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Wuthering Heights (Oxford World's Classics) [Paperback]

Emily Bronte , Ian Jack , Patsy Stoneman
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,223 customer reviews)


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Wuthering Heights (Oxford World's Classics) Wuthering Heights (Oxford World's Classics) 4.1 out of 5 stars (1,223)
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Book Description

May 14, 1998 Oxford World's Classics
First published in 1847, Wuthering Heights is set on the bleak Yorkshire moors, where the drama of Catherine and Heathcliff, Heathcliff's cruel revenge against Edgar and Isabella Linton, and the promise of redemption through the next generation, is enacted. This edition uses the authoritative Clarendon text, and in a new introduction Patsy Stoneman considers the bewildering variety of critical interpretations to which the novel has been subject, as well as offering some provocative new insights for the modern reader.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The main drama in Bronte's novel happens in a long narrative told by an elderly housekeeper to a convalescing new tenant. This story-within-a-story setup makes it well suited for audio adaptation, as Scales takes the housekeeper's part and relates the past, while West performs as the tenant and describes the present. Scales primarily uses a folksy lower-class accent, but she also makes her voice harsh and threatening when speaking as Heathcliff, the surly man at the novel's heart. West, as the bewildered tenant, manages to sound both nervous and pretentious, but his part is fairly small, especially with this abridgment, so he mostly serves to provide transitions for the housekeeper's story. The extensive abridgment generally deletes sentences and phrases rather than entire paragraphs or sections. One drawback for the audio format is the difficulty of clarifying the novel's convoluted plot and family tree, since it's harder to search back through long CD tracks than through earlier chapters of the paperback. While a little of the depth of Bronte's writing is lost in abridgment, the novel's emotional core remains intact and wrenching, and the actors' heartfelt interpretations make it easy to imagine being curled up by a warm fire listening to an absorbing tale. In June, Penguin Audio remastered and released on CD for the first time nine other Penguin Classics: Crime and Punishment, Dracula, Frankenstein, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Moby Dick, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Tale of Two Cities.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up-British actor Martin Shaw reads this shortened version of the classic Emily Bronte novel. His easily-understood accent is appropriate and helps to set the mood. Shaw reads at a very steady pace, pausing effectively for emphasis or when his character might be thinking. Usually calm and gentle, his voice can resonate with anger or other emotion when necessary. There is some differentiation in pitch to emphasize male vs. female speech, but it is not exaggerated or overdone. The abridgement retains Bronte's words linking speech or narration sometimes from one page to another. It provides students with an easier way to become familiar with the story and get a feel for her style. Teachers could use this presentation to introduce the novel or to entice students to read it on their own.
Claudia Moore, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 432 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press (May 14, 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0192833545
  • ISBN-13: 978-0192833549
  • Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.9 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,223 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
453 of 504 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Love Among The Damned February 25, 2005
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Published in 1847, WUTHERING HEIGHTS was not well received by the reading public, many of whom condemned it as sordid, vulgar, and unnatural--and author Emily Bronte went to her grave in 1848 believing that her only novel was a failure. It was not until 1850, when WUTHERING HEIGHTS received a second printing with an introduction by Emily's sister Charlotte, that it attracted a wide readership. And from that point the reputation of the book has never looked back. Today it is widely recognized as one of the great novels of English literature.

Even so, WUTHERING HEIGHTS continues to divide readers. It is not a pretty love story; rather, it is swirling tale of largely unlikeable people caught up in obsessive love that turns to dark madness. It is cruel, violent, dark and brooding, and many people find it extremely unpleasant. And yet--it possesses a grandeur of language and design, a sense of tremendous pity and great loss that sets it apart from virtually every other novel written.

The novel is told in the form of an extended flashback. After a visit to his strange landlord, a newcomer to the area desires to know the history of the family--which he receives from Nelly Deans, a servant who introduces us to the Earnshaw family who once resided in the house known as Wuthering Heights. It was once a cheerful place, but Old Earnshaw adopted a "Gipsy" child who he named Heathcliff. And Catherine, daughter of the house, found in him the perfect companion: wild, rude, and as proud and cruel as she. But although Catherine loves him, even recognizes him as her soulmate, she cannot lower herself to marry so far below her social station. She instead marries another, and in so doing sets in motion an obsession that will destroy them all.
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97 of 106 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars wuthering heights editions April 9, 2003
Format:Paperback
Rather than delve on the contents of this strangest and strongest of English novels, so intensely poetic in its haunting darkness and otherness, I'll comment briefly on the best editions available for a good first contact:

A) Text oriented editions (that is, editions with few materials added: normally an Introduction, annotation, and perhaps Charlotte's Peface and Biographical Notice and some bibliographical indications).

