Emily Brontë (1818–1848)
Author of Wuthering Heights
About the Author
Emily Bronte, the sister of Charlotte, shared the same isolated childhood on the Yorkshire moors. Emily, however, seems to have been much more affected by the eerie desolation of the moors than was Charlotte. Her one novel, Wuthering Heights (1847), draws much of its power from its setting in that show more desolate landscape. Emily's work is also marked by a passionate intensity that is sometimes overpowering. According to English poet and critic Matthew Arnold, "for passion, vehemence, and grief she had no equal since Byron." This passion is evident in the poetry she contributed to the collection (Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell) published by the Bronte sisters in 1846 under male pseudonyms in response to the prejudices of the time. Her passion reached far force, however, in her novel, Wuthering Heights. Bronte's novel defies easy classification. It is certainly a story of love, but just as certainly it is not a "love story". It is a psychological novel, but is so filled with hints of the supernatural and mystical that the reader is unsure of how much control the characters have over their own actions. It may seem to be a study of right and wrong, but is actually a study of good and evil. Above all, it is a novel of power and fierce intensity that has gripped readers for more than 100 years. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
Do not combine Emily with either or both of her sisters. Thank you.
Image credit: The only undisputed Emily's image.
Works by Emily Brontë
The Complete Novels: Agnes Grey / Jane Eyre / The Professor / Shirley / The Tenant of Wildfell Hall / Villette / Wuthering Heights (2012) 364 copies, 1 review
Agnes Grey / Jane Eyre / The Professor / The Tenant of Wildfell Hall / Villette / Wuthering Heights (2018) 37 copies
The Illustrated Letters of the Brontës: The Letters, Diaries and Writings of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë (2021) 25 copies, 1 review
Wuthering Heights / Agnes Grey / The Tenant of Wildfell Hall / The Professor (1980) — Author — 14 copies
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Sixth Edition, Vol. 2/Wuthering Heights (1993) 13 copies
King Solomon's mines 10 copies
Reading & Training : Emily Brontë : Wuthering Heights {B2.2} [book + sound recording] (2003) — Writer — 9 copies
Wuthering Heights (Puffin in Bloom) 8 copies
Reading & Training : Emily Brontë : Wuthering Heights {C1} [book + sound recording] (2006) — Writer — 8 copies
The Brontë Sisters: The Complete Novels A Biography of the Author (The Greatest Writers of All Time) (2017) 6 copies
Wuthering Heights (BBC Classic Collection) A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisation on four cassette tapes (1995) 5 copies
Classic British Fiction: The Bronte Family, all seven novels, the poetry, and 2 biographies, in a single file, improved 10/18/2009 (2008) 4 copies
Agnes Grey / The Professor / Poems 4 copies
Vilette / Jane Eyre / Shirley / The Tenant of Wildfell Hall / Agnes Grey / Wuthering Heights 4 copies
Classic British Love Stories: Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, Far from the Madding Crowd, and Jane Eyre (2016) 4 copies
Stormfulde højder, bind 2 3 copies
The Norton Anthology of English 3 copies
Wuthering Heights (cd) 3 copies
Stormfulde højder, bind 1 3 copies
Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, Poems 3 copies
Wuthering Heights (DK Classics) 2 copies
Wuthering Heights: film tie-in 2 copies
The Works of the Brontë Family 2 copies
Cime tempestose. Ediz. illustrata 2 copies
Novels of the Sisters Bronte. Thornton Edition. In Twelve Volumes (Complete). Includes The Life of Charlotte Bronte (1905) — Author — 2 copies
The Brontë Family Collection: Complete Works of Brontë Family (Annotated and Illustrated) (Annotated Classics) (2013) 2 copies
Jane Eyre 2 copies
Wuthering Heights (Quick Reader 122) 2 copies
Selected poems 2 copies
Poesie 2 copies
Guthering Heights 2 copies
Wuthering Heights, Part 1 2 copies
Novels by the Bronte sisters 1 copy
Grandes novelas de amor 1 copy
Tales of the Dark Romantics and Beyond: Tales of the Dark Romantics — Contributor — 1 copy
The Brontë Sisters Collection: Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Agnes Grey, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and Shirley (2020) 1 copy
