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….

Western culture the easy way

Slump back and watch

It’s had mixed reviews – positive in America, cynical in the UK - but if you want an easy way to assimilate the core stories of Western culture, it’s worth recording Channel 5’s mini-series on The Bible for those empty, post-Christmas days when it’s cold and miserable and you want a day on the sofa. In 10 hours (shorter if you can skip through interminable adverts) you will get an understanding of some of the core events and people which literature has referenced over the last thousand years.

Assessment Objective 4

A quarter of the marks given at A Level for English Lit. are based on your understanding of: ‘the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received’. Any student who doesn’t know the great extent to which the Bible and classical myths have infiltrated almost every play, novel, poem and even newspaper article you’ll ever come across is hugely disadvantaged. The stories they include and the views they contain have shaped politics, history, society and culture.

• To take a light-hearted example - why is the duplicitous lover in Tom Jones’ famous song called Delilah? You’ll find out from The Bible.
• Why Is Margaret Attwood’s latest bestseller called Maddaddam? She takes endless references from the Bible.

A reason for the season

In the midst of that general feeling of having been over-faced by food, wrapping paper and winter sale adverts, it’s easy to wonder what the festive season has all been about. The narrative of Episode Three of The Bible might also provide a helpful perspective on why the West celebrates Christmas (the clue is in the name).

Ten hours means that, inevitably, some well-known events have had to be left out, but, from what has been released so far, the account of biblical events at least bears a good resemblance to the contents of the Good Book – unlike the BBC Saturday entertainment series Atlantis, which is great fun but plays fast and loose with classical myths.

Of course, for real detail about how context is reflected in the texts you’ll study for Eng. Lit. there’s nowhere better than Crossref-it.info. But to get a grand sweep, why not sit back and enjoy the mini-series (aired Saturdays at 9pm on Channel 5 if you want to record)?

HAPPY CHRISTMAS to one and all!

Our Inevitable End

Free to talk?

In the UK we have freedom of speech. We are happy talking about anything and everything – except that one day we will be able to speak no more. That subject we avoid, despite the fact that it is an experience we will all face. Right now, I am doing what our culture always does – politely skirting around the unmentionable… We don’t want to be morbid do we!

Start engaging with literature and you’ll find previous generations had no such issues. Everybody dies, authors proclaim, get used to it!

> Every parent expected some of their offspring not to make it

> Wives knew that childbirth might kill them one day

> Men frequently found their 50’s to be their final decade

> Illness rarely had a remedy.

Death wasn’t an avoidable ‘unmentionable’, but in your face.

So literature engages with death. It faces it, does not flinch from examining the impact of dying on the person involved and those left behind. Characters ponder what it will be like and what they might expect on the other side of the grave.

Only connect

Earlier this term Crossref-it.info launched Only connect. The Crossref-it.info team have taken a series of themes and then looked at how each runs through and unites various texts, providing hundreds of helpful links to a variety of onsite sources.

This week sees the release of Attitudes to death. It helps students explore how cultures alter through time in the way they approach the end of life. It enables readers to trace how perspectives from the classical world and the Christian Western worldview have affected attitudes reflected within texts. Currently covering the genres of poetry and drama, after Christmas it will also feature prose.

The inescapable cannot, by definition, be escaped, but at least literature can mediate the experience to us. So instead of running or skirting around, why not try connecting?

The Play’s the Thing

A Level Shakespeare texts on stage

If you live within reach of one of the following productions, which are all on exam board syllabuses, do try and get to see ‘your’ play acted live. Some productions are soon to end their run, but others are listed to book for 2014. It is the best way to make the most of the bard’s drama:

Antony and Cleopatra

• RSC Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 7 – 30 November (0870 6091110).    www.rsc.org.uk
• Southend Shakespeare Company, Dixon Studio, Palace Theatre, Southend-on-Sea, 20 - 30 November (01702 351 135).   http://eskape.brinkster.net/home/index.asp

As You Like It

• Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory. The Tobacco Factory, Bristol, 13 Feb - 22 March 2014 (0117 902 0344).

Coriolanus

• Donmar Warehouse. London, 6 December – 8 February 2014 (0844 871 7624).   www.donmarwarehouse.com

Hamlet

• The Faction.  The New Diorama Theatre, London, 4 January – 22 February 2014 (0844 2090344).   www.thefaction.org.uk

Henry IV, pt.1

• RSC. Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 18 March – 16 September 2014 (0844 800 1110).  www.rsc.org.uk

King Lear

• Chichester Festival.  Minerva Theatre, Chichester, 31 October – 30 November (01243 781 312).    http://www.cft.org.uk/
• National Theatre. Olivier Theatre, from January 2014 (dates TBA) (020 7452 3000).   www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

• Propeller. Theatre Royal, Bath, 19 – 23 November (01225 448844); Swan Theatre, High Wycombe (01494 512 000); Lyceum, Sheffield, 23 January - 1 February 2014 (0114 249 6000); Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, 11 - 15 February (024 7655 3055); Theatre Royal, Manchester, 18 - 22 February (0115 989 5555); The Lowry, the Lyric, Salford, 26 February - 1 March (0843 208 6000); The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, 4 - 8 March (01227 787787); Rose Theatre, Kingston, week of 10 March 2014 (08444 821 556); Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, week of 17 March 2014 (01242 572573); Theatre Royal, Norwich, 25 - 29 March (01603 63 00 00); Theatre Royal, Newcastle, 1 - 5 April (08448 11 21 21); King's Theatre, Edinburgh, 16 - 19 April (0131 529 6000); Theatre Royal, Plymouth, week of 5 May 2014 (01752 267222).   http://propeller.org.uk
• Brewery Arts.  The Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, 28 – 30 November  (01539 725 133).   www.breweryarts.co.uk
• London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Pleasance Theatre, Islington, London, 28 November – 5 December (020 7609 1800).  www.lamda.org.uk

