georges] Eliot had turned her back on organised religion. When the American author claimed to have been visited by the ghost of Charlotte Brontë—a forebear whom both authors deeply admired—Eliot made her skepticism clear: ‘Whether rightly or not’, she told her friend, the episode struck her as ‘enormously improbable‘. (Emma Claire Sweeney)Journal de Millau (France) presents a local conference:
Ces questions vous intéressent ? Vous aimez votre région et êtes passionnés par l’Histoire et le mystère ? Alors, la Galerie A Capell’Art vous attend ce samedi 11 juin à 18h afin d’écouter les histoires passionnantes de Christian Doumergue, ce documentaliste, chercheur et conférencier avide d’aventure et de mystère.Người Việt (Vietnam) reviews some local book releases and comments on how some books need some time to be appreciated:
Agé de 39 ans, Christian Doumergue sillonne depuis plusieurs années les routes de France à la poursuite des secrets de notre pays, n’hésitant pas à aller sur le terrain, dans des entreprises parfois dignes d’un véritable Indiana Jones, afin de retrouver ces «mystérieuses connexions» qui le hantent depuis longtemps. Après un double cursus universitaire en histoire des arts, puis en lettres, Christian Doumergue, très attiré par la littérature romantique française et anglaise, consacrera son mémoire de fin d’études aux remarquables sœurs Brontë, l’occasion de découvrir les grands auteurs du XIXe et de s’adonner au «virus» de la recherche documentaire. (Elida Fabre) (Translation)
Thế mà ngày nay, bức“Hoa Diên Vỹ” (Irises, 1889) được bán với giá mấy chục triệu đô! Cùng số phận hẩm hiu với Van Gogh là nữ văn hào Emily Brontë, tác giả cuốn”Đỉnh Gió Hú” (Wuthering Heights, 1847) khi xuất bản đã không được độc giả hưởng ứng ngay mà phải chờ đến cả trăm năm sau mới có lời khen. Ngày nay, tác phẩm duy nhất này của bà trở thành một tuyệt tác của thế giới, được mọi người, mọi nơi công nhận! (Ngọc Cường) (Translation)Trendencias (Spain) on summer reads:
Herbarium. Las Flores de Gideon by Anna CasanovasLibération interviews the film director Arthur Harari:
Anna Casanovas le da al género romántico una vuelta de tuerca con esta fascinante novela ambientada en Oxford, con una protagonista que había dejado su ciudad natal presa de un oscuro secreto y que regresa para ver a su abuela, enferma de Alzhéimer. Allí descubrirá que su padre ha estado investigando sobre unas ilustraciones conectadas con Jane Eyre; que su abuela, que podría saber algo al respecto, no puede ayudarla, y que la única persona que puede hacerlo, un profesor de la universidad de Oxford, no puede ni quiere estar a su lado. Amor y misterio se concentran en estas páginas que te van a atrapar quieras o no. (Puri Ruiz) (Translation)
Après avoir fréquenté le milieu fermé des diamantaires anversois pour nourrir son scénario, Harari reconnaît avoir «pioché un peu partout» : Shakespeare, la mythologie, les Hauts de Hurlevent, les mélos de Douglas Sirk. (Clémentine Gallot) (Translation)Tribune de Genève (Switzerland) announces the next season of the Théâtre du Grütli which includes a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights:
Enfin, pour la fin d’avril, l’ambitieux élan de Camille Giacobino en direction des romantiques Hauts de Hurlevent qu’Emily Brontë pourrait bien s’avérer avoir écrits spécialement pour elle.? (Katia Berger) (Translation)Telérama (France) reviews a recent concert of PJ Harvey:
A présent, pour elle, c’est le saxo ou rien. Telle est PJ Harvey, déterminée, pas du genre à céder à la facilité. On pourrait se sentir frustré, on est juste plus respectueux encore de son intégrité. Pour les deux titres revisités de To bring you my love (Down by the water, avec ses cordes de violon piquées suivant une version incandescente de la chanson titre), elle va chercher au plus profond d’elle-même son chant de blues woman des Hauts de Hurlevent. Elle gronde, hurle, gémit. En une heure trente, elle a tout donné, tout dit. (Hugo Cassavetti) (Translation)9colonne (Italy) quotes the writer Michela Murgia vindicating the novels of Grazia Deledda:
Deledda invece ha scritto opere che Murgia considera sulla stessa lunghezza d’onda della narrativa europea: “Canne al vento e Cime tempestose sono due libri del tutto analoghi, per linguaggio, per trama, per temi, per visione”. (PO /Red) (Translation)Falter (Austria) reviews a new German translation of Wuthering Heights:
Leidenschaft schafft LeidenA Writer's Life has visited Haworth, Brontë country and Ponden Hall; Lit Crit and Wit posts about Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea; Linnet Moss continues analyzing Jane Eyre on page and screen. On this post, it is discussed Blanche Ingram and The Gypsy scene. Onirik briefly talks about Jane Eyre 1996. From My Mental Library reviews Robert Barnard's The Case of the Missing Brontë. the Sisters' Room talks about the April 28 event at which Charlotte Brontë's bicentenary was celebrated in Rome. Impressions Chosen from Another Time (in Italian) is rereading Jane Eyre.
