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Wuthering Heights

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Sheramy
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Post by Sheramy » Sun April 26th, 2009, 8:43 pm

I first read WH in high school and loved it. So intense!!

It is fascinating to compare the two best known film versions--the 1930s one with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon (which leaves out half the book!) and the 1990s one with Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes. Ralph Fiennes NAILS IT, and Binoche's Cathy is on the money. I love me some Laurence, but the later WH is less stylized and truer to the novel.
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Suzanne Crowley
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Post by Suzanne Crowley » Mon May 4th, 2009, 8:48 pm

There's a fairly new Masterpiece Theater version that I bought recently on DVD. It's pretty good!

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Post by Christina » Fri May 8th, 2009, 10:54 pm

To 'get' this book, I think, you really have to 'get' Emily :-) . I love it! It's not about romance and the film versions don't get it at all. Although the later film version is closer to the book in some ways, the French Cathy is way off the mark! The closest to it, to my mind, is Kate Bush's frenetic rendering of it!

Emily lived in her head. It wasn't about being starved to death physically in boarding schools (as Charlotte's books are), it was about starving her soul. Charlotte wrote of Emily's despair when she was among other people and compelled to either study in Brussels or be a teacher closer to home. Her world, I think, was filled with passion and trauma; adventure and angst and it all comes out in the book. The - much skimmed-over - incenstuous notions raised by this book were about (and I am only saying my view and might be wrong!) her inner conflicts - the narrow world in which she lived and which she loved; the sense of many lifetimes (reincarnation - and she was the daughter of an Anglican clergyman, raised in that religion which doesn't accept reincarnation); the whole almost 'witchy' aspects of nature that ,meant so much to her...

Hollywood has narrowed down this book to turn it into either a romance or a Gothic horror novel....They just don't get Emily's 'wily windy moors...' Maybe you have to come and see the bleakness of those Moors - the parsonage, overlooking the graveyard (and the average life expectancy in Haworth at that time was 19 years??); the wildness of it all...It's a strange place and, reading Emily's poetry alongside the book, it explains a lot more than can be taken at face value...

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Post by RoxiS.C. » Fri May 15th, 2009, 12:19 pm

I first read Wuthering Heights when I was about 14, after hearing Kate Bush's song which I still adore. I didn't actually know what it was about when I started reading it, so I was never under this preconception that it was a love story. Even though it isn't a love story, the connection between Heathcliff and Cathy was always my favourite part - essentially the rebellion against traditional society/views. I always felt it wasn't an equal relationship, Cathy most certainly held the reins and I thought that even in her wanting Heathcliff in her life she was being selfish, it was not so much because of who Heathcliff was, but because she had decided that was what she wanted. That might just be me, I'm not sure. The fact that she was selfish and spiteful, and he destructive and vengeful, it's difficult to like either of them as people but it's impossible to dislike the connection they have.

It is a very dark novel, but I always found Heathcliff to be fascinating in his destructive nature, and I must also admit I liked the teeny hints at the more supernatural/metaphysical/I-don't-know-the-right-word-for-it elements. When he curses her soul and in doing so begs it never to leave him, and obviously the bit which Kate Bush's song is centered about, as well as the mention of the spectres supposedly seen by people on the moors at the end. I'm rambling. :D

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Lady Macbeth
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Post by Lady Macbeth » Sat July 18th, 2009, 10:24 am

I really do adore Wuthering Heights and I can bore for Britain on the subject. It's one of my most read novels and I find something new and feel differently every time I read it. As a teen, I thought this was a romance but I feel quite differently about it now.

In the classic stakes, I think WH is probably the second best known novel in English Literature second only to P&P. Everyone has heard of Darcy and Heathcliff even if they don't know the stories. I wonder how much influence Kate Bush's song had on the national awareness of WH back in the 70's - can anyone comment on that?

