It's a little weird

Musical Theatre Review talks about the upcoming tour of the Wise Children production of Wuthering Heights:

Co-produced by the National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic and York Theatre Royal and also directed by Rice, the re-imagining of the classic story will begin preview performances at Bristol Old Vic on 11 October ahead of an opening night on 20 October. The production will run until 6 November and will include live-streamed performances in the final week in Bristol.
Following the Bristol run, Wuthering Heights will transfer to York Theatre Royal from 8-20 November. The production will arrive in the Lyttelton at the National Theatre in early 2022 before playing tour dates at the Hall for Cornwall, Norwich Theatre Royal, Theatre Royal Nottingham, The Lowry in Manchester, Sunderland Empire and King’s Theatre, Edinburgh. (Angela Thomas)

Berkeley News describes a familiar scene for many of us, these post(?)-pandemic days:

Students by the hundreds were streaming through Sather Gate on a brilliant morning last week, en route to class, or the library, or the familiar comforts of the Free Speech Café. It was such a pleasant scene, so familiar, and yet for Brianna Rivera, a UC Berkeley senior in English, it was skewing a little strange.

She was walking to her first class of the semester, English 165, which will look at the classic 19th century novel Jane Eyre through the lens of Black women writers. A promising class, for sure, and yet she was struck — shocked, actually — by the masses of humanity.

“That’s a lot for me, after having been in isolation for 18 months,” said Rivera, president of the Senior Class Council. “You want to get back into the swing of things, but there’s something kind of holding you back. It’s like, you’re having to reconcile these three people — the person you were before the pandemic, the person that you were during the lockdown, and the person that you’re becoming now.

“It’s a little weird.” (Edward Lempinen)

The Daily Star (Bangladesh) talks about the world of publication from a gender perspective:

Despite the fact that many famous classics were written by women (think Louisa May Alcott, the Brontë sisters, Lucy Maud Montgomery, and Jane Austen), it's no secret that the publishing industry gained a reputation of being a 'gentleman's profession'. (Zahra Ahmed)

Ara (in Catalan) lists the new publications for the autumn season:

Les traduccions de clàssics al català continuen en un excel·lent estat de forma gràcies a la feina d’editorials com Viena, Adesiara, Quid Pro Quo i Proa. Entre els llibres previstos abans que s’acabi l’any hi ha Agnes Grey, d’Anne Brontë (Viena)[.] (Jordi Nopca) (Translation)

The doppelgänger in literature is discussed in nlc (Hungary):

Sőt, akár még Emily Brontë egyetlen regénye, a pusztító romantikus szenvedélyt és a precíz, realista lélekábrázolást gótikus lápvidéki horrorba ágyazó Üvöltő szelek is tekinthető afféle doppelgänger-regénynek; Cathy egy ponton még ki is mondja, hogy „Nelly, én Heathcliff vagyok! Mindig, mindig a lelkemben él; nem mint valami gyönyörűség, hisz tudom, magam sem vagyok az, hanem mint saját lényem…” (Szabó Sz. Csaba) (Translation)

yosoitú (México) publishes some rumours about a new local Wuthering Heights adaptation:

Actualmente no se sabe qué proyecto prepara Giselle González, pero se cree que podría ser una nueva versión de la telenovela "Encadenados", de Marissa Garrido, basada en el libro Cumbres Borrascosas, producida en 1988 por Ernesto Alonso. (Translation)

An (autumn) quote of Emily Brontë in Stirile Kanal D (Romania). For the Literature shares pictures and thoughts about a recent trip to Haworth and Brontë country.

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Charlotte, recreated

Several websites share the latest creations of the Royalty Now Studios:

Charlotte Brontë (1816 – 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters whose novels became classics of English literature. Charlotte is most famous for her novel Jane Eyre. I greatly enjoyed learning about Charlotte and her strong personality through my research into her looks. She was said to be less than five feet tall with indiscriminate yet enchanting eyes. She was strong-minded, clever, shy (but ready to argue her beliefs), and apparently hated teaching young children. 

I struggled a bit with which portrait to use here. I found a great source about her looks that talks about the confirmed images we have of her. I’ve used this painting by her brother Branwell as my main reference, but pulled in some visual references from others as well. Only three undisputed images of Charlotte exist - this painting by Branwell is one of them and was painted when she was probably 18 years old. It is generally considered an “unflattered” portrait - meaning it doesn’t try to beautify her and the skill of the painter is questionable. The other is a chalk drawing from later in her life by George Richmond, but this is considered to be overly flattering. The third is a possible photo of Charlotte, although this is unconfirmed. The face shape looks correct, but the eyes look far too blue to be her based on other accounts. What do you think?

If you’d like to support my work and help me keep doing what I do, please consider purchasing a print from the Etsy store.

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Bank Holiday's Tidbits

The project of a new Jane Eyre adaptation in partnership with China reappears from time to time. Now, in The Telegraph & Argus talking about Bradford:

The award reflects past achievements but also enables future developments. It has enabled Bradford to team up with Qingdao, City of Film in China, home to the world’s fastest growing cinema industry. Here Bradford became the first European city to open a film office; this partnership has prompted collaboration in producing a modernised version of Jane Eyre, with the Charlotte Brontë classic almost as popular in China as in the UK. (Martin Greenwood)

Bon Dia (Andorra) celebrates the publishing of a new Spanish translation of Víctor Català/Caterina Albert's Solitud:

Així que, imbuït d’un esperit redemptor, Arimany es va proposar saldar el deute pendent i publicar una traducció a l’altura de la novel·la. Ho explica sense embuts a la Nota de l’editor que acompanya cada volum de Trotalibros: “Cap novel·la com Solitud i potser La inquilina [de Wildfell Hall], d’Anne Brontë m’ha transmès de forma tan desgarradora i dolorosament real el desempar i la soledat de la dona. No entenc com és possible que el moviment feminista hagi permès que aquesta obra, a l’altura dels grans clàssics de la literatura universal, s’esllanguís i criés pols en un racó, com una relíquia tan bella com inútil”. Es tractava, diu, “de traslladar a l’espanyol el text original amb la màxima fidelitat, i que la mateixa Caterina Albert pogués sentir-se’n orgullosa”.
L’enorme responsabilitat ha recaigut en Nicole d’Amonville, poeta i traductora mallorquina que ja s’havia enfrontat a alguns contes de l’autora. I a partir del 29 de setembre podrem comprovar si el resultat està a l’altura de les altíssimes expectatives de l’editor, convençut que té a les mans una novel·la que juga a la mateixa categoria que Emily (Cumbres borrascosas) i Charlotte Brontë (Jane Eyre), tot i que a Arimany li sembla més significatiu encara el contrast l’Emilia Pardo Bazán de Los pazos de Ulloa. Totes quatre, sosté, “dones que avui diríem empoderades, que no es van conformar a seguir el camí del matrimoni i la maternitat que la societat de l’època els reservava, i que van reflectir en la novel·la les seves personalitats lluitadores”. (A. Luengo) (Translation)

El País (Colombia) interviews the writer Margarita Cuéllar:

Buscaba mundos con los que me pudiera identificar, en los que pudiera encontrar sentido a mi dolencia. Y quise volver a leer a las que siempre me habían arropado: Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth Bowen, Emily Dickinson, las hermanas Brontë, Frannery O’Connor, Harper Lee, Margaret Atwood, Marvel Moreno, Toni Morrison, Edith Wharton; y a las nuevas que iba descubriendo”. (L.C. Bermeo Gamboa) (Translation)

Lo Spazio Bianco (Italy) reviews the comic CenerentolⒶ by FumettiBrutti and Joe1:

Gli occhioni vitrei di Cenerentola contribuiscono a rendere il senso di alienazione della protagonista, il cui corpo, volutamente sgraziato, trasandato eppure armonioso, è al tempo stesso grido di ribellione e strumento per affermare la propria singolarità. E non manca, com’è giusto che sia, una certa ironia dissacrante tale per cui il romanzo Cime tempestose diventa lo strumento per ridurre in polvere lo speed prima dell’assunzione. (Stefano Rapiti) (Translation)

AnneBronte.org posts about Charlotte Brontë and the Bells of Banagher. 

