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Wuthering Heights was published in 1847 by Emily
Bronte,
under the male pseudonym of Ellis Bell. Reactions from
contemporary reviewers varied from amazement at the
novel's
emotional reach to condemnation for its challenge to
Victorian
values. The novel exercises elements of
Victorian
romance, saga,
social commentary and gothic drama
through
the perspectives of several narrators. Set in
Yorkshire's
harsh landscape,the novel spans three generations. It
is
the house maid Nellie Dean who bears witness to the
impact
of the outsider (Heathcliff) on the Ernshaw and Linton
families. Heathcliff as outsider, picked up in the
street
by kindly Mr Ernshaw is the catalyst who challenges
traditional Victorian values and social proprieties.
His
love for young Catherine Ernshaw survives rejection,
betrayal, two hollow marriages and even death. It is
not
until the third generation that the two families are
reconciled as social prejudice finally diminishes. Such
is
the
power of Wuthering Heights that postmodernists are
able
to view it through the lenses of
psychoanalysis,feminism
and Marxism. Beyond any such readings,it is the spirit
of
haunting love and tragic acquiescence to societal
values
that resonate with generations of readers. The power of
the
forces at work in Wuthering Heights is represented with
poetic skill in a vast landscape where ghosts and
fragile
spirits seek to be heard.
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