Wuthering Heights

by Bronte, Emily (Author); Nestor, Pauline (Editor/introduction); Miller, Lucasta (Preface by)

• ISBN13: 9780141439556
• ISBN10: 0141439556
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-01-01
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

Published a year before her death at the age of thirty, Emily Brontë's only novel is set in the wild, bleak Yorkshire Moors. Depicting the relationship of Cathy and Heathcliff, Wuthering Heightscreates a world of its own, conceived with an instinct for poetry and for the dark depths of human psychology. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Pauline Nestor New Preface by Lucasta Miller

Author Biography

Emily Brontë (1818-1848), one of four surviving children of a clergyman, wrote poetry as well as her novel, Wuthering Heights.

Pauline Nestor is senior lecturer in English at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

Lucasta Miller is the author of The Bront+½ Myth.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. viii
About Longman Cultural Editions	p. ix
About This Edition	p. xi
Introduction	p. xv
Table of Dates: The Life of Emily Bronte	p. xxvi
The Chronology of Wuthering Heights	p. xxx
Wuthering Heights	p. 1
Volume 1	p. 3
Volume 2	p. 141
Contexts	p. 299
Biographical	p. 303
Biographical Sketch	p. 303
Emily Bronte in Elizabeth Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Bronte (1857)	p. 308
Writings	p. 313
from "Diary Papers" (1834-1845)	p. 313
"The Cat" (translation) (1842)	p. 319
Charlotte Bronte's Selection of Poems by Ellis Bell (1850)	p. 320
Charlotte Bronte on Ellis Bell	p. 329
from "Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell" (1850)	p. 330
from "Editor's Preface" (1850)	p. 335
Historical, Social, and Legal	p. 339
Heathcliff and the Unsettled Classes	p. 339
Nomads of City and Country	p. 341
Henry Mayhew, from London Labour and the London Poor (1861)	p. 341
Self-Made Men and Luddites	p. 343
Samuel Smiles, from Self-Help (1859)	p. 343
Women's Rights and Roles	p. 348
Ellis Bell and Sarah Stickney Ellis	p. 348
Sarah Stickney Ellis, from The Women of England, Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits (1839)	p. 349
Harriet Martineau, from "On Female Education" (1823)	p. 352
Wills, Women, and Property	p. 355
Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, from A Brief Summary, in Plain Language, of the Most Important Laws Concerning Women (1854)	p. 355
A Tale of Two Houses: Interiors and Servants	p. 357
Interiors	p. 358
John Ruskin, from "The Nature of Gothic," The Stones of Venice (1851-1853)	p. 359
Domestic Servants	p. 361
Isabella Beeton, from The Book of Household Management (1861)	p. 362
Regional and Popular	p. 366
Where Are the Brontes From?	p. 366
Ireland, Heathcliff, and the Brontes	p. 367
William Wright, from The Brontes in Ireland (1893)	p. 368
Yorkshire: Regionalism, Dialect, and Ballads	p. 374
Regionalism	p. 374
Elizabeth Gaskell, from The Life of Charlotte Bronte (1857)	p. 375
Dialect	p. 377
Richard Blakeborough, from Wit, Character, Folklore and Customs of the North Riding of Yorkshire (1898)	p. 377
Ballads	p. 380
Anonymous, "The Ghaist's Warning" (1812)	p. 382
Pilgrims to Haworth	p. 387
Matthew Arnold, from "Haworth Churchyard, April 1855" (1877)	p. 387
Claude Meeker, from "Haworth; Home of the Brontes" (1895)	p. 390
Virginia Woolf, from "Haworth, November 1904" (1904)	p. 393
Shifting Literary Honors and the Beaten Track	p. 395
Critical and Artful	p. 398
Reviews of Wuthering Heights, 1848-1851	p. 399
from Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper (January 1848)	p. 399
from Atlas (January 1848)	p. 400
G. W. P[eck], from "Wuthering Heights," The American Review (June 1848)	p. 401
[E. P. Whipple], from "Novels of the Season," North American Review (October 1848)	p. 403
[George Henry Lewes], from The Leader (December 1850)	p. 404
[Sydney Dobell], from Eclectic Review (February 1851)	p. 405
Early Criticism	p. 406
Algernon Charles Swinburne, from "Emily Bronte" (1883)	p. 406
Angus M. MacKay, from The Brontes: Fact and Fiction (1897)	p. 407
Mary A. Ward [Mrs. Humphry Ward], from "Introduction," Wuthering Heights, Haworth Edition (1900)	p. 409
May Sinclair, from The Three Brontes (1912)	p. 410
Virginia Woolf, from "Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights" (1916)	p. 412
Sites and Resources on the Brontes	p. 413
Exhibits	p. 413
Selected Web sites	p. 415
Adaptations and Translations	p. 415
Performances	p. 415
Film/Television Adaptations	p. 417
Some Translations	p. 418
Some Sequels, Pendants, and Biographical Fiction	p. 422
Further Reading	p. 425
General Resources and Biographical Studies	p. 425
Popular Reception and Travels to Bronte Country	p. 430
Selected Criticism Since 1995	p. 430
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