Othello

• The Icarus Theatre Collective. Weston Auditorium, Hatfield, 2 December   (01707 281127);   Mumford Theatre, Cambridge, 3 – 4 December  (01223 352932); Millfield Theatre, London, 27 – 28 January 2014 (0208 8076680); Venue Cymru, Llandudno, Wales, 30 January 2014  (01492 872000); Braintree Arts Theatre, 1 February 2014 (01376 556354); Buxton Opera House, 6 – 7 February 2014 (0845 1272190); Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, 10 – 11 Feburary  2014 (01743 281281); Wyvern Theatre, Swindon, 17 March  2014 (01293 553636); Pomegranate Theatre, Chesterfield, 19 March 2014 (01246 345222); The Atkinson, Southport, 20 – 21 March 2014 (01704 533333); Stafford Gatehouse, 24 March 2014 (01785 254653); Hartlepool Town Hall Theatre, 25 March 2014 (01429 890000); Queen's Hall, Hexham, 26 March 2014 (01434 652477); Customs House, South Shields, 27 March 2014 (0191 4541234); Harpenden Public Halls, 7 April 2014 (01582 767525).   http://www.icarustheatre.org/

Richard II

• RSC.  The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 10 October – 16 December; Barbican, London, 9 December – 25 January 2014 (0870 6091110).    www.rsc.org.uk

Richard III

• Nottingham Playhouse and York Theatre Royal. York Theatre Royal, 19 – 30 November (01904 623 568).   www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
• Cambridge University European Theatre Group. ADC Theatre, Cambridge, 14 – 18 January 2014  (01223 300085).   http://www.adctheatre.com
• Bournemouth Shakespeare Players. Priory House Garden, Christchurch, 15 – 19, and 22- 26 July 2014 (01202 534779)  http://www.bshakespearep.org/

The White Devil brought to life

Book now!

Like buses, productions of Hamlet come and go quite frequently. If you miss one, there’s likely to be another fairly soon. The same cannot be said for productions of John Webster’s The White Devil. This gutsy Jacobean tragedy is full of passion, violence and spectacle but performed only infrequently. This is a shame, as it’s a great play, as well as being a set text on the following syllabuses:

• AQA English Literature B
• OCR English Literature
• Cambridge Pre U

As anybody knows, when you are trying to grapple with a printed play text, the best thing you can do is see it brought to life on stage.

Today you have the chance, as booking has just opened for a new production of The White Devil by the RSC. The run is from the end of August to the start of October, which means that realistically a student group can only book between 3rd Sep – 3rd October. If you are studying the play, do let your teacher know, as tickets are likely to run out very quickly. Go to http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats- on/the-white-devil/ for details.

A vivid interpretation

One of the reasons the RSC are staging Webster’s revenge tragedy is because it features two feisty female roles in Vittoria and her maid, Zanche. These women are prepared to defy convention and fight for their rights within a controlling patriarchal society. The play is part of a season focusing on strong women in Jacobean drama.

Judging from the reviews of other recent productions by director, Maria Aberg, you can be confident that she will provide an engaging and powerful drama, full of fresh ways of understanding Webster’s world.

Be prepared

Before seeing it on stage, it really helps to be familiar with the plot of The White Devil. If you want a quick way in to the text, the synopses provided here will quickly give you a handle on the action.

There is much more detail available for when you delve into the play more fully and don’t forget that Crossref-it.info for Google Chrome also has a handy revision/study plan to help you collate everything you know about the text ready for examination.

Gatsby for the Facebook generation

Surface success

Facebook is a competitive environment:

> How rapidly can you update your status and how prestigious can you make it?

> How many friends can you boast of?

> How many wacky photos can you post to prove you’re having fun?

If it had been around in this era, Jay Gatsby (hero of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby) would have been a social media success. His blog would have been followed, his Tweets would trend. Where he was, was where the world gathered.

Of course, Gatsby had the ultimate Facebook profile, presenting the glamorous identity in which he wanted people to believe. But, like many Facebook profiles, it wasn’t entirely genuine. Charismatic Jay’s surprising backstory was that of itinerant Jimmy Gatz from North Dakota.

And just like the insubstantiality of today’s Facebook friends, Gatsby’s death demonstrated how hollow his relationships actually were. Even the idol of Gatsby’s enduring passion – Daisy Fay/Buchanan – could not withstand the weight of real engagement. Like much internet dating, their relationship thrived best at a distance.

Understanding Gatsby’s world

Launched this week is a new A Level study guide on The Great Gatsby. It will help you understand the world Fitzgerald was writing within and the symbolism by which he translated this into his novel. It deals with the Jazz Age’s quest for self-definition and the outworking of its hedonism. Characterisation and narrative are discussed in depth, whilst handy synopses and chapter commentaries will guide you through the text, also online at texts.crossref-it.info/text/the-great-gatsby. And if you need help with coursework assignments or exam prep, you’ll find it.

The Great Gatsby certainly provides a window into 1920s society, but Fitzgerald’s slim novel also provides a perspective on ours.