Sturmhöhe 1 copy
La răscruce de vînturi 1 copy
WUTHERING HEIGHTS 1 copy
O morro dos ventos uivantes 1 copy
Wichrowe Wzgórza 1 copy
Poesie 1 copy
Stormfulde højder 1 copy
Works of The Bronte Sisters 1 copy
The Penguin Brontë Sisters: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; The Tenant of Wildfell Hall 1 copy, 1 review
La r♯scruce de v©Ønturi 1 copy
vl̲t szelek. [Regňy.] 1 copy
Грозовой перевал 1 copy
De oweste hoogte 1 copy
Wuthering Heights (Dover Thrift Editions) (Edition First Edition) by Emily Bront? [Paperback(1996] 1 copy
Cumbres Borrocosas 1 copy
Poètes d' Aujourd' Hui 1 copy
The Prisoner 1 copy
Fiche de lecture Les Hauts de Hurlevent (Analyse littéraire de référence et résumé complet) (French Edition) (2019) 1 copy
Novels of the Sisters Brontë 1 copy
La Materia de Gondal 1 copy
2006 1 copy
Bronte Sisters Archive 1 copy
Las Flores de Gondal 1 copy
Two Poems 1 copy
Un'eco nella foresta 1 copy
Emily Brontë poems 1 copy
Wuthering Heights - BRO 1 copy
The Brontes 1 copy
No Coward Soul Is Mine 1 copy
SELECTED POEMS 1 copy
Kalnu aukas 1 copy
Unknown Book 6097555 1 copy
LARTËSITË E STUHISHME 1 copy
Associated Works
The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms (2000) — Contributor — 1,462 copies, 9 reviews
The Best Poems of the English Language: From Chaucer Through Robert Frost (2004) — Contributor — 1,239 copies, 3 reviews
Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (1995) — Contributor, some editions — 1,011 copies, 7 reviews
Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women (1994) — Contributor — 382 copies, 5 reviews
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 4th Edition, Volume 2 (1979) — Contributor — 269 copies, 1 review
The Graphic Canon, Vol. 2: From "Kubla Khan" to the Brontë Sisters to The Picture of Dorian Gray (2012) — Contributor — 210 copies, 2 reviews
Tales of Glass Town, Angria, and Gondal : Selected Writings (2010) — Contributor — 100 copies, 3 reviews
Poems Between Women: Four Centuries of Love, Romantic Friendship, and Desire (1997) — Contributor — 96 copies, 1 review
British Women Writers: An Anthology from the Fourteenth Century to the Present (1989) — Contributor — 61 copies, 1 review
The Darker Sex: Tales of the Supernatural and Macabre by Victorian Women Writers (2009) — Contributor — 55 copies, 2 reviews
Ladies of the Gothics: Tales of Romance and Terror by the Gentle Sex (1975) — Contributor — 48 copies, 1 review
The Professor to Which is Added the Poems of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (2009) — Author — 20 copies, 1 review
Jane Eyre/ Wuthering Heights/ Little Women/ Adam Bede/ Emma/ Pride and Prejudice (1990) — Contributor — 18 copies
The Afterlife of Frankenstein: A Century of Mad Science, Automata, and Monsters Inspired by Mary Shelley, 1818-1918 (Clockwork Editions) (2023) — Contributor — 12 copies
Oogst Der Tijden. keur uit de werken van schrijvers en dichters aller volken en eeuwen (1940) — Contributor — 12 copies
10 Penguin Classics on 45 CDs (The Mayor of Casterbridge, Pride & Prejudice, Great Expectations, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, Crime & Punishment, Wuthering Heights, Northanger Abbey,… (2007) — Contributor — 9 copies, 1 review
Wuthering Heights [1978 TV mini series] — Original book — 7 copies
Die englische Literatur 08 in Text und Darstellung. 19. Jahrhundert 2 (1982) — Contributor — 5 copies
The Professor / Tales from Angria / Emma: A Fragment / Selected Poems by Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë (1954) — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Brontë, Emily
- Legal name
- Brontë, Emily Jane
- Other names
- Bell, Ellis (pseudonym)
- Birthdate
- 1818-07-30
- Date of death
- 1848-12-19
- Gender
- female
- Education
- private school, Brussels
at home
Pensionnat Heger, Brussels, Belgium
Miss Wooler's school - Occupations
- novelist
poet
writer
author
governess
teacher - Relationships
- Brontë, Anne (sister)
Brontë, Charlotte (sister)
Brontë, Branwell (brother)
Brontë, Reverend Patrick (father) - Short biography
- Emily Brontë was born in Yorkshire, England, one of the six children of Patrick Brontë, a clergyman, and his wife Maria Branwell. She and her siblings wrote fantastical stories together, creating imaginary worlds filled with romantic and military adventures.
