First of all, as a kind of experiment of narration, the construction of the novel is interesting. However, I feel no love for the kind of narrative weaving that is taking place in the work. The story seems told in a deliberately confusing and disjointed way, and while this may have been a novel (no pun intended) idea in that era, it fails to be anything but annoying to me as a reader. Perhaps it just isn't my cup of tea. I prefer sweeping epics and focused narration. Wuthering Heights reads to me like the frenzied babblings of a schizophrenic. The lack of clear demarcation between passages intended to be read as happening in the present and those that happened in the past through various journal entries is as confusing as it is distancing.
Last semester I read The House of the Seven Gables, a piece of Gothic writing by Hawthorne, and while I very much enjoyed his prose, all through the novel I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. Nothing did. We simply follow a few characters' meandering thought processes, most of them of a markedly depressing nature, until we arrive at the end, which is a sort of subdued happily ever after moment. I felt strung along, because some of the possible plot lines I mistakenly saw developing into something more fantastic than was intended. I am relating this story because the writing and the subjects of the writing seem to me very much in common. Halfway through and I'm expecting something to happen, but page after page brings me only boredom.
I think in large part there is a generational gap, but there is also a gaping rift of taste and preference present which prevents me from connecting with the book and its characters. I hope to be able to get into it at some point, but I think my complaints may be too many to overcome.
By creating my own post and reading the post of others I am beginning to wonder if the confusion is intentional. I wonder if the reader is supposed to feel lost and confused just like the narrator. I could be off base but its a thought.
ReplyDeleteNo, from what I have read, it is somewhat deliberate on the part of the author. I token it a poor choice personally.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you, Luke. I'm pretty positive, that Bronte is confusing her readers on purpose. I love that you feel that she is a "rambling schizophrenic", because she definitely sounds like one to me too. I find it so frustrating that I cannot follow this story at all. Let alone, the vague and disjointed plot, the characters all seem to melt into one as the descriptions of them get longer and less distinguishable.
ReplyDeleteI think we all need to give Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë, a chance. Although the format of this novel may not be the format we are used to reading, does not mean that Brontë does not have a remarkable story to tell. Yes, we may be confused upon reading the novel for the first time. There are a great amount of characters with complex family lineages that are introduced within the first 100 pages. In addition, Heathcliff’s mysterious characteristics are depicted before the audience learns about his background story. But by the end of the book, I have a feeling we will all become 'Wuthering' fans of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë!
ReplyDeleteThe problem isn't the format of the novel. The problem is that there is no distinguishable format to the novel. The prose reads like a garbled mess, and whether this was intentional or not, it does not work for me. I require some semblance of order and cohesion between one paragraph and the next, between one perspective and another, in order to become invested, especially in a work long enough to constitute a novel. Professor Bowden even remarked in class today that it would be a good idea to read the book with a pen and paper handy. This is a terrible idea, and I feel that just the suggestion that such a thing might be helpful should be grounds to discard the work as ineffective and tiresome. If one must consult a glossary of character names every few lines just to understand where the writer is trying to place the reader in the story, the writer has failed. This is of course my opinion, but as someone who has done not an insignificant amount of reading in his lifetime, this book simply fails to do what it should, which is engage the reader in a way that doesn't require mental acrobatics to follow. All the confusion and reference checking does nothing to build suspense or connect the reader to characters or plot. I'll spare you any more and get off my soapbox now.
ReplyDeleteIf you can get into it then I applaud you and am happy. I think that this work is one that is either loved or hated. I'm in the second camp.