Why Emily Brontë will never be as popular as Jane Austen: And why that’s a good thing

[stripe]

by Flannery Dean on Friday, August 26, 2011

 

I’ve read Wuthering Heights so many times that it no longer exists as a wholly absorbing fiction for me; it’s more like a memory. Emily Brontë’s first and only novel, an indecorous riot of emotion and event conducted across the windswept Yorkshire moors, occupies a pivotal moment in the history of literature that’s worth remembering.

 

Brontë, a writer both raw and refined, is as rough on reader expectation as her characters are on each other. With Wuthering Heights, she turns the romance novel—a genre exemplified, albeit in a comic vein, by that other vicar’s daughter Jane Austen—upside down and grinds its cheerful conventions into the muddy heath with the heel of her little black boot.

 

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/08/26/why-emily-bronte-will-never-be-as-popular-as-jane-austen/

[SquirrellyMama]

I think that sums it up well. It is a book that pulls you in and repulses you at the same time. I have yet to be able to finish one of the movies.

 

Kelly

[AuntieM]

Oh how funny! When I read your thread title, but before I entered, I said out loud:

 

"Two words: Wuthering Heights!"

 

Off to read the remainder of the article now...

[AuntieM]

Okay, I can agree with some of it, not fully agree with other points.

 

Yes, there's a huge contrast between WH and Austen's work. No debate there. :D

 

I don't agree that the movie adaptations of Austen's novels make them worse. While there are some awful translations to film, some are quite good and true to the plots. I think when you read/see Austen, you enter that world *knowing* that you're dealing in a certain setting, social strata.

 

I agree that it would be difficult for a film to fully capture Bronte's story. I don't think one could ever successfully depict the mind of Heathcliff, or the nature of his relationship with either Catherine or Cathy. I enjoyed Masterpiece Theater's recent version, but it couldn't address the ful scope of the book.

 

I think one difference between the two authors is that Austen really does tell us what we need know about each character to form a correct opinion of each, at least the opinion the author is trying to convey. On the other hand, I think Bronte truly shortchanged Heathcliff and her readers by not telling us more about where he was and what he experienced in the years after he fled the Heights, before he returned in a totally unredeemable condition.

 

I don't there is a single admirable character in Wuthering Heights. Passionate, yes, but nothing to truly take away. JMO, of course.

[WishboneDawn]

I first read Wuthering Heights in Grade 10 and was completely swept away by it. I was one of only two kids in the class that liked it.

 

I've read Austen and love it too but it's more delicate. I sometimes feel like I have to hold my breath a bit, if that makes sense, for it to work on me. It doesn't quite have the same hold.

 

My heart is with Emily Bronte.

[WishboneDawn]

 

I think one difference between the two authors is that Austen really does tell us what we need know about each character to form a correct opinion of each, at least the opinion the author is trying to convey. On the other hand, I think Bronte truly shortchanged Heathcliff and her readers by not telling us more about where he was and what he experienced in the years after he fled the Heights, before he returned in a totally unredeemable condition.

 

 

And see, I would say that's the great thing about Wuthering Heights and the bit that holds me back a bit with Austen. :D

[FairProspects]

My heart is with Emily Bronte.

 

:iagree:There is something so real, flawed, and raw about the characters in Wuthering Heights. Just because they are not meant to be imitated does not make them less worthy of admiration as a feat of authorship.

 

And isn't the idea of star-crossed lovers one of the legacies of Greek Tragedy? It is such a universal theme, even if the audience doesn't like the protagonists. Which ultimately was my main complaint with the argument that Bella and Edward are the heirs of Cathy and Heathcliff. Stephanie Meyers didn't quite seem to grasp the poignancy of star-crossed lovers. Or maybe "love overcomes all" just sells better. :D

[AuntieM]

And see, I would say that's the great thing about Wuthering Heights and the bit that holds me back a bit with Austen. :D

 

I get it!