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From Robert Frost to Mary Wollstonecraft

Brontë scholars in India and Spain:

Frostian Anticipation and Rescuing Rochester: Deconstruction and Reader-Response Criticism in Readings of Jane Eyre (1847) and Wide Sargasso Sea  (1966)

Prof. (Dr.) Chetan N. Trivedi and Mr. Rohal S. Raval

Towards Excellence, June, 2021. Vol.13. Issue No. 2

The present article argues that Robert Frost’s poem “For Once, Then, Something” (1923) anticipates, by virtue of its latent similarities to them, the theory of Deconstruction propounded by Jacques Derrida, and Reader-Response Criticism which developed through the work of a number of important theorists, one of them being Stanley Fish. The validity of the interpretation is tested by juxtaposing it, in brief, on Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre (1847) and Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), a postcolonial, Feminist re-reading or re-writing of Brontë’s work, especially one of literature’s great enigmatic figure – Bertha Antoinetta Rochester/Mason – and one of the novel’s central character – Edward Fairfax Rochester. Indeed, Bertha had been readily interpreted by many lay readers as an obstacle, if not an outright antagonist, in the union of Jane and Edward before the publication of Rhys’ insightful novel that is a prequel to or provides the backstory of crucial characters and events found in Brontë’s work. Moreover, the researchers also launch an enquiry that seeks to understand whether Rochester has been disproportionately or undeservedly demonized, at least since the publication of Rhys’ novel. This inquiry, which stems from both the insight provided by the reading of Frost’s poem and a position put forward by Fish, (re)reads Brontë’s text to see if it provides any clue, opening, or hint for an alternative response by which Rochester can be rescued from critical opprobrium he is often subjected to, whether before or after the publication of Wide Sargasso Sea. 

Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: an Analysis of Feminist Traits

Almir Mer, Hiba

Ph.D. Universitat Jaume I, València, Spain (June 2021)

Feminism is often studied through a political lens, focusing on the different feminist theories and their influence on society. Nevertheless, literature can also be a way in which feminism is presented and studied. As Felski (2003) argues in her book Beyond Feminist Aesthetics: Feminist Literature and Social Change, feminism and politics, although not often connected in terms of content, they have social change in common. By examining feminist literature, it is possible to observe influential literature works that strive to cause a change in society and its views by criticising the subordination of women of the time. Consequently, this paper aims to highlight revolutionary feminist literary works from early feminist literature up to the 19thcentury. Moreover, it aims to focus on two authors and their most significant works, Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Studying both authors and works allows for a comparison between the two in terms of feminist traits, female representation, and education. Hence, a connection between a political text and a fictional text will be made, and the similarities of their feminist views will show how two works from different time periods can share common features.

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Pacing Anxiously

Western Australia Today interviews the actress Emma MacKay:

A bigger test comes next year when she exchanges her rebellious pink-dyed ends and the hyper-stylised Sex Education set for the Yorkshire moors to play a more historical rebel, writer Emily Brontë, in Emily. It’s this role that Emma hopes will recast her away from Maeve and her frank talks about sex towards the stardom that so obviously lies beyond. (Latika Bourke)

Carolyn Hitt's holidays in Wales Online:

Our itinerary was fairly fluid, but I had expressed a desire to call in on Wordsworth on the way up and the Brontës on the way down.
Sadly Charlotte, Emily and Anne were already inundated with visitors who’d had the foresight to book online weeks in advance, so Haworth was a no-go.

The Independent (Ireland) interviews the writer Carlo Gébler:

The writer who shaped you?
Every writer you read shapes you in some way, but Jean Rhys shaped me the most.
She is best known for her last novel, the best-selling Wide Sargasso Sea, which was Rhys’s answer to another novel I love, the troubling Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Jane Eyre was also the inspiration for a further wonder, The Story of O by Pauline Réage (the pen name of Anne Desclos), a little history that proves (again) that books come out of books.

Jane Eye inspiring The Story of O?  😕

Also in The Independent, Boy George is interviewed:

He told the The Frank Skinner Show podcast in 2010 that prison was “quite stinky” and “not a holiday camp” but that he can understand why people become institutionalised. George spent his days inside reading classics such as Wuthering Heights and The Catcher In The Rye and applied himself so well in the prison kitchen that the lady in charge apparently told him “You’re one of the best workers we’ve ever had here.”

Slate takes a look at kudzu, 'the vine that ate the South':

The obsession with kudzu also reveals the long shadow of the Southern Gothic. William Faulkner describes the Mason-Dixie in Absalom, Absalom! as “dead since 1865 and peopled with garrulous outraged baffled ghosts.” Compared with the European variety, our Gothic is earthy. While Emily Brontë has her lovers pace anxiously through the gloomy manor of Wuthering Heights, Flannery O’Connor just drowns people in the river during their attempt at baptism. (Richard Solomon)

Dawn (Pakistan) reviews the novel Of Smokeless Fire by  A.A. Jafri:

I do not wish to mar a reader’s experience of this engaging novel with spoilers; suffice to say that he ends up grappling with the machinations of a villain who is every bit as venal and low as Mansoor is noble-minded and pure of heart. The villain’s ugly murder of Mansoor’s beloved dog rivals that of Isabella’s hapless puppy at the hands of Wuthering Heights’s savage Heathcliff! (Nadya Chishty-Mujahid)

The long-forgotten days of student past in The Khaleej Times (India):

There was once a time when experiencing the unfamiliar was a priority rather than a reason to decline the invite; when different faces represented an opportunity to expand your network rather than obstacles to be avoided in the quest to find the crew squirreled away in some corner with whom you spend all your free moments. What changes? Why, in the space of ten years or so, do you go from the real-world equivalent of Van Wilder to Wuthering Heights’ Heathcliff (minus the fierce visage)? (David Light)

Yesterday, on Radio24's Il Cacciatore di Libri (Italy) they discussed a Wuthering Heights audiobook, via Il Sole. 

Chick, Rogues and Scandals reviews John Eyre by Mimi Matthews.

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Imperatives in Jane Eyre

 A new Brontë-related paper just accepted for publication:

A window into interpersonal relations in Jane Eyre from the perspective of imperatives
Yisong Li and Changsong Wang 
Text & Talk, https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2020-0017

This paper explores the correlations between imperative sentences and interpersonal relations in Jane Eyre. The imperatives uttered by Rochester, St. John, and Mrs. Reed to Jane are examined from four perspectives: quantity, imperative force, addressing, and Jane’s corresponding responses. It is found that the variation in these aspects matches well with the development of interpersonal relations. Specifically, when the addresser and Jane get more intimate in relationship, the quantities of the imperatives tend to decline, the imperative force tends to soften, the addressing becomes more personal, and Jane’s compliance to the imperatives tends to decrease and her non-compliance tends to increase. It is proposed that new indicators in imperatives (i.e. vocatives, personal pronouns and directional verbs like come and go in imperatives) can be adopted to evaluate interpersonal relations in a literary work.

