"Wuthering Heights" Sent to Publisher on this Day
January 4, 1847
Okay, so there were no specific prompts for January 4th, so I googled, 'What went on January 4th?' and there were a plethora to choose from from centuries past to present. And this one caught my eye:
1847 Manuscripts of Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights" and Anne Brontë's "Agnes Grey" sent to publisher T.C. Newby https://www.onthisday.com/events/january/4
Why, pray tell, was it eye worthy to me? Because it was made into a movie that my daughter, Christina, and I had watched and loved. It was our memory. We both love deep and hard, and apparently, love crazies...and maybe that's because we might be a bit off-centered, ourselves. (But that's ok, too.) It was a "fit" for us, nonetheless. (Just to be clear, research of those who have analyzed the characters in the book, Heathcliff appears to have a narcissistic disorder and Catherine is a bit bipolar.) But personalities be damned...we just liked the romance, ok?
To begin with, even the name of EB's classic is a bit haunting! According to https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/wuthering, 'Wuthering" or "whithering" comes from the Old Norse and means roaring like the wind on a stormy day...setting the scene for the volatile, often-stormy-passionate relationships in the novel.'
But, Christina and I blindly jumped right in, not knowing the definition from the Old Norsemen. The big larch tree might have been a dead giveaway, too. But, alas, we didn't catch sight. There had been signs, as they say...
Maybe we should have just read the book (in Braille) feeling the doom at our fingertips, and would have had more vision.
Heathcliff grappled with the fact that he "wasn't enough" and couldn't see that his vengeance would bring the storms, changing everything, but also, changing nothing at all.
Catherine was blinded by the fact that loving two men simultaneously would be her demise.
But Christina and I still fell so hard and deep into the beloved 'Wuthering Heights,' sight unseen.
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4th (World Braille Day) A story in the first person where your main character cannot see.
At first, I didn't "see" L.C. Scafer's prompt, the one above, so I googled. Once I "saw" Wuthering Heights, well...there was no going back...so this is what you get. MERGE...
About the Creator
Shirley Belk
Mother, Nana, Sister, Cousin, & Aunt who recently retired. RN (Nursing Instructor) who loves to write stories to heal herself and reflect on all the silver linings she has been blessed with
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Comments (6)
Shirley, I love the fact that you wrote about this on the day that it was sent to the publisher and for all of the personal reasons that you cited too. I love the film versions of this story and the Kate Bush song but I found the book underwhelming. It has been a long time since I read it and I do wonder if new older eyes might create a different interpretation but I remember the dialogue being hard and I always found Heathcliff a bit sinister rather than attractive. Thanks for writing such a great piece. Are you still writing every day in 2024?
The tip... great idea!😉❤️💜 How about tipping someone that jumps in to help celebrate your birthday month?😉🥰
"Feeling the doom at our fingertips". Lol that was so funny for me! I've never read this actually 😅
Excellent novel!! 😁
Confession time: I've never read it! 😮
Withering heights, what a story!