When Paul wanted to be Cathy

Showbiz Cheatsheet reminds us of the day Paul McCartney joked that he wanted to play Cathy from Wuthering Heights:

During one 1965 interview (via Beatles Interviews), these artists were asked about their acting experience — especially if they had their sights set on any other projects or roles. Lennon said that they couldn’t be professional actors. 

There were “so many cuts” in Help to make it look as though they were good. Still, one Beatles member jokingly set his sights on a role in Wuthering Heights.

“Yeah, that’s right, Paul’s Cathy,” Harrison added.

“Wuthering Heights,” McCartney clarified. “It’s my big ambition.”

This novel by Emily Brontë tells the story of two families — the Earnshaws and the Lintons — primarily through the eyes of Catherine Earnshaw. It’s a love story that was later reworked into a play. However, the Beatles member never appeared in a stage production as the protagonist. (Julia Dzurillay)

Telly visions revisits Wuthering Heights 2009: "The WH adaptation that gets Catherine Earnshaw right":

The 2009 ITV adaptation of Wuthering Heights, which certainly takes some liberties with the text of Emily Brontë's classic novel, but is remarkably faithful to its spirit.

Eager to make much of the subtext of Brontë's story almost glaringly textual, this is a version of Wuthering Heights that includes sex scenes, suicide, and a strong hint that the love of Cathy's life may be her half-brother. Subtle, it is not. But while there are undoubtedly substantial changes to the source material, this is also an adaptation that understands that part of the appeal of this story is its wild, untameable heart and that nowhere is that crucial element more evident than in its messy, endlessly appealing depiction of the book's heroine, Catherine Earnshaw. (Lacy Baugher)

The Sunday Times quotes the writer Martina Devlin:

At the moment Devlin is working through François Mauriac’s oeuvre. “I try and keep up with what’s being written currently, but I’ll alternate that with rereading a book,” she says. “You draw different things from a novel at different times of your life. I’ve gone back to Jane Eyre a number of times, liking Mr Rochester less and less.” (Sophie Grenham)

Den of Geek publishes an episode-by-episode guide of Junji to Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre:

 Library Vision

Season 1 Episode 6

Goro takes having a favorite book way too far. His mother’s copy of Renee of the Winter Wind (almost lost in his enormous library) echoes melancholy Victorian romances like Wuthering Heights, except Cathy isn’t going to claw her way out of the grave to haunt you. (Elizabeth Rayne)

The Sun recommends romantic holiday breaks:

Wuthering Heights Inn is a shepherd’s hut near Haworth, the setting for Emily Brontë’s famous love story, in West Yorkshire.

There’s no water or electricity on the field but don’t worry, facilities are at the nearby pub! From £65 (two-night min). (Lisa Minot)

A completely different (in all possible senses) place to have a holiday break is Habitas on Hudson, according to Forbes:

The 20 rooms, expected to expand to 30, spread between the Manor House, separate Lodge and Stonehouse and named after authors such as Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Dickens and the Brontë sisters are calmer, uncluttered and designed with natural fabrics and neutral colors. (With a sense of humor, though, since the books left for guests to peruse in the Charlotte Brontë room are Lady Chatterly’s Lover and The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh.) (Laurie Werner)

A reader of The Tampa Bay Times is spot-on talking about forbidding books in schools: 

Because one parent objected to Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Pinellas County schools have removed the book not only from classrooms but also from libraries. As a former high school English teacher, I’ve had to defend books that parents have deemed “harmful to minors.” These parents miss an important point. The classroom is the best place to tackle painful and challenging aspects of our human condition. A trained teacher handles these issues with expertise and care. Therefore, we don’t ban Jane Eyre because it deals with child abuse; we don’t ban The Great Gatsby because it deals with marital infidelity; we don’t ban The Bluest Eye because it deals with pedophilia. (Anita Huenke)

Caitlin Moran's latest column in The Times has a Brontë mention:

 It’s both personal – we all have episodes of longing for our childhood rivers, wood and beaches – and a global treasure: the whole world knows about The Wind in the Willows, the Brontës’ moors, Laurie Lee’s Cotswolds.

More websites comment on the theatrical premiere of Emily: Baarnsche Courant (Netherlands), Sensacine (México), Omnia (México)...

Málaga al Día (Spain) reviews The Tenant of Wildfell Hall:

La inquilina de Wildfell Hall tiene todos los ingredientes necesarios para hacernos disfrutar de la literatura con mayúsculas y aunque al ser escrita en 1848, y algunas de las decisiones y comportamientos de sus protagonistas pueden quedar ya obsoletos (afortunadamente), no por ello desmerecen su lectura. (Elena Zamora) (Translation)

La Nueva España talks about hypochondria and mentions Charlotte Brontë's Roe Head 1836 crisis:

Charlotte Brontë sufrió su primera crisis con 19 años, Tennessee Williams evitaba jugar con otros niños por miedo a que le contagiasen algo, Juan Ramón Jiménez llegó a vivir con sus psiquiatras para poder tener atención continua, Leiva afirma que es bien conocido en las consultas de urgencias …  (Marisol Delgado) (Translation)

Wiener Zeitung (Austria) reviews the novel Quecksilberlicht by Thomas Stangls:

Grob überschlagen verfolgt Stangl drei Hauptstränge: die britischen Schriftsteller-Geschwister Charlotte, Emily, Anne und Branwell Brontë, den grausamen chinesischen Kaiser Qin Shihuangdi und seine eigene Familiengeschichte. Zwischendurch bringt er sich selbst, sein Schreiben und seinen Zugang zu Literatur ein. Ein "Ich" im Text meint indessen nicht notwendigerweise immer den Autor: Es kann auch eine/r von den Brontës, der chinesische Kaiser oder ein familiärer Vorfahre sein, deren/dessen Identität sich Stangl in einer Art Übersprungshandlung gerade bemächtigt (oder die/der sich Stangls bemächtigt). (...)

Die Geschwister Brontë, insbesondere Emily und Branwell, geleitet er, ständig Bezüge zu ihrem Werk herstellend, in ihr Ableben, das sich bei den Frauen als schrittweiser Transformationsprozess von körperlicher Hinfälligkeit zu phantastischer Produktion, bei Branwell allerdings als ohnmächtiges Aufbegehren darstellt.

Actualidad Literaria interviews the writer Inma Chacón: 

AL: ¿Un escritor de cabecera? Puedes escoger más de uno y de todas las épocas. 

IC: Me encantan las hermanas Brönte (sic). Otra de mis primeras lecturas fue Cumbres borrascosas. Me impactó y la he leído varias veces. También están  Flaubert, Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Henry James, Marguerite Yourcenar, García Márquez, Vargas Llosa, Gonzalo Torrente Ballester y un largo etcétera. Como maestro de todos, desde luego, Cervantes. Creo que El Quijote es el mejor libro de todos los tiempos.  (Translation)

Corriere della Calabria reports that the published discourse of the inauguration of the Judiciary year at the Corte d’Appello di Reggio Calabria by President  Bruno Muscolo;

Sulla copertina della relazione di Muscolo l’immagine di una donna iraniana che indossa l’hijab. Sul retro una frase di Charlotte Bronte: “Non sono un uccello; e non c’è rete che possa intrappolarmi. Sono una creatura umana libera, con una libera volontà”.  (Mariateresa Ripolo) (Translation)

Valentine's Day quotes in Women's Health, including one from Wuthering Heights. Tagesspiegel (Germany) recommends Mithu Sanyal essay on Emily Brontë. The Oddness of Moving Things posts about Wuthering Heights.