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Monstrous and divine, like Wuthering Heights

The New York Times features Inseparable a 'never-before published novel' by Simone de Beauvoir, translated by Sandra Smith.

Beauvoir remained haunted by the story of her childhood friend Élisabeth Lacoin, a.k.a. “Zaza,” returning in both her memoirs and her fiction to Zaza’s passionate nonconformism, her many gifts, her struggle against the familial and societal obligations that hemmed her in on all sides and her tragic destiny. (She died suddenly, at the age of 21.) There is an ethical, and even political, dimension to Beauvoir’s will to remember this friend, through whose mirror she sought to loosen the silken chains binding them both to outdated ideals of femininity. [...]

The real-life Zaza’s love affair with the angel-faced, future phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty — an eminently suitable match, even by the constricting standards of their milieu — was thwarted by her family. She was on the verge of being sent off to Berlin to study for a year, when in a matter of days she developed a raging fever and died. Viral encephalitis, the doctors said. But in Simone’s view, Zaza fell victim to a society bent on killing off whatever was uniquely alive and precious in her.

One is reminded of the death of Beth March in “Little Women” (a book Beauvoir read and loved), or of the saintly orphan Helen Burns in “Jane Eyre,” who accepts her fate with quiet dignity, eyes on the prize of the world to come. (Leslie Camhi)

ABC News (Australia) has asked several writers about the books the re-read.

Douglas Stuart: As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann

The Scottish-American writer — whose heartbreaking semi-autobiographical debut novel Shuggie Bain won the 2020 Booker Prize — has read Maria McCann's 2001 historical novel As Meat Loves Salt at least seven times. [...]

Set in the 17th century, the book follows Jacob Cullen, a disgraced servant who seeks redemption as a soldier in the English Civil War. While in service he falls in love with a fellow soldier, with disastrous consequences.

"This is actually my pure pleasure read. It's a little bit like my Wuthering Heights in that it's a big, sort of romantic, historical book, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it's also an incredibly immersive historical read." (Hannah Reich)

Far Out magazine quotes Patti Smith's explanation of the two types of literary masterpiece:

After a long spell of reading nothing but the novels of Murakami, Smith gave some consideration to the way literary masterpieces can be placed in two categories. In her own words, “There are two kinds of masterpieces. There are the classic works, monstrous and divine, like Moby-Dick or Wuthering Heights or Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus. And then there is the type wherein the writer seems to infuse living energy into words as the reader is spun, wrung, and hung out to dry.” (Sam Kemp)

According to Business Insider, Wuthering Heights is one of the '27 best enemies-to-lovers books to read if you love 'Pride and Prejudice''.

"Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë

Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange, situated on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before. What unfolds is the tale of the intense love between the foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. 

Catherine, forced to choose between passionate, tortured Heathcliff and gentle, well-bred Edgar Linton, surrendered to the expectations of her class. As Heathcliff's bitterness and vengeance at his betrayal are visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past.

A reporter from Hampshire Live has watched Downton Abbey for the first time.

For some reason, I was expecting the historical drama to be set in the 18th or 19th centuries, around the time of Jane Austen novels like Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre.

It wasn't until the April 1912 title appeared on the screen that I realised the series wasn't set when I thought it was. I have to say this wasn't the first time the opening few minutes took me by surprise. (Daniel Blank)

Perhaps now that he has watched Downton Abbey he should now proceed to read the classics. At least their spines in order to be taken by surprise by the fact that Jane Austen didn't write Jane Eyre.

The Times recommends last-minute staycations:

Brontë Bobbins, West Yorkshire
Only two minutes from Haworth station and the Keighley and Worth Valley Steam Railway, the Brontë Bobbins is a new luxury one-bedroom top-floor apartment in a converted mill. It’s also 15 minutes from the Brontë Parsonage and a four-mile walk from Top Withens, said to be the inspiration for the Earnshaw family home in Wuthering Heights. You should take a book to read. (Chris Haslam)

Also in The Times, a list of coastal walks includes one from Scarborough to Robin Hood’s Bay, which includes a visit to Anne Brontë's grave.

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In the Quick

A recent novel with Jane Eyre echoes:

In the Quick

by Kate Hope Day

Random House

ISBN 9780525511250

May 2021

June is a brilliant but difficult girl with a gift for mechanical invention who leaves home to begin grueling astronaut training at the National Space Program. Younger by two years than her classmates at Peter Reed, the school on campus named for her uncle, she flourishes in her classes but struggles to make friends and find true intellectual peers. Six years later, she has gained a coveted post as an engineer on a space station—and a hard-won sense of belonging—but is haunted by the mystery of Inquiry, a revolutionary spacecraft powered by her beloved late uncle’s fuel cells. The spacecraft went missing when June was twelve years old, and while the rest of the world seems to have forgotten the crew, June alone has evidence that makes her believe they are still alive.

She seeks out James, her uncle’s former protégé, also brilliant, also difficult, who has been trying to discover why Inquiry’s fuel cells failed. James and June forge an intense intellectual bond that becomes an electric attraction. But the relationship that develops between them as they work to solve the fuel cell’s fatal flaw threatens to destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to create—and any chance of bringing the Inquiry crew home alive.

A propulsive narrative of one woman’s persistence and journey to self-discovery, In the Quick is an exploration of the strengths and limits of human ability in the face of hardship, and the costs of human ingenuity.

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The Moor, the Merrier

Ten facts you should know about the Brontës on Bookriot:

Who were the Brontës?

Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, and Anne Brontë are three Victorian authors with whom you’re probably already somewhat familiar. You probably know Charlotte Brontë and her novel Jane Eyre. And yes, you’ve definitely heard of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Perhaps you’ve perused Anne Brontë’s works, like Agnes Grey. Heck, you might even know about their artist brother Branwell Brontë.

But the Brontë family’s life was so rich and fascinating that there’s probably plenty about literature’s most interesting family that you don’t yet know. And I’m here to tell you about it. So grab a cup of tea and settle in for story time.

I studied the Brontës — specifically Emily Brontë — for my PhD in English, so a lot of the facts listed below are from my trusty brain bank. But since brain banks aren’t always so reliable…For confirmation on specific dates, names, etc., I primarily referenced The Brontë Myth by Lucasta Miller, which I discuss more at the end of this article! (...) (Emily Martin)

Manchester's Finest recommends a weekend walk through Brontë Country:

Taking inspiration from the dramatic landscape right on their doorstep, the Brontë sisters penned some of the world’s most famous literary classics – from Jaye Eyre to Wuthering Heights – while living in the area.

The wild Pennine moors and deep valleys of the area provide for walks that are sometimes as challenging as they are stunning, with the addition of many Brontë-related sights and landmarks along the way.

Your main base of operations should be the little village of Haworth, where the Brontë family lived and which is now home to the excellent Brontë Parsonage Museum – where you can take a tour of their old house and learn what life was like in the area all those years ago. (...) (Ben Brown)

Playbill announces that Emma Rice's production of Wuthering Heights that will open in Bristol next October (and eventually will be premiered at the National Theatre next year) has completed the casting process:

A co-production with the National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, and York Theatre Royal, the stage adaptation will begin previews at the Bristol Old Vic October 11. An official opening is set for October 20, with performances running through November 6. Performances November 3–6 will be live-streamed. The play will subsequently transfer to the York Theatre Royal November 9–20 and play the National in February and March 2022.

