New Wuthering Heights study guide!

Some characters never die…

You may never have read it, but you probably know something about it. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë, does not have a complex or particularly original plot. This is not where the interest lies. Instead, Brontë’s powerful characterisation ensures that, without having studied or even read it, people who have heard of the novel are likely to mention Heathcliff and Catherine and their relationship, as opposed to than any particular event in the story.

The powerful account of a passionate love that goes beyond the grave has received all sorts of film / television and musical treatments, but few of these versions fully capture the texture and detail of the novel. Indeed, a bald summary of what various characters get up to (dictated by pressure of airspace etc) might seem incomprehensible, without the solid prose ‘realism’ and measured narration of the observant servant and confidante, Nelly Dean.

Through her, and the newcomer, Lockwood, we believe that Catherine Earnshaw might well walk the moors, twenty years after her early death, and Heathcliff ‘forget to breathe’ in his desire to be with her.

Enduring love

Although society was outraged when the story was first published in 1847, Wuthering Heights has never been relegated to the ‘second division’ of literature – a situation illustrated by that fact that Emily Brontë’s only novel currently features on three A Level Eng. Lit. syllabuses (Edexcel, AQA, WJEC). It still engages readers today, despite our very different culture.

In one sense, the novel stands aside from its times, but it also spoke to – and was a product of - 1840s England, as the shocked reaction demonstrates. To help you see the connections of the story to the context of its creation (AO4), a new Crossref-it.info guide to Brontë’s story has been launched this week.

Comprehensive help

• Struggling to make sense of Joseph’s outbursts? In the detailed commentaries on each chapter you’ll find explanations of what he is referring to.
• Need to get clear about Brontë’s narrative chronology? Sections on Narrative and Structure will help.
• Tracing image clusters and how they play out in the novel’s two main locations? You’ll find everything you need in Imagery.
• Want to get to grips with the novel’s Gothic resonances? Look no further than Literary context.

The new Crossref-it.info guide to Wuthering Heights is there to help.

What if…?

Life after life after life

The recently announced winner of the Costa novel of 2013 is Kata Atkinson’s Life after life. Rather like the films Groundhog Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day_(film)) and Sliding Doors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliding_Doors), Atkinson weaves a narrative about her central character, Ursula Todd, in which all manner of alternatives present themselves.

A variety of narratives

Traditionally, a novel tells an ‘enclosed’ tale about a particular group of characters who make choices and face the consequences. Protagonists generally behave consistently and the novelist structures the account so that it ends by fulfilling the reader’s expectations, whilst maintaining an aura of ‘reality,’ and provides a sense of closure. (Click for more detail on aspects of narrative).

In the last fifty years or so, authors have disrupted the idea of realism and that their stories portray the one ‘true’ account of ‘real’ events. In 1969 John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman consciously provided alternative versions of how protagonists behaved and commented directly to the reader that the ‘reality’ inhabited by characters was purely the fictional artifice of the novelist.

Since then many more authors have experimented in this way or developed multiple, interweaving perspectives and disjointed chronologies. Atkinson simply stops and restarts her story, expecting the reader to skate from one ‘life of Ursula’ to a different ‘life’. She plays with the idea that we all have the power of choice – things don’t have to happen the way they do.

Atkinson meets Brontë

It can be interesting to try applying some of these modern multiplicities of interpretation to ‘traditional’ novels. For example, although she employs time shifts and a variety of narrative voices, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is a typically ‘enclosed’ tale where characters seem destined to act in the ways in which the novel depicts. But what if things turned out differently?

Let your imagination fly as you consider:

• If Heathcliff had stayed to hear the whole of Catherine’s confession to Nelly, would he have left, and if he hadn’t, how would Edgar have fared as a suitor?
• How might Hareton have turned out if Nelly had brought the youngster with her to grow up at the Grange as she desired? Would a son educated in his rights have avenged the degradation of his father?
• How would Catherine’s story have unfolded if she had decided to leave Edgar for Heathcliff, after Edgar gave her his ultimatum? Would Heathcliff have looked after Edgar’s baby? Might Edgar have gone after his wife?
• If Linton had not died when he did, how would Cathy have coped if she became disillusioned with her husband – and what actions might an amorous Hareton have taken?

You, the author

If you can email in some alternative scenarios (to info@crossref-it.info), we’d love to hear what you come up with and could share them on this blog.

Meanwhile, for more on the original version of Brontë’s classic, watch this space….