1. Oxford World's Classics: authoritative text, good annotation,
excellent introduction.

2. Penguin's Classics: same as above, everything looks a little shorter but is excellent nonetheless.

3. Wordsworth Classics edition. This would be a rather fine edition as befitting this collection, if it had a good 1847 text and not the heavily tampered-with Charlotte's 1850 edition. The text itself reflects accurately that of the 1900 Haworth Edition -a careful one-. The wording changes aren't perhaps so worrying nor is the toning-down of the dialectal tirades -although funny and useless-. What is worrying is the disappearance of more than six hundred paragrapph entries (I mean just the paragraphing, not the contents itself!), that makes for a different -and worse- reading experience. Very good and full -if brief- annotation. Mass-market, glued paperback.

4. Heather Glen's for Routledge. One of the finest text-oriented editions, especially for the excellent Introduction and Epilogue together with its good annotation, out-of-print for rather obscure reasons. If you find still a very good to fine copy at amazon Canadian branch (or at abebooks.com, it would be a good buy.

5. Orchises two-volume facsimile reprint of the 1847 edition. No notes nor any additional material. the books are well produced if a little expensive.
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109 of 122 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite novel of all time March 3, 2006
Format:Paperback
There is a thin line between love and hate, and once Heathcliff crosses it, we see a grand, passionate and absorbingly interesting man turn into a fearsome thug. Thwarted in his love for his childhood soulmate, Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff turns his devastation outward, becoming a hateful -- and hated -- person all across the bleak moors that surround his Yorkshire village.

Heathcliff courts and marries the sister of the man whom Catherine chose over Heathcliff, only to torture her emotionally as a way of getting even with her brother. Meanwhile, Catherine slowly wastes away pining for Heathcliff, for although she once rejected him, she eventually realizes that she has made an irredeemable error and can never be happy. Heathcliff sums up the tragedy of their lives in a single question near the end of the novel when he asks, "Why did you betray your heart, Cathy?"

Sound depressing? It's not. Wuthering Heights is a grand and glorious novel that dramatically illustrates the power of love, for good and ill. But more importantly, it teaches us that the only path to happiness is to be true to one's heart, rather than one's head. Had Catherine honored her bond with Heathcliff and refused to bow to the social mores of her day, not only would the two of them been much happier, but all of the many people whose lives they stumbled into would have been much better off.

Another reviewer said that those of us who love this novel probably have a strong identification with one of the characters, and for me that is quite true. That's the reason for reading a classic like Wuthering Heights, because when it speaks to you in the clear and true way that Bronte does, you know that you are not alone, and that some things transcend time and place.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Feelings
This read is very hard to describe. It is such a dark and dreary story that I wonder if anyone could greatly enjoy it. Read more
Published 1 day ago by mcm44
5.0 out of 5 stars Wuthering Heights
This is one of my favorite stories and am very excited to see the classics on Kindle.
I hate carrying books now and love the idea of reading classics here.
Published 1 day ago by Becky Penn
4.0 out of 5 stars Wuthering Heights
What a great story of the days when women and children were naught but possessions. There were no laws against child abuse nor beating your wife. Read more
Published 1 day ago by Debra harris
5.0 out of 5 stars A timeless Classic
I, thoroughly, enjoyed Wuthering Heights, I kept wanting Heathcliff to become a nice, caring hero, but he didn't, then I realised that was because there was no one in his world but... Read more
Published 4 days ago by Jacqueline Irvine
4.0 out of 5 stars Happy
One of the many classics I have read, I love getting into the minds of writers from 'back in the day'. The way they use words to paint ideas and hold conversations is astounding. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Leah Pulido
5.0 out of 5 stars Intrigueing
This book makes a great literature read. The use of words are wonderful and yet makes you wish to understand more of their meanings.
Published 10 days ago by le canard rouge
4.0 out of 5 stars A great classic.
Really enjoyed this one from start to finish. And free on Kindle. One more classic book read for free thanks to Kindle!
Published 11 days ago by Rhonda
2.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't Read it
I could not understand half of wat I read in just the first chapter. And many of the words I didn't get didn't have definitions. I put it down and won'tpick it back up
Published 11 days ago by Cinnamon
4.0 out of 5 stars Good classic
I enjoyed reading this book, although I had read it before but many years ago. The characters in this book are very interesting and I enjoyed the style in which it was written.
Published 12 days ago by Terese Rocak
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful.
Re-reading a book that I enjoyed many years ago brought back memories and gave me pleasure. The language is beautiful.
Published 13 days ago by lynette white
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Hindley/Heathcliff
Catherine did not want to marry beneath her station. This was a real consideration in Emily Bronte's day. The reason Catherine said that it would degrade her to marry Heathcliff was because it would have. If she had married him, she would have been the wife of a stableboy. So she chose to... Read more
Sep 21, 2008 by Jacquelyn Bailey |  See all 4 posts
Pseudo-Intellectuals and "the Classics." A Rant. Be the first to reply
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