Where the Wind Blows and Passions Storm

The Belfast Telegraph talks about the upcoming first edition of the  Ballyscullion Park Book Festival (May 10-11) which will take place in Ballyscullion Park. 

The festival is inspired by the period in history when the original Earl Bishop of Derry’s Palace was built at Ballyscullion Park in 1787 as well as the current owner’s, The Mulholland [Richard and Rosalind] family’s connection to acclaimed authors Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë. (Catriona Doherty)

We wondered what this connection could be. We read here that

Richard (a professional tour guide) gives a fascinating talk about the history of Ballyscullion Park and the Mulholland family, with their long-standing involvement in the linen industry. Richard is descended from Jane Austen’s brother Edward Knight, and Rosalind’s family has connections with Charlotte Brontë.

Not very precise, though.

Also in The Belfast Telegraph,  the best non-fiction books for 2024:

Reading Lessons by Carol Atherton

Not another year of Of Mice and Men, surely? It’s the same book but different, argues English teacher Carol Atherton. She writes about how the books we study at school may not change that much, but their meanings do, from her first-hand experience of teaching everything from Jane Eyre to Jeanette Winterson. 4 April, Fig Tree.  (Jessie Thompson)

Fiona Williams describes in The Guardian how bucolic visions of life in the field of children's literature give way to more adult visions as more 'adult' literature is accessed:

David Mitchell’s Black Swan Green taught me about rural delinquency, poverty and lack of opportunity, and AS Byatt, much like her predecessors Austen, Eyre, Brontë and Hardy, laid bare the complexities of the ever-present rural class divide.

Eyre?

We read in The Item about a new illustrated edition of Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games first novel:

"The Hunger Games Illustrated Edition" will be published Oct. 1, Scholastic announced Thursday. The book will feature more than 30 black-and-white drawings from Nico Delort, a visual artist based in Paris.

"Certain illustrations made an indelible impression on me growing up, and the images are forever linked to books I love, including John Tenniel's classic drawings for 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and Fritz Eichenberg's wood engravings for 'Wuthering Heights,'" Collins said in a statement. (Hillel Italie)

Broadway World presents the world premiere of the theatre play The Maid & The Mesmerizer at the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres:

Inspired by the Brontë sisters' epic romance novels, The Maid & The Mesmerizer follows the volatile ups-and-downs of a fiery love affair-a sometimes funny, sometimes devastating play that explores the deep trust and safety that can blossom between romantic partners...and how unexpectedly that trust can be shattered. (Chloe Rabinowitz)

Postcolonial Literature in City Journal:

Many of the postcolonial classics take a dim view of the encounter between East and West, South and North. They focus on those who must forage in the middle, who don’t really belong in either place. And they depict this lack of grounding as a brutalizing condition. In Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette Cosway, a Creole, is born in the Caribbean but is not of it. To the former slaves, she is a “white cockroach,” and they treat her as such. Yet England, to her, is an illusion, even when she’s there. (Corbin K. Barthold)

DeMorgen (Belgium) quotes Judith Van Doorselaer , director of the Royal Academy for Dutch Language and Literature,  recommending Anjet Daanje's Het lied van ooievaar en dromedaris:

“Elf verhalen, elf personages. Ze leven hun leven, dromen en sterven (de dood loert altijd om de hoek). Ze zoeken – met de lezer – naar betekenis. Een boek als een verhalencaleidoscoop, in het brandpunt waarvan je hoofdpersonage Eliza May Drayden (alter ego van Emily Brontë) ziet opdoemen. Meesterlijk. Overdonderend. Nu al een klassieker.” (Translation)

Trouw (Netherlands) talks about a book of essays on the Anjet Daanje's novels:  Over leven, dood en bramenjam. Het veelzijdige ouvre van Anjet Daanje:

‘Een literair werk van de buitencategorie’, verzucht NRC-recensent Thomas van Veen over Het lied van ooievaar en dromedaris, de gelauwerde grote Brontë-roman van Anjet Daanje. De verzuchting staat in Van Veens inleiding van de aan Daanjes oeuvre gewijde essaybundel die verschijnt ter gelegenheid van de uitreiking van de Constantijn Huygensprijs, 21 januari. Het lied van ooievaar en dromedaris is buitencategorie want: ‘Een geschiedenis in elfvoud waarin de verhalen telkens opnieuw beginnen met een nieuw leven, en steeds verder gaan, vertakkend en voortstromend’ en dan ook nog ‘al die verknoopte, echoënde en gespiegelde thema’s, personages en motieven’.

