Branwell’s bicentenary year is drawing to a close, so our final free Tuesday talk of the year, on December 5, will see our learning officer Sue Newby deliver ‘a retrospective’ on the troubled Branwell Brontë.
We’ve enjoyed discovering more about him this year, and the poems of our creative partner Simon Armitage, and the brilliant recreation of Branwell’s bedroom, have really helped visitors get a sense of who Branwell was. Join us on 5 December to hear Sue look back on the year.
The end of Branwell’s bicentenary year means Christmas is approaching – a time of year we all love at the museum.
If you’re looking to treat somebody to a pre-Christmas gift, we still have spaces on our very intimate Brontë Treasures by Candlelight evening on Friday, December 8 at 7.30pm. This very special evening costs £85 per person, and includes a glass of wine upon arrival.
If you don’t have the excuse to treat yourself, there is another opportunity to see the museum by candlelight at our late-night Thursday on December 14.
The Parsonage will be dressed for Christmas, and we’ll be serving sherry in the shop, where we have some very beautiful Christmas cards on sale, and prints of the Parsonage looking very wintery – prefect gifts for any Brontë fans.
We will also be joined by local author SR Whitehead, who will be happy to sign copies of his latest books. We were so busy last year, we had to nip out and buy some more sherry, so come along if you want to instil some Christmas cheer!
As is always the case on our late night Thursdays, after 5pm, entry is free to visitors providing proof of residence in BD22, BD21, BD20 or Thornton.
We have our final event of the year on Sunday December 10, an event postponed from October.
Simon Armitage and actor Adam Nagaitis, who played Branwell in Sally Wainwright’s To Walk Invisible, will be in conversation with Yvette Huddleston, arts correspondent at The Yorkshire Post.
We were very disappointed when we had to postpone this event in October, but are delighted that we’ve managed to reschedule before the end of the year, and surprisingly we still have a few tickets left.
Don’t delay in booking if you want to hear Simon and Adam discuss the various ways in which they chose to approach Branwell. It should be the perfect conclusion to Branwell’s bicentenary year.
More from me next time about our January events.
Like last year, although the museum will be closed in January for our deep clean, and the preparation of our new Emily Brontë exhibition, the shop will remain open, and we have events on Saturdays January 6, 13 and 20, and will be joining West Lane Baptist Centre’s Movie Monday on January 8 with a screening of the 1939 version of Wuthering Heights. (Diane Fare & Richard Parker)

BBC Radio 3's Essential Classics features Jacqueline Wilson this week:

Dame Jacqueline Wilson talks about the ideas that have inspired and shaped her throughout her life.

I’m not a Brontë but this is my territory - Jacqueline Wilson on Jane Eyre
Children’s author Jacqueline Wilson read Jane Eyre as a child and remembers being inspired by its savagery

Daily Kashmir Images talks about Jane Eyre:

(...) The novel deliberates over a broader feministic perspective which is very much unprecedented to the Victorian era. It does not only belong to women, it is rather a proto-feministic text that deals with the problems faced by unattached women compelled to earn a living in a hostile world. It is about identity, self-esteem and morality.
The protagonist of the novel is exquisitely crafted, from running away from Thornfield to the doomed courtship of St. John Rivers and her return to the Thornfield only to find Rochester blind, keeps the reader hungering for more. Of course, a happy ending does ensue, which is a little bit clichéd, but it does tie up all the ends nicely. It is almost like a summer storm in a way- gorgeous, sunny outlook followed by rain, lightning and thunder, and then finally the calm after the storm when it still smells like rain. (Ayaz Nabi Malik)

Long Island Weekly recommends some classic holiday reads. Apparently Wuthering Heights is one of them:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Published in December 1847 under the pseudonym “Ellis Bell,” Wuthering Heights was Emily Brontë’s only novel. Her two sisters Charlotte Brontë (Currer Bell), known for Jane Eyre and Anne Brontë (Acton Bell) known for The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, also achieved literary success of their own. But it is Wuthering Heights that has found a static place on the wintertime bookshelf. An English literature classic, the novel pushed the envelope by challenging strict Victorian ideals of the day regarding social classes, religious hypocrisy and gender inequality. Everyone knows the story of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw and if you don’t, be sure to dive into this classic this season. (Jennifer Fauci)

