Twentieth Century Interpretations of Wuthering Heights: A Collection of Critical Essays

by Thomas A. Vogler (editor)

Hardcover copy green with gold embossing

Genres: Literary Criticism, Literature

Hardcover

First published July 1, 1968

Reviews

[Anne]

Having recently listened to a recording of Wuthering Heights (the outstanding one by Janet McTeer), I was eager to read some criticism. My county library system is not, however, chock full of literary criticism. This was just about the only book available.

The Twentieth Century Interpretations series was old-fashioned 30 years ago, when I was an English major at Columbia. However, it was useful for a grounding in the, well, old-fashioned criticism. The most important essay is Charles Percy Sanger's 1926 analysis of the novel's structure, which led to a re-evaluation of the book. Previously, critics had considered it chaotic and poorly organized. Sanger's essay revealed how meticulously structured it actually is. Some old-fashioned attitudes crop up in the book (not by Sanger), mostly the patronizing tone taken by male critics towards female authors who never married. But the book's a helpful start. Now I just have to find some later criticism, which is tough when you have no access to an academic library.