I really enjoyed, as funny as it may sound, the introduction to Emily Bronte's novel, "Wuthering Heights." Kind of lame, I know but I am a nut for history/historical fiction/anything to do with life before my generation. I have found that reading the introduction prior to the actual story itself made a difference to me as a reader. I think that knowing that Bronte was from the moors that really made me appreciate how she spoke about the setting and how she created the characters to match what she grew up in.
I find it simply fascinating that these three sisters had to use non-gender determined names to get published and to have their work taken seriously. I have a hard time imagining a time like when women had to mask who they were when writing when there are so many popular, amazing female writers today. (Although I am fully aware that this was a very common practice until not too long ago, when you think about the time-line of the history of writing.)
I can honestly say that the complex narrative structure threw me for a loop. I feel that Bronte chose to use this structure to mimic the complexity of the beginning of the story. The vast majority of this section of the novel is spent explaining the complex relationships, histories, etc. of all of the characters, present and past, of the story. This was no mistake on Bronte's part to have this structure and story reflective of one another. However, after getting further into the book, I started liking the diary type entries. I think it gave it a more personal feel and made me feel more connected to the story, as a reader.
I can honestly say, that I am excited to read more of this story. :-)
Hey Elizabeth! I'm so glad you mentioned the commentary by her sister, Charlotte. I loved reading what she had to say about Emily and her work. Delving into the family history accompanied by the tragedy of their deaths, set the tone for the untimely deaths of the characters in the novel. I tend to forget that people died so young back then, and to read the novel without such history would lead me to wonder why everyone, especially the woman, were subject to die. At the time it was reality as opposed to now where it would be the exception.
ReplyDeleteIt's weird, when I started this book I didn't even know it was a romance. When the narrator showed up at Wuthering Heights and was so badly treated, I had no idea the places (and times) it would go. The way that Bronte has the story told by a maid, someone who we assume is keeping her head down and doing her job but is really in on all the gossip that is going on. This one woman plays a part in every characters' lives and is a great conduit for storytelling. This is a really complex story, so what better way to experience it then in a complex way, right?
ReplyDeleteInteresting fact you probably already know: J.K. Rowling doesn't actually have a middle name, but her publishers added the K to make her name more ambiguous to young readers.
Hey Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with what you had to say in regards to the first several pages of the book (not the novel itself, but the background information about the Bronte family) and how it proved to be effective and beneficial to my understanding of the novel. I had read Wuthering Heights in high school, but now I feel that I probably missed the gist of the book and did not fully understand some aspects. I feel by understanding Emily Bronte’s family life, social struggles, and introverted nature that I now feel the characters, places, and situations in the first ten chapters were more real than ever before.