The cast will be led by Lucy McCormick as Cathy with Sam Archer as Lockwood/Edgar Linton, Nandi Bhebhe as The Moor, TJ Holmes as Robert, Ash Hunter as Heathcliff, Craig Johnson as Mr. Earnshaw/Dr. Kenneth, Jordan Laviniere as John, Kandaka Moore as Zillah, Katy Owen as Isabella Linton/Linton Heathcliff, Tama Phethean as Hindley Earnshaw/Hareton Earnshaw, and Witney White Frances Earnshaw/Young Cathy. Mirabelle Gremaud is the swing. (Andrew Gans)

The Wall Street Journal talks about how the fans influence series developments. Did you know that this behaviour is more universal than you thought?

'Jane Eyre' started out as 'The Moor, the Merrier.' ”  (Joe Queenan)

Lol.

Jezebel talks about Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

Bold material for a woman writer in Victorian England; as bold in its way as putting her own name on the title page. Barrett Browning always did so, although most of her distinguished women contemporaries preferred a male pseudonym (the Brontë sisters as the Bell brothers, George Eliot, George Sand) or anonymity (“the author of Frankenstein” or, in Jane Austen’s case, “a lady”).  (Fiona Sampson)

The Times publishes the obituary of the Italian writer and publisher Roberto Calasso (1941-2021):

His grandfather’s extensive library was a formative influence. Calasso recalled stealing from it a copy of Les fleurs du mal, the poems by Baudelaire, while his encounter with Wuthering Heights made him appreciate what passion was.

El Imparcial (Spain) compares the situation in Afghanistan to Wuthering Heights:

En esta cuestión de formación nacional racional, principalmente, lo que hay que tomar en consideración es la fuerza persistente del pasado en los estados, que al final, se quiera o no, es lo que acaba triunfando y esto se puede ilustrar mejor con Cumbres Borrascosas (Wuthering Heights) de Emily Brontë, parodia gótica de amor, donde desde el principio está anunciado cual va a ser el resultado, con fecha, nombre y apellidos grabados en el muro principal del lugar, entremezclados “entre una selva de animales mitológicos hechos pedazos y angelitos juguetones”. (...)
Total, que, a final, Heathcliff termina arrastrado por la corriente telúrica de aquel sitio tan ventilado, la cual no discurre de frente ni de lado sino que va para atrás, como en Afganistán, de vuelta otra vez al pasado. (Juan Carlos Barros) (Translation)

The love gothic parody still hurts when we re-read it.

El Nacional (Venezuela) interiews the writer Jorge Sánchez López:

Mariela Días Romero: ¿Cuáles han sido los escritores que le han dejado una huella tanto como lector y escritor?
J.S.L.: (...) También debo de tener una influencia, más o menos consciente, de la literatura gótica y del Romanticismo, incluyendo a Charlotte Brontë, a Mary Shelley o a Edgar Allan Poe, muy presentes en Nunca debiste atravesar esos parajes y Hielo seco.

Le Soir (Belgium) interviews the author Cécile Coulon: 

Mais dans une dimension de thriller à la Daphné du Maurier et de nature oppressante comme chez les sœurs Brontë. Et c'est très réussi. (Jean-Claude Vantroyen) (Translation)

Not surprisingly, Bookriot lists the most translated books from all countries, and Dominica's is Wide Sargasso Sea. Inspiremore includes a Charlotte Brontë quote on a list of powerful women's quotes. I Had the Write Idea posts about Wuthering Heights. Let's Fox About It reviews an audiobook copy of Rose Lerner's The Wife at the Attic.

Finally, let us introduce you to Emily Brontë, a cat for adoption listed on petfinder. 

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Star of the Day

She was born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson, but we all remember her as Merle Oberon and today, August 27, she is the star of the day on TCM's Summer Under the Stars:

Wuthering Heights (1939)

August 27, 8:00 PM (EST)

TCM

Oberon returned to England for her most famous screen assignment as Cathy Earnshaw in William Wyler's lush adaptation of Emily Brontë's "W
uthering Heights" (1939) - the most beloved film adaptation of the tragic novel. But while the finished film went over very well with critics and the public, the production was a less than happy experience. Co-star Laurence Olivier's relationship with the actress on-set was soured by his disappointment over Oberon being chosen for the part instead of his off-screen paramour, Vivien Leigh. The pettiness and pointless bad behavior that ensued from Olivier, fortunately, did not come across in the leads' performances and they display wonderful romantic chemistry, making "Wuthering Heights" the penultimate romantic tragedy.

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Brontë’s fervid feminist statement

Writer Lucy Ellmann shares her 'Top 10 gripes in literature' in The Guardian.

4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Driven to distraction by Rochester’s cavorting with a gold-digger and dressing up in drag as a fortune teller, Jane finally erupts. “Do you think I am an automaton? – a machine without feelings? … Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! – I have as much soul as you – and full as much heart!” Like Sojourner Truth’s real-life speech a few years after the novel was written, Ain’t I a woman? Brontë’s fervid feminist statement refutes the Victorian gridlock imposed on womanhood. But after Jane and Rochester retreat triumphantly indoors, lightning blights the tree they were just sitting under: you can’t make an omelette without cracking eggs.

Northern Life announces a couple of forthcoming events in Haworth:

Sat 25th [September]

The Brontë Interactive Ghost Walk

Haworth, West Yorkshire. Join Haunting Nights as they take you back in time at this historic village in Yorkshire. The Black Bull is known to be one of most haunted inns in the UK. This 300-year-old public house was Patrick Branwell Brontë’s (brother of Charlotte, Emily & Anne Brontë) favourite place to drink. The Kings Arms Haworth Built on three storeys of local millstone grit, it is a typical, dark Yorkshire building from the early 18th century. Over the years, there have been consistent reports of at least three different men dressed in black Victorian style suits haunting the Kings Arms. 7.30pm £10 allevents.in [...]

Fri 8th [October]

Haworth Steampunk Weekend 2021

Main Street, Haworth. You will see Steampunk, Victorian and Edwardian fashion. Steampunk vehicles, dancers, tea duelling, best dressed, steampunk accessories and Steampunk traders. Steampunks gather to socialise, shop and be enter-tained whilst taking in the lovely atmosphere and the pretty surroundings. This is an annual charity event for Sue Ryder Manorlands Hospice. Bronteadventures.co.uk (Yazmin Cawood)

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Glass Town in New York

Today, in New York, a special performance of Glass Town:

Glass Town

Pete's Candy Store

August 26, 9:00 PM

Book, music, & lyrics by Miriam Pultro

Directed by Daniella Caggiano

Music direction by Katrien Van Riel

'Charlotte' (vox, keys) - Miriam Pultro

'Branwell' (guitar, vox) - Eddy Marshall

'Emily' (vox, bass) - Katrien Van Riel

'Anne' (vox) - Emma Claye

Drums, keys, guitar - Matt DeMaria

Violin - Laura Zawarski

Cello - Anthime Miller

A rock requiem starring the Brontë siblings -- Anne, most feminist and most faithful, a neosoul star; Emily, melancholy alt-rock prodigy; Branwell, full of the blues; and Charlotte, fiery frontwoman, desperate for recognition and love. A staged concept album that defies traditional musical theatre, Glass Town explores familial bonds, grief, and isolation, using the literary family as archetypal touchstones.

