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Bleak Brontës get the comic treatment
Festival tries for a different vision Jaemie Gallie IT is a turbulent tale of love, hate, revenge and tragedy. A classic Victorian novel set on bleak Yorkshire Moors.
But now one of the greatest works of English literature has been given a radical makeover by a local writer and an artist, who have transformed the story into a comic book novel.
Emily Bront's original Wuthering Heights was scorned by critics when it was first released but the passage of time often shows critics to be wrong.
Next month commentators will be able to cast a critical eye on a modernised version when it is released as part of the Radical Bronts Festival, to be held in Bradford.
The book, adapted by Yorkshire-based poet and playwright Adam Strickson and illustrated by Siku, one of the country's leading graphic artists, who has worked for Marvel comics and 2000AD, was commissioned by the festival.
Both Mr Strickson, 48, and Siku, 34, worked on the project over six months and have created a book they hope will bring Wuthering Heights to a new generation of readers.
"I think the book is great," said Mr Strickson. "The visualisations are wonderful and I think Heathcliffe and Cathy are a bit sexier and sleeker than intended in the book but that is the style with this sort of thing.
"I kept the language close to the original, but the descriptive writing has been left out because it's all in the pictures. Siku has managed to recreate Yorkshire quite dramatically which is impressive because I don't think he has been here and it's all come from his imagination through reading the book."
Mr Strickson said he read Wuthering Heights nine times during the project but still enjoys it and hopes the graphic novel will lead a whole new audience back to the original novel.
The festival, which is the dream child of award winning novelist Joolz Denby, will look at the history and writing of the Bront sisters from a radical point of view. Ms Denby, whose views of the Bronts are at odds with the conventional romantic portrayals of the writers, said: "Never make the mistake of thinking the Bront sisters were merely sweet, ringletted maidens sitting at home with their sewing. These intensely powerful writers, who dealt with the darkest and most savage material in their work, also had lives full of tragedy, struggle, disease and isolation."
Festival funding has come from the Illuminate project, a partnership run by the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council that brings together Hull City Council, Leeds City Council, Sheffield City Council and City of York Council with cultural organisations and agencies across the region.
The festival will feature an art exhibition by Cornelia Parker, at The Parsonage Museum, Haworth.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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