Introduction
Wuthering Heights (1847) is one o f the best k n o w n and most studied
novels i n the English language. Since the early decades o f the twentieth century, w h e n it became a fixture i n the literary canon, it has
also lent itself to an unusually rich and varied array o f adaptations
in other media. E m i l y Bronte's story about two n o r t h e r n English
families i n the last quarter o f the eighteenth century has been recast
i n nineteenth-century M e x i c o , medieval Japan, rural China, industrialized I n d i a , southern France, and francophone Caribbean
society following the abolition o f slavery, for the benefit o f f i l m ,
theater, and novel-reading audiences speaking, respectively,
Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, H i n d i , and French. Perhaps more than
any other nineteenth-century English novel, Wuthering Heights has
broken free o f its origins and invited new versions o f itself i n widely
divergent cultural contexts. M e a n w h i l e , academic literary critics
continue to offer b o l d and compelling new interpretations o f a
novel that had already been closely scrutinized by predecessors for
nearly a century. I f we may define a canonical text as one that lends
itself to being continually reread and interpreted i n new contexts,
then Wuthering Heights, despite its atypicality as an English novel,
can claim to be the canonical text par excellence.
1
2
T h e attention that literary critics have paid to social and historical contexts since the 1980s has, perhaps paradoxically, done
n o t h i n g to halt the proliferation o f readings o f Wuthering Heights.
T h i s is n o t quite w h a t one m i g h t have expected. I n his famous
essay o n " T h e D e a t h o f the A u t h o r , " R o l a n d Barthes h a d rejected
the critic's interpretative appeals to knowledge about the author,
history, and society, arguing that seeking to explain a piece o f
w r i t i n g by referring to something outside and presumably above
it was a f o r m o f tyranny that p u t a "brake" u p o n the reader's
freedom to generate meanings. B u t the w o r k o f specifying his3
1
Stoneman, Bronte Transformations provides an exhaustive list of versions
and "transformations" of Wuthering Heights and an analysis of their significance. Mary Visick (6) reports having seen a Cantonese version set
in China.
2
Frank Kermode uses Wuthering Heights to define the "classic" text: it is
one that continually "offer[s] itself to be read under our own particular
temporal disposition" given its complexity and its inherent openness to
multiple interpretation (434).
3
Roland Barthes, "The Death of the Author" (53).
WUTHERING HEIGHTS
9
torical contexts for Wuthering Heights has m u l t i p l i e d , rather t h a n
narrowed, the possible meanings o f an already elusive novel, one
that offers few clues about its author's attitudes towards her o w n
d i s t u r b i n g characters and to the larger themes suggested by their
story. T h e a i m o f this e d i t i o n is n o t to l i m i t the meaning o f
Wuthering Heights to any one o f the contexts that
contemporary
scholarship has posited, b u t to provide contextualizing d o c u ments for some and offer a discussion o f others, w h i l e a c k n o w l edging that the w o r k o f (re) contextualizing the novel w i t h i n its
o w n m o m e n t as well as that o f the reader's is necessarily u n f i n ished. T o enter i n t o that evolving process, i t is useful to k n o w
something about Bronte's life and about the reception o f the
novel f r o m its o w n m o m e n t t h r o u g h the present.
E m i l y Bronte's Life
1
E m i l y Jane B r o n t e was b o r n o n 30 J u l y i 818j; the fifth o f six c h i l dren to a pair o f highly literate, a r t i c w a t e p a r e n t s .
2
H e r father
grew u p i n I r e l a n d b u t was educated at C a m b r i d g e , where he
was a sizar—that is, something like a modern-day
work-study
student, o c c u p y i n g one o f the few places reserved for talented
y o u n g m e n students w h o c o u l d n o t afford t u i t i o n . H e r m o t h e r ,
M a r i a B r a n w e l l B r o n t e , died w h e n E m i l y was only three. H e r
place was supplied i n part by a maternal aunt, and i n part by
family servants.
H e r father,
Patrick B r o n t e , a clergyman, ministered
to a
r a p i d l y g r o w i n g p o p u l a t i o n i n the industrialized West R i d i n g o f
Y o r k s h i r e . H e earned only a modest salary, somewhat offset by
3
the use o f a clerical residence for life, the parsonage at H a w o r t h .
T h o u g h the family was n o t poor, m o n e y was i n short supply.
Therefore m u c h o f E m i l y Bronte's education t o o k place at h o m e
w i t h her sisters and brother, u n d e r the loose supervision o f her
father and aunt. Nevertheless she received music and d r a w i n g
lessons f r o m local masters, as well as some f o r m a l academic
1
T h e account given here is based largely on Juliet Barker's The Brontes.
2
Barker contends that Patrick's family, though humble, was not poor,
contrary to the more usual representation; the claim that it was "struggling" and "impoverished" has been repeated most recently by Terry
Eagleton in The English Novel (2005).
3
T h e term "riding," derived from the same word that gives us "third"
(OED), refers to the three administrative districts into which Yorkshire
had originally been divided because of its large size.