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Burn it

The most anticipated books for the autumn season in Los Angeles Times:

Mothers, Fathers, and Others by Siri Hustvedt
“We think back through our mothers if we are women,” Virginia Woolf wrote in “A Room of One’s Own.” In this new essay collection, Hustvedt, the incisive novelist and critic, thinks back through her own family to deconstruct the maternal through the work of “artistic mothers” including Jane Austen, Emily Brontë and Louise Bourgeois. (Jessica Ferri)

The highly pernicious combination of the woke+cancellation culture is again in the news with the accusations against Judith Kerr's The Tiger Who Came to Tea! but Hilary Rose in The Times thinks that the promoters have not gone far enough:

And in case you thought the problem was confined to children’s books, it isn’t. Jane Eyre is about attempted bigamy and a man who locks up his wife because she suffers from mental health problems. The fact that it’s also magnificent, and nobody ever came away thinking that bigamy is a good idea, is neither here nor there. Burn it.

El Punt-Avui (in Catalan) reviews the book Cartas olvidadas de Jane Eyre y Anna Karenina by Eugènia Tusquets and Marga Iriarte:

El resultat és un experiment que travessa gèneres entre la ficció i la realitat, un exercici que pren la vida com a principal objecte de reflexió a partir de l’original reficcionat. Les autores sintetitzen que “filar dues societats, l’anglesa i la russa, dos models de protagonistes literàries –la primera simbolitza el coratge davant les injustícies; l’altra, la insatisfacció amorosa i la rebel·lia estèril–, ha exigit una lectura atenta de les dues obres i, el més important, la sintonia mental i emocional amb elles. El personatge de Jane Eyre el va construir Charlotte Brontë i les seves vivències són un artefacte potent que desmunta les aparences de novel·la romàntica; denuncia un sistema social abusiu, el qual sotmet les dones a l’esclavitud econòmica i social. A l’altra banda, Lev Tolstoi s’imagina Anna Karènina i la fa adúltera, perquè vol –i ho aconsegueix– despullar la hipocresia, el cinisme i les desigualtats socials que emergeixen al llarg de la novel·la.” (David Castillo) (Translation)

Robbie Moore, MP for Keighley and Ilkley, writes in The Telegraph & Argus against the closing of the Haworth Main Street Post Office. Interesting Literature posts about Jane Eyre. Donna Glamour (Italy) lists Autumn quotes (already!) and Emily Brontë is featured.

Finally, an alert for today, January 25, in Goito (Italy): 

Teatro Magro e Charta presents

A menadito | tratto da C. Brontë e J. Steinbeck

Biblioteca di Goito, August 25, 9:00 PM

Directed by Flavio Cortellazzi

With Agata Torelli and  Iulian Puscasu.

L’attore conosce a memori
a il libro. Lo conosce bene, benissimo, “a menadito” in ogni sua pagina, in ogni anfratto di ciascuna parola scritta, in ogni suo passaggio – sia anche nascosto o sottinteso. Il pubblico ha la facoltà di aprire il libro ad una pagina casuale e l’attore, dopo una rapida lettura introduttiva delle prime righe della suddetta pagina, comincia a raccontare, da quel punto in poi, cosa accade nel libro. Tutto a memoria. Tutto a menadito. Perché quel libro lo conosce bene, lo conosce in ogni sua increspatura della punteggiatura, in ogni suo approfondimento, in ogni possibile contesto e sotto-testo. Il libro gli appartiene e lui stesso appartiene al libro. E così, da uno stralcio di narrazione si aprono frammenti performativi: aneddoti, collegamenti, rimandi, risposte, epiloghi, immagini e suggestioni. L’atto teatrale continua, si può selezionare ancora, e ancora, e ancora. Davanti a sé il pubblico ha una sorta di wunderkammer – una stanza delle meraviglie dove i collezionisti raccoglievano oggetti straordinari. Il libro non ve lo leggiamo. Ve lo raccontiamo. A memoria. Sia che l’abbiate già letto, sia che non l’abbiate mai sentito nominare nel libro c’è sempre qualcosa da (ri)scoprire. E ve lo dimostriamo: si può rimanere affascinati, ascoltando, in uno stato di meraviglia.

(Via Voce di Mantova)

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Romantic Passion and Social Justice

These are a series of lectures that are now available on Audible:

The Brontës: Romantic Passion and Social Justice
by Deborah Denenholz Morse, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Deborah Denenholz Morse
Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë created some of the greatest works of 19th-century English literature. How did these three young women, born into a humble parsonage on the isolated moors of Northern England, write such striking work? What influenced them? How did they get their stories out into the world? Why do their novels continue to grip readers to this day?

These and other questions are what you will explore in The Brontës: Romantic Passion and Social Justice. With Brontë scholar Deborah Denenholz Morse, you will look at the lives of the three Brontë sisters, their family life, experiences, beliefs, motivations - and their many tragedies. As you look closely at the literary and real-world influences that shaped them, you will get a deeper understanding of the astonishing talent and deep drive that pushed these three sisters to write novels like Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. These stories - often full of wind-swept drama and tinged with both personal and Romantic darkness - have gone on to influence the Western literary tradition far beyond what the Brontës themselves could have ever predicted.

The Brontës were deeply influenced by the world around them. Looking into their lives and work, you will get insight into the causes and events that shaped these phenomenal writers - not only their religious and Romantic influences, but also the social justice movements of their age, from women’s rights and anti-poverty campaigns to slavery abolition and early efforts to curb animal cruelty. You will see how their work transcended mere social commentary or embellished autobiography and left their mark on the social and literary trends that would emerge after them.

The W&M college gives further information:

For years, Professor Deborah Denenholz Morse’s classes on Victorian fiction and the Brontës —the famous literary sisters whose works were published form 1846-1855 — have been popular with W&M students from a variety of majors.
Now, anyone can experience Morse’s fascinating lectures through her new course on Audible, “The Brontës: Romantic Passion and Social Justice.” The 10-session series was produced by The Great Courses.

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Charlotte Brontë’s traveling writing desk to be on display

New York Post (and Fine Books and Collections) announces the swoon-worthy exhibition opening next month (September 24) at the New York Public Library:

Hundreds of incredible treasures and curiosities —  spanning over 4,000 years of history — will be open to the public at an upcoming exhibit at the New York Public Library’s iconic Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 5th Avenue.

From Jefferson’s handwritten copy of The Declaration of Independence to a lock of Beethoven’s hair, “The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures” is bound to attract all seeking the unique.

The exhibit, so named for $12 million donor Leonard Polonsky and his foundation, is expected to open on September 24. Tickets to the exhibition — which is free — will be available beginning on Aug. 23, the library announced Monday.

The exhibit will be a permanent fixture in the library’s Gottesman Hall, which has just been newly restored and renovated featuring 250 objects that have changed the course of history.

The objects were handpicked from its personal collection of over 45 million rare books, artwork. manuscripts, maps, newspapers and more that it has amassed over the last 126 at its research centers, NYPL said.

Objects include: [...]

● Charlotte Brontë’s traveling writing desk (Patrick Reilly)

More Brontëana on Book Riot as it recommends 'The 5 best libraries to see in Cambridge'.

#5. Katharine Stephen Room, Newnham College

It would be remiss of me to write an article like this and not include my own college library somewhere in the roundup. I won’t say too much, as I’ve already previously written up a virtual tour.