Emily Brontës „Sturmhöhe“ ist einer der irrsten Romane der Weltliteratur und soeben neu übersetzt worden
Eine 29-jährige Frau, die von der Welt außerhalb des heimatlichen Yorkshire nicht viel gesehen hat, die als extrem introvertiert und eigenbrötlerisch beschrieben wird und nach allem, was man weiß, nie verliebt gewesen ist, geschweige denn erotische Erfahrungen gesammelt hätte, veröffentlicht im Jahr 1847 unter Pseudonym einen Roman, der als eine der größten Liebesgeschichten aller Zeiten ins kollektive Gedächtnis eingehen wird. (Klaus Nüchtern) (Translation)
Charlotte Brontë’s vow to stay true to herself – in both love and ambition – has been a lifelong inspiration to writer Joanna Moorhead. Here she explains why – on the 200th anniversary of Charlotte’s birth – the novelist is just as relevant to young women today. (...)The Wichita Eagle reviews Claire Harman's Charlotte Brontë biography:
I can’t remember exactly when I met her, but this much I know: as soon as we became acquainted I was aware how much my new friend Charlotte was going to mean to me. We had so much in common.
Like her, I went to an all-girls boarding school, a place that often seemed cut off from the rest of humanity.
Like her, I had been bereaved as a child.
Like her, I wasn’t always popular; I often felt a bit of an outsider, just as she did.
Like her, my family lived on a windswept moor – in the same remote area of Yorkshire where she had spent almost all her life.
And like her, I knew from an early age that the thing I wanted most, in the whole world, was to be a published writer.
The fact that she lived two centuries before me never seemed a drawback; Charlotte Brontë spoke to me, as clearly as if she had been sitting beside me in my classroom.
This month sees the bicentenary of Charlotte Bronte’s birth; and never in her wildest dreams could she have guessed that two centuries on she would be a global literary superstar
Through her novels, especially Jane Eyre, I knew her voice; it was strong and true and, most importantly, surprisingly modern.
There I was, in the middle of the 1970s, stuck on Donny Osmond, the Bay City Rollers, Abba and…Charlotte Brontë.
And what is perhaps most delightful about my long connection with the vicar’s daughter from Haworth is that she has turned out to be just as much of a role model to my own four daughters, 40 years on. (Read more)
Harman does a yeoman’s job of summarizing and analyzing Charlotte’s remarkable life. She assumes that her readers are familiar with “Jane Eyre,” but a sketch of the novel at some point would have been helpful. Harman’s strength is in probing Charlotte’s letters to delve deep within her mental state, which was always more comfortable and fruitful in her rich imagination than in the poverty of the real world at Haworth. There, she dealt with her father’s neglect and eventual decline in health. She resigned herself to accepting the courtship of Arthur Nicholls, who genuinely loved her and took her to his native Ireland for their honeymoon. But once again, reality was no match for the yearning heart.The Observer traces a profile of PJ Harvey:
Much has been written about the Brontës, their severe unconventionality, their almost occult artistic talents. Harman gives us a fresh perspective on the most gifted daughter of the family. We see her struggles for equality, for literary excellence and for fuel for her fiery heart. That she succeeded as well as she did is a triumph of the will. In showing us the ravages of that struggle, Harman’s biography is more than equal to the task – warm, erudite and accessible, echoing that beating heart to the bitter end. (Arlice Davenport)
A second album, Rid of Me, came before she launched a solo career, teaming up again with Parish and adopting a captivating series of stage personas, sometimes appearing as a pantomime version of a gothic rock chick, sometimes in Victorian garb, as a sort of Jane Eyre governess crossed with the mad woman in the attic (a Brontë reference possibly denoting the legacy of Kate Bush). (Vanessa Thorpe)Scroll.in (India) lists books you should read before writing your own:
Jane Eyre, Charlotte BrontëMSN lists romantic movies:
Jane Eyre is a coming-of-age story that depicts the frailties of human beings as seen through the eyes of an orphaned English girl. While all the novels written by the Brontë sisters (Emily, Anne and Charlotte) are legendary, this one in particular has grown in its appeal in recent years.
