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Monday, July 24, 2023

The Mirror has an article on railway booking office clerks through history. And Branwell Brontë makes an appearance:
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)
Louder on books and stories that inspired classic songs:
Wuthering Heights
By 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)
ArtsHub reviews a production of DIVAS with Bernardette Robinson:
 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)
Prestige reviews The Taylor Swift: Storyteller exhibition currently at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York:
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)
Bild (Germany) recommends Emily that is now in the Amazon Prime catalogue in Germany:
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)
Gonzaï (France) recommends some new music albums:
PJ Harvey –  I Inside The Old Year Dying
Mood : pour les apéros sur la plage en relisant les sœurs Brontë. (Emmanuel Jean) (Translation)
Plejada (Poland) quotes the actress Katarzyna Warnke describing her relationship with her first husband:
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)
Murekkep Haber (Turkey) makes a list of the best novels. Wuthering Heights appears twice: as such and as a 'romance' novel. Jane Eyre is in the  'psychological novels' category. Whatever that may mean.
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 Brontë
Romantizm 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)
El Día de Tenerife (Spain) interviews the poet Cecilia Domínguez:
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)
The blunder of the day comes from Italy. Eroica Fenice lists some Victorian novels:
Jane Eyre – Emily Bronte
Uno 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,

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