At age 20, Emily worked briefly as a teacher before returning home to the parsonage at Haworth, where she continued to write poetry and fiction as well as doing much of the housework. In 1846, with her sisters Charlotte and Anne, under the pseudonym "Ellis Bell," she jointly published a volume of poems entitled Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. In 1847, she published her only novel, Wuthering Heights. She died the following year at age 30 of tuberculosis, a disease that plagued her family. - Cause of death
- tuberculosis
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Thornton, Yorkshire, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Thornton, Yorkshire, England, UK
Haworth, Yorkshire, England, UK
Brussels, Belgium
Halifax, Yorkshire, England, UK - Place of death
- Haworth, Yorkshire, England, UK
- Burial location
- Church of St Michael and All Angels, Haworth, West Yorkshire, England, UK
- Map Location
- England, UK
- Disambiguation notice
- Do not combine Emily with either or both of her sisters. Thank you.
Members
Discussions
Reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë in Book talk (Yesterday 4:20pm)
*Mar 14 2026 | Emily Brontë & Emily Dickinson: Two Poems on hope in The Poetry Collective (March 22)
A wrong corrected! in Pedants' corner (September 2024)
Wuthering Heights by Emile Bronte - BOOKS ILLUSTRATED 2017 in Fine Press Forum (January 2024)
November 2023: The Brontë Sisters in Monthly Author Reads (December 2023)
Wuthering Heights in Someone explain it to me... (January 2023)
Wuthering Heights in Gothic Literature (March 2018)
Defense of Heathcliff in The Brontës (March 2014)
Best Bronte Quote? in The Brontës (January 2014)
Jane Eyre/Wuthering Heights in Books Compared (March 2013)
September: Bronte: Wuthering Heights in Monthly Author Reads (January 2011)
Reviews
I read this years ago in a badly translated abridged spanish edition that I found somewhere in Chile, and it was pretty good. BUT NOW I understand that it is brilliant. It is a story of this guy who goes to Wuthering Heights and The Grange (another land few miles away) as a tenant and is stirred away by the awful and somber atmosphere from the people inside. He goes back to The Grange and asked "Nelly" to tell him the story of that place, and this woman has one of the best stories ever!! A show more story of abuse, love, revenge, class issues, religion, duty, generational curse. And in the middle is our villain Mr. Heathcliff trying to take both pieces of land and destroying everyone living in them from a deep resentment originating in his childhood. There is an interesting theme where physical illness opens the door to psychological healing, nearing death makes the characters be closer to their religious mandates of forgiveness. Let alone the sutil ghost story that goes around. There are apparitions that come from mental distress, but maybe they were actually there all along.
"My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary." show less
"My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary." show less
So far, Wuthering Heights is much more accessible, readable, than I expected. It's a vivid book. It makes me feel like never reading another Henry James novel.
I think my reactions to this novel as I read it have been pedestrian or too conservative, which embarrasses me a little. But protagonist Catherine Earnshaw, besides being passionate and free-spirited, is the ultimate spoiled brat; Jane Austen's spoiled-rich-girl protagonist Emma is very pleasant in comparison. Despite Catherine's show more childish and self-centered behavior, her frequent temper tantrums, she thinks everyone loves her and is surprised to be told otherwise.
Catherine's relationship with Heathcliff should be difficult for a reader to like very much. She claims to love him, but the love is narcissistic: because Heathcliff and Catherine are very similar personalities, Catherine explicitly tells someone else that Heathcliff is her, and it's not at all clear whether she sees Heathcliff as "other" and not as an extension of herself.
And Catherine marries Edgar Linton partly for selfish reasons: having spent time with the wealthy Linton family, she absorbs some of their more cultivated manners and becomes materialistic. She's not a character to admire, and it's harder to sympathize with her than with the tortured Heathcliff. A thought by Mrs. Dean in Volume 1, Chapter XII, describes Catherine well: "...our Catherine was no better than a wailing child!"
