Mid-January
Resources, Research, Recent Book Acquisitions & Recommendations
Mid-January Notes…
Welcome, New Subscribers!
Haley Larsen PhD kindly invited me to write an Introduction to Wuthering Heights for her close readers earlier this month—and as a result, I’ve welcomed a number of new subscribers. Here are some resources close readers may wish to explore:
Marginalia: Backgrounds, Context & Annotations
New Spheres of Discovery: How I Annotate Emily Jane Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.
Take a Ramble With Me: What to Expect (Introduction)
Also, as a member of The Brontë Society, I cannot recommend their scholarly journal Brontë Studies enough—it is well worth the membership fee to have access to decades of research and critical analyses.
Bright Red Classification Folders
Michael Allen recently gave me one of the most brilliantly organizational gifts I could’ve ever asked for (okay, I literally did ask for them). He bought me a box of bright red Pendaflex Pressboard Classification Folders.
You are likely asking: Why?
In another life I worked in the commercial loan servicing department of a bank. I spent a lot of time in the vault, flipping through loan files and developed a sort of weird affinity for top-bound documents (it’s why I love steno pads).
In the last year I collected a three-inch high stack of research documents: everything from printed copies of Wuthering Heights-related art and illustration, to details related to Nature and folklore woven throughout Wuthering Heights and notes about Emily Jane’s little stool and her coffin!
Wondering how to organize all of my research I remembered the sturdy top-fastened folders I handled in the bank vault. I picked up a 2-hole punch and now, have begun organizing some of my research. I’m lovin’ this level of research organization—and did I mention, the files are available in dozens of pretty colors?
Imagine the possibilities.
Recent Book Acquisitions
Are you familiar with any of these? Share your thoughts!
Emily Brontë Reappraised by Claire O’Gallaghan
The Bronte Myth by Lucasta Miller
A Chainless Soul by Katherine Frank
Gondal’s Queen: A Novel in Verse by Fannie Ratchford
Social Issues in Literature: Class Conflict in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights
The Life and Private History of Emily Jane Brontë by Romer Wilson
Wuthering Heights (Painted Edtions), illustrated by Laci Fowler
Wuthering Heights, illustrated by Tracy Dockray
If you make a purchase through any of these affiliate links, Bookshop.org will donate a portion to independent booksellers and I will also receive a small commission—Thank You! Learn more at Bookshop.org.
January: Drawer of Epistles
Earlier in the month I posted my first subscriber discussion thread, called January: Drawer of Epistles. The title of these threads comes from (you guessed it) Wuthering Heights—from the episode in which Nelly Dean discovers a stack of letters concealed in a locked drawer in the library at Thrushcross Grange.
As we had just passed over the threshold of the new year, I introduced myself—and asked subscribers to do the same. You’re welcome to join the quiet conversation at any time—a new thread will not begin until April. Introduce yourself!
And Finally…
This year I am making time to read a variety of work (fiction, non-fiction, poetry and the work of my fellow Substack-authors). Here’s what I enjoyed so far this month:
Chandler Grey’s haunting visit to New Orleans // Read: Visitations
James Lee’s mesmerizing account of David Bowie in Berlin // Read: Raw Soundscapes: David Bowie in Berlin
Wendy Pratt’s moving (and inspirational) words on creativity, vulnerability, and mostly, being a human. // Read: Truth emerging from her well: on creativity and accountability
Emily Brontë The Complete Poems, Ed. Janet Gezari
Listening (Libby): to John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men*1
Are you joining the Wuthering Heights read-along at Closely Reading? Do you love file folders and steno pads? Did you receive any new books over the holidays? What are you currently reading/listening to?
In 1996, I taught Of Mice and Men to a class of ten ‘remedial’ English students. It is one of my most treasured experiences working in education.
Three decades later, listening to Chapter One this afternoon, I sobbed like a baby. Gary Sinise is reading this audiobook—he played George in the film. John Malkovich played Lenny—such heartbreaking stuff. My tenth graders loved it—and, I loved them. ♡
About the Cover Image (from Roberts Projects): Lenz Geerk: Wuthering Heights (April 22-June 20, 2020), featured paintings, unpublished sketchbooks and works on paper from the archive of gallery artist Lenz Geerk.
A tribute to one of his favorite novels by Emily Brontë, the online exhibition focused on Geerk’s metaphorical depiction of the body facing an interior impasse. The exhibition accompanied the release of a special English-German edition of the novel published by Parapara Books.
How is it already mid-January? Oh time! I haven't read Of Mice and Men since I was a student crying at my desk over the story...and wondering how so many of my peers remained dry eyed.
While I'm not familiar with your new recent book acquisitions, I did some snooping. The deluxe painted edition looks, well, deluxe! Lovely! I wonder how you will feel about the pull quote selections -- the choices for emphasis. And The Brontë Myth description has def caught my eye: "In her new bewitching "metabiography," Lucasta Miller follows the twists and turns of the phenomenon of Bront-mania and rescues these three fiercely original geniuses from the distortions of legend" (bookshop description).
If you're going to have an epic level of research organization, it might as well be in gorgeous colors. I have a hunch you won't stop at red. Imagine the color coding possibilities. :)