That’s thanks to the prose, which is evocative and subversive, and the way it addresses themes like love, relationships, gender stereotypes, religion and social classes with deep compassion and tenderness. The novel shows us an old-fashioned away of telling a story, and that’s often the best starting point: you have to know the rules before you can break them.
For a first-time author who wants to master the art of storytelling and create unforgettable characters, this novel is a must read. (Vani)
Jane Eyre 2011Le Monde (France) interviews the writer Annie Ernaux:
The film, based on the classic novel by Charlotte Brontë, is directed by Cary Fukunaga and stars Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender. The story revolves around a young girl who falls in love with her employer, but with time she realizes that he has some grave secrets.
Quels sont vos premiers souvenirs marquants de lecture ? (Sandrine Blanchard)Preguiça Magazine (Portugal) includes a short story by Mónia Camacho, Madalena with a Jane Eyre mention; a local talent show won singing Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights in The Bromsgrove Standard; Cada vez que te leo... (in Spanish) and My Novels, My World review Wuthering Heights; Sheferijm - Ajatuksia kirjoista! (in Finnish) proposes a Brontë200 challenge for bloggers;
(...) « Jane Eyre » de Charlotte Brontë m’a aussi beaucoup marquée. Ce livre à la première personne est comme un fil rouge de l’existence. Il s’agit, là encore, de vivre une vie d’indépendance, sans domination. Ces modèles-là m’ont structurée.
The latest Wuthering Heights is down-and-dirty, with Arnold employing the same kind of handheld camerawork and boxey 4x3 screen ratio as her BAFTA-winning predecessor Fish Tank. The stylistic immediacy jars at first given the built-in genre expectations, but viewers accustomed to Arnold's directorial approach will certainly find it a rewarding experience. [...]And the Liverpool Daily Post reviews Withering Looks:
Brontë purists may scoff at Arnold's radical approach to the 19th century novel, but in truth this overhaul completely re-energises the story for a new generation. This Wuthering Heights casts black actors as Heathcliff, giving the tale a layer of racial tension on top of its class friction.
Heathcliff arrives to the Earnshaws with whip marks on his back and a branding scar, hinting at a painful slave upbringing. It's wise to wave goodbye to romanticism, too, as this incarnation is intense, no more so when a wealthy Heathcliff returns in his 20s.
Moving and tender performances from first-time actors Glave and Beer carry the film for the first hour before the older actors take over. It's the younger duo that make the bigger impression, playfully frolicking through the moors as Arnold's camera explores the rolling Yorkshire landscape. With the tragic romance and keen eye for nature, there's a streak of Terrence Malick's '70s classic Badlands running through the heart of the film.
Scodelario and Howson get less screen time than their younger counterparts, and consequently their bond never feels quite as strong. She, still married to Edgar, is keeping her emotions in check, while he, somewhat cruelly, plays with the affections of Isabella Linton (Nichola Burley) to torture Cathy.
Wuthering Heights is challenging and has moments that are tough to watch (animal lovers may find themselves squirming) - and those art house sensibilities will mean its audience remains limited - but its darkness and brutality make it a totally unique take on the costume drama. (Simon Reynolds)
Withering Looks uses high-brow, classic literature to create innovative comedy, which is delightfully clever and silly.The Haworth church roof is still in need of repairs, as The Telegraph and Argus reports:
The two-woman show is a whistle-stop history of the lives of Charlotte and Emily Brontë and their novels.
With tongue firmly in cheek, Maggie Fox explains the third sister, Anne, is missing due to Government cut backs in the arts but they’ve put in a lottery application and hope to add her to the production soon.