Heathcliff is horrible himself, but at least that can be blamed on the abuse he received from Hindley Earnshaw.
I'm also coming to the conclusion that pop culture's stereotype of Wuthering Heights as a Gothic Romeo and Juliet is largely a myth. Wuthering Heights is Gothic only in its setting, and the relationship of Catherine and Heathcliff is nothing like that of Romeo and Juliet. I consider Catherine not Gothic and Heathcliff arguably not Gothic, because there is evil in Heathcliff and violence in both of them but there is no element of horror or mystery--their behavior is too easy to understand. As I said, Catherine is a shallow, vain, self-centered wild child; there's not much more to her than that. Heathcliff is also a wild child, not necessarily as shallow as Catherine; but years of emotional agony have combined with Heathcliff's wildness to turn him into a ruthless, vengeful monster. Heathcliff's characterization has only somewhat more depth than Catherine's, because Bronte puts the reader in Heathcliff's head only enough to let the reader know he loves Catherine. The reader can only guess about the rest of Heathcliff's soul, the process of how Hindley's abuse poisoned and darkened it.
I noted an interesting reference to English culture in Chapter 31: the origin of the name and phrase "Chevy Chase." As an American, I knew only that besides being a comedian's name, it's the name of a town in Maryland; but Catherine mentions it as a name to be read in one of her books. A little research led me to find out that the name apparently originates with "The Ballad of Chevy Chase," a song originating in the area of north England on the border with Scotland (the area where Wuthering Heights is located). The word "Chevy" comes from the "chase" being a hunt for game in the Cheviot Hills on the border. Joseph Addison stated that it was "the favorite ballad of the common people of England." show less
I think my reactions to this novel as I read it have been pedestrian or too conservative, which embarrasses me a little. But protagonist Catherine Earnshaw, besides being passionate and free-spirited, is the ultimate spoiled brat; Jane Austen's spoiled-rich-girl protagonist Emma is very pleasant in comparison. Despite Catherine's show more childish and self-centered behavior, her frequent temper tantrums, she thinks everyone loves her and is surprised to be told otherwise.
Catherine's relationship with Heathcliff should be difficult for a reader to like very much. She claims to love him, but the love is narcissistic: because Heathcliff and Catherine are very similar personalities, Catherine explicitly tells someone else that Heathcliff is her, and it's not at all clear whether she sees Heathcliff as "other" and not as an extension of herself.
And Catherine marries Edgar Linton partly for selfish reasons: having spent time with the wealthy Linton family, she absorbs some of their more cultivated manners and becomes materialistic. She's not a character to admire, and it's harder to sympathize with her than with the tortured Heathcliff. A thought by Mrs. Dean in Volume 1, Chapter XII, describes Catherine well: "...our Catherine was no better than a wailing child!"
Heathcliff is horrible himself, but at least that can be blamed on the abuse he received from Hindley Earnshaw.
I'm also coming to the conclusion that pop culture's stereotype of Wuthering Heights as a Gothic Romeo and Juliet is largely a myth. Wuthering Heights is Gothic only in its setting, and the relationship of Catherine and Heathcliff is nothing like that of Romeo and Juliet. I consider Catherine not Gothic and Heathcliff arguably not Gothic, because there is evil in Heathcliff and violence in both of them but there is no element of horror or mystery--their behavior is too easy to understand. As I said, Catherine is a shallow, vain, self-centered wild child; there's not much more to her than that. Heathcliff is also a wild child, not necessarily as shallow as Catherine; but years of emotional agony have combined with Heathcliff's wildness to turn him into a ruthless, vengeful monster. Heathcliff's characterization has only somewhat more depth than Catherine's, because Bronte puts the reader in Heathcliff's head only enough to let the reader know he loves Catherine. The reader can only guess about the rest of Heathcliff's soul, the process of how Hindley's abuse poisoned and darkened it.