WH is a complex, thought provoking and deeply moving story of an intricate love affair. This is a genuine love affair - one that surpasses matrimony, social status and all physical barriers. This is a completely binding bond far greater than any sexual union. This is far from a glamourised love (like most victorian novels) - this is boundless, obsessive love that is ultimately destructive.

Heathcliff is a most enigmatic character - I don't think it is ever possible to understand his reasoning, his psyche. He seems driven by jealousy, bitterness and guilt and remorse to the point of self-destruction. I wonder how much of this character was present in the men in EB's real life? In particular, her father and brother? He's a one-off, a force of nature, a truly frightening creation. Only Catherine, who is mentally unstable herself, could possibly cling to him as a soulmate. And therein lies the fascination. Even after her death, she continues to dominate Heathcliff and the story. She is there, in the background, all the time. And, of course, at the end, it is Catherine - either a real or imagined ghostly presence - who drives Heathcliff to his exhausted death.

I've also read issues raised about the incestuous nature of relationships within Bronte novels but I think Heathcliff and Cathy aren't so much incestuous but identical. They actually seem to be the same person and to think and talk about each other in this way. There is of course the famous "I am Heathcliff" speech from Cathy but also Heathcliff's cry that he cannot live without his soul. They don't seem to have any separate identity at all. Heathcliff mourns Cathy not so much as a separate individual whose life has been cruelly cut short but more as a loss of part of himself. Cathy's betrayal is so horrendously damaging because, in effect, she splits her own personality. In fact, since she says that it will degrade her to marry Heathcliff, it's almost a statement of self-loathing, as if he represents a part of her psyche that she's afraid of and seeks to escape by rushing off to the 'normality' of Edgar and Thrushcross Grange.

This strange, highly claustrophobic, state of affairs is further dramatised by the comparison which can be made with Hareton and young Catherine's relationship. Hareton too has been 'degraded' but young Catherine doesn't feel the need to escape from this - she decides to do something about it. She loves Hareton but he is separate from her. Their relationship is described in much more 'romantic' terms and ultimately satisfies the reader with a half way happy ending.

The peripheral characters are great - the hypocritical, religious zealot Joseph is a tour de force!

I am struck by the recurrent absent mother theme in Bronte novels and always feel saddened by it.

Wuthering Heights is a great novel for hunkering down with the cat during inclement weather - the darkening evenings of autumn always make me feel rather Wuthering Heightsish and the novel gets dragged out for another reread.

I've walked extensively in the area (walking on English fells being a bit of a passion of mine) and, when the wind is blowing mournfully across the moors, the same sense of mind I get when reading the novel is recreated.

:)
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Post by LoveHistory » Sat July 18th, 2009, 3:49 pm

Wow, Lady MacBeth! I may have to read it again. You're comments are way beyond anything I've thought of but in considering them now I have to say I agree with most of them.

Heathcliff and Cathy were some really damaged people.

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Post by cw gortner » Sat July 18th, 2009, 7:46 pm

Two of my favorite novels in the English language are Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights and Daphne DuMaurier's My Cousin Rachel.

In subtle ways, the books remind me of each other in their portrayals of passion and obsession.
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Post by alice » Sun July 19th, 2009, 11:07 am

[quote=""Lady Macbeth""]I really do adore Wuthering Heights and I can bore for Britain on the subject. It's one of my most read novels and I find something new and feel differently every time I read it. As a teen, I thought this was a romance but I feel quite differently about it now.

In the classic stakes, I think WH is probably the second best known novel in English Literature second only to P&P. Everyone has heard of Darcy and Heathcliff even if they don't know the stories. I wonder how much influence Kate Bush's song had on the national awareness of WH back in the 70's - can anyone comment on that?

WH is a complex, thought provoking and deeply moving story of an intricate love affair. This is a genuine love affair - one that surpasses matrimony, social status and all physical barriers. This is a completely binding bond far greater than any sexual union. This is far from a glamourised love (like most victorian novels) - this is boundless, obsessive love that is ultimately destructive.

