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claudiaswisher 's review for:
Bronte: Wuthering Heights
by Hilda D. Spear
My mother sat in the church at Haworth where Emily's father was curate and later told me everything made sense...the wildness, the close-to-nature, the weather...everything.
I reread this, looking for that atmosphere Mom recognized, and it's here. I always wondered how a sheltered young woman with no worldly wiles could invent these characters with all their over-the-top histrionics. How could sweet Emily imagine emotions like Heathcliff's? Wildness like Catherine's? I still don't feel close to an answer, but I did appreciate this so much more the second time.
I'm taken by the storytelling...almost all flashback, with characterization mainly accomplished through dialogue. Granted, there are some violent scenes, but they're being told after the fact, and somehow it removes us from the intensity. We know everyone through his or her words...Joseph and his Yorkshire accent, Catherine through her wild, fanciful words, and Heathcliff...oh, the malevolence of Heathcliff.
Two generations; two triangles. One happy ending -- we hope.
This edition -- introduction by Daphne Merkin -- was awesome. It included Charlotte's introduction to the second printing, long after Emily was gone, too soon, like Catherine and Isabella and Linton. The notes were especially helpful for the allusions...I recognized some of the Biblical allusions, but needed help finding PILGRIM'S PROGRESS and PARADISE LOST...and even FRANKENSTEIN. There was such criticism of Emily as being uneducated. Man, how wrong were they!
I was drawn to the descriptions of nature...such a romantic conceit. Charlotte matched emotions to landscape more closely, but the touching scenes between Cathy and Linton when they both described a perfect day were so beautiful. Their choices mirrored their persons so well.
I got lost in the chronology of the story, but a quick search online cleared it up.
As a character-driven reader, I had trouble finding characters to love. Nell and Lockwood at least weren't detestable. But Nell had her own motivations as she told her tales.
Loved the last scene...perhaps there will be peace at last.
Cathy and Hareton may break the curse.
I reread this, looking for that atmosphere Mom recognized, and it's here. I always wondered how a sheltered young woman with no worldly wiles could invent these characters with all their over-the-top histrionics. How could sweet Emily imagine emotions like Heathcliff's? Wildness like Catherine's? I still don't feel close to an answer, but I did appreciate this so much more the second time.
I'm taken by the storytelling...almost all flashback, with characterization mainly accomplished through dialogue. Granted, there are some violent scenes, but they're being told after the fact, and somehow it removes us from the intensity. We know everyone through his or her words...Joseph and his Yorkshire accent, Catherine through her wild, fanciful words, and Heathcliff...oh, the malevolence of Heathcliff.
Two generations; two triangles. One happy ending -- we hope.
This edition -- introduction by Daphne Merkin -- was awesome. It included Charlotte's introduction to the second printing, long after Emily was gone, too soon, like Catherine and Isabella and Linton. The notes were especially helpful for the allusions...I recognized some of the Biblical allusions, but needed help finding PILGRIM'S PROGRESS and PARADISE LOST...and even FRANKENSTEIN. There was such criticism of Emily as being uneducated. Man, how wrong were they!
I was drawn to the descriptions of nature...such a romantic conceit. Charlotte matched emotions to landscape more closely, but the touching scenes between Cathy and Linton when they both described a perfect day were so beautiful. Their choices mirrored their persons so well.
I got lost in the chronology of the story, but a quick search online cleared it up.
As a character-driven reader, I had trouble finding characters to love. Nell and Lockwood at least weren't detestable. But Nell had her own motivations as she told her tales.
Loved the last scene...perhaps there will be peace at last.
Cathy and Hareton may break the curse.