The sense of openness and wild, remote, landscape

The Yorkshire Post and one of the periodical threats to Brontë Country:

Owners of sporting estate in Yorkshire moors to end grouse shooting to build wind farm just 1km from ruined 'Wuthering Heights' farmhouse Top Withens

A developer has submitted notice of their intent to build wind 65 turbines on some of Yorkshire’s most culturally and ecologically valuable moorland – close to a ruined farmhouse associated with the Brontë sisters. (...)

The wind farm would also be a short distance from the Brontë Way footpath and the Brontë Waterfalls, and 2.5km from National Trust site Hardcastle Crags. It would be visible from settlements including Heptonstall, Haworth and Hebden Bridge. (...)

On the subject of the Brontë connections, Calderdale Council’s response letter states: “The site and wider area sit in Brontë Country and was home to local author Ted Hughes (amongst others). The surrounding moorland is intrinsically linked with literature and is, therefore, considered to be internationally important in terms of its role in British culture and tourism. The sense of openness and wild, remote, landscape are fundamental to Wuthering Heights.

While there are key locations associated with the Brontës, the sense of the vastness of the moors behind Haworth is equally as important as it immerses visitors into the landscape described in the novels. While there has been some change to the moors due to management for grouse shooting and reservoirs, the absence of tall infrastructure is notable. The outline of the hills rising up in the distance, and then the open tops with space all around them defines the skyline. (...)

Bradford Council notes that the proposal could result in profound harm to this internationally recognised cultural asset of the Brontë landscape. They consider that the significance is such that there has been previous very serious exploration of promoting the landscape, including the application site and its immediate surroundings for World Heritage Site status, on the basis of the literary importance. However, it is not currently designated as a World Heritage Site.” (Grace Newton)

The annual book report of the Lagrange Daily News includes:

That’s two more of each of those than I would normally achieve! I met a couple of other goals as well: a re-read (Chiefs by Stuart Woods) and a classic I’d never read (Agnes Gray by Anne Brontë). 

Haworth is of course one of the chosen places to visit in The Yorkshireman: 

Haworth, West Yorkshire

Home to the Brontë sisters, this spot is literary delight. The main street feels untouched by time like you could bump into Emily Brontë or her sister as your wander over to the Black Bull for a pint. Despite its small size, it’s home to some fantastic cafes and eateries with many heading to The Hawthorn for its popular Sunday roast (which we are still yet to try). Make sure you head over to the old fashioned sweet shop for a bag of bonbons before crossing over to the Haworth Steam Brewery for a swift pint. Oh, and we can’t not mention the Brontë Parsonage where you can learn all about the Brontë’s lives.

BBC Music Magazine's Classical Music talks about the composer Bernard Herrmann:

Herrmann’s love of England ran deep and he made a first visit as a guest conductor in 1937, followed by a second in 1946 – at the invitation of John Barbirolli, with whom Herrmann had struck up an unlikely friendship while the conductor was with the New York Philharmonic. The trip saw him conduct two concerts with the Hallé in Manchester and one with the BBC Symphony in London for a Home Service broadcast. He also took the opportunity to soak up the atmosphere of Brontë country and walk the Yorkshire moors, the setting of his in-progress opera of Wuthering Heights.

That work would occupy a large amount of his time in the 1940s, the composer obsessing over its creation in much the same way that he had gone about setting Moby Dick in 1937/38. Herrmann’s cantata based on Melville’s man-versus-nature epic saw him undertake an almost total-immersion approach, living and breathing the world of the novel as he adapted it (with co-librettist Clark Harrington). Melville and Brontë’s obsessive characters and bleak landscapes suited Herrmann’s melodramatic flair in the same way Welles and Hitchcock’s did; Herrmann matched them with his own idiosyncratic emotional heft, brooding darkness and moments of great beauty. (Michael Beek)

BookRiot presents some new YA Books for 2024:

Escaping Mr. Rochester by L.L. McKinney

Jane Eyre has no interest in a husband. Eager to make her own way in the world, she accepts the governess position at Thornfield Hall.

Though her new employer, Edward Rochester, has a charming air—not to mention a handsome face—Jane discovers that his smile can sharpen in an instant. Plagued by Edward’s mercurial mood and the strange wails that echo through the corridors, Jane grows suspicious of the secrets hidden within Thornfield Hall—unaware of the true horrors lurking above her very head.

