Wuthering Heights: Wuthering Heights (Penguin English Library) (The Penguin English Library)

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This was a reread for me but it’s been years since I read it. I’d forgotten what a dark story it is. Heathcliff and Cathy’s obsessive love for each other wreak’s havoc on their lives and on everyone else around them. Even though Cathy declares, “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same,” she makes the choice to marry Edgar Linton for his respectability and his money. Heathcliff is devastated and angry and vows to seek revenge on everyone around him. He spends the rest of his life mistreating, manipulating, and abusing everyone in his life. So it has been for more than a century. Nobody should miss this strangest and strongest of English novels, so hauntingly beautiful and intensely poetical in its dark and eerie otherness. By the way, don't miss Emily Brontë's poems, or a good selection of them. Emily Bronte lived from 1818 to 1848. Although she wrote only Wuthering Heights and about a dozen poms she is accepted as one of the most gifted writers ever. Perhaps the intensity of her writing grew out of the extraordinary pressures of her home life. Mr. Heathcliff and his man climbed the cellar steps with vexatious phlegm: I don't think they moved one second faster than usual, though the hearth was an absolute tempest of worrying and yelping.

She never opened her mouth. I stared--she stared also. At any rate, she kept her eyes on me in a cool, regardless manner, exceedingly embarrassing and disagreeable. There are almost no likable characters in this book except Nellie Dean, one of the two narrators, and even she isn’t always likable. I always wonder what Emily Brontë’s life was like that she could write this story! Emily Brontë’s only novel endures as a work of tremendous and far-reaching influence. The Penguin Classics edition is the definitive version of the text, edited with an introduction by Pauline Nestor. It is as if Emily Brontë could tear up all that we know human beings by, and fill these unrecognizable transparencies with such a gust of life that they transcend reality." Part of a series of vintage recordings taken from the Penguin Archives. Affordable, collectable, quality productions - perfect for on-the-go listening. Read more DetailsWhat the devil is the matter?' he asked, eyeing me in a manner I could ill endure after this inhospitable treatment. The 'walk in' was uttered with closed teeth, and expressed the sentiment, 'Go to the Deuce': even the gate over which he leant manifested no sympathizing movement to the words; and I think that circumstance determined me to accept the invitation: I felt interested in a man who seemed more exaggeratedly reserved than myself. The apartment and furniture would have been nothing extraordinary as belonging to a homely, northern farmer, with a stubborn countenance, and stalwart limbs set out to advantage in knee-breeches and gaiters. Such an individual seated in his armchair, his mug of ale frothing on the round table before him, is to be seen in any circuit of five or six miles among these hills, if you go at the right time after dinner. But Mr. Heathcliff forms a singular contrast to his abode and style of living. He is a dark-skinned gipsy in aspect, in dress and manners a gentleman: that is, as much a gentleman as many a country squire: rather slovenly, perhaps, yet not looking amiss with his negligence, because he has an erect and handsome figure; and rather morose. Possibly, some people might suspect him of a degree of underbred pride; I have a sympathetic chord within that tells me it is nothing of the sort: I know by instinct, his reserve springs from an aversion to showy displays of feeling--to manifestations of mutual kindliness. He'll love and hate equally under cover, and esteem it a species of impertinence to be loved or hated again. No. I'm running on too fast: I bestow my own attributes over liberally on him. Mr. Heathcliff may have entirely dissimilar reasons for keeping his hand out of the way when he meets a would-be acquaintance, to those which actuate me. Let me hope my constitution is almost peculiar: my dear mother used to say I should never have a comfortable home; and only last summer I proved myself perfectly unworthy of one. One of English literature’s classic masterpieces—a gripping novel of love, propriety, and tragedy. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read Wretched inmates!' I ejaculated, mentally, 'you deserve perpetual isolation from your species for your churlish inhospitality. At least, I would not keep my doors barred in the day-time. I don't care--I will get in!'

Before passing the threshold, I paused to admire a quantity of grotesque carving lavished over the front, and especially about the principal door; above which, among a wilderness of crumbling griffins and shameless little boys, I detected the date '1500,' and the name 'Hareton Earnshaw.' I would have made a few comments, and requested a short history of the place from the surly owner; but his attitude at the door appeared to demand my speedy entrance, or complete departure, and I had no desire to aggravate his impatience previous to inspecting the penetralium. By this curious turn of disposition I have gained the reputation of deliberate heartlessness; how undeserved, I alone can appreciate.The book itself is deliberately confusing. You gradually piece together who each person is, and their role, the further you go into the book. I advise keeping a pen handy and try to jot down a family tree, but even then, it’s still difficult to place everyone. The similarity in names leads to much confusion, and even Catherine’s name confuses, right in chapter 3 when you see three Catherines with different surnames.

It is a novel that earns its title as a literary classic, never to go out of style. Though horse and carriage may no longer be the main mode of transportation in today's society, it still imparts some valuable insights. This book taught me a valuable lesson as a teenager that I still interpret to this day as an adult: Just because you love someone, does not mean you should be with them (if it isn't healthy and destructive). Wuthering Heights is commonly thought of as "romantic", but try rereading it without being astonished by the extremes of physical and psychological violence' Jeanette Winterson

Rough weather!' I remarked. 'I'm afraid, Mrs. Heathcliff, the door5 must bear the consequence of your servants' leisure attendance: I had hard work to make them hear me!' TO SUMMARIZE: I recommend strongly NOT to buy this edition, in spite of its real merits. And then what? What the devil, indeed!' I muttered. 'The herd of possessed swine could have had no worse spirits in them than those animals of yours, sir. You might as well leave a stranger with a brood of tigers!' I cannot make my mind up which it is: is he actually a demon in human form, or is he possessed by one. If I had to decide, I'd say he was possessed by one, though others, such as H P Lovecraft, disagreed.