'& for light reading wuthering heights'

The New Yorker quotes from a letter writer Joyce Carol Oates wrote while in college.

In college, at Syracuse, Oates sometimes referred to herself as a character called “the writer.” In a letter to a friend, she noted all the books “the writer” had just read (“approve of all the king’s men tho it was written with one eye on the typewriter & one eye on Hollywood & the old man & the sea & for light reading wuthering heights”) before disavowing her lofty tone: “This aint me talkin, this is the ‘writer.’ She talks too much.” (Rachel Aviv)

A contributor to The New Yorker mourns the death of a friend who didn't view Wuthering Heights in quite the same light.

Gary Shteyngart, a fellow-teacher at Columbia, remembered Rebecca [Godfrey]’s beloved “Anti-heroines” seminar, which celebrated rebellious, difficult literary characters—from Emily Brontë’s wild Cathy, shivering on the windy moors, to Jean Rhys’s tearful drunks. (Peggy would have fit right in.) It was his mistake, Gary said, to schedule his own seminar, “The Hysterical Male,” at the same time as hers. They were planning to have their classes face off in a beer-pong match at the end of the semester, Hysterical Males vs. Anti-heroines, but he had to call it off once he realized his students would be outnumbered. (Leslie Jamison)

There was a time when this blog was full of Twilight references and Deseret News reminds us of it.

Romeo and Juliet. Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester. Bella and Edward.

Comparing Bella and Edward to these couples from literary classics may seem like a plebeian folly. But with north of 160 million copies sold, the “Twilight” series crossed over from a YA fiction blip to a global phenomenon. [...]

In 2009, Meyer revealed 12 things that influenced her as she wrote “Twilight.” The list, published by Entertainment Weekly, included “Jane Eyre,” “Anne of Green Gables,” “X-Men Cartoons,” the band Muse, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, HGTV and more.

If you have read “Twilight,” this list probably won’t surprise you. Interrupting the angsty love sequences and awkward small talk are both explicit and implicit references to “Wuthering Heights” and “Romeo and Juliet.” (Hanna Seariac)

According to Early Bird Books, Villette is one of '6 Overlooked Classic Books That Belong on Your TBR List'.

Villette

By Charlotte Brontë

Charlotte Brontë is, of course, known for her classic novel Jane Eyre. But her other writing is often pushed to the wayside, including Villette, a story George Eliot said was "a still more wonderful book than Jane Eyre. There is something almost preternatural in its power."

The story follows schoolteacher Lucy Snowe, who is looking to find her own independence. However, this proves difficult when she befriends a worldly English doctor, and begins to have feelings for an autocratic schoolmaster. Now Lucy must decide if she is able to be with a man and still be free. (Kaytie Norman)

Forbes discusses the benefits of a classical education:

Another school that could serve as a model is one in London, called Michaela Community School, that also serves a predominantly low-income population. In addition to providing a rigorous academic experience that includes reading classics (when I visited I observed a group of students who were listening to a teacher reading Jane Eyre and appeared totally entranced by it), the school focuses on developing what classical schools might call “virtues.” But instead of more nebulous qualities like truth and goodness—or perhaps in addition to them—Michaela fosters traits like kindness and gratitude. The result is not just one of the top-performing schools in England but also—from what I saw—a community of thoughtful, articulate, and mature young people. (Natalie Wexler)

L'Alsace (France) reviews Brontëana by Paulina Spucches.

A la vision mélancolique des sœurs Brontë errant dans une lande brumeuse, Paulina Spucches oppose des femmes animées de la volonté d’exister par elles-mêmes et d’échapper au destin programmé de mères au foyer ou de gouvernantes de famille bourgeoise. « Elles étaient multiples, créatives, pleines d’humour et affrontaient la rudesse du quotidien par un soutien mutuel impérissable. »

Ce que restitue Brontëana au prisme de la discrète et atachante Anne, portée par un trait d’une libre poésie, une maîtrise de l’aquarelle et de la gouache, un sens de la construction impressionnant. Remarquable ! (Translation)

The Guardian reports that Karen Powell's Fifteen Wild Decembers has been shortlisted for the inaugural Nero awards.

Completing the fiction shortlist are Booker-winning author Eleanor Catton’s Birnam Wood and Karen Powell’s Fifteen Wild Decembers, a reimagining of the lives of the Brontë family. (Ella Creamer)