Heathcliff is a most enigmatic character - I don't think it is ever possible to understand his reasoning, his psyche. He seems driven by jealousy, bitterness and guilt and remorse to the point of self-destruction. I wonder how much of this character was present in the men in EB's real life? In particular, her father and brother? He's a one-off, a force of nature, a truly frightening creation. Only Catherine, who is mentally unstable herself, could possibly cling to him as a soulmate. And therein lies the fascination. Even after her death, she continues to dominate Heathcliff and the story. She is there, in the background, all the time. And, of course, at the end, it is Catherine - either a real or imagined ghostly presence - who drives Heathcliff to his exhausted death.

I've also read issues raised about the incestuous nature of relationships within Bronte novels but I think Heathcliff and Cathy aren't so much incestuous but identical. They actually seem to be the same person and to think and talk about each other in this way. There is of course the famous "I am Heathcliff" speech from Cathy but also Heathcliff's cry that he cannot live without his soul. They don't seem to have any separate identity at all. Heathcliff mourns Cathy not so much as a separate individual whose life has been cruelly cut short but more as a loss of part of himself. Cathy's betrayal is so horrendously damaging because, in effect, she splits her own personality. In fact, since she says that it will degrade her to marry Heathcliff, it's almost a statement of self-loathing, as if he represents a part of her psyche that she's afraid of and seeks to escape by rushing off to the 'normality' of Edgar and Thrushcross Grange.

This strange, highly claustrophobic, state of affairs is further dramatised by the comparison which can be made with Hareton and young Catherine's relationship. Hareton too has been 'degraded' but young Catherine doesn't feel the need to escape from this - she decides to do something about it. She loves Hareton but he is separate from her. Their relationship is described in much more 'romantic' terms and ultimately satisfies the reader with a half way happy ending.

The peripheral characters are great - the hypocritical, religious zealot Joseph is a tour de force!

I am struck by the recurrent absent mother theme in Bronte novels and always feel saddened by it.

Wuthering Heights is a great novel for hunkering down with the cat during inclement weather - the darkening evenings of autumn always make me feel rather Wuthering Heightsish and the novel gets dragged out for another reread.

I've walked extensively in the area (walking on English fells being a bit of a passion of mine) and, when the wind is blowing mournfully across the moors, the same sense of mind I get when reading the novel is recreated.

:) [/quote]

Great post LM. I love this book, and I always think how so many people misinterpret it. Emily Bronte was really a one-off, unique individual. Much as I like Jane Eyre, I think it pales into comparison with WH. The characters are definitely unlikeable, tortured souls, but wow, it's such a compelling book. I live in the UK, but have never visited Haworth, (I would love to), but I think I can imagine the sensation of being on those bleak, windswept moors. I get quite over-awed in wide, open spaces, and I think anyone of a sensitive nature can get where Emily's coming from. The landscape she was living in obviously helped with the Romantic nature of the book, (Romantic in the sense of the movement, not the Mills and Swoon, bodice-ripping style :D ). A truly great book, much misunderstood, but a deserved member of the literary greats.

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Post by Marc » Wed December 9th, 2009, 5:36 am

Hi,


Wuthering Heights is one of my favorite novels. It has a class of its own. amazing story that has love, romance, jealousy, and passion. The visit to the moors was amazing. This is an all time favorite book of mine.


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Michy
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Post by Michy » Fri May 21st, 2010, 3:13 am

I have read Wuthering Heights a couple of times and listened to an audio version, but I am through with it and probably won't read it again. The things that others have said they liked about it are precisely what I didn't like; the extremeness of the passions and emotions, the overwrought and claustrophobic feel of it, the main characters all being so tortured and warped. What is remarkable about it to me, though, is that it was written by a young English girl who led a pretty narrow and sheltered life and died young. To think that she had all of this pent up inside of her is pretty amazing.

Now Jane Eyre, on the other hand, is one of my absolute favorite books.
Last edited by Michy on Fri May 21st, 2010, 3:23 am, edited 3 times in total.

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