10
INTRODUCTION
schooling. As a precocious six-year-old, she j o i n e d her three older
sisters at the C o w a n Bridge School for Clergymen's Daughters,
w h i c h was later made infamous by Charlotte's d e p i c t i o n o f it i n
Jane Eyre ( 1 8 4 7 ) . She r e t u r n e d h o m e only six m o n t h s later, after"
the t w o oldest sisters died f r o m illnesses contracted at or neglected b y the school. She spent the next ten years at h o m e u n t i l ,
at seventeen, she j o i n e d her sister Charlotte at the Roe H e a d
School about twenty miles away i n M i r f i e l d . M i s e r a b l y homesick,
she r e t u r n e d to the Parsonage after three months. She next held
a p o s i t i o n as a live-in teacher i n Halifax, about eight miles away,
for about six m o n t h s ; and i n her t w e n t y - f o u r t h year she a c c o m panied Charlotte to the Pensionnat Heger, a school i n Brussels,
this t i m e staying for ten m o n t h s . As partial payment for her o w n
t u i t i o n i n F r e n c h , G e r m a n , and music, she gave piano lessons.
T h e r e g i m e n t a t i o n o f b o a r d i n g school life was oppressive to
her, b o t h as student and as teacher. She disliked her bourgeois
Belgian piano students and chafed against her rhetoric teacher's
insistence that she i m i t a t e the style o f other writers. (Three o f the
essays or devoirs she w r o t e at this t i m e appear i n A p p e n d i x A . )
She flourished w h e n she was h o m e , reading and w r i t i n g w h a t she
chose. B u t she e n d u r e d the r o u t i n e o f the b o a r d i n g school i n
order to establish the credentials necessary for opening a school
at the Parsonage, w h i c h was the way she and C h a r l o t t e h o p e d to
provide for themselves. T h e y c o u l d not expect a significant inheritance, and all three daughters recoiled at the idea o f m a r r y i n g to
settle themselves financially. As teaching was v i r t u a l l y the o n l y
profession open to middle-class w o m e n , E m i l y and C h a r l o t t e
reasoned that as proprietors o f their o w n school they c o u l d at
least be their o w n mistresses, and perhaps carve out some t i m e to
read and w r i t e for their o w n gratification.
T h e i m p o r t a n c e o f these activities i n E m i l y Bronte's life since
c h i l d h o o d can scarcely be overstated. T h e four surviving c h i l d r e n
were one another's m a i n source o f c o m p a n i o n s h i p , and m u c h o f
this c o m p a n i o n s h i p was mediated t h r o u g h their shared reading
and w r i t i n g . T h e y spent m u c h o f their free t i m e creating what
they called "plays," w h i c h were extended collaborative fantasies
inspired by a set o f toy soldiers presented to B r a n w e l l by their
father. ( T h e y w o u l d appreciate, one feels, the c u r r e n t vogue for
roleplay games or "RPG's," and the fact that Wuthering Heights
has lent its name to one o f t h e m . ) I n due course they began to
w r i t e d o w n these i m a g i n a r y adventures, goaded, perhaps, b y the
1
1
See <http://philippe.tromeur.free.fr/whrpg.htm>.
WUTHERING HEIGHTS
11
appearance i n p r i n t o f some their father's poems and sermons.
A l l were therefore busily engaged i n w r i t i n g f r o m an early age,
styling themselves as authors p r a c t i c i n g their vocation. E v e n t u ally, E m i l y and A n n e seceded f r o m the fantasy worlds d o m i n a t e d
b y their older siblings and developed one o f their o w n , consisting
o f places they called G o n d a l and Gaaldine. Its characters, their
political strife, and their t h w a r t e d loves were inspired b y their
lessons i n history and geography as w e l l as by their recreational
reading—especially the works o f Sir Walter Scott, the poetry o f
B y r o n , the G o t h i c novels o f the eighteenth century, w h i c h have
left their m a r k o n Wuthering Heights as well (see A p p e n d i x B ) .
E m i l y B r o n t e retained a keen interest i n G o n d a l i n t o a d u l t h o o d ,
well after A n n e had t i r e d o f i t , and many i f n o t most o f the
roughly 180 poems she w r o t e over a p e r i o d o f about ten years
were conceived as dramatic monologues spoken by various characters at critical points i n the u n f o l d i n g story. Wuthering Heights
itself is an o u t g r o w t h o f this fantasy life, t h o u g h its setting is Yorkshire and its characters n e w l y m i n t e d rather t h a n directly recycled from earlier material. L i k e the s u r v i v i n g G o n d a l poems, i t ts"l
structured as a m o n o l o g u e — i n this case, a m o n o l o g u e c o n t a i n i n g
other monologues and dialogues, captured i n a diary. As a result,
every perspective is presented as partial; there is n o authoritative
p o i n t o f view, n o single character w i t h w h o m to identify.