chapter 1

1801.'I have just returned from a visit to my landlord'the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with. This is certainly a beautiful country! In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist's Heaven: and Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us. A capital fellow! He little imagined how my heart warmed towards him when I beheld his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously under their brows, as I rode up, and when his fingers sheltered themselves, with a jealous resolution, still further in his waistcoat, as I announced my name.

‘Mr. Heathcliff?' I said.

A nod was the answer.

‘Mr. Lockwood your new tenant, sir. I do myself the honour of calling as soon as possible after my arrival, to express the hope that I have not inconvenienced you by my perseverance in soliciting the occupation of Thrushcross Grange: I heard yesterday you had had some thoughts'

‘Thrushcross Grange is my own, sir,' he interrupted, wincing. ‘I should not allow any one to inconvenience me, if I could hinder it'walk in!'

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.When he saw my horse's breast fairly pushing the barrier, he did pull out his hand to unchain it, and then sullenly preceded me up the causeway, calling, as we entered the court,'‘Joseph, take Mr. Lockwood's horse; and bring up some wine.'

‘Here we have the whole establishment of domestics, I suppose,' was the reflection, suggested by this compound order. ‘No wonder the grass grows up between the flags, and cattle are the only hedge cutters.'

Joseph was an elderly, nay, an old man: very old, perhaps, though hale and sinewy. ‘The Lord help us!' he soliloquised in an undertone of peevish displeasure, while relieving me of my horse: looking, meantime, in my face so sourly that I charitably conjectured he must have need of divine aid to digest his dinner, and his pious ejaculation had no reference to my unexpected advent.

Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff's dwelling. ‘Wuthering' being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun. Happily, the architect had foresight to build it strong: the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting stones.

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.

One step brought us into the family sitting-room, without any introductory lobby or passage: they call it here ‘the house' preeminently. It includes kitchen and parlour, generally; but I believe at Wuthering Heights the kitchen is forced to retreat altogether into another quarter: at least I distinguished a chatter of tongues, and a clatter of culinary utensils, deep within; and I observed no signs of roasting, boiling, or baking, about the huge fireplace; nor any glitter of copper saucepans and tin cullenders on the walls. One end, indeed, reflected splendidly both light and heat from ranks of immense pewter dishes, interspersed with silver jugs and tankards, towering row after row, on a vast oak dresser, to the very roof. The latter had never been underdrawn: its entire anatomy lay bare to an inquiring eye, except where a frame of wood laden with oatcakes and clusters of legs of beef, mutton, and ham, concealed it. Above the chimney were sundry villainous old guns, and a couple of horse-pistols: and, by way of ornament, three gaudily painted canisters disposed along its ledge. The floor was of smooth, white stone; the chairs, high-backed, primitive structures, painted green: one or two heavy black ones lurking in the shade. In an arch under the dresser, reposed a huge, liver-coloured bitch pointer, surrounded by a swarm of squealing puppies; and other dogs haunted other recesses.

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 gypsy 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.