I noted an interesting reference to English culture in Chapter 31: the origin of the name and phrase "Chevy Chase." As an American, I knew only that besides being a comedian's name, it's the name of a town in Maryland; but Catherine mentions it as a name to be read in one of her books. A little research led me to find out that the name apparently originates with "The Ballad of Chevy Chase," a song originating in the area of north England on the border with Scotland (the area where Wuthering Heights is located). The word "Chevy" comes from the "chase" being a hunt for game in the Cheviot Hills on the border. Joseph Addison stated that it was "the favorite ballad of the common people of England." show less
This is one of those classics I was never able to get very far into. The first time I got the whole gist of the story was watching the Olivier-Oberon film some time back, which surprised me with how much I disliked every single soul in the story.
Last year I finally got determined to crack the shell of this thing and listen to the audiobook. Heck, I thought, I listened to one of my most-hated-books-ever, Tess of the Durbervilles, and ended up appreciating it; surely it would work with show more Wuthering Heights.
Or not.
Which is nothing against the narrator. Anne Flosnik was the only good thing about the experience: she was excellent.
But the book made me want to bang my head against a wall until it was over. I am glad I finally completed it. It's a good thing to have under my belt. But the one-word review I posted when I was done was, quite simply, "Phew". it was my expression of amazement at how awful it was - and, more, my relief at being through. Put it this way: there was a very high body count in this book – it was one grim death after another. But I didn't mind so much in WH because, as in the long-ago-seen movie, I hated every single character. They were either so weak that a mouse sneeze would knock them over, or strong in the way that a serial killing psychopath is strong. So there was me listening to the book thinking “Yes! Die! Die! Die!”
I honestly don't know if I've read and enjoyed a book where I've been unable to like anyone involved. And here it was beyond simply not liking anyone – this was a pulsating loathing. I don't know if I'd be able to like this one even if some of the characters were more amiable – there was another big factor in my loathing of this book: the utterly impenetrable dialect. Now, I can usually manage accents, especially British accents of all types. I love 'em. But my lord. A random sample that I pulled out: 'Ony books that yah leave, I shall tak' into th' hahse,' said Joseph, 'and it'll be mitch if yah find 'em agean; soa, yah may plase yerseln!' On paper, I can read that without such a problem. Aloud? It might as well have been Bantu.
Kind of thought it might be now and then.
But no. Hateful characters and impenetrable accents aside, this thing was just so unremittingly bleak, so grim and ugly … Heathcliff hanged Isabella’s dog. As a warning. And now if someone could explain to me why he’s considered (from Wikipedia): “an archetype of the tortured romantic hero”...
“Romantic hero”.
There is more to the word “romantic” than the common usage. I know that. What frightens me is the people who don’t know that, and still call Heathcliff a romantic hero. I would as soon call Ted Bundy a romantic hero. show less
Last year I finally got determined to crack the shell of this thing and listen to the audiobook. Heck, I thought, I listened to one of my most-hated-books-ever, Tess of the Durbervilles, and ended up appreciating it; surely it would work with show more Wuthering Heights.
Or not.
Which is nothing against the narrator. Anne Flosnik was the only good thing about the experience: she was excellent.
But the book made me want to bang my head against a wall until it was over. I am glad I finally completed it. It's a good thing to have under my belt. But the one-word review I posted when I was done was, quite simply, "Phew". it was my expression of amazement at how awful it was - and, more, my relief at being through. Put it this way: there was a very high body count in this book – it was one grim death after another. But I didn't mind so much in WH because, as in the long-ago-seen movie, I hated every single character. They were either so weak that a mouse sneeze would knock them over, or strong in the way that a serial killing psychopath is strong. So there was me listening to the book thinking “Yes! Die! Die! Die!”
I honestly don't know if I've read and enjoyed a book where I've been unable to like anyone involved. And here it was beyond simply not liking anyone – this was a pulsating loathing. I don't know if I'd be able to like this one even if some of the characters were more amiable – there was another big factor in my loathing of this book: the utterly impenetrable dialect. Now, I can usually manage accents, especially British accents of all types. I love 'em. But my lord. A random sample that I pulled out: 'Ony books that yah leave, I shall tak' into th' hahse,' said Joseph, 'and it'll be mitch if yah find 'em agean; soa, yah may plase yerseln!' On paper, I can read that without such a problem. Aloud? It might as well have been Bantu.
Kind of thought it might be now and then.
But no. Hateful characters and impenetrable accents aside, this thing was just so unremittingly bleak, so grim and ugly … Heathcliff hanged Isabella’s dog. As a warning. And now if someone could explain to me why he’s considered (from Wikipedia): “an archetype of the tortured romantic hero”...