On the topmost floor, Bertha Mason is trapped in more ways than one. After her whirlwind marriage to Edward turned into a nightmare, he locked her away as revenge for withholding her inheritance. Now his patience grows thin in the face of Bertha’s resilience and Jane’s persistent questions, and both young women are in more danger than they realize.

When their only chance at safety—and perhaps something more—is in each other’s arms, can they find and keep one another safe before Edward’s dark machinations close in around them? (Kelly Jensen)

The Conversation (in French) and Virginia Woolf as a journalist:

À l’âge de 22 ans, Virginia Woolf publie son premier article dans le Guardian. Un âge auquel beaucoup des jeunes journalistes d’aujourd’hui sont encore stagiaires. Son amie Violet Dickinson l’a présentée à la rédactrice en chef du supplément féminin du journal – la seule porte d’entrée pour une femme aspirant au journalisme à l’époque – et Virginia lui propose d’y collaborer. Elle publie d’abord une critique d’une œuvre du romancier américain W.D. Howells, puis l’article, intitulé « Pèlerinage à Haworth », paraît le 21 décembre, non signé en décembre 1904. Virginia y raconte sa visite au presbytère de Haworth, où vivaient les sœurs Brontë. C’est ainsi que commence sa carrière de journaliste. (María Santos-Sainz) (Translation)

Bodrum Günden (Turkey) briefly reviews Jane Eyre: 

Jane Eyre: Kitap, yalnızca kadının erkek egemen toplumdaki konumuna gözü pek yaklaşımıyla değil, şiirsel duygusallığı çağdaş bir gerçekçilikle harmanladığı anlatımıyla da öncü olmayı başarmış klasik bir başyapıttır. (Özkan Saçkan) (Translation)

El Universal (Mexico) features the British Library exhibition Fantasy: Realms of Imagination.

Por último, “Portales y mundos” aborda el proceso de creación de realidades alternativas en las que podemos sumergirnos y es, según la curaduría de la exposición, uno de los elementos distintivos de la fantasía moderna. Ya sea un pasaje físico, un objeto mágico, un deslizamiento de tiempo o algo más misterioso, los portales resultan atractivos para los nuevos jóvenes que leen. Autores de este género han diseñado lenguajes, creaturas, culturas, historias y mitologías de los mundos que inventan. Un ejemplo luminoso es Glass Town, el mundo infantil imaginario que inventaron las hermanas Brontë en el siglo XIX.

De las colecciones de la Biblioteca, la más rica del mundo en el género de fantasía, provienen los libros y manuscritos originales, pero también hay vestuarios, ilustraciones, pinturas… de coleccionistas particulares y fans de la literatura fantástica. Están por ahí el vestuario que usaron Margot Fonteyn y Nureyev en 1972 durante la puesta en escena de La bella durmiente o el libro miniatura original de The search after happiness, de Charlotte Brontë, entre miles de piezas más. (Adriana Malvido) (Translation) 

An article on relationships in Welt (Germany) mentions Wuthering Heights.

Es ist die ultimative Geschichte über Hoffnung – oder aber, nüchterner betrachtet, von Abhängigkeit und verschwendeten Lebenskräften. In Emily Brontës „Sturmhöhe“ geht das Nachhängen alter Träume sogar so weit, dass der liebeswahnsinnige Heathcliff seine Cathy aus dem Grab ausbuddelt – ein Anblick, den er nicht lange überlebt. Das Festhalten an alten Gefühlen wird hier nicht nur metaphorisch, sondern wortwörtlich zum Klammern an den Tod. Auch Goethes Werther geht bekanntermaßen daran zugrunde, dass er an einer verlorenen Liebe festhält. (Lena Karger) (Translation)

Dagens Nyheter (Sweden) talks about doubtful attributions of authorship. And puts the example that some people believe that Jane Eyre was written by Branwell instead of Charlotte. First time we hear that... maybe they are thinking of Wuthering Heights?

A copy of The Professor in a bookcrossing space in Málaga in Diario Sur (Spain), دنیا نیوز (Pakistan) visits Haworth and talks about the Brontës.