 

I guess what I meant was, I wanted to either completely detest Heathcliff, or be able to have sympathy for him. My imagination is pretty good with filling in gaps, but in the case of WH, I wanted Bronte to do it for me. Because she didn't, I really could care no more about Heathcliff than about a piece of wood. A repulsive piece of wood, yes, but a piece of wood, nonetheless.

 

And as much as I like Austen, yes, I confess it is a little bubble into which a reader can escape. :001_smile:

[Caitilin]

And see, I would say that's the great thing about Wuthering Heights and the bit that holds me back a bit with Austen. :D

 

:iagree: I think it is the fact that everything is so raw, unfinished, helter-skelter, and insane in both the characters and in the plot of WH that makes it such strong memorable novel. While I love Austen, the plots are, fundamentally, all pretty much the same. I cannot imagine anyone's saying that about WH. :001_smile:

[stripe]

Btw have any of you read Charlotte Bronte's Villette? I bought it in 1997 and dragged it around until I finally read it in 2009! I listened to Diane Rehm's Readers' Review episode on it, and she said it was the only time they didn't have any callers!

[Wundermom]

Ugh, Wuthering Heights was brutal for me to read. It sucked the joy out of my soul. But I could not just leave it. I had to finish it. I was compelled. But I heaved and sighed in frustration all the way through. I typically enjoy re-reading books and have read my favorites several times. But I will never read WH again. I couldn't stand any of the characters (except for maybe Edgar, just a little, maybe...and Ellen Dean.)

 

I watched the Masterpiece Classic version on Netflix instant watch and was underwhelmed. I think if anyone could ever really capture WH as Bronte conceived it, it would make a fabulous movie, but would still be tortuous.

[Mrs Mungo]

Btw have any of you read Charlotte Bronte's Villette? I bought it in 1997 and dragged it around until I finally read it in 2009! I listened to Diane Rehm's Readers' Review episode on it, and she said it was the only time they didn't have any callers!

 

I have read Villette, it was an anthology I have.

 

Wuthering Heights is sort of like a bad reality show. It does (editing because my phone took out a word) not feel *real* real, it feels fake, over-dramatic real. Rarely does such a cacophony of disfunction collide in real life.

 

That is why I like Austen. There is some disfunction and some more normal people. It just feels more like real life.

Edited August 26, 2011 by Mrs Mungo

[Wundermom]

I have read Villette, it was an anthology I have.

 

Wuthering Heights is sort of like a bad reality show. It does feel *real* real, it feels fake, over-dramatic real. Rarely does such a cacophony of disfunction collide in real life.

 

That is why I like Austen. There is some disfunction and some more normal people. It just feels more like real life.

 

Yes. This.

 

It was all just too much.

[ereks mom]

I had to read Wuthering Heights for a college literature class many years ago, and I LOVED it. I haven't seen any of they movie adaptations of it though. As for Jane Austen's works, I haven't been able to make myself read one all the way through. :-/

[stripe]

One of my kids came in the room while I was watching a movie of Wuthering Heights, with Heathcliff smashing things and then Cathy getting her hair cut, so they think of it as both hilarious and very exciting.

 

I find it a bit tiresome to read books that frankly seem to take place in rooms that need better lighting. Cold Comfort Farm is a nice antidote, perhaps.

[linguistmama]

I've read Villette and didn't like it nearly as much as I liked Jane Eyre. I prefer the Bronte sisters to Austen because of the drama :) The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was very captivating. Anne wrote it.

[Wundermom]

I've read Villette and didn't like it nearly as much as I liked Jane Eyre. I prefer the Bronte sisters to Austen because of the drama :) The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was very captivating. Anne wrote it.

 

I LOVE Jane Eyre! It's one of my most favorite novels ever and I've read it several times. Jane is the heroine I identify with most.

[linguistmama]

Ooh, the copy of Villette that I read had an interesting part at the beginning. I did know that Charlotte taught at a boarding school like her heroines, but this intro claimed that she was in love with the headmistress' husband at one school and that this was the inspiration for Villette.

[WishboneDawn]

I have read Villette, it was an anthology I have.