I will, however, go into a little more detail about the Katharine Stephen room, which houses our rare books collection. Named after an old Principal of Newnham who was also the cousin of Virginia Woolf, it was built in 1982 and achieved Grade II listing in 2018. It carries over 6,000 rare books and manuscripts, such as 16th century Shakespeare editions, original 1700s copies of Tatler, and more. I was also particularly surprised to go in once and see that it contains, in a small glass case, a ring with the braided hair of Emily and Charlotte Brontë. (Namera Tanjeem)

This contributor to Book Riot is prepared to perish upon this bookish hill:

Hill #5: Edward Rochester did not deserve Jane Eyre, and most romantic heroes don't deserve the women they conned into marrying them, either.

I said what I said. Jane Eyre deserved better than Rochester; even Jean Rhys thought so, and she wrote a whole damn book about how Bertha Mason nee Antoinette Cosway was wronged. MOST women in literature — and in life — deserve better than the “romantic” heroes who lie, cheat, and otherwise dissemble or worse in order to convince a lady to marry him. I recognize that mending this would make many books a whole lot shorter. I also recognize that the underlying point is generally not that the hero lied, but that he acknowledges and grows from his mistakes — something humans of any gender are generally somewhat reluctant to do. The fantasy fulfilled is growth, not marriage or sex.

And yet. We deserve better. (Tika Viteri)

We may deserve better in real life but as far as fictional stories are concerned Jane Eyre is definitely more than we deserve.

AnOther interviews writer Dominique Barbéris about her latest novel, Un Dimanche à Ville-d’Avray, and we think she has a deeper understanding of Rochester as a creation.

DS: You reference Jane Eyre a lot in the novel, particularly the now legendary love affair between Jane and Mr Rochester. The protagonist seems to be longing for a passion like that, or for a romantic experience like theirs. Why do you think people are always so drawn to these stories; to these unattainable ideals?

DB: I love Jane Eyre for its literary qualities. But I have to admit, I also love it because of Rochester. He’s a fascinating character for women and it’s not surprising: he is a man created by a woman, so he corresponds to what women are waiting for. I think we need these stories to lead us from despair. It is similar to Wuthering Heights and the Brontë sisters: their lives were so terrible, they needed literature as a way to cope with it. But they didn’t just dream about love, they dreamt about the landscape, they dreamt about the night. Sometimes language is so powerful it can help you open up and escape the world you’re living in. Most of my books speak about boredom and the way people try to escape from it. (Dominique Sisley)

Khaleej Times interviews writer Sara Galadari.

Enid Grace Parker: Who are the writers you were most influenced by over the years?

S.G.: JK Rowling, Jodi Picoult, Charlotte Brontë, and LM Montgomery. I love reading their stories because of the way they showcase strong female protagonists who were fuelled by their own ambitions and passions.

Reading their stories, relating to their characters, and watching them as they overcame their obstacles and embarked on exciting adventures of their own, made me feel that I could do the same — that I could do anything I put my mind to, no matter how far away or impossible the goal may seem.

Clarín (Argentina) tells the story of the Honresfeld Collection.

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This Unlucky Book

The final event of the Brontë Parsonage Museum-Elizabeth Gaskell's House series of talks:

'This Unlucky Book' fact, fiction and mythmaking in Elizabeth Gaskell's 'The Life of Charlotte Brontë'

Panel with Libby Tempest, Dr Lucy Hanks and Ann Dinsdale

7-8pm, Wednesday, 25 August 2021

The finale of a short season of events exploring Elizabeth Gaskell's ground-breaking biography of her friend and fellow writer Charlotte Brontë. 'The Life' was (and still is) hugely popular but also hugely controversial - but it remains the foundation upon which all other biographies of Charlotte Brontë must, to some degree, rest. How much responsibility should it take for creating the myths that surround Charlotte Brontë? How much do myth and reality meet in the book?

Libby Tempest is Chair of the Gaskell Society, a lifelong librarian and a volunteer & tour guide at Elizabeth Gaskell's House. She co-ordinates the Gaskell Reading Group at The Portico Library in Manchester.

 

Dr Lucy Hanks of the University of Manchester researches how mid-Victorian women writers revised their works for publication and how this influenced the development of their texts.

 

Ann Dinsdale is Principal Curator at the Brontë Society, and has worked at the Brontë Parsonage Museum for more than thirty years. Her books include The Brontës at Haworth (2006) and At Home with the Brontës (2013).

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Enrapturing Emily

More news outlets talk about Wycoller, 'the village frozen in time':

The 'lost' Lancashire village of Wycoller has a rich history, with ancient bridges and ruined hall, as well as some of the most beautiful scenery Britain has to offer.
Brontë lovers flock to the ruined hall, which is said to have been the inspiration for Ferndean Manor, the property which Mr Rochester moved to after fire destroyed his home in Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre. (...)

The Brontë sisters are said to have regularly trekked to visit, from their neighbouring village of Haworth, with the rugged Yorkshire landscape later inspiring their novels. (Rosaleen Fenton & Dianne Bourne in The Mirror)

The village is now a country park, and only disabled badge holders or residents may park inside.
The ban has allowed officials to renovate previously abandoned properties and keep Wycoller's natural aesthetic.
Their efforts mean it is now almost unchanged since the Brontë sisters once allegedly visited from their perch in nearby Haworth.
Rumours have long insisted Charlotte Brontë used the ruined Wycoller Hall as inspiration for Jane Eyre's Ferdean Manor. (Liam Doyle in The Daily Express)

Head North for your staycation according to The Telegraph:

The Calder Valley is a gorgeous melding of milltown architecture, slopes and uplands as dramatic and alluring as any of those that enraptured Emily Brontë, with lovely towns and country inns on and off the main roads. Follow the Calderdale Way up to Stoodley Pike, erected in 1815 to celebrate the defeat of Napoleon. (Chris Moss)

Wanderlust is all for the Peak District:

The Peak District’s dramatic landscapes and sometimes ‘moody’ weather has inspired many. Charlotte Brontë, who stayed at the vicarage in Hathersage while writing Jane Eyre, used the village as the novel’s setting while Jane Austen declared that there was ‘no finer county in England than Derbyshire’ in Pride & Prejudice; that book’s 2005 adaptation made fine use of local locations. (Graeme Green)

Fine Books & Collections reviews The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell:

It can be no easy task to re-hash Brontë lore--whether in fiction or non-fiction--and yet, occasionally a reader finds reason to rejoice. Catherine Lowell's debut novel, The Madwoman Upstairs (Touchstone, $25.99), is utterly absorbing, a lighthearted read that appeals to those of us who unwind with TV adaptations of Victorian novels (almost any will do) and who might be still be sobbing this morning over the demise of Downton Abbey. (Rebecca Rego Barry)

The UK Today News talks about the (many) problems of the Post Office, and mentions Haworth's fight to save his local branch:

Another round of cost-cutting and restructuring seems inevitable but risks further undermining relations with the public. Sammy Ahmed, a postmaster was recently told that his branch that dates back 190 years in Haworth in West Yorkshire — close to where the Brontë sisters wrote most of their novels — would be closed and replaced by a concession in a food store 10 minutes down a steep hill. Within days the local community had organised a 1,000 signature petition opposing the closure.

“The Post Office has been planning behind the scenes. I don’t see the reason they want to move it down there,” says Ahmed. “Apart from they want to cost-cut and save pennies.”

