Could ChatGPT Sing in Cursive?

The Yorkshire Post celebrates Anne Brontë's legacy on the 175th anniversary of her death (that will take place in 2024):

She lived for just 29 years, but in that time, she and her sisters Charlotte and Emily became authors of some of the best-loved books in the English language.

The forthcoming year marks the 175th anniversary of the death of Anne, who is the only Brontë not to be buried in the family vault beneath St. Michael and All Angels church in Haworth, where the family lived.

Rather, she was laid to rest at St. Mary's, Scarborough, having spent her final days in the coastal town before she died in May 1849, most likely of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Only recently has an exhibition on her life been staged there – at Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre. Organisers from The Anne Brontë Society said they wanted to show Anne’s connection to Scarborough ran deeper than just being buried in the area.

"Many people might know she is buried here, but I don't think they realise she lived here for five weeks a year,” said founder of the society Lauren Bruce.

They felt it was important to capture some of this connection and to recognise Anne as a major literary figure.

In addition to a collection of poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell published with her sisters, Anne had two books published in her lifetime - Agnes Grey (1847), which deals with the plight of a family governess, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), which examines the consequences of married women's lack of legal rights.

"We've found references, right back to the 1930s, of Anne being the most 'tragic' Bronte," said Ms Bruce as the exhibition launched. “And we want to change that story.”

It was not the first time that an event had sought to change perceptions of Anne. To celebrate what would have been her 200th birthday, in 2020, the Brontë Parsonage Museum launched an exhibition on Anne’s life and work.

"It’s like there’s been a big conspiracy in the past to portray her as gentle and long-suffering when all the evidence suggests a highly intelligent women – equally talented but determined to do something different with her writing,” said principal curator Ann Dinsdale at the time.

“She was less hooked on Byron and the romantics. She wanted to have a moral impact, to do some good in the world.”

Many would say that Anne has tended to be overshadowed at times by her sisters. But in 2024, the 175th anniversary year since her passing, she will almost certainly be celebrated as one of the greatest Victorian writers in her own right. (Laura Reid)

Far Out Magazine explores the literary world of Patti Smith through her songs:

 Because The Night – Emily Brontë

The story of Patti Smith’s biggest hit, ‘Because The Night’, is well-documented. What started as a Bruce Springsteen song that ‘The Boss’ couldn’t seem to finish became Smith’s opus on love and longing. Once the track swapped hands, Smith packed the verses with her signature literary style, seeming to reference classic works without really noticing or meaning to.

On the surface, ‘Because The Night’ is a song about her long-distance relationship with her husband, Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith, but the singer has since talked about an accidental connection to Emily Brontë’s gothic novel. After writing a foreword for a special edition of Wuthering Heights, Smith gave a benefit concert to raise money for the Brontë Museum in their Howarth (sic) hometown. Drawing a connection between this pining tune and the love between Heathcliffe (sic)and Cathy in the novel, her lyrics gained a new, more literary life as an anthem for the gothic couple. Reminiscent of the climax as Cathy goes mad with longing before her death, seeming to spiral around a life of regret for being separated from Heathcliff, she says, “Oh, I’m burning! I wish I were out of doors! I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free.”

With this in mind, Smith’s bridge seems informed by one of her favourite novels as she sings: “Without you, I cannot live / Forgive, the yearning burning / I believe it’s time, too real to feel / So touch me now, touch me now, touch me now / Because the night belongs to lovers. (Lucy Harbron)

 Staycations in Derbyshire in Great Britain Life:

Indeed, its breathtaking vistas and charm have inspired some of our great authors, with the likes of Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, D.H. Lawrence and Jane Austen all compelled to incorporate aspects of our county into some of the all-time classics. (Nathan Fearn)

The best and worst presents in literature in Country Life:

Schoolteacher Lucy Snowe of Charlotte Brontë’s Villette is given novels by her colleague and admirer Monsieur Emanuel, but as ‘pruned’ by his penknife, with the passages he considers inappropriate chopped out, no matter the effect on the narrative. 

Defector lists "the best things we heard in 2023":

Cécile McLorin Salvant's Cover Of "Wuthering Heights"

If you dare cover the queen of ethereal wailing, Kate Bush, you’d best not miss. When Bush was just 18 years old and learned she shared a birthday with Emily Brontë, she wrote one of her most haunting songs in a single night at the piano. “Wuthering Heights” is written from the perspective of the ghost of Catherine Earnshaw, who pleads with Heathcliff, the man she haunts to let her soul back inside: “Let me in your window—I'm so cold!” Bush’s voice is so liltingly ethereal on the record that the song might seem unattainable for any other human singer.

