I have a very old version of Wuthering Heights, part of a set of books I bought secondhand from a garage sale a very long time ago. I tried starting this novel twice, and never succeeded getting past the first chapter. There was something grotesque and illegible about the story that was very off-putting, so instead of torture myself about reading a classic piece of literature, I closed it each time. I am so glad that I have not only managed to move beyond the first chapter, but have read more than half the novel in the last two days - huzzah!
One thing I did not know: Charlotte Bronte's preface to her own sister's work was not enthusiastic at all - it was apologetic for the writing. The author of such a novel as Jane Eyre wrote, regarding Wuthering Heights, wrote that its faults included a "rude and strange" quality, a "rusticity", etc. Her inability to understand the novel makes sense, after having read some if it. There is a barbaric quality to the life these country people that belies the trappings of civility they show, and the characters are so wild.
All this time I thought this would be a novel of great, passionate love - and it is, but not between a couple I could have imagined on my own. Heathcliffe and Catherine are horrible people, and love each other because they are so like each other that understanding of the other makes acceptance of each other immediate. There is little to love about any of the characters, whose lives are as barren and wild as the moors they live on. So the great, passionate love is also a horrid love that eats things up like a fire consuming a house. I look forward to what other people say about these characters.
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