Using Fiction to Escape

The creative director of Bradford City of Culture 2025, Shanaz Gulzar, writes in The Bookseller:

Long before Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre, the Brontë siblings created whole fantasy kingdoms, crafted in childhood from scraps of paper and wild imaginations. These early dreamscapes laid the foundations for the emotional intensity and Gothic power of their later work. Our project Wandering Imaginations revisits these lesser-known beginnings, highlighting the Brontës’ childhood in Bradford.

Among their imaginary worlds was Angria, a fantastical kingdom that mapped onto the West African coast. Nearly 200 years later, we have invited four emerging writers – two from the North of England, two from Ghana – to create new stories, inspired by Angria but rooted in their own cultural landscapes.

In their own ways, Dunbar and the Brontës both used fiction to escape, confront and reimagine the worlds they inhabited. Their writing prompts us to ask again: Whose stories matter? Whose voices do we amplify? That spirit of imagination lives on in Bradford’s communities – young people dreaming up new worlds, finding their voice, and daring to tell stories that have not yet been told. 

Yardbaker highlights the best performances of Tom Hardy:

The 2009 miniseries Wuthering Heights is one of many adaptations of the classic 1847 novel by Emily Brontë. Hardy plays the leading role of Heathcliff, who is raised by the wealthy Earnshaw family. Later in life, he launches a vendetta against them. Heathcliff also falls in love with Cathy, and their romance becomes a danger for everybody around them. Charlotte Riley plays Cathy, Hardy’s now real-life wife, so it’s no surprise that the pair have very believable chemistry. (Alyssa De Leo)

Stu News Laguna mentions the current exhibition Carole Caroompas: Heathcliff and the Femme Fatale Go on Tour:

Laguna Art Museum presents Carole Caroompas: Heathcliff and the Femme Fatale Go on Tour, an expressive exhibition showcasing a series of works created between 1997 and 2001 by the late feminist artist Carole Caroompas. The exhibition, guest curated by Rochelle Steiner, will be on view through Sunday, July 13, and offers an exploration of Caroompas’ most consistent theme: gender and power relations. This is seen here through her recasting of Heathcliff from Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and other personae, including some stylized in her self-image.

The Conversation reviews the film Tornado by John Maclean:

Its Wuthering Heights-esque wilderness, serenely captured by the cinematographer Robbie Ryan conjures up an almost otherworldly look. (Chi-Yun Shin)

Cinemanía (Spain) recommends the TV series We Were Liars:

No en vano Lockhart se inspiró en las dinámicas familiares viciadas de El rey Lear o el amor prohibido y dañino de Cumbres borrascosas para este relato. Éramos mentirosos es más compleja de lo que aparenta: tiene amor, amistad y retazos de ficción 'coming-of-age', pero también profundiza en los trauma y la salud mental, en el clasismo o el racismo, en los secretos y los dramas familiar.  (Janire Zurbano) (Translation)

The Japan Brontë Society posts about the recent Brontë Day Public Lecture held at Waseda University on June 7th with 91 attendees, featuring two presentations: one on Charlotte Brontë's early works and another on Balthus's illustrations for "Wuthering Heights." The event was considered highly successful and educational for Brontë literature enthusiasts and students. Claire Fenby-Warren publishes on YouTube a video taking the viewers on a journey through the Brontë sisters' early life, starting at their birthplace in Thornton and ending at the famous Haworth Parsonage.