La Opinión de Murcia (Spain) publishes the obituary of the painter Francisco Serna (1935-2021) who in 1974 painted Hermanas Brontë (Picture source): 

Sus primeras obras reflejaban el mundo que le rodeaba, eran estampas cotidianas en las que apenas aparecían per
sonajes. Con el paso de los años, sus obras se van llenando de figuras humanas y de color. Reflejan este cambio dos de sus obras más emblemáticas: Homenaje a las palomas de Picasso y Hermanas Brontë. (Translation)

The Guardian reviews Un Dimanche à Ville d'Avray by Dominique Barbéris:

It is also woven through with the cultural experiences throughout Jane and Claire Marie’s lives: Jane Eyre, Gérard de Nerval and a repeated refrain from the poem Autumn Song by Théophile Gautier: “Rain bubbles on the garden pond/ The swallows gathered on the roof/ Confabulate and correspond.” (John Self)

Also in The Guardian, the best books about islands:

Islands are perfect settings for origin stories: places where characters can be formed before moving into the larger and often hostile world. Nowhere is this clearer than in Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys’s classic prequel to Jane Eyre. Opening in Jamaica in the immediate aftermath of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, it considers the deep scars inflicted by colonial rule on a landscape and its inhabitants. (Kiran Millwood Hargrave)

A quote from the story Within These Arms Forever Swim by John Andrew Fredrick as published in Vol.1 Brooklyn:

Many’s the time Kristine’d told me of happy hours spent plopped on some sweet stretch of beach or other, keenly reading one of her precious black or tan or orange Penguin paperbacks, the Eminent Victorians–Hardy and George Eliot, The Brontës and the later, darker Dickens, mostly, she’d told me she favored: the deep ones, the heavies, the big boys and girls.

Regeneración (México) publishes a (highly novelized) article on Emily Brontë, "withdrawn, cool, and a dog lover":

Emily Brontë (1818−1848) tuvo una personalidad introvertida. A pocas personas les abrió su corazón y, desde pequeña, cultivó un retraimiento que la hacía replegarse sobre sí misma. Esta mujer, de labios carnosos y bien dibujados, hablaba poco de sus anhelos y sus convicciones, como si ambas cosas le parecieran una pérdida de tiempo. Prefería refugiarse en la introspección. (...) (Ricardo Sevilla) (Translation)

The new season of books in La Presse (Canada):

Cécile Coulon avait remporté beaucoup de succès avec son roman précédent, Une bête au paradis. Dans Seule en sa demeure, elle raconte l’histoire d’un mariage arrangé entre la jeune Aimée, 18 ans, et Candre Marchère, riche propriétaire terrien dont la première épouse est morte peu de temps après les noces. Son fantôme hante la demeure du Jura où vit le couple, et où la jeune Aimée tente de trouver sa place. L’atmosphère est mystérieuse à souhait dans cette histoire que n’auraient pas reniée les sœurs Brontë. (Nathalie Collard) (Translation)

A reader of The Standard-Times is reading Wuthering Heights, a book that is recommended by Aventuras Na História (Brazil). AnneBrontë.org weekly post is:'Did the Brontës eat meat?'. Spoiler alert: they did.

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Dialect as a social reality

 A recent Brontë-related scholar paper:

Thematic implications and representativeness in Wuthering Heights (1848): Dialect as a social reality
Fatiha Belmerabet, University of Tlemcen, Tlemcen, Algeria

Global Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, Vol. 11 No. 3 (2021): August 

Since language is a brainwork of speakers who live in social and physical environments, researchers are obliged to think about the alliance between the vocabularies’ meaning in dictionaries and their significance in social use. And because the novel is a fictional piece of writing which is primarily inspired by real life and reflects realities. In Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë strives to interfere in her characters’ thought and considers their social class, culture and experience; she acts as a writer, the speaker and the reader as well. These authorial qualities gave birth to a text combined of two language varieties, the Standard English and the Yorkshire dialect which are tightly interwoven without distorting the unity and the arrangement of the story plot. This paper looks to cover the different social inclinations of E. Brontë’s depiction of dialect in addition to some critical resonances of such representation.

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A Trance Writer

 Lancashire Live and the Manchester Evening News think that Wycoller Hall is a Lancashire 'hidden gem':

A village is Colne has been hailed a 'hidden gem' for its ruins, streams, craft centre and more.
Wycoller Village and Country Park, located just a few miles from Colne, has been praised by visitors.
Wycoller Hall has passed between several high profile Lancashire families but has subsequently fell into ruin.
It is thought to have inspired Ferndean Manor in Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre. (Chantelle Heeds)

The hall, which dates back to the 1600s, is believed to have been the inspiration for Charlotte Brontë's Fearndean Manor in her novel Jane Eyre.
The Brontë sisters are said to have regularly walked the 10 miles here from Haworth in neighbouring Yorkshire where they grew up. (...)
The bewitching location of the hall is said to have inspired the literary genius of Charlotte Brontë when she walked here with her sisters in the 19th century.
For it is believed that Wycoller Hall was the inspiration for Ferndean Manor, the woodland manor house of Mr Rochester in her classic work Jane Eyre. (Dianne Bourne)

The Riverside Quarterly publishes the article Charlotte Brontë’s “Possession”: 'What Writers Can Learn from the Author of Jane Eyre':

“Charlotte Brontë was essentially a trance writer”, so writes Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar in their wildly popular feminist text The Madwoman in the Attic. Brontë’s art form, though well-rehearsed after decades of writing alongside her sisters, is almost as mystical and mythologized as Jane Eyre itself, with strange and morbidly fascinating tales of Charlotte’s peers watching her write at a furious pace, her eyes closed and gripping her pencil in a crushing grip, at the most inopportune times. Indeed, Brontë once, when stationed as a teacher at Roe Head School in the mid-1830s, condescendingly mocked both her students and employer as they watched her in the midst of one of these infamous writing trances; “Hang their astonishment!” she writes later on in her journal, “stupidity, the atmosphere, school-books, the employment, asses, the society, what in all this is there to remind me of the divine, silent, unseen land of thought” (...) ( Tyler Clark)

GMA News talks about the Filipino TV series The World Between Us: 

According to [Dominic] Zapata [(the director)],  the romance drama series is based on Emily Brontë’s classic book “Wuthering Heights.”  (Kaela Malig)

A reader in The Sunday Times also caught the blunder on the Maggie O'Farrell interview a few days ago:  

Eyre-ata slip
In the interview with Maggie O’Farrell (Culture, last week), she is asked who her favourite authors are. She reportedly replies, “Jane Eyre, Elizabeth Strout or Margaret Atwood.”
I wonder if Mr Rochester also wrote any noteworthy books. (Kay Bagon, Radlett, Hertfordshire)

Dreams on antidepressants in The Spinoff (New Zealand):

The dream dictionaries I consulted in the 90s and the dream sequences I love in books and films have also baked into me, like permanent indentations in an old mattress, the idea that a dream can reflect our lives back at us truly. Jane Eyre watching mad old Rochester tiny in the distance; Ruth in Jack Lasenby’s The Lake seeing her father calling her from the lake’s edge. (Ashleigh Young)

The Sangai Express (India) mentions the Brontës in a letter from a governess to parents:

Here, I will attempt to write in the form of classic English writing inspired by Jane Eyre. By the way, the very idea of writing this piece came up while I was teaching my niece, the poem,’Mr Rabbit’.
In my story narrative, I had imagined myself as a governess (teacher) who is not working in a fancy mansion like, Mr. Rochester’s house in Jane Eyre’s novel. (Chinglembi Shagolsem)

The author Gretchen Archer discusses epistolary novels in Kings River Life Magazine:

Have you ever read an epistolary? A story told through correspondence rather than by a narrator? Of the epistolaries I’ve read—comparatively speaking, there aren’t all that many out there. The one that made the biggest impression was A Woman Of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey. With the single exception of A Woman, I’ve never read a book more than once, unlike my oldest daughter Laura, who reads the entire Harry Potter series every year or Margaret Tate, Sandra Bullock’s character in The Proposal, who reads Wuthering Heights every Christmas.

