A non-event which doesn't disappoint

Zoe Strimpel in The Telegraph is not at all happy with Emma Rice's take on Wuthering Heights:

The National's studenty take on Wuthering Heights has none of the power of the original

When a theatre critic friend invited me to Wuthering Heights at the National last week, I thought of how I had loved Emily Brontë’s book when I read it in my 20s, how terribly sad and moving and complex it all was, and I said yes. (...)

The production opens with the tenant Lockwood at the door of Wuthering Heights, desperate to escape the storm outside. But it’s a caricature: Lockwood is a prancing toff, the storm is represented by cringe-making yelling from studenty types on the side, and everything is terribly, well, theatrical.

My heart sank and sank as one by one the characters were reduced to the two-dimensional cut-outs of the Netflix age, depleted of all the articulacy and complexity of Brontë’s 1847 effort. While I confess to being unable to suppress a few tears, they were superficial – nothing like the deep grief and yearning with which the novel haunts its readers.

By far the hardest to watch was Cathy, Heathcliff’s beloved, played by Lucy McCormick, dressed in an ill-fitting green pullover and tattered sundress for most of it, she had the arrogant, uncontrolled volatility of the boarding school hippy wildchild and it seemed, at times, that Rice also wanted her to be autistic, her hands over her ears as she wheeled and shuddered and told people to get off her. Cathy here was no romantic heroine, but a deeply troubled, mentally ill girl hurtling to her death. Heathcliff (Ash Hunter) was a somewhat non-event.

City A.M. is much more seduced by the production:

There can be little sympathy for any theatre-goers expecting a traditional retelling of Wuthering Heights in this new version at the National Theatre. (...)
Perhaps towing closest to the novel is Heathcliff himself, played with menacing efficiency by Ash Hunter. It’s a tough part to get right, but he captures not only the terrible brutality of his character – ‘toxic masculinity’ to use the modern parlance – but also his wounded nature. Rice writes in her programme notes that she was partly inspired to create the adaptation after drawing parallels between modern migrants and Heathcliff’s ambiguous heritage, which is a prominent strand throughout.
While her Wuthering Heights is deeply strange, Rice’s adoration for Brontë’s novel is never eclipsed by her outre directorial choices. Rice says she’s been obsessed with the book since childhood – there are even fan poems written by her in the programme notes – and it shows. An adaptation a lifetime in the making, it doesn’t disappoint. (Steve Dinneen)

Great titles (or not) for a novel in BuzzFeed:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

"Jane Eyre" is a cool name but I want more than that.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Weird but very memorable. (Hope Lasater)

The Washington Post reviews Bel-Air, talking about The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air:

Like so many sitcom premises, the starting point of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” is a traumatic upheaval. Its jaunty earworm of a theme song, rapped by series star Will Smith, glossed over the conceit’s darker, even Brontë-esque aspects: that of a teen abruptly uprooted from the only home he’s known; cut off almost entirely from his friends and close family; and sent off to live with distant, resentful relatives who had hoped they’d put everything he represents in the rearview mirror of their BMWs long ago. (Inkoo Kang)

This mention in the Lincoln Journal Star feels wrong:

Locals and visitors alike know the Gothic mansions straight out of a Charlotte Brontë novel that dot The Heights’ fanciest blocks.
But few know the story of the man who founded Houston Heights, a Nebraskan who lost two fingers, his company and his beloved son in pursuit of his dream.  (Cindy Lange-Kubick)

Zenda reviews the Spanish translation of Virginia Woolf's Memoirs of a Novelist, quoting from the author:

«George Eliot y Charlotte Brontë son autoras de muchas novelas de esa época, pues ambas revelaron el secreto de que el material precioso que compone los libros se extrae de lo personal, de los cuartos y las cocinas donde viven las mujeres, y se acumula en cada tic-tac del reloj». (Nando López) (Translation)

Chicago Tribune describes an initiative in a local high school where students wrote love or breakup letters to recent books that they have read:

Eighth grader Patrycja Potenta wrote a letter that wasn’t quite a love note, nor a breakup with the Charlotte Brontë classic “Jane Eyre.” Potenta said Jane Eyre was “way ahead of its time” but also a “very long book.” (Bill Jones)

Places to take pictures in Yorkshire in the Examiner Yorkshire Live:

Haworth

The historic Yorkshire village is another gem that makes you feel like you’ve stepped into another era.
The West Yorkshire village was made famous by the Brontë sisters but it has a charm you would struggle to get anywhere else.
Of course, it’s also the perfect place to visit if you want to take pictures. (Mellissa Dzinzi)

The Manchester Evening News has another article on Haworth:

But the village’s literary connections do run deep; it became the home of the famous Brontë sisters, with the wild scenery inspiring Emily Brontë to write Wuthering Heights.
A must-do for literary fans is to visit the Brontë Parsonage Museum, which is operated by the Brontë Society, one of the oldest literary societies in the world.
The Parsonage was the home of the Brontë family and you can experience the sisters’ day-to-day lives at the museum, which boasts an impressive collection of furniture, clothes and their personal items.