 

Wuthering Heights is sort of like a bad reality show. It does (editing because my phone took out a word) not feel *real* real, it feels fake, over-dramatic real. Rarely does such a cacophony of disfunction collide in real life.

 

That is why I like Austen. There is some disfunction and some more normal people. It just feels more like real life.

 

I don't think it's that rare at all. Have you watched Jerry Springer or Judge Judy? :D

 

I should note I really do love Jane Austen too. I DO think she reflects reality as well and does it brilliantly. It just that what Bronte wrote about appeals to me a little more. I came to Wuthering Heights as n avid lover of horror and dark fiction. :)

Edited August 26, 2011 by WishboneDawn

[Mrs Mungo]

I don't think it's that rare at all. Have you watched Jerry Springer or Judge Judy? :D

 

No, I think they are fake. This is why I don't like Wuthering Heights that much.:tongue_smilie::D

 

 

I *do* like Jane Eyre. Hiding a crazy wife in the attic and marrying a younger, safer, sane wife seems like something a lot of men might do.

[Mrs Mungo]

It just that what Bronte wrote about appeals to me a little more. I came to Wuthering Heights as n avid lover of horror and dark fiction. :)

 

And that makes sense. I guess I have enough disfunction in my life without adding to it.:lol:

[ButterfliesandBooks]

I love Wuthering Heights. Read it for the first time at 17 and many times since. I also adore Jane Eyre. My youngest dd has Emily for a middle name after Emily Bronte :) ... I did my thesis at college on the works of the Brontes and even travelled to Haworth to vist their house (now a museum) and walk on the moors...

 

I'm not a big Jane Austen fan. I like some of the movies (Sense and Sensibility with Alan Rickman for example :001_wub: )...but as for the novels they're not angst ridden enough for me lol.

[Mrs Mungo]

I'm not a big Jane Austen fan. I like some of the movies (Sense and Sensibility with Alan Rickman for example :001_wub: )...but as for the novels they're not angst ridden enough for me lol.

 

That is so cool about visiting her home! I would love to do that. I have been to England, but haven't done that.

 

Maybe this is one of the things that splits the Elinors and the Mariannes.;)

[stripe]

I'm not a big Jane Austen fan. I like some of the movies (Sense and Sensibility with Alan Rickman for example :001_wub: )...

 

I am a big fan of both Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson but I cannot bear to see Hugh Grant in those pants. It really makes me feel sick to my stomach just to think about it.

[Skadi]

I think it says something that Stephanie Meyer says that Wuthering Heights is her favorite book ever.

 

This comic sums up the Brontes pretty well. There's another strip about Emily Bronte giving Jane Austen literary advice which is also hilarious, but I can't find it at the moment.

[Skadi]

I am a big fan of both Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson but I cannot bear to see Hugh Grant in those pants. It really makes me feel sick to my stomach just to think about it.

 

That is why I have to imagine him without pants during that film. And all his other movies, come to think of it.

[stripe]

That is why I have to imagine him without pants during that film. And all his other movies, come to think of it.

 

Ha ha. I can't stand him. No matter what movie he's in, he's the same character! Like Woody Allen. Whom I would also respectfully request to stay dressed.

[Skadi]

Ha ha. I can't stand him. No matter what movie he's in, he's the same character! Like Woody Allen. Whom I would also respectfully request to stay dressed.

 

I'm actually not that swoony for him, but I couldn't resist the joke. :D

[WishboneDawn]

I think it says something that Stephanie Meyer says that Wuthering Heights is her favorite book ever.

 

Lalalalala! I didn't hear that!

[OrganicAnn]

I've read all of Austen and every book of the Bronte sisters, even the juvenilia.

 

I think that WH is the most interesting of the Bronte novels. Anne Bronte's writing I think might actually appeal more to a modern audience and might translate better to the screen. I'm surprised Merchant Ivory hasn't tapped into them.

 

But if I get to choose, I would rather re-read any Jane Austen novel than re-read a Bronte novel.

 

It is interesting that you see modern adaptation of J.A novels (Bridget Jone's Diary, Clueless), but not so much for any of the Bronte.

