Excellent dissection from The Guardian of how Fennell missed (or ignored) the heart of Wuthering Heights: revenge, class struggle, power, racism, generational trauma:
No shame in that. I read it because 1) it was assigned and 2) I'd been reading Gothic novels from The Castle of Otranto on in college and had heard so much about it. That semester I had so much more fun being introduced To Susan Hill, Alan Sillitoe, Anthony Powell, Muriel Spark, Jean Rhys and other contemporary British authors.
I remember being glad I had Mr. Holtby, who walked his own path and didn't acknowledge the department's reading list which would have given us Silas Marner. I much preferred Huckleberry Finn.
Wuthering Heights is a truly great and unbelievably dark novel. I once decided to teach it in one of my high school English classes, thinking the students would appreciate its beauty. Instead, they seemed traumatized. The behavior described is brutal and disturbing. Once I realized this, I never taught it again to sensitive adolescents.
I can relate for sure. The week I read it in my MFA program my sleep was very poor. I've never re-read it. Watching it being publicized as the greatest love story ever told is living in the Upside Down.
It's poisonous in WH, wrapped up in shame, rage, and vengeance. There was a miniseries some time ago that told the full story to show the transmission of trauma to the next generation. Maybe this movie will inspire some network to try again.
Dare I confess I've never read the book? Wasn't my preferred choice of reading material, and never had it as assigned reading.
No shame in that. I read it because 1) it was assigned and 2) I'd been reading Gothic novels from The Castle of Otranto on in college and had heard so much about it. That semester I had so much more fun being introduced To Susan Hill, Alan Sillitoe, Anthony Powell, Muriel Spark, Jean Rhys and other contemporary British authors.
I remember being glad I had Mr. Holtby, who walked his own path and didn't acknowledge the department's reading list which would have given us Silas Marner. I much preferred Huckleberry Finn.
Silas Marner is boring. Middlemarch is so much more fascinating and deep.
Wuthering Heights is a truly great and unbelievably dark novel. I once decided to teach it in one of my high school English classes, thinking the students would appreciate its beauty. Instead, they seemed traumatized. The behavior described is brutal and disturbing. Once I realized this, I never taught it again to sensitive adolescents.
I can relate for sure. The week I read it in my MFA program my sleep was very poor. I've never re-read it. Watching it being publicized as the greatest love story ever told is living in the Upside Down.
Right? Where’s the love?
It's poisonous in WH, wrapped up in shame, rage, and vengeance. There was a miniseries some time ago that told the full story to show the transmission of trauma to the next generation. Maybe this movie will inspire some network to try again.