Stars Insider explores UK's literary inspirations:

The highly-admired Brontë sisters were from West Riding, in Yorkshire. There, the three writers created intricate stories about love and loss. Emily Brontë depicted the romantic gloom of Yorkshire in ‘Wuthering Heights’, with protagonist Heathcliff wandering the melancholic moors. The moors are otherwise known as Brontë Country. Step into the sisters’ world at The Brontë Parsonage Museum. The site is located at their former home in Haworth.

The #SaveHaworthMainStPostOffice campaign is covered in The Telegraph & Argus:

It has come about after Post Office Ltd proposed to close the local post-office branch and move it inside the new co-op store on Station Road in September.
The post office has been there for more than 150 years and serves many residents and businesses in the area.
It is also a a tourist destination for Brontë lovers, as it is where the famous sisters used to post their letters.
Lydia MacKinnon, 59, spokesperson for Save Haworth Main Street Post Office group said: “It's an iconic street scene, it’s one of the most iconic street scenes in the UK, but it’s not only visited by thousands of people it also has lots of residents and businesses that use the post office. It’s the only place on Main Street where you can get cash out.”
The protest will take place on the church steps in Haworth at midday on Sunday August 22. (Chelsie Sewell)

ABC Hoy (Argentina) on reading during a pandemic:

El asunto es que desde que inició la pandemia mis lecturas se volvieron inusuales. Hice un pasaje por toda la bibliografía de Jane Austen, en muchos casos releyendo novelas que ya había leído hasta dos veces. Leí por primera vez Mujercitas, Jane Eyre y Cumbres borrascosas. Cuando los clásicos se agotaron, en castellano y en inglés, me incliné hacia obras más polémicas como la trilogía de Bridget Jones (maravillosas lecturas, pero eso es material para otro día). (María Constanza Celano López) (Translation)

La Crónica del Quindío (Colombia) visits a private library in Bogotá:

Adentrarse en ese bosque de papel y tinta en medio de cierta penumbra solemne interrumpida por chorros de luz que se filtran por las ventanas, produce la sensación que a un niño una dulcería, asombro, felicidad de advertir la presencia apretujada de una multitud de hombres y mujeres congregados, escritores de todas las latitudes y condiciones, de todos los tiempos, famosos o anónimos metidos en esos libros, autores de obras y pensamientos cumbres de la humanidad como las de Shakespeare o Cervantes o de sencillas y sentidas poesías telúricas cómo Hojas de Hierba o la simple constatación de los amores pasionales en Cumbres Borrascosas, que ahora permanecen silenciosos, callados, ordenados, firmes en los estantes esperando que alguien los convoque con el roce de las manos, los rescate de su silencioso letargo para ponerlos a conversar, a destilar información, erudición, sabiduría o simple entretenimiento. (Óscar Iván Sabogal Vallejo) (Translation)

El DiarioAR (Argentina) publishes an excerpt from a recent Spanish translation of  Virginia Woolf's Genius and Ink, the one on Charlotte Brontë. Contigo! (Brazil) recommends Wuthering Heights. Rereading Jane Eyre posts about Wide Sargasso Sea. 

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Dialectics of Exchange

 A new scholarly book with Brontë-related content:

The Fluid Frame in Cinema: Collected Essays

Pradipta Mukherjee

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-5275-6790-0

August 2021

This book is a passionate rendezvous with cinema, the most collaborative of art forms. The essays here explore the possibilities offered by a close reading of cinema that keeps cultural contexts and their socio-historical roots firmly in sight.

This collection does not consider the “frame”, that oft-referenced basic unit of vision in films, as a limiting structure. Rather, it brings into purview what is left out. Divided into three sections, the essays look firstly at Indian cinema, both Bollywood and regional films, tracing the journey of Indian cinema from the periphery to the center.

The second section focuses on Adaptation Studies and takes an unorthodox look at classic adaptations of literature. The final section is a reappraisal of directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick. The essays propose that, even though the film as an artwork does not change fundamentally over time, it still strikes a contemporary critical gaze differently.

The book includes the chapter: "Dialectics of Exchange in William Wyler's and Luis Buñuel's Adaptations of Wuthering Heights".

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With only books for solace

Irish Times recommends several books including

Madam

Phoebe Wynne

Quercus, £14.99

Caldonbrae Hall is a boarding school for girls; it looms over the sea in a remote part of Scotland, its gothic isolation and brooding atmosphere fitting for this modern gothic novel with a feminist impulse. There is an appetising tension as classics teacher Rose arrives into a world she at first doesn’t understand – and gradually comes to fear. Like Jane Eyre, alone, with only books for solace, Rose suspects there is a secret at the dark heart of the school. The girls are being prepared for the world, the prospectus says, but Rose cannot understand their codes, their strange classes and peculiar etiquette; the terrifying truth is revealed as she falls under the power and watchful eye of the school. Latin and Greek myths echo throughout, in a story that will not let you go. (Ruth McKee)

Far Out magazine wonders:

Kate Bush has one of the most distinctive voices in pop. Honestly, how many times have you attempted to reach those high notes in ‘Wuthering Heights’ and failed miserably? I’m guessing, like me, you’ve lost count. That’s because Bush is a unique talent, someone who has honed her voice throughout her long career. (Sam Kemp)

Finally, Book Riot has a quiz to find out which Brontë heroine you are.

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New Penguin Brazilian editions

 New Penguin Brazilian editions of novels by the Brontës:

Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë

New translation by Fernanda Abreu

Introduction by Stevie Davis

New Preface by Sandra Guardini Vasconcelos

Penguin Companhia das Letras

ISBN:9788582851395

July 2021

Um dos principais romances da literatura inglesa chega à Penguin-Companhia com nova tradução e prefácio. Ao contar a história da órfã Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë nos brinda com um livro arrebatador.

O Morro dos Ventos Uivantes

Emily Brontë
New tranlation by Julia Romeu.
Introduction by Pauline Nestor.
New Preface by Cíntia Schwantes

Penguin Companhia das Letras

ISBN:  9788582851425

July 2021

Um dos principais romances da literatura inglesa chega à Penguin-Companhia com nova tradução e textos de apoio. Ao contar a trágica história do casal Catherine Earnshaw e Heathcliff, Emily Brontë constrói um dos maiores livros da literatura mundial.

A Inquilina de Wildfell Hall

Anne Brontë

New translation by Débora Landsberg

Introduction by Stevie Davis

Penguin Companhia das Letras

ISBN: 9788582851432

July 2021

Um dos grandes romances da literatura inglesa chega à Penguin-Companhia com nova tradução e textos de apoio. A inquilina de Wildfell Hall mostra, com clareza ímpar, as lutas de uma mulher por sua independência.

Further information in O Liberal (Brazil). 

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