English Revision: Wuthering Heights

I took English Language and Literature at A Level and for the exam I have to analyse Wuthering Heights.

The question paper for the exam asks for you to analyse Wuthering Heights in a certain way with reference to 'wider reading'. Wider reading can consist of any 'intellectual' novel, play, poem, manuscript... you get the drift. Although you may be gifted in finding links and metaphors to 'childish' books like the Harry Potter series, you may NOT compare Wuthering Heights to such books... as I have been told by my English teacher in the past when I made an exemplary comparison between Lucius and Draco Malfoy to Hindly and Hareton Earnshaw. 

I'm sorry if you're out there, Mrs Joseph, I've learnt from my errors. I promise. (I hope.)

Anyway, I've taken to reading F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, which is not only cool because my best friend's last name is Fitzgerald (it's the little things that excite me), but the book is also one that I'm thoroughly enjoying. I have watched the 2013 film adaptation which boasts its amazing super-famous cast which includes the likes of Tobey Maguire and the universal heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio.

DiCaprio and Maguire play J. Gatsby and Nick Carroway respectively and they play the characters extremely well and I think the film is definitely one to see if you like the 1920s, social status, romance, history, New York or Wuthering Heights (the stories are similar in many respects but time periods twist the direction of the ending).

The problem with Wuthering Heights, unlike The Great Gatsby, is that there isn't a film that has been made that is even close the book's storyline. All the adaptations I've seen involve Catherine

Earnshaw and Heathcliff constantly kissing and touching which, (spoiler alert), doesn't happen often in the book. Many critics (and I agree, to an extent) argue that their relationship is sexless. And I think you're exploiting the black and white part of the novel if you think that that's incorrect. 

The novel is a classic, literally, and I think that if you're looking for a good summer/holiday read (that involves a little bit of thinking/trying to understand Yorkshire dialect in Joseph's direct speech), Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is your book.

For something less dated, try The Great Gatsby which is only 149 pages long.

For something even LESS dated... The Catcher in the Rye by J.D.Salinger. This again, is a super short book and is good for detaching yourself from reality. 

I think I might start recommending a book every month, along with the album of the month (stay tuned for June's!)... We'll see how it goes!

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