The Birth of Wuthering Heights: Emily Bronte at Work [Hardcover]

Edward Chitham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1998

This book develops the theory that Wuthering Heights was recast and expanded between its first submission to a publisher in 1846 and its final acceptance and publication in late 1847. It suggests that the well known chronological coherence of the book was an innovation of the second version, and explores the anomalies which still remain. Use is made of the recently discovered Latin translations of Emily Brontë to show how her interest in epic and saga developed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Anagramatic exploration of names, scouring of maps and locations...a startling dexterity with dates, a breathtaking clarity in complexity are all displayed in what is nothing less than a tour-de-force. For all who continue to be intrigued by the mysteries of Emily BrontA"'s elusive genius, this is a book to be read at a sitting and then to keep to hand. It is a fine detective book and celebration of a poet-novelist-novelist-poet who, as her sister Charlotte tells us, was never afraid of hard work.' - Brian Wilks, BrontA" Society Transactions --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Edward Chitham is a renowned Brontë scholar and Editor of the Brontë Society Transactions.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (March 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312212666
• ISBN-13: 978-0312212667
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,608,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars From the unquiet earth..., April 26, 2006

By 

Steven Cain (Temporal Quantum Pocket) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Birth of Wuthering Heights: Emily Brontė at Work (Paperback)

This is a wonderful piece of detective work, and whether you agree with some of Chitham's conclusions and speculations or not, it is a joy to follow his reasoning and thought processes.

As I am still tweaking my own Emily Bronte novel at this time, this book has provided a great deal of interesting background to the development of The Heights, including its origins, and to Emily's life and her approach to writing.

One of Chitham's many useful contributions is his methodical proving of the existence of a second Emily Bronte novel. While I do not concur with his assessment of the probable content of that novel, I very much enjoyed reading this and all of his ideas.

His obvious respect for the work of other great Bronte scholars, such as Stevie Davies (Emily Bronte: Heretic, Four Dreamers And Emily) only reinforces his own open-mindedness and broad-based, meticulous research.

Excellent.