For an even more immersive experience lace up your walking boots and head up to Top Withens, a ruined farmhouse near to Haworth which is said to inspire the Wuthering Heights house. (Liv Clarke)

La Razón (México) talks about love and literature:

El amor es la fuerza que lo mueve todo, o por lo menos es lo que nos han hecho creer, y una de las grandes culpables siempre será la literatura. Pero el amor en los libros no siempre es el ideal, el Romanticismo, una corriente literaria de principios del siglo XIX, pintaba un amor trágico, un amor que siempre era imposible y marcaba la vida sin esperanza del protagonista. Libros como Cumbres borrascosas son el ejemplo del amor imposible que trasciende en el tiempo. (Mónica Argamasilla) (Translation)

And some Valentine's mentions, starting with a question:

¿Cómo son las “Cumbres” en las que se desarrolla la tortuosa historia de amor y desamor de Heathcliff y Catherine Earnshaw, escrita por Emily Brontë?  (Tiempo Argentino) (Translation)

Al secondo posto troviamo “Jane Eyre”, romanzo di Charlotte Brontë ambientato nell’Inghilterra vittoriana che racconta le vicende dell’orfana Jane Eyre che dopo una vita difficile trova l'amore con Mr. Rochester. Il romanzo è stato tradotto in 43 lingue.
Sull’ultimo gradino del podio si classifica “Cime tempestose”. L'unico romanzo dell'autrice e sorella di Charlotte Brontë racconta la storia d'amore di Heathcliff, un ragazzo orfano che ha la fortuna di essere adottato, e Catherine, che diventa sua sorella nella famiglia adottiva. Anche questo classico della letteratura inglese è stato tradotto in 43 lingue different. (Prima Lariviera) (Translation)

Newsd quotes Emily Brontë on a list of Valentine's Day Wishes. Bookstr celebrates Valentine’s Day

by reading some of our favorite quotes from the tragic, gothic love story that is ‘Wuthering Heights’!

Dituttounp (Italy) recommends a film for tonight:

Iris (ch. 22 dtt, 11 Tivùsat 325 Sky) ore 21:10 Jane Eyre 1996
Franco Zeffirelli dirige il premio Oscar William Hurt e Charlotte Gainsbourg nella trasposizione cinematografica del romanzo di Charlotte Brontë. L’orfana Jane Eyre viene mandata in un severo collegio femminile da una zia che non la ama. In seguito Jane trova lavoro come istitutrice nella tenuta del ricco Rochester. (Translation)

Frankfurter Allgemeine (Germany) and Télérama (France) review The Sky is Everywhere:

Dafür steht etwa Lennies obsessive Leidenschaft für Emily Brontës viktorianische Romanversuchung „Wuthering Heights“, in der sich psychische Naturgewalten verheerend Bahn brechen. Allmählich begreift die Heldin jedoch, dass Erwachsenwerden das Erlangen der Definitionsmacht über die eigene Geschichte bedeutet, was zu einer Art Exorzismus führt. Enthemmt zerreißt sie den Schicksalsroman: „Ich hasse Cathy und Heathcliff“. Was sie an ihnen hasst: das Ergeben ins Unglück. Bye-bye Fatalismus, hallo Leben. (Oliver Jungen) (Translation)

Évidemment, elle lit et relit Les Hauts de Hurlevent, sinon quelle preuve aurait-on qu’il s’agit d’une jeune fille romantique ? Lennie (Grace Kaufman) joue aussi Mozart à la clarinette, se fiche des réseaux sociaux et, quand elle se balade en forêt, discourt sur l’âge des arbres comme n’importe quelle lycéenne de son âge…  (Marie Sauvion) (Translation)

Rbb (Germany) reviews Inland by Gerald Murnane:

Die Stille, die sich nach dem Gesang der Vögel einstellt, hört er schon. Und er schließt, indem er das Ende von Emily Brontës "Sturmhöhe" zitiert, einen Satz, der in seiner Schönheit von Murnane selbst stammen könnte[.] (Translation)

Finally, Massimo Emanuelli publishes the obituary of the Italian screenwriter Franca Cancogni, who penned the 1957 RAI Jane Eyre adaptation. You's Edittor Letter contains a mention to Wuthering Heights.