The show’s style is charmingly informal and when a prop malfunctions or Fox fluffs a line it adds to the comedy and endears them to the audience.
It’s a manic mixed bag of comedy from witty one-liners to giddy song and dance routines, slapstick to the purely random.
One scene is introduced as Brontë exam tips for students. After a hair-brained routine demonstrating how the sisters wrote so much and why their writing was so similar, Fox quips: “That’ll give you ammunition for anything Michael Gove throws at you.”
Sue Ryding, as Emily, treats the audience to a batty run-through of Wuthering Heights’ plot using cardboard cut-outs.
She explains to sister Charlotte, played by Fox, that Heathcliff likes to dig up Cathy’s dead body for a cuddle sometimes.
Dressed in ripped sheets, the duo also performs a sketch as lost souls wandering the moors. Although it includes a jolly song called It’s No Fun Being a Ghost, these bits are a little slow and if any improvement were to be done to the production, it should be here.
Sporting wild wigs, the crack-pot twosome perform their interpretation of the 1939 MGM film of Wuthering Heights to end the night.
This is superbly silly and definitely leaves the audience wanting moor... (Jo Kelly)
One of the most visited churches in the UK has issued a fresh appeal for funds to carry out repairs on its leaking roof.The Guardian mentions Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights in connection to Florence and the Machine:
Haworth Parish Church, the burial place of the Brontë sisters, needs to raise £1.25 million to carry out essential repairs and improvements.
But after almost a year of fundraising the church has raised only £15,000.
Now church leaders are pleading for people to dig deep to safeguard the historic church’s future.
The Reverend Peter Mayo-Smith said: “The roof is really in a bad state of repair. It is old and had come to the end of its life, but repeated lead thefts haven’t helped.
“We have got to get this building sorted. The water runs through the ceiling and down the walls and we clean up puddles of it every time it rains.
“In the south aisle there has been a tarpaulin fixed to the ceiling over the organ for more than two years to protect it from the water coming in.”
English Heritage has agreed in principal to pay 60 per cent of the £250,000 needed to fix the leaks. However, the church still needs to find at least £185,000 before the building can be made watertight and further funds will be needed for internal improvements.
Mr Mayo-Smith said: “It became very obvious to me through conversations in the village that people weren’t aware of the seriousness of the state of the building.
“Since we have announced it people have been incredibly generous, but we have still got a long way to go.”
Visit haworthchurch.co.uk to donate to the restoration fund.
These are songwriters who seem considerably more stewed, more sensual, more sinewy, who quite unabashedly draw their inspiration from mythology, artistic movements, historical figures, fables, fairytales, politics and literature. Think of Kate Bush, for instance, using Emily Brontë's novel for her 1978 hit Wuthering Heights, or of PJ Harvey's Let England Shake seizing on the poetry of Pinter and Eliot, British military history, and the art of Goya and Dalí. Think of the fact that Florence's new album offers songs about devilry, science lessons and horses, while Marina and the Diamonds has promised that her next record will involve a character named Electra Heart, and tackle subjects such as female sexuality and corruption of the self. (Laura Barton)And a Twitter timeline of the International Rugby Board Awards 2011 reports that
IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key have welcomed the assembled guests and Hayley Westenra has wowed them withe two songs - World in Union and Wuthering Heights.The Time Out blog suggests a trip to
The Costume Studio, 159-161 Balls Pond Road, N1 4BG (020 7923 9472)Diario di una lettrice posts in Italian about Cary Fukunaga's Jane Eyre.
An impressive selection of authentic-looking costumes and trimmings but at a price: around £80 an outfit for a week’s hire. Their attention to detail makes them a popular choice for costume drama inspired dress. If you’re channeling Downton Abbey or Jane Eyre, The Costume Studio can help.
Just when you think you’ve seen all the Jane Eyre adaptations you possibly could, director Cary Fukunaga makes a solid film that will have audiences hooked despite their obvious familiarity with the story. (...)The film will be screened at the Sarajevo Film Festival next July 27th and 28th. Booktopia Blog is waiting for the Australian release of the film, So You Want to Be a Priest... posts a review and The Loveliest Tragedies posts several icons.
In Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre, Fassbender adds an element of sheer masculine attraction to the cold wit and gothic demeanour of Rochester. Fassbender does not try to imitate anyone, and succeeds in leaving his individual mark on the character. More importantly, he does not overshadow Jane, the heroine of our story, and gives ample space to Wasikowska who does justice to the much-imagined Jane Eyre.