 

But I love that we have a whole thread about these two. Romanticism vs Neoclassicism in literature.

[WishboneDawn]

Romanticism vs Neoclassicism in literature.

 

Oh great. Now I have to go google. :glare::D

[mcconnellboys]

That's hilarious and I find, after reading/listening to both this summer, that I agree completely! I also read Frankenstein, and I find it more in line with WH in terms of pure, raw emotion....

[ktgrok]

:iagree: I think it is the fact that everything is so raw, unfinished, helter-skelter, and insane in both the characters and in the plot of WH that makes it such strong memorable novel. While I love Austen, the plots are, fundamentally, all pretty much the same. I cannot imagine anyone's saying that about WH. :001_smile:

 

I do like the unfinished passion. But for heavens sake, I can't stand Heathcliff. I mean yes, he had a horrible childhood. He has mental scars. Fine. But I've spent way too much of my adult life caring for someone with mental health issues to be able to romanticize it one little bit. I just wanted to scream at Cathy "no!!!!! stay far away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His problems are not your problems!"

 

That said, I love her sister's book, Jane Eyre. THAT is a novel!!!

[SailorMom]

I highly prefer the Bronte sisters to Austen. In fact - to me Austen was a cheesy romance novel writer for her time period. I have to admit enjoying Pride and Prejudice - but it was a guilty pleasure - the same type of pleasure I got from reading Maeve Binchy novels when I was in my early 20's. Austen is a lot of fun - but I've never understood what made her become "classic".

[ktgrok]

I do like the unfinished passion. But for heavens sake, I can't stand Heathcliff. I mean yes, he had a horrible childhood. He has mental scars. Fine. But I've spent way too much of my adult life caring for someone with mental health issues to be able to romanticize it one little bit. I just wanted to scream at Cathy "no!!!!! stay far away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His problems are not your problems!"

 

That said, I love her sister's book, Jane Eyre. THAT is a novel!!!

 

Quoting myself, is that ok?

 

Anway, I realized why I like Jane Eyre so much. She is very sympathetic to Mr. Rochester's problems. She loves him. But....she doesn't let his issues become her issues. She makes it clear that he needs to work out his crap before she will be with him. THAT is true love!

 

(can you tell I spent many years in a codependent marriage with someone with mental health issues?)

[MamaJo]

It it the book I hate the most. I despise it will all of my being. I will never read it again nor will I encourage my children to do so.

 

 

Shall I go on? :D

[Heather in Neverland]

by Flannery Dean on Friday, August 26, 2011

 

Brontë, a writer both raw and refined, is as rough on reader expectation as her characters are on each other. With Wuthering Heights, she turns the romance novel—a genre exemplified, albeit in a comic vein, by that other vicar’s daughter Jane Austen—upside down and grinds its cheerful conventions into the muddy heath with the heel of her little black boot.

 

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/08/26/why-emily-bronte-will-never-be-as-popular-as-jane-austen/

 

and THAT is precisely why I love that book. Austen is just too sticky sweet for me. Give me the brooding Heathcliff any day of the week ( and twice on Sunday!).

[Heather in Neverland]

I first read Wuthering Heights in Grade 10 and was completely swept away by it. I was one of only two kids in the class that liked it.

 

I've read Austen and love it too but it's more delicate. I sometimes feel like I have to hold my breath a bit, if that makes sense, for it to work on me. It doesn't quite have the same hold.

 

My heart is with Emily Bronte.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

[Georgiana Daniels]

I. Love. Wuthering. Heights.

 

Dark, gothic, complex with many layers. OHHHHH, the wind across the moors. And I love the movie version with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche.

 

Looking forward to reading it again.

[stripe]

I do like the unfinished passion. But for heavens sake, I can't stand Heathcliff. I mean yes, he had a horrible childhood. He has mental scars. Fine.

 

Yeah, women are already drawn to the crazies like moths to a fire...

But apparently, no dating services are necessary for infamous prisoners like Scott Peterson, who is on death row at California's San Quentin State Prison.