Wuthering Heights was n o t E m i l y Bronte's first appearance i n
p r i n t . T h e three sisters h a d already published at their o w n
expense a s l i m volume o f poems to w h i c h each had c o n t r i b u t e d ,
t i t l e d Poems of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. T h e androgynous pen
names were adopted to ensure a n o n y m i t y ( o n w h i c h E m i l y especially insisted) and t o obscure their gender w i t h o u t positively
misrepresenting i t . T h e book was not w i d e l y reviewed, t h o u g h ,
and only t w o copies were sold. (Some o f E m i l y Bronte's c o n t r i butions appear i n A p p e n d i x A . )
M e a n w h i l e , the school venture failed for lack o f students, and
the sisters were seeking to break i n t o the m o r e lucrative market for
fiction. A publisher n a m e d T h o m a s Cautley N e w b y eventually
agreed to publish Wuthering Heights and Anne's Agnes Grey
together, t h o u g h he treated his t w o fledgling authors w i t h a shabbiness for w h i c h he has become notorious. ( T h e consequences are
taken u p i n the N o t e o n the Text.) T h e novels appeared i n D e c e m ber 1847 under the Bell signature. B y the end o f the next year,
E m i l y was dead o f an intractable respiratory infection, probably
p u l m o n a r y tuberculosis. T h e r e is evidence that she was w o r k i n g
o n a second novel, b u t i f so the manuscript has n o t survived.
12
INTRODUCTION
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392
APPENDIX I
U
Alexander, C h r i s t i n e , and M a r g a r e
Companion to the Brontes. Oxforc
A l l o t t , M i r i a m . The Bronte's: The C n
ledge, 1974.
A r m s t r o n g , Nancy. " E m i l y ' s G h o s t
t o r i a n F i c t i o n , Folklore, and Phc
( 1 9 9 2 ) : 245-67.
. " E m i l y Bronte I n and O u t
3 ( 1 9 8 2 ) : 243-64.
A t k i n s o n , John C . Forty Years in a A
Danby and Cleveland. N e w York:
and r e p r i n t e d as Countryman
on
Forty Years in a Moorland
Parish.
1983.
Barker, Juliet. The Brontes. N e w Yor
Barthes, R o l a n d . " T h e D e a t h o f th<
guage. Translated by R i c h a r d H o
and W a n g , 1986.
Bersani, Leo. A Future for Astyanax
erature. N e w York: C o l u m b i a U P
B l o o m , H a r o l d , ed. Emily Bronte's V
Chelsea H o u s e , 1987.
. I n t r o d u c t i o n . Emily Bronte
Bronte, Charlotte. The Letters of Ch
of Letters by Family and Friends.
2004.
B r o n t e , Charlotte. Shirley. E d i t e d 1
Margaret S m i t h . N e w York : O x
1998.
B r o n t e , Charlotte, and E m i l y Bron
and trans, by Sue L o n o f f . N e w
B r o n t e , E m i l y . Wuthering Heights. E
Peterborough, O n t a r i o : Broadvie
B u c h a n , W i l l i a m M . D . Domestic Me
Prevention and Cure of Diseases by
cines. 2 n d ed. L o n d o n : P r i n t e d f
C e c i l , D a v i d . Early Victorian Novelis
L o n d o n : Constable and C o . , 19
Chase, Richard. " T h e Brontes, or
Review 9 ( 1 9 4 7 ) : 487-506.
from her by personal violence as soon as she
neither be punished nor compelled to resritul o u n t o f the protection w h i c h , under the laws
most powerful nobleman can give to his o w n
ts her husband. I n the immense majority o f
;ttlement: and the absorption o f all rights. a l
all freedom o f action, is complete. T h e two are
in law," for the purpose o f inferring that wharbut the parallel inference is never drawn thai
.'rs; the m a x i m is not applied against the m a n .
1 responsible to t h i r d parties for her acts, as a
ts o f his slaves or o f his cattle. I a m far fron:
es are i n general no better treated than slaves;
e to the same lengths, and i n so full a sense o f
is. H a r d l y any slave, except one immediately
ster's person, is a slave at all hours and all
he has, like a soldier, his fixed task, and when
e is o f f duty, he disposes, w i t h i n certain limits.
I has a family life i n t o w h i c h the master rarely
m " under his first master had his o w n life i n
as m u c h as any m a n whose w o r k takes h i m
able to have i n his o w n family. B u t i t cannot
Above all, a female slave has (in Christian
ted right, and is considered under a m o r a l
to her master the last familiarity. N o t so the
a tyrant she may unfortunately be chained
k n o w that he hates her, t h o u g h i t may be his
ure her, and t h o u g h she may feel i t impossin—he can claim from her and enforce the
)f a h u m a n being, that o f being made t h e
nal function contrary to her inclinations. [...]
1 exaggerate, nor does the case stand i n need
'e described the wife's legal position, not her
I H a p p i l y there are b o t h feelings and interlen exclude, and i n most greatly temper, the
isities w h i c h lead to tyranny. [...] B u t t h e
e, w h i c h are compatible w i t h m a i n t a i n i n g i n
any other k i n d o f tyranny, instead o f being
p o t i s m , o n l y serve to prove what power
»es o f reacting against the vilest institutions.
Appendix H: Maps
r
Yorkshire, in relation to the rest of England
:'s Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in 1852.
WUTHERING HEIGHTS
389
390
APPENDIX H