So pined a mournful Heathcliff in the 1992 adaptation of Emily Brontë's immortal Wuthering Heights. Poor things, it can't be easy falling in love with a foster sibling, not even when they look like Ralph Fiennes or Juliette Binoche.My Life in Scraps posts also about the film.
In fact, Heathcliff takes it so badly he adds a new dimension to head-banging: it's said that Fiennes, in his feature film debut, demanded a scene from the book in which the frustrated woodsman hits his head against a tree be included.
He performed so well, he drew blood.
Although some critics felt the same way about Peter Kosminsky's curious direction (that included Sinead O'Connor's narration and a script that ran to the novel's dreary, bitter end), Wuthering Heights has fared reasonably well over time.
The stunning Yorkshire backdrops keep audiences' attention but the hook is Fiennes' The English Patient co-star Binoche who brings a luminous presence to the younger Catherine.
Handsome and unaffected, Wuthering Heights remains worth a look. (Colin Fraser)
–– Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.The Tampa Tribune reviews Withering Tights with special attention to the Brontë references:
Set against the lush backdrop of 1830s Jamaica, Rhys’ powerful, haunting masterpiece was inspired by her fascination with the first Mrs. Rochester, the mad wife in the attic in Charlotte Brontë ’s Jane Eyre . (The movie adaptation is also available.) (Maureen Curry)
"Withering Tights" is also dedicated to "Em, Chazza and Anne Brontë," who first introduced the world to the pleasures of moaning about on the moors in the throes of passion and/or borderline personality disorders. As the brochure for Dother Hall, the local performing arts academy puts it, "think 'Wuthering Heights' but with more acting and dancing and less freezing to death on the moors." (...)Glen Ducan's The Last Werewolf is reviewed by The Columbus Dispatch:
The Bronte references are equally spry and irreverent (in contrast to most of the recent crop of literary updates and inspired-bys that crowd the YA bookshelf). Tallulah's first view of her new school calls up images of Jane Eyre's Thornfield Hall, not least because the roof is on fire. There is even a long-haired person of mystery capering about in the flames, whom Tallulah immediately dubs Mrs. Rochester. The name sticks, even thought the figure turns out to be Bob, the ex-roadie turned handyman/sound tech. Even more inspired are the Hinchcliff brothers, a trio of aspiring rock stars whose youngest member, Cain, mumbles his way into the hearts of half the female population. (Amanda Sellet)
Duncan packs in as many literary allusions per page as any English major could want: Look for a macabre twist on the most famous line of Jane Eyre, as well as nods to T.S. Eliot, Matthew Arnold, Herman Melville, Susan Sontag, Joseph Conrad, Dante, Keats and Nabokov. (Margaret Quamme)John Sutherland discusses the alleged racism of W.M. Thackeray on OUPblog:
When we first encounter George Osborne and Dobbin, they are just back from the West Indies. What was their regiment doing? Protecting the British interest in sugar cane production in the Caribbean possessions of the Crown (it is, incidentally, the same crop which enriches Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre and the Bertram family in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park; the English were addicted to sugar in their tea and cakes).
Harry is Frodo, Voldemort is Darth Vader and Snape is Heathcliff (as in Heathcliff the brooding and tortured romantic Brontë hero, not Heathcliff the lazy ginger cat who liked to eat all the time. Although, I suppose that could be Ron.) (Lisa Ramirez)The Independent (Ireland) describes P.J. Harvey as follows:
There can't be too many female artists who sing with such Sylvia Plath skin-flaying pain and Emily Brontë candour about their turbulent romantic life (she allegedly had a nervous breakdown at around the release of Rid Of Me due to the pressure of making the album). But then there were never too many female artists like PJ Harvey to begin with. (Barry Egan)Off the Beaten Track posts about Anne Brontë with particular attention to her tomb in Scarborough; Bokstödet reviews Jane Eyre; Mermaids Closet posts about Jane Eyre 1996; Meandering Thoughts recommends visiting the Brontë Parsonage Museum; Jedz, táncz i cztaj posts about several adaptations of Jane Eyre in Polish; Word for Teens includes Rochester among Her Ridiculous Romantic Book Obsessions; Mister Oy posts on Flickr several pictures of Brontë country.
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