Modern iterations of Heathcliff-like characters are anything but healthy

The Daily Iowan announces the 2023-24 season of the Riverside Theatre in Iowa City, IA:

“The Trip to Bountiful” will be followed by the first American production of “Brontë: The World Without” at Riverside in November. Written by Jordi Mand, this play recounts the lives of the brilliant Brontë sisters: Charlotte, Emily, and Anne.

The production will be directed by Juliana Frey-Méndez, who has previously directed Riverside’s “Fefu and Her Friends,” and will focus on defining moments that inspired the Brontë women to write the stories they are now famous for; titles including “Wuthering Heights,” “Jane Eyre,” and “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.” (Stella Shipman)

Locus Magazine presents new S/F, fantasy or terror books:

Creagh, Kelly: Strange Unearthly Things

(Penguin Random House/Viking 9780593116081, $19.99, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 08/22/2023)

Young-adult paranormal romance, a reimagining of Jane Eyre. Orphan Jane Reye is a psychic artist who sees spirits and the supernatural. After graduating from the girls’ school she’s spent most of her life at, she gets an invitation to join a study at the English manor Fairfax Hall, where the elusive proprietor is a handsome boy her age, and supernatural activity and secrets are rife.

The Herald Tribune highlights how a local teacher has given a talk at the recent Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP) International Biennial Conference in Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex:

[Devon] Lejman’s teaching career began in 2020 at Anderson High School when the pandemic was at its height. She remembers arriving to an empty classroom.

The lack of in-person connection and overall uncertainty left Lejman feeling “lost.”

“When you don’t have those students, you can’t make those connections in the same way,” she said. “You’re not building relationships with kids, which is one of my favorite things about teaching.”

The experience was so deflating that Lejman almost quit teaching. However, something happened that changed everything — she and Spanke read the book “Praying with Jane Eyre,” which sparked their research.

Lejman also credits the book for helping reignite her passion and desire for education. Lejman returned to Alexandria the week after her trip to England and found a room of students excited to hear about her trip. (Caleb Arnick)

Texas Highways vindicates Lisa Tuttle as a Texan author:

The Pillow Friend hit even closer to home. Bookish Agnes Grey grows up in west Houston yearning to get away; she goes to UT for college and dates a musician who works at Conans Pizza. She tells my Texas grandfather’s favorite off-color joke, which I’ve never heard anyone else tell—with good reason—and for her birthday she gets an antique, jointed porcelain doll just like the one I inherited from my great-grandmother. Agnes and I share a love for Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Two Bad Mice and the Grimm’s fairy tale “The Goose-Girl,” which will never become a Disney movie because it involves nailing a horse’s decapitated head over a doorway. And, of course, Agnes Grey, named after a Brontë novel, shares my initials. (Amy Gentry)

Keighley News reports some of the Free Heritage Open Days activities:

A host of free activities is taking place at Keighley Library to celebrate Heritage Open Days. (...)

Between 11.30am and 12.30pm, visitors can draw inspiration from local artist Ray Vintner when he gives a live painting demonstration, showing how to capture the atmosphere of a Brontë landscape. (Alistair Shand)

StudyFinds publishes a selection of the 'best female writers of all time':

Charlotte Brontë

Charlotte is the third daughter of the Reverend Patrick Brontë, within a family of modest means with six children, benefits, like her four sisters and her brother, from the presence of a father who pushed his classical studies to the University of Cambridge and does not hesitate to pass on to them his culture and his vision of the world,” says Fiction Horizon.

Charlotte Brontë is the sister of Emily Brontë. Her first novel, “The Professor,” was initially rejected by publishers. “Two of Charlotte’s famous books are ‘Jane Eyre:’ This coming-of-age novel follows the journey of its eponymous heroine, including her love for Mr. Rochester and his home at Thornfield Hall. ‘Shirley’ which is set in Yorkshire during the industrial depression of the early 19th Century, the story follows characters during the Luddite uprisings in the Yorkshire textile industry,” states Oxford.

Charlotte Brontë is one of the most famous Victorian female writers in history. “Setting the typical tropes of Victorian literature, Brontë was one of the first authors to experiment with different poetic forms, such as the long narrative and dramatic monologue – but later gave up on poetic writing after the success of her prose,” shares Discover Walks. (Janelle Davis)

The Baffler explores Lana del Rey's L.A.:

The madwoman in the attic is not always nonwhite, as she is coded in Jane Eyre, or a writer, as in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” but in her own contributions to women’s literature, Del Rey bridges the gaps in experience and perspective that separate Bandini from Camilla, Fante and his subject: “Tearing around in my fucking nightgown / 24/7 Sylvia Plath / Writing in blood on my walls / ‘Cause the ink in my pen don’t work in my notepad.” (Andrew Marzoni)

Gossipment talks about the second season of  The Summer I Turned Pretty: 

Heathcliffs have always been much sought-after characters in popular culture – women somehow believe they can change a man. Ladies, it is FINALLY good to see you have accepted that we cannot change a man – it’s always safe bait to pick someone who is a green flag because modern iterations of Heathcliff-like characters are anything but healthy.

Geek Vibes Nation and literary landmarks to visit:

 The Brontë Parsonage – “Wuthering Heights”

Location: Haworth, Yorkshire, England

The moors surrounding the Brontë family home are said to have inspired Emily Brontë’s classic, “Wuthering Heights.” Today, visitors can explore the Brontë Parsonage Museum and walk through the rugged landscapes, feeling the raw emotions and turbulent romance of Heathcliff and Catherine. (Amanda Dudley)

Interia Muzyka (Poland) and songs inspired by books (or not):

 Kate Bush - "Wuthering Heights"

Debiutancki singel brytyjskiej piosenkarki stał się wielkim przebojem w całej Europie w 1978 roku. Kate Bush twierdzi, że napisała piosenkę w jedną noc, zainspirowana powieścią "Wichrowe wzgórza" dziewiętnastowiecznej pisarki Emily Brontë. W książce dwoje młodych ludzi, Catherine i Heathcliff, zakochuje się w sobie i musi stawić czoła problemom klasowym i rodzinnym. Tekst "Wuthering Heights" bezpośrednio nawiązuje do historii przedstawionej w dziele Brontë. (Bisior) (Translation)

Reading women writers in Esquerda (Portugal):

 Por isso, no verão passado, dediquei-me a ler algumas dessas mulheres clássicas da literatura. Jane Austen e a sua incontornável Elizabeth Bennet ou Charlotte Brontё que nos trouxe Jane Eyre. Mas, mais que tudo, o verão de 2022 foi, para mim, aquele em que conheci Catherine Earnshaw, personagem principal de O Monte dos Vendavais, escrito por Emily Brontё. (Leonor Rosas) (Translation)

Finally, a piece of truly IA-driven journalist embarrassment. Diriliş Postası (Turkey) publishes an article about the most looked-for answer for a question seen in a local version of the classic TV quiz Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Eserlerini Acton Bell takma adıyla yazan, Agnes Grey adlı ilk romanı ablasının yazdığı Uğultulu Tepeler romanıyla 1847'de yayımlanan yazar kimdir? (Abone Ol) (Translation)

Acton Bell, author of Agnes Grey, sister of the author of Wuthering Heights.... 

Doğru cevap: Emily Jane Brontë,

OMG.