"I was only going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with wanting to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out to the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heighs, where I woke sobbing for joy."--Emily Bronte, "Wuthering Heights," 1848.
Now tell me, girls, who writes like this? Who can? Who ever could???????????
No one, that is, except Emily Bronte.
"Wuthering Heights" is the greatest novel in the English language, for two reasons. Emily Bronte, as no one else has, was somehow able to transfom poetry into prose. The novel is not wirtten in verse, but its lyricism is there, from first sentence to last. Its lasting stature stems from a narrative impossible to pin down--supernatural? ghostly? macabre? Gothic?, psychosexual? metaphysical? All have been attributed to "Wuthering Heights," and yet, even though this was my tenth reading, I still cannot pin it down. Which is why I am sure Emily Bronte wanted it that way. The most enigmatic of her siblings, it is no wonder her work should be as equally enigmatic.
Anyone having read "Wuthering Heights" will get what I am talking about. Anyone who has not--well, what are you waiting for????????????????????????
Finishing the novel is like the passage quoted. I felt as though I myself had gone to heaven, and were dropped by angels on the top of Wuthering Heighgs, where I sobbed for joy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The only problem with finishing this novel is what to read net!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nothing........I mean, nothing.........comes close!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was too intense for me when I was young; I had to take breaks from reading it.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteVictoria,
Agreed. But nobody has written like this
before or since. The intensity draws me in!