Enthousiasme over ‘breedte’ en reikwijdte van Daanjes roman klinkt ook in de ­andere essays in deze bundel. Motieven en thema’s worden opgediept. Rik Peels schrijft over religiositeit en transcendentie in Het lied van ooievaar en dromedaris, Beatrice de Graaf over Daanjes ‘gebruik’ van complottheorieen, Maaike Meijer over Daanjes fascinatie voor en identificatie met Emily Brontë.

Voor de fans smakelijke en erudiete essays, al krijgt het ontraadselen van Daanjes grote Brontë-roman ook iets van het uitleggen van een ‘fantasy’-universum als dat van Harry Potter. (Jann Ruyters) (Translation)

Liter@ (Hungary) reviews the Hungarian translation of Rachel Cusk's Second Place:

Cusk Új-Mexikó helyett egy igazán regényes angol lápvidékre helyezi az eseményeket, ezáltal is felizzítva elődei, Virginia Woolf és Charlotte Brontë emlékét, akik műveikben szintén kiemelt figyelmet fordítottak a helyszín adta gondolatok, érzelmek kifejezésére, történeteiket részben tájba rejtésével (gondoljunk akárcsak a Jane Eyre-ban megjelenő Thornfield Hall jelentőségére és a cselekmény alatt bejárt „útjára”, ahogy idegen kastélyból otthonná válik, vagy éppen Woolfe A világítótornyára vagy a Hullámokra). (Körmendy Boldizsár) (Translation)

Zenda Libros (in Spanish) interviews the writer Lorena Ordóñez:

Susana Rizo: ¿Cuáles son tus referentes literarios y por qué?

L.O.: ...) Cumbres borrascosas, de Emily Brontë, fue el primer libro por el que me quedé despierta una noche en la que me preparé para ver la lluvia de estrellas cuando tenía 16 años, y estrellas no vi, pero descubrí una obra que he continuado leyendo a lo largo de mi vida. (Translation)

La Libre's Moustique (Belgium) reviews the film Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos: 

Adaptation d’un faux roman gothique de l’auteur écossais Alasdair Gray paru en 1992, Pauvres créa­tures emprunte à plusieurs mythes littéraires qui vont du Frankenstein de Mary Shelley à Faust ou à Jane Eyre, pour relater l’histoire de Bella, une jeune femme suicidée ramenée à la vie par un chirurgien savant (fantastique Willem Dafoe dans le rôle de Godwin Baxter) qui lui greffe le cerveau de son fœtus en guise d’expérience scientifique. (Eric Russon & Juliette Goudot) (Translation)

Infobae (Argentina) talks about the posthomous album of John Lennon, Milk and Honey:

De las canciones de Yoko, la única que no llegó a conocer John es la que cierra Milk And Honey. “You’re The One” es la elegía que compuso para recordarlo por siempre, hecha a base de sintetizadores y sentido del humor: “Para el mundo, somos Laurel y Hardy, pero desde nuestro punto de vista somos Heathcliff y Cathy”, canta haciendo referencia directa a los personajes de la novela Cumbres borrascosas de Emily Brontë. (Daniel Bajarlía) (Translation)

Vogue (Italy) and books you should read urgently:

Cime tempestose, classico libro che ti costringe a leggere in quarta superiore la professoressa di inglese, è un romanzo fondamentale per indagare le passioni e quello spazio interstiziale e non ben definito che decorre tra l'amore e l'odio. Il libro è una storia di passione, vendetta e tormento ambientato in una nebbiosa e gotica brughiera inglese, e segue la tumultuosa relazione tra il misterioso Heathcliff e la protagonista Catherine, legati da passioni violente e complesse, per quanto due personalità incredibilmente intellettuali e schive. Cime tempestose è il libro a cui rivolgersi per conoscere meglio i tormenti che abbiamo dentro e che non riusciamo a controllare. (Francesca Mill) (Translation)

The Lancashire Telegraph continues reporting the Calderdale Wind Farm Ltd project to create a macro wind farm in the middle of Brontë country. Jolie Bobine (in French) lists some of the Wuthering Heights adaptations. Also in Jolie Bobine Heathcliff and Cathy are listed among film couples with tragic fates. The Brontë Babe Blog celebrates Anne Brontë's anniversary.