Think of the Brontës

The Telegraph & Argus walks the Brontë Way with Marje Wilson, author of The Brontë Way:

Think of the Brontës and most people cast their minds to Haworth.

In 1820, Patrick Brontë was appointed incumbent of St Michael and All Angels' Church, Haworth, and arrived at the parsonage with his wife Maria and six children

It was the family home for the rest of their lives, and its wild moorland setting had a profound influence on the writing of sisters Charlotte, Emily, and Anne.

Yet in a nearby village stands a building that, it could be argued, played a far more vital role in the history of the Brontës.

Charlotte, Patrick Branwell, Emily and Anne were born at Thornton Parsonage on Market Street, Thornton. The Brontë Birthplace, as it is known, bears a blue plaque in their honor and is among a number of Brontë-associated landmarks featured in the second, updated edition of The Brontë Way by Marje Wilson of Heaton.

The Brontë Way is a long-distance footpath of some 69km or 43 miles from Oakwell Hall, Birstall, to Gawthorpe Hall in the Lancashire town of Padiham.

It links together a variety of places which played a part in the lives and literary productions of the Brontë family, writes Marje, ‘embracing paths which must have been used by the Reverend Patrick Brontë as he went about his ministry and others used by his daughters when they were visiting friends or taking walks in the countryside which inspired their novels.’ (Read more) (Helen Mead)

In The Big Issue, CA Castle, author of the Brontë derivative The Manor House Governess, makes a list of gothic mysteries including:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

This Victorian novel follows the titular character’s journey through class, religious and sexual struggles. Jane gets her fairy-tale-like ending, and the novel is considered one of the most famous romances ever to be written. 

Libreriamo (Italy) highlights the poem Love and Friendship by Emily Brontë:

Nella magica poesia “Amore e amicizia” ci offre una rappresentazione chiara delle emozioni naturali che regolano i due tipi di relazione attraverso una metafora mediata da due piante che vivono in natura.

L’autrice di Cime tempestose paragona l’amore a una rosa canina: splendida, ma caduca. L’amicizia, invece, è un agrifoglio che forse sarà meno profumata, ma è sempreverde. (Translation)

El Mundo (Spain) interviews the writer Guillaume Musso:

Su revelación ocurrió cuando tenía 11 años. Era Navidad y recuerda que llovía mucho. Buscando en la librería de su madre, que era bibliotecaria, encontró un tomo que le llamó la atención: Cumbres borrascosas, de Emilie (sic) Brontë. "Empecé a leer y no pude parar, tuve la sensación de que era libre, que leía algo prohibido, esa experiencia me marcó, para mí fue una revelación. La he releído varias veces. Es una obra que puedes leer en distintos momentos de tu vida y el mensaje es distinto porque tiene varias capas. Escribe sobre sentimientos muy potentes. Para mí es un objeto de fascinación cómo se pueden describir destinos tan singulares". (Raquel Villaécija) (Translation)

ctxt (in Spanish) interviews the essayist  Antonio Ballesteros González:

Esther Peñas: Salvo en Cumbres borrascosas, ¿el paisaje como elemento terrorífico en las ficciones fantásticas victorianas deja paso a la intimidad de las casas o castillos para que el miedo se manifieste?

A.B.G.: (...) . Pero, contestando a tu pregunta, el paisaje fue siempre en la literatura gótica un elemento de alienación y terror cuando se utiliza para dichos fines. No solo Emily Brontë, sino también otros muchos artífices de la pluma, tanto masculinos como femeninos, utilizaron el paisaje como factor inquietante y desasosegante (Translation)

The Objective (in Spanish) talks about the writer Pilar Adón:

Abismada en Cumbres borrascosas o Jane Eyre se convirtió en una lectora vocacional. «A partir de ahí, de tanto leer, como consecuencia natural, me salía escribir». Desde entonces, «es imposible que la literatura no esté presente en mi vida. Sé que a algunas personas les puede parecer muy raro, pero a veces pienso Madame Bovary o Anna Karenina son tan reales como primos o vecinos que existen de verdad. De hecho, las conozco mejor a ellas». (Ángel Peña) (Translation)

TFO (in French) reviews the novel Jaz by Michèle Vinet:

Quant à Vinet, elle ne se gêne pas à faire allusion à l’oeuvre Les Hauts de Hurlevent de Emily Brontë ou Le Rouge et le Noir de Stendhal, des romans qui ont séduit mon adolescence. (Monia Mizagh) (Translation)

La Arena (Argentina) publishes an excerpt from the novel Te digo la verdad by G. Suárez, where Wuthering Heights is explictly mentioned. Cosmopolitan (Spain) also mentions a quote by Wuthering Heights among a list of famous film quotes. Jurnallul (Romania) lists classic books, including Jane Eyre.  The Brontë pseudonyms are mentioned in Fehmarn24 (Germany). The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) quotes Anne Brontë in an article about corruption. Seldon's Blog publishes a photo gallery of Jane Eyre 1970.