“Romantic hero”.
There is more to the word “romantic” than the common usage. I know that. What frightens me is the people who don’t know that, and still call Heathcliff a romantic hero. I would as soon call Ted Bundy a romantic hero. show less
I anticipated an insipid romance: it was that, but not for reasons expected. Rather than mawkish and treacly behaviour, Heathcliff & Catherine display a wholly unexpected level of obsession (devotion?) to one another, contrary to any evidence of tender feeling or even physical attraction. Not only are they not doe-eyed in their expressions or interactions, each instead appears manic and possessive, verging on feral, and I am mystified as to what either sees in or feels for the other.
Beyond show more that central mystery, this is a bat-shit crazy novel. Perennial criticisms of genre fiction (which typically I consider unfair generalizations) legitimately apply here: the plot is preposterous; most everyone is cynical if not sadistic in behavior to one another; coincidence triumphs over reasonable expectation at every turn. How Brontë's novel came to be regarded as a Classic is frankly dumbfounding. How it came to be shorthand for Gothic Romance, is equally mystifying. Perhaps Heathcliff's & Catherine's obsessive devotion in the face of (what they apparently perceive to be) universal approbation by their peers and elders underwrites so many readers' love for these two. It only left me cold.
I do have some faint curiosity regarding Brontë's motives for writing the novel. Was this a cautionary tale? If so, whom did she expect to reach? The story involves mean-spirited people behaving selfishly at every turn with scarcely an empathetic character to be found. And then, Brontë chose to relay the story in perhaps the most convoluted way possible, as though recounting a soap opera family drama from the vantage of the mail carrier, and chronologically backward. (I freely acknowledge the "mail carrier", Lockwood, to be an hysterical character study worth the price of admission. To be accurate, however, he is merely the secretary, taking dictation from Nelly Deal, the house gossip who recounts him the tale over her knitting.)
It occurs to me my reaction here is similar to what I've read others describe in reference to The Catcher In The Rye. I find Holden Caulfield infinitely more sympathetic and relatable.
//
Reading presented an excuse to re-acquaint myself with the Kate Bush single: was the song perhaps critical of the couple? No, not a bit. Kate was 18, and apparently genuinely impressed with Heathcliff and Cathy. The vignette she captures in the lyric is the best part of the novel, and ignores the swaths I find so exasperating. Oh well, a good tune, but I found it wholly disconnected from my experience of the book. show less
Beyond show more that central mystery, this is a bat-shit crazy novel. Perennial criticisms of genre fiction (which typically I consider unfair generalizations) legitimately apply here: the plot is preposterous; most everyone is cynical if not sadistic in behavior to one another; coincidence triumphs over reasonable expectation at every turn. How Brontë's novel came to be regarded as a Classic is frankly dumbfounding. How it came to be shorthand for Gothic Romance, is equally mystifying. Perhaps Heathcliff's & Catherine's obsessive devotion in the face of (what they apparently perceive to be) universal approbation by their peers and elders underwrites so many readers' love for these two. It only left me cold.
I do have some faint curiosity regarding Brontë's motives for writing the novel. Was this a cautionary tale? If so, whom did she expect to reach? The story involves mean-spirited people behaving selfishly at every turn with scarcely an empathetic character to be found. And then, Brontë chose to relay the story in perhaps the most convoluted way possible, as though recounting a soap opera family drama from the vantage of the mail carrier, and chronologically backward. (I freely acknowledge the "mail carrier", Lockwood, to be an hysterical character study worth the price of admission. To be accurate, however, he is merely the secretary, taking dictation from Nelly Deal, the house gossip who recounts him the tale over her knitting.)
It occurs to me my reaction here is similar to what I've read others describe in reference to The Catcher In The Rye. I find Holden Caulfield infinitely more sympathetic and relatable.
//
Reading presented an excuse to re-acquaint myself with the Kate Bush single: was the song perhaps critical of the couple? No, not a bit. Kate was 18, and apparently genuinely impressed with Heathcliff and Cathy. The vignette she captures in the lyric is the best part of the novel, and ignores the swaths I find so exasperating. Oh well, a good tune, but I found it wholly disconnected from my experience of the book. show less
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