The Peterborough Examiner examines the history of Reydon Hall in Suffolk:

Revisiting her Reydon youth in 1860, Catharine Parr recalled that the Stricklands were much like the famous Brontë family. English literary history has, however, overlooked that sisterly uniqueness and familial accomplishment. It is certainly time to revisit the remarkable Stricklands of Reydon Hall not only to see them more clearly as a writing family but also to review their wide-ranging literary achievements. (Michael Peterman)

Dagens Nyheter (Sweden) interviews the writer Ayòbámi Adébáyò:

Vilka författare har gjort särskilt starkt intryck på dig, Emily Brontë? (Georg Cedeskorg)
 Ja, ja, hon är en av de viktigaste! Men också Charles Dickens, där finns det ju verkligen en hel del mörker, honom läste jag redan som ung och så Tolstoj och Tjechov förstås. Toni Morrison återvänder jag ofta till liksom Elizabeth Strout, Wole Soyinka och givetvis Margaret Atwood.  (Translation)

Gabriel Vetter in Tages Anzeiger (Switzerland) is a little sick of the know-it-alls:

Leute wissen ja ständig über alles Bescheid. Sie wissen um die deutschsprachige Literatur aus der Romantik und kennen den englischen Fussball und wissen, wo Vögelbrutstellen im Kanton Aargau liegen und zitieren Jürgen Habermas und zitieren Beat Breu und zitieren Charlotte Brontë (und wissen nicht nur, dass sich Brontë mit zwei so Pünktchen über dem e im Nachnamen schreibt, sondern auch noch gleich, wo auf der Computertastatur sich diese zwei Pünktchen über dem e befinden – ich habs nicht rausgefunden, Tschuldigung), und sie kennen nicht nur die wichtigsten Werke von Vivaldi und wissen, ­warum man Mehl sieben muss, wenn man einen Teig macht (wegen des Klumpens, nehme ich an), sondern sie können auch Turnfiguren am Reck, zum Beispiel Feldaufzug und Abhurten. (Translation)

24 heures (Switzerland) interviews actress, theatre author and director, Laetitia Dosch:

Un père plombier, une mère «dans les ressources humaines», une enfance solitaire qui la pousse aux frontières du gouffre psychique. «C’est vrai, vers 15 ans, j’ai arrêté de parler. Trois ans. Dans ma famille, les choses n’étaient plus… dicibles. Je me suis réfugiée dans la lecture, du Club des cinq aux sœurs Brontë. Et John Irving. Puis la télé, avec Johnny Depp dans 21 Jump Street que j’ai suivi chez les cinéastes indépendants, les Jim Jarmusch, John Waters et Tim Burton.» (Cécile Lecoultre) (Translation)

Gazzetta di Parma (Italy) celebrates the 40th anniversary of the second live album of Genesis, Seconds Out:

E a cantare ci ha preso gusto, tanto che nel tour europeo per lanciare “Wind&Wuthering” - copertina fantastica ma atmosfere che iniziano ad allontanarsi dal prog; il titolo richiama il romanzo di Emily Brontë, Cime tempestose, appunto Wuthering heights – alla batteria c'è lo statunitense Chester Thompson, tranne nel “solito” “The cinema show” in cui la suona Bill Bruford. (Michele Ceparano) (Translation)

Ginger Generation (Italy) is not very happy with the Io Legge e tu? spot which featured Wuthering Heights:

Fuori campo la voce della presunta protagonista ci legge le frasi divorate dagli occhi della lettrice. Per chi non riconoscesse i nomi dei due protagonisti, ecco arrivare un aiutino: in primo piano gigantesco la regia ci sbatte in faccia il titolo del libro che un lettore medio si suppone conosca. La giovane donna sta leggendo Cime Tempestose, il capolavoro di Emily Brönte (sic).
La giovane legge avidamente la descrizione di Heathcliff, il bel tenebroso maledetto protagonista del libro. Mentre la donna si sente divenire la nuova Catherine, la protagonista femminile del romanzo citato, la telecamera sposta l’attenzione su un ragazzo. Anzi un ragazzino, data l’esile corporatura. Non ha nulla del tenebroso e magnetico Heathcliff. Ora un primo piano degli occhi dei due protagonisti della pubblicità.
Non sappiamo come, grazie forse al teletrasporto, il giovane è improvvisamente dietro alla fanciulla che ora è in piedi e in mezzo al locale. Ella sente lo sguardo rapace e torbido e passionale del giovane divorarla. Emozionata sente di rivivere nella vita reale l’amore struggente del libro “Cime tempestose”. Lui ha un’aria in realtà spersa. Sembra alla ricerca della teca dei panini.
Insomma se la prima ondata di spot facevano un po’ ridere, questa seconda non è da meno. In che modo dovrebbe questa coppia della città metropolitana spersonalizzante e capitalista essere la nuova coppia Heathcliff e Cahty della brughiera inglese? In che modo quei due ragazzotti dello spot dovrebbero essere una delle coppie d’amore più struggenti della letteratura? (Claudia Lisa Moeller) (Translation)

Empire (Italy) interviews the scholar Irene Gammel on the Netflix adaptation of Anne of the Green Gables:

Nel romanzo, il poeta Alfred Tennyson è nell’aria, nella serie Netflix Jane Eyre è citata ben due volte. Un vero colpo di stato ai danni dei kindredspirits evocati dalla scrittrice… (Mario A. Rumor)
Le citazioni dalla letteratura classica e dalla poesia sono state fondamentali per la Montgomery. Conosceva quei testi a menadito, amava la forza delle parole, la letteratura. Quando era più giovane lavorò anche nella biblioteca di Cavendished era solita leggere un libro parecchie volte prima di acquistarlo per la sua collezione personale. Inoltre era dotata di una memoria formidabile e amava recitare versi e intere poesie mentre passeggiava con gli amici. Lucy Montgomery ha rivelato un impegno partecipativo e performativo nei confronti della letteratura davvero straordinario. Questo spiega perché l’intertestualità divenne così importante nella sua narrativa, sia che si riferisse al versetto di Tennyson o a Jane Eyre. (Translation)

Kristeligt Dagblad (Denmark) talks about the 150th anniversary of the real Elvira Madigan:

Historien om den tragiske kærlighed står som en af de helt centrale tematikker i den vestlige litteratur. Det er fortællingen om det unge par, som forelsker sig, men som ikke kan få lov til at realisere deres kærlighed til hinanden. Romeo og Julie blev adskilt af stridende familier, Paris og Helena startede sammen Den Trojanske Krig, og for Heathcliff og Catherine stod 1800-tallets klassesamfund i vejen for et lykkeligt ægteskab på Wuthering Heights. (Morten Hammeken) (Translation)

La Razón (Spain) reviews the film God's Own Country:

«Tierra de Dios», su película, arranca como un retrato frío, inmisericorde, de una Inglaterra rural gris y sin perspectivas, con las largas laderas de Yorkshire (aquellas «Cumbres borrascosas» de las Brönte (sic)) llenas de brezo, esperando una segunda oportunidad. (G. Núñez) (Translation)

Critictoo (France) recommends To Walk Invisible:

Lorsque vous êtes une scénariste originaire du Yorkshire, les sœurs Brontë sont encore plus incontournables qu’à l’accoutumée. Sally Wrainwright a donc récemment donné vie aux trois mythiques romancières dans un téléfilm qui revient sur leur relation avec leur frère et la naissance de leurs œuvres majeures. À la fois sombre, beau et inspirant, To Walk Invisibledramatise la vie de Charlotte, Anne et Emily avec autant de passion que de réalisme pour nous emporter un peu plus dans cet univers et nous donner envie d’aller encore plus loin. (Fabien) (Translation)

CinéChronicle (France) describes the film Rebecca 1940 like this:

L’histoire, proche de l’univers des sœurs Brontë (Jane Eyre, Les Hauts de Hurlevent) s’inscrit dans la tradition du drame victorien. (Thierry Carteret) (Translation)

Autostraddle recommends Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney's A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot and Virginia Woolf; La Vanguardia (Spain) recommended Good Night Stories For Rebel Girls as a Black Friday purchase. El Heraldo (Spain) lists Wuthering Heights as one of the books to read before dying. Palabras que hablan de historia (in Spanish) reviews The Brontë Cabinet.