Description
Book SynopsisOver a hundred and fifty years after its initial publication, Emily Brontë’s turbulent portrayal of the Earnshaws and the Lintons, two northern English households nearly destroyed by violent passions in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, continues to provoke and fascinate readers. Heathcliff remains one of the best-known characters in the English novel, and Catherine Earnshaw’s impossible choice between two rivals retains its appeal for contemporary readers. At the same time, the novel’s highly ambivalent representations of domesticity, its famous reticence about its characters and their actions, its formal features as a story within a story, and the mystery of Heathcliff’s origins and identity provide material for classroom discussion at every level of study.
The introduction and appendices to this Broadview edition, which place Brontë’s life and novel in the context of the developing “Brontë myth,” explore the impact of industrialization on the people of Yorkshire, consider the novel’s representation of gender, and survey the ways contemporary scholarship has sought to account for Heathcliff, open up multiple contexts within which Wuthering Heights can be read, understood, and enjoyed.
Trade Review“This Broadview edition of Wuthering Heights is ideal for understanding the novel. Beth Newman has written an incisive introduction, intelligently edited the text, and provided a wonderful set of contemporary documents that provide multiple valuable ways of contextualizing Brontë’s powerful narrative.” — James Phelan, Ohio State University
“Broadview Press’s edition of Wuthering Heights, edited by Beth Newman, is a critically current and versatile text that includes solid primary materials and a strong introduction. Newman’s stated aim is to provide a broad contextual understanding of contemporary critical approaches, and the finished product fulfills this objective. The primary material accompanying the text accomplishes two very important goals—rooting the text in important known textual materials, such as Brontë’s poems, Belgian devoirs, and critical reviews contemporary to the text, as well as drawing attention to new historical materials, such as an essay ‘On Brain Fever,’ which illuminates Catherine’s medical treatment. In short, the edition is entirely usable and an excellent choice for the classroom or the general reader.” — Terri A. Hasseler, Bryant University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
Introduction
Emily Brontë: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text
Wuthering Heights
Appendix A: A Selection of Emily Brontë’s Essays and Poems
- [“The Cat”]
- [“Portrait: King Harold before the Battle of Hastings”]
- [“The Butterfly”]
- Poems
- “Faith and Despondency”
- “Stars”
- “The Philosopher”
- “Remembrance”
- “Song”
- “Anticipation”
- “To A.G.A.”
- [“No Coward Soul”]
Appendix B: Some Literary Influences
- From George Gordon, Lord Byron, Manfred (1817)
- From Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)
Appendix C: Currer Bell’s [Charlotte Brontë’s] Prefatory Essays for the 1850 Edition of Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey
- Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell
- Editor’s Preface to the New Edition of Wuthering Heights
Appendix D: Contemporary Responses to the Novel
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The Spectator (December 1847)
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The Athenaeum (25 December 1847)
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Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine (1848)
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Douglas Jerrold’s Weekly Newspaper (15 January 1848)
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The Examiner (8 January 1848)
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The Britannia (15 January 1848)
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The Atlas (22 January 1848)
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Peterson’s Magazine (June 1848)
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The American Review (June 1848)
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The Palladium (September 1850)
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The Examiner (21 December 1850)
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The Leader (28 December 1850)
Appendix E: On Geographical Remoteness and Cultural Difference
- From William Howitt, The Rural Life of England (1838)
- From Elizabeth Gaskell, The Life of Charlotte Brontë (1857)
- William Wordsworth, “Gipsies” (1807)
Appendix F: On “Brain Fever”
Appendix G:Women in Marriage
Appendix H: Maps
Appendix I: Genealogical Table of the Earnshaw and Linton Families
Works Cited and Select Bibliography