 

"Ever since he arrived, he's received an inordinate amount of mail. I've actually have saw (sic) three proposals of marriage to Scott Peterson," said San Quentin Public Information Officer Vernell Crittendon.

 

Why are women martying murderers?

[Mrs Mungo]

Yeah, women are already drawn to the crazies like moths to a fire...

 

*Some* women. Others know unbalanced when they see it and found themselves a wonderful Captain Wentworth to marry instead. Not all women find obsession a romantic notion. ;)

[MamaJo]

I have a theory about Wuthering Heights. Most women I polled who loved it read it for the first time in their teens or very early 20s. Most women who missed this window hate it. I am in the later group. There is nothing romantic about abusive.

[Mrs Mungo]

I have a theory about Wuthering Heights. Most women I polled who loved it read it for the first time in their teens or very early 20s. Most women who missed this window hate it. I am in the later group. There is nothing romantic about abusive.

 

I read it the first time at 14, but I have always been a pragmatic kind of girl.

[Georgiana Daniels]

Yeah, women are already drawn to the crazies like moths to a fire...

 

 

But apparently, no dating services are necessary for infamous prisoners like Scott Peterson, who is on death row at California's San Quentin State Prison.

 

 

 

"Ever since he arrived, he's received an inordinate amount of mail. I've actually have saw (sic) three proposals of marriage to Scott Peterson," said San Quentin Public Information Officer Vernell Crittendon.

 

 

Why are women martying murderers?

 

Ewww, he's such a creeper!

[sassenach]

Ugh, Wuthering Heights was brutal for me to read. It sucked the joy out of my soul. But I could not just leave it. I had to finish it. I was compelled. But I heaved and sighed in frustration all the way through. I typically enjoy re-reading books and have read my favorites several times. But I will never read WH again. I couldn't stand any of the characters (except for maybe Edgar, just a little, maybe...and Ellen Dean.)

 

.

 

This was my exact experience with Jane Eyre. It took me an unbelievable 9 months to finish it. I would stop, then start, it was a mission. I will never read another Bronte book again!

[WishboneDawn]

*Some* women. Others know unbalanced when they see it and found themselves a wonderful Captain Wentworth to marry instead. Not all women find obsession a romantic notion. ;)

 

And then other women can get swept up in it while reading a piece of fiction but them turn around and a wonderfully stable and sensible man to marry. Like I did.

 

Fiction is fiction. I'm a grown woman. I know that. :001_smile:

[WishboneDawn]

I have a theory about Wuthering Heights. Most women I polled who loved it read it for the first time in their teens or very early 20s. Most women who missed this window hate it. I am in the later group. There is nothing romantic about abusive.

 

I think we're venturing into getting a little judgemental about people's taste in literature or attaching motivations or values or such to certain stories that just aren't there.

 

You're right of course, there's nothing romantic about abuse but that wasn't the be-all,end-all of WH anymore then happy endings were all that Austen wrote about. Both authors explored a LOT of rich territory. That I prefer Bronte doesn't really say much about me other then I prefer Bronte. It's not that big a deal.

[stripe]

I have a theory about Wuthering Heights. Most women I polled who loved it read it for the first time in their teens or very early 20s. Most women who missed this window hate it. I am in the later group. There is nothing romantic about abusive.

 

On the other hand, maybe one could speculate old and jaded, "experienced" women are using Austen to escape from their loveless marriages to a Mr Collins type.

 

Heh

[WishboneDawn]

On the other hand, maybe one could speculate old and jaded, "experienced" women are using Austen to escape from their loveless marriages to a Mr Collins type.

 

Heh

 

:lol::lol::lol:

[Mrs Mungo]

And then other women can get swept up in it while reading a piece of fiction but them turn around and a wonderfully stable and sensible man to marry. Like I did.

 

Fiction is fiction. I'm a grown woman. I know that. :001_smile:

 

I am not judging anyone but me. I had *plenty* of crazy growing up. By the time I read WH at 14 I didn't need any of that in my life.