Mid-March
Poe Short Story Club, "Haunt Me, Then!," Brontëmania & New Research
Mid-March Notes…
Edgar Allan Poe Museum: Poe Short Story Club
You may be surprised to learn I sometimes read authors other than Emily Jane Brontë!
During our misspent youth, Michael Allen and I visited the Poe Museum in the late-1990s; in fact, we’ve also visited the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum in Baltimore and the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site in Philadelphia.
Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved Edgar Allan Poe and this month, after seeing the series promoted on my socials, I attended my first Poe Short Story Club gathering.
Totally FREE—the Short Story Club meets online, from 6 pm-6:30 pm and the coolest thing about it is this: at each meeting participants explore a Poe short story—paired with another author’s work—our March pairing was Poe’s “Berenice” (1835) and “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892). Monomania at its literary best, no?
It was a really nice mid-week respite—it was entirely casual; there were about twenty participants (half with cameras/mics ON and half who were quietly active in a chat).
When you visit the museum’s events page, you may RSVP to register and you are sent a link to each work (to be read online prior to the meeting). It’s effortless and appeals to my homebody, introvert personality. Wanna join in, too? See what’s on for May.
“Haunt me, then!” | Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Jane Brontë
While I was rambling through the Poe Museum’s website I found an article that shared Fritz Eichenberg illustrations from “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and “Berenice,” shared alongside Eichenberg’s Wuthering Heights illustrations.
Do you love Wuthering Heights? Read the February 2026 museum blog post, “Haunt me, then!” From Brontë to Poe, to discover four short stories which will satisfy your appetite for haunting, familial resemblance, monomania, and the gothic landscape.
Brontë Lounge | Becoming Cathy and Heathcliff:
Edna Clarke Hall’s Wuthering Heights Drawings
You may remember last month, I pre-ordered the much-anticipated edition of Wuthering Heights illustrated by Edna Clarke Hall (Eiderdown Books, 2026).
I am SO grateful to Dawn Sugden for enlightening me to the fact that the lecture with Eliza Goodpasture, hosted by the Parsonage is (in addition to in-person) being shared virtually this month. I completely missed that fact when I saw it on the calendar—and was lamenting that I would not have an opportunity to attend.
Thankfully, my lamentations were heard by Dawn across the pond and I was able to register for the upcoming Thursday 26 March event:
Dive into the strange, magnetic drawings of Edna Clarke Hall (1879-1979), whose drawings inspired by Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights offer a glimpse into the way one woman found solace in the story of Cathy and Heathcliff.
Clarke Hall, a friend of Gwen John’s, drew hundreds of drawings, and eventually made dozens of etchings, inspired by Wuthering Heights.
For the first time in 2026, a selection of these works will be published in a new edition of Brontë’s novel by Eiderdown Books, with a new introduction by art historian Eliza Goodpasture.
In this talk, Goodpasture will introduce Clarke Hall’s story of early success, her subsequent unhappy marriage, and her Brontëmania.
Interested in attending the event? Register at the Brontë Parsonage Museum here.
Want to know more about the book? Visit Eiderdown Books here.
And Finally…
This year I’ve had the pleasure of exploring two separate lines of research and inquiry. I’ve set aside one ramble for now, so I might focus my attention on scurrying down all the rabbit holes which relate to the other.
Soon, I’ll share the first essay in a series; its working title is Wuthering Heights and The Grieving Brain: Lifting the Veil on Male Grief and Grieving. The themes of death, grief & grieving interest me greatly and I’m dedicating a lot of time to this research.
To what else am I dedicating my time? Sauntering. I discovered a new trail only one mile from our house. I walked there on Monday. A Mourning cloak butterfly crossed my path—no lie. If you read From My Study this month, you know this is significant.
Thank you always for your interest, support & encouragement. You are appreciated. ♡
Looking forward enormously to the ECH talk online soon! How lovely to find a new walk and to be rewarded with a Mourning Cloak Butterfly too.
Thank you, so glad I found your work. I read the Yellow Wallpaper a few months ago as part of my bookclub. I’m sad to have missed the talk linking this with Poe however I am registered for the next one in May.