But what about a ghost? The first time I heard the jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant’s cover of “Wuthering Heights,” I felt as if I was listening to an actual spirit. The cover is the first track on Salvant’s 2022 album Ghost Song, and opens with only Salvant’s voice, which hovers into being like a vapor of smoke. I learned this technique is an Irish vocal style called sean-nós, where a lone singer ornaments a melody, oscillating between multiple notes in a single syllable, creating the illusion of a spectral trance. I played Salvant’s ghostly warbling on loop. I had never heard singing like this before, swinging between a whisper and a scream, where notes seemed to spiral around each other. It was like she was singing “Wuthering Heights” in cursive. If a ghost were to ever visit me, I would hope they sounded like this.

Salvant’s cover is on Spotify (along with a surprisingly upbeat remix), but I’m partial to this live performance shakily recorded and uploaded to YouTube in the first half of this video, if only for the surreal experience of seeing such a ghostly voice emerge from the living. (Sabrina Imbler)

The Review Geek recommends Salt & Broom by Sharon Lynn Fisher:

Salt & Broom is an enchanting novel by Sharon Lynn Fisher that combines elements of science fiction, fantasy, and slow-burn romance in a captivating setting. In this book, the author introduces a witchy retelling of the classic Jane Eyre, adding an intriguing twist to the beloved tale. Set in a lush and atmospheric world, the story follows the protagonist as she navigates a journey filled with mystery and magic.

As secrets unravel and dark forces threaten, readers will be drawn into a spellbinding narrative that explores themes of love, resilience, and the power of the supernatural. With its richly imagined world and compelling characters, Salt & Broom promises a captivating reading experience. (Kennie M)

The Times Daily Quiz includes the question:

 5 Lynne Reid Banks’ 1976 book Dark Quartet is about which literary family from Yorkshire? (Olav Bjortomt)

Sophie Brickman in The Guardian shares a terrible story:

 I was impressed as his stories grew ever more inventive and responsive to our kids’ demands. Then I learned his secret. (...)

To not only come up with a brand-new story, but also add a rhyming riddle into the mix? Just whom had I married? I started to cycle through the stories of other women who’d also found themselves living with men who harbored deep secrets, from Rosemary’s Baby to Jane Eyre. Was he communing with the devil? Did he have a first wife hidden in the coat closet?

“It’s ChatGPT,” he whispered, with a shrug, after he tiptoed out and found me slack-jawed and panicky. “I just feed in her insane prompts and it spits out a story.”

Gobookmart lists memorable characters from books:

Catherine Earnshaw – “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë

From the windswept moors of “Wuthering Heights” emerges a character whose passionate nature and tumultuous life have captivated readers for generations. Catherine Earnshaw is not just a figure of romance and tragedy; she embodies the struggle between societal expectations and personal desires. Her deep, almost spiritual connection with Heathcliff reflects the novel’s exploration of the raw, untamed aspects of human emotion and the destructive power of love and obsession. (Akansha)

Amy Walters reveals in The Conversation her love for Maggie O'Farrell's The Vanishing of Esme Lennox:

This is conveyed most powerfully in the novel’s closing pages, which speak back to the degradation of the “mad woman” through centuries of literature, from Jane Eyre onwards. I don’t want to give the ending away, so I’ll just say that when the asylum closes, Esme makes her unceremonious return to the “community” with vengeance in her heart.

GeoTV thinks that writers like Charles Dickens anticipated Freud's psychology:

At the same time, as I researched my own works, mid-Victorian writers traced and retraced how past events could influence the present. By focusing on traumatic childhood experiences, writers such as Dickens and Charlotte Brontë (such as Jane Eyre) helped shape the version of trauma that we now understand.

 Recreio (Brazil) lists books that "every student should read":

O morro dos ventos uivantes, de Emily Brontë

O morro dos ventos uivantes, o único romance da autora inglesa Emily Brontë, apresenta uma história trágica de amor e obsessão. Os personagens centrais são Catherine Earnshaw, uma mulher obstinada e genial, e seu irmão adotivo, Heathcliff. Apesar de Heathcliff ser rude, humilhado e rejeitado, seu relacionamento com Catherine é caracterizado por uma mistura intensa de amor e ódio. (Translation)

Mor.bo (in Spanish) recommends books if you like Emerald Fennell's Saltburn:

Cumbres Borrascosas Emerald Fennell dijo que este libro fue una de las más grandes inspiraciones de su película, y en el centro de esta novela, la única escrita por Emily Brontë, está el amor apasionado entre Catherine Earnshaw y Heathcliff, contado con tal intensidad emocional que una simple historia de los páramos de Yorkshire adquiere la profundidad y simplicidad de una tragedia. Al igual que Saltburn, el libro está titulado con el nombre de una propiedad que es el centro de la narración, y una vez la lees, comprendes por qué Kate Bush le dedicó una de sus canciones más famosas a la historia de estos dos amantes separados por la clase social. (Translation)

Soundvenue (Sweden) reviews the latest album by Britney Spears, Britney Jean: 

Hun er Bertha Mason låst inde oppe på loftet i Charlotte Brontës ‘Jane Eyre’, vis dæmoniske tilstedeværelse kan mærkes i huset, selv når hun ikke ses. (Rasmus Weirup) (Translation)