One of the best and most endurin glove stories ever written, Wuthering Heights is a novel of immense power, filled with passion and beauty and an uncanny understanding of some terrible truths about men and women. There are few more convincing, less sentimental accounts of passionate love than Emily Bronte's only novel. Wuthering Heights is the story of Heathcliffe, a tormented orphan, who falls wildly bu hopelessly in love with Catherine Earnshaw, the daughter of his benefactor. Emily Bronte uses the violence and miser resulting from their thwarted longing to create a novel that is a masterpiece of psychological insight and compassionate understanding. (front flap)
One of the best and most endurin glove stories ever written, Wuthering Heights is a novel of immense power, filled with passion and beauty and an uncanny understanding of some terrible truths about men and women. There are few more convincing, less sentimental accounts of passionate love than Emily Bronte's only novel. Wuthering Heights is the story of Heathcliffe, a tormented orphan, who falls wildly bu hopelessly in love with Catherine Earnshaw, the daughter of his benefactor. Emily Bronte uses the violence and miser resulting from their thwarted longing to create a novel that is a masterpiece of psychological insight and compassionate understanding.
(front flap)
How did I feel about this novel during my sixteenth summer? Too bad I didn't keep any sort of journal. I do remember liking it, and have vague memories of envisioning Heathcliff as some kind of suffering romantic.
This time, at more than three times that age, I still find it a compelling read, but not the one I'd expected. For one thing, I found Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw to be less than appealing, and felt very sorry for Edgar Linton, the man Catherine married. Their lives were fine after marriage, until Heathcliff returns to seek his revenge. He manages to ruin several lives and shorten the life of his beloved Catherine, in the bargain. His anger and hatred turn him into such a miserable, cruel villain that it is hard to retain any sympathy for him. Indeed, my sympathy was with everyone else.
However, after Heathcliff's unrequited love tragedy …
How did I feel about this novel during my sixteenth summer? Too bad I didn't keep any sort of journal. I do remember liking it, and have vague memories of envisioning Heathcliff as some kind of suffering romantic.
This time, at more than three times that age, I still find it a compelling read, but not the one I'd expected. For one thing, I found Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw to be less than appealing, and felt very sorry for Edgar Linton, the man Catherine married. Their lives were fine after marriage, until Heathcliff returns to seek his revenge. He manages to ruin several lives and shorten the life of his beloved Catherine, in the bargain. His anger and hatred turn him into such a miserable, cruel villain that it is hard to retain any sympathy for him. Indeed, my sympathy was with everyone else.
However, after Heathcliff's unrequited love tragedy has run its course, Emily Bronte does provide a happier echo for the ending with the next generation. The blossoming relationship between Catherine Linton and Hareton Earnshaw is actually quite romantic.
At times, it seemed that the Earnshaws and the Lintons were the only families on earth, because whatever happened that did not happen between them or at one of their estates seems very remote. There is a nearby town and church, but they are barely described.
It seems unfathomable to live such a dull, circumscribed life, but then, that was the life of the Bronte sisters. I'm grateful that they had such vivid imaginations! I enjoyed the way the story is told in flashback, by an unreliable narrator, servant Nelly Dean. It's a thought-provoking tale that I would recommend to most.