wuthering
heights
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte’s novel of thwarted love and obsessive romance, has fascinated readers all over the world for more than 150 years.
More than one million Goodreads readers have taken the time to rate Wuthering Heights, more readers than rated any other Gothic classic except Jane Eyre. Tens of thousands of Goodreads readers have formally reviewed the novel, an indication that Heathcliff's obsessive love for Catherine continues to fascinate generation after generation.
Wuthering Heights was originally self-published, an indie novel of its time. Emily and sister Anne Bronte paid 50£ to have their two books --Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey--published together in one three-volume set. Emily wrote under the pen name of Ellis Bell and Anne used the pen name Acton Bell, probably because books by women writers were not taken as seriously as those written by men.
Emily Bronte's only novel was not well received upon publication. The printer was sloppy and there were many typographical errors in the first edition. Although a few critics liked it, Wuthering Heights was panned for its violence, its extremely passionate characters, and its lack of conventional morality. The book did not initially sell many copies and Emily Bronte died a year after its publication at the age of thirty, suffering from tuberculosis and probably thinking her book a failure.
Heathcliff is one of Emily Bronte's most memorable characters. Although Heathcliff’s past has always been shrouded in mystery, he remains one of the most passionate and fascinating male heroes in all of literature.
The passionate young hero of Wuthering Heights, is both victim and oppressor. After being spurned by Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff flees Wuthering Heights for three years. When he returns to Catherine, he never tells anyone where he went, or how he changed into a rich and ruthless gentleman. But after his remarkable and mysterious transformation, he singlehandedly drives the book toward its inevitable conclusion.
The editor of the British website “A Reader’s Guide to Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights,” www.wuthering-heights.co.uk, parsed the text for hints that Heathcliff may have been a soldier (his posture is more erect), he may have gone abroad (his voice is deeper, and accented differently) or he may been involved in the slave trade (he mentions slavery in Chapter 11). But until the appearance of Heathcliff: The Lost Years, where Heathcliff went and what he did remained a mystery.
In addition to David Drum's new novel, Wuthering Heights has inspired several notable films, radio and TV adaptations, a musical, a best-selling pop song, several operas, a graphic novel, and even a ballet.
The story of Heathcliff and Catherine was successfully transposed to Mexico by director Luis Bunuel, to Japan by Yoshishige Yoshida, to France by Jacques Rivette, and to India by Dilip Kumar. MTV bombed with a version set in a California high school.
In the Twilight series, the lead character Bella compared her love to that of Cathy for Heathcliff, a mention which quadrupled the sales of Wuthering Heights that year.
Although the novel had a modest beginning, more than one hundred sixty years after its publication, Bonhams London auction house auctioned off a first edition of Wuthering Heights for £114,000, almost twice the anticipated price and more than two thousand times what Emily and Anne Bronte originally paid to publish their entire first edition. That the savagely-criticized first edition increased in value so dramatically over time is an irony all three Bronte sisters might well relish from the depth of their graves.
More than one million Goodreads readers have taken the time to rate Wuthering Heights, more readers than rated any other Gothic classic except Jane Eyre. Tens of thousands of Goodreads readers have formally reviewed the novel, an indication that Heathcliff's obsessive love for Catherine continues to fascinate generation after generation.
Wuthering Heights was originally self-published, an indie novel of its time. Emily and sister Anne Bronte paid 50£ to have their two books --Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey--published together in one three-volume set. Emily wrote under the pen name of Ellis Bell and Anne used the pen name Acton Bell, probably because books by women writers were not taken as seriously as those written by men.
Emily Bronte's only novel was not well received upon publication. The printer was sloppy and there were many typographical errors in the first edition. Although a few critics liked it, Wuthering Heights was panned for its violence, its extremely passionate characters, and its lack of conventional morality. The book did not initially sell many copies and Emily Bronte died a year after its publication at the age of thirty, suffering from tuberculosis and probably thinking her book a failure.
Heathcliff is one of Emily Bronte's most memorable characters. Although Heathcliff’s past has always been shrouded in mystery, he remains one of the most passionate and fascinating male heroes in all of literature.
The passionate young hero of Wuthering Heights, is both victim and oppressor. After being spurned by Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff flees Wuthering Heights for three years. When he returns to Catherine, he never tells anyone where he went, or how he changed into a rich and ruthless gentleman. But after his remarkable and mysterious transformation, he singlehandedly drives the book toward its inevitable conclusion.
The editor of the British website “A Reader’s Guide to Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights,” www.wuthering-heights.co.uk, parsed the text for hints that Heathcliff may have been a soldier (his posture is more erect), he may have gone abroad (his voice is deeper, and accented differently) or he may been involved in the slave trade (he mentions slavery in Chapter 11). But until the appearance of Heathcliff: The Lost Years, where Heathcliff went and what he did remained a mystery.
In addition to David Drum's new novel, Wuthering Heights has inspired several notable films, radio and TV adaptations, a musical, a best-selling pop song, several operas, a graphic novel, and even a ballet.
The story of Heathcliff and Catherine was successfully transposed to Mexico by director Luis Bunuel, to Japan by Yoshishige Yoshida, to France by Jacques Rivette, and to India by Dilip Kumar. MTV bombed with a version set in a California high school.
In the Twilight series, the lead character Bella compared her love to that of Cathy for Heathcliff, a mention which quadrupled the sales of Wuthering Heights that year.
Although the novel had a modest beginning, more than one hundred sixty years after its publication, Bonhams London auction house auctioned off a first edition of Wuthering Heights for £114,000, almost twice the anticipated price and more than two thousand times what Emily and Anne Bronte originally paid to publish their entire first edition. That the savagely-criticized first edition increased in value so dramatically over time is an irony all three Bronte sisters might well relish from the depth of their graves.