Charming! Master of keeping the reader in suspense - also, incredible talent for creating lands/cultures/characters.
All that is gold does not glitter...moreCharming! Master of keeping the reader in suspense - also, incredible talent for creating lands/cultures/characters.
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.(less)
"He's a nice fella. Guy don't need no sense to be a nice fella. Seems to me sometimes it jus' works the other way around. Take a real smart guy and he ain't hardly ever a nice fella." (73)(less)
"He hated Pope more and more. A man can smile and smile and be a villain." (57)
"Hug me till you drug me, honey; kiss me till I'm in a coma; Hug me, hone...more"He hated Pope more and more. A man can smile and smile and be a villain." (57)
"Hug me till you drug me, honey; kiss me till I'm in a coma; Hug me, honey, snuggly bunny; Love's as good as soma." (71)
"No, of course it isn't -necessary-. But some kinds of baseness are nobly undergone. I'd like to undergo something nobly. Don't you see?" (82)
"It all seems to me quite horrible." "Of course it does. Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand." (96)
Bradley - "He defined philosophy as the finding of bad reason for what one believes by instinct." (101)(less)
Wuthering Heights is almost two stories in one - of Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Heathcliff, Catherine Linton(s 1 and 2), Heathcliffe, Linton Heathcl...moreWuthering Heights is almost two stories in one - of Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Heathcliff, Catherine Linton(s 1 and 2), Heathcliffe, Linton Heathcliffe ... etc. Two households are essentially thrown into disarray (chaos?) for some time with the arrival of Heathcliffe, and lives are complicated and tragic. Of course, Heathcliffe, while at times presented to be demonic, or a devil incarnate, also has his own tragic, fated, sympathetic story. The story is full of characters and actions that deserve ambivalence of the reader - no character is all good, no character is all bad, no one is fully celebrated or condemned, and even the most despised people deserve pity more than contempt. Beautifully written, but more importantly, a plot that haunts you for days after you've finished. Beautiful examples of love, but heartbreakingly tragic.
This edition also came with 5 academic essays at the end from five critical perspectives. Each essay was preceded by a description of the school of thought from which the critique stemmed (feminist, marxist, etc...). The description of deconstructionism was nice, but the only essay that seemed to clarify and enrich my understanding of the novel was the marxist critique (pg 399-414). It casts the families and lives from the Heights and Grange as "societal," "typical" ("normal"), while Heathcliffe, who is introduced to the family in a very unusual way, is outside of the lines, expectations, and requirements of family, inheritance, etc. As a daughterchild, Catherine is also outside these lines - she inherits nothing, she depends on the men she is associated with. When she chooses between Heathcliffe and Linton, she is choosing between these two worlds - and in choosing who she does, she compromises and chooses against herself.
"-Why- did you betray your own heart, Cathy? I have not one word of comfort - you deserve this. You have killed yourself. Yes, you may kiss me, and cry; and wring out my kisses and tears. They'll blight you - they'll damn you. You loved me - then what -right- had you to leave me? What right - answer me - for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery, and degrdation, and death, and nothing that God or satan could inflict would have parted us, -you-, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart - -you- have broken it - and in breaking it, you have broken mine." (149)(less)