Cantitate/Preț
Produs

Wuthering Heights: Vintage Classics

Autor Emily Brontë
Notă:  5.00 · 3 note - 2 recenzii 
en Limba Engleză Paperback – 31 mar 2009

Vezi toate premiile Carte premiată

Audies (2004)
Perhaps the most haunting and tormented love story ever written, Wuthering Heights is the tale of the troubled orphan Heathcliff and his doomed love for Catherine Earnshaw.

Published in 1847, the year before Emily Bronte's death at the age of thirty, Wuthering Heights has proved to be one of the nineteenth century's most popular yet disturbing masterpieces. The windswept moors are the unforgettable setting of this tale of the love between the foundling Heathcliff and his wealthy benefactor's daughter, Catherine. Through Catherine's betrayal of Heathcliff and his bitter vengeance, their mythic passion haunts the next generation even after their deaths. Incorporating elements of many genres—from gothic novels and ghost stories to poetic allegory—and transcending them all, Wuthering Heights is a mystifying and powerful tour de force.
Citește tot Restrânge

Toate formatele și edițiile

Toate formatele și edițiile Preț Express
Paperback (127) 2032 lei  3-5 săpt. +744 lei  7-11 zile
  Harper Collins Publishers – iul 2013 2032 lei  3-5 săpt. +744 lei  7-11 zile
  Bantam Classics – 30 sep 1983 2924 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Alma Books COMMIS – 11 sep 2013 3503 lei  3-5 săpt. +1194 lei  7-11 zile
  Signet Classics – 28 feb 2011 3551 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Classics Illustrated Comics – 30 iun 2009 3814 lei  3-5 săpt. +558 lei  7-11 zile
  OUP OXFORD – 23 sep 2020 4356 lei  3-5 săpt. +1420 lei  7-11 zile
  Penguin Books – 5 dec 2012 4411 lei  24-35 zile +1907 lei  7-11 zile
  Vintage Books USA – 30 apr 2008 4417 lei  24-35 zile +1917 lei  7-11 zile
  Penguin Books – 29 ian 2003 4452 lei  24-35 zile +1976 lei  7-11 zile
  PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE LLC – 6 dec 2021 4527 lei  3-5 săpt. +934 lei  7-11 zile
  HarperCollins Publishers – 10 iun 2019 4760 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Chicago Review Press Inc DBA Indepe – 13 dec 2018 4857 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Random House – 4 noi 2015 4998 lei  24-35 zile +2203 lei  7-11 zile
  Penguin Random House Children's UK – 5 aug 2009 5025 lei  24-35 zile +2250 lei  7-11 zile
  HarperCollins Publishers – 30 mar 2022 5035 lei  3-5 săpt. +1608 lei  7-11 zile
  HarperCollins Publishers – 17 mai 2017 5160 lei  3-5 săpt. +1020 lei  7-11 zile
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 5249 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 5531 lei  3-5 săpt.
  VINTAGE CLASSICS – 31 mar 2009 5724 lei  3-5 săpt. +1268 lei  7-11 zile
  SWEET CHERRY PUBLISHING – 17 ian 2024 5878 lei  3-5 săpt. +1413 lei  7-11 zile
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 6279 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 6335 lei  3-5 săpt.
  6335 lei  3-5 săpt.
  FABER & FABER – 5 iul 2017 6486 lei  3-5 săpt. +1399 lei  7-11 zile
  Theatre Communications Group – 21 apr 2021 6570 lei  3-5 săpt.
  6645 lei  3-5 săpt.
  UNION SQUARE & CO – 6 mai 2022 6713 lei  3-5 săpt. +2276 lei  7-11 zile
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 6958 lei  3-5 săpt.
  7132 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7148 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Bloomsbury Publishing – 2 feb 2022 7156 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Bloomsbury Publishing – 2 mai 2023 7167 lei  3-5 săpt. +1274 lei  7-11 zile
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7362 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7385 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7401 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7481 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7555 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7575 lei  3-5 săpt.
  7604 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7784 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CANTERBURY CLASSICS – 18 mar 2018 7785 lei  3-5 săpt. +1680 lei  7-11 zile
  Penguin Random House Group – 15 feb 2022 7806 lei  24-35 zile +2775 lei  7-11 zile
  7871 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7917 lei  3-5 săpt.
  7971 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Penguin Books – 4 noi 2009 8029 lei  24-35 zile +3157 lei  7-11 zile
  8196 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Oxford University Press – 28 feb 2007 8232 lei  3-5 săpt.
  www.bnpublishing.com – 13 mar 2011 8352 lei  3-5 săpt.
  8834 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 8932 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Top Five Books, LLC – 15 oct 2020 9059 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Denton & White – 9087 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 9308 lei  3-5 săpt.
  9319 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 9342 lei  3-5 săpt.
  9364 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Klett Sprachen GmbH – 7 mar 2023 9410 lei  17-23 zile +875 lei  7-11 zile
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 9518 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 9614 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Auk Academic – 9 iun 2014 9703 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 9804 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 9853 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 9983 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 10038 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 30 noi 2015 10223 lei  3-5 săpt.
  10588 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 10667 lei  3-5 săpt.
  G&D MEDIA – 25 mar 2024 10738 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 10957 lei  3-5 săpt.
  LARGE PRINT DISTRIBUTION – 14 apr 2009 11206 lei  3-5 săpt.
  11299 lei  3-5 săpt.
  11325 lei  3-5 săpt.
  11542 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 11740 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 11783 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Bottom of the Hill Publishing – 31 iul 2010 11818 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 11979 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Macmillan Learning – 16 apr 2003 12006 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 12066 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 12156 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Les prairies numériques – 13 iul 2020 12235 lei  3-5 săpt.
  12893 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 13024 lei  3-5 săpt.
  13286 lei  3-5 săpt.
  16000 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Sovereign – 26 iul 2018 16767 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Mint Editions – 28 aug 2023 18058 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Outlook Verlag – 24 sep 2019 30403 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7096 lei  6-8 săpt.
  7316 lei  6-8 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7354 lei  6-8 săpt.
  7435 lei  6-8 săpt.
  8897 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Sde Classics – 19 dec 2018 8971 lei  6-8 săpt.
  8974 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Tark Classic Fiction – 4 oct 2007 9396 lei  6-8 săpt.
  9711 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Editorium – 31 mar 2012 9909 lei  6-8 săpt.
  9941 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Samuel French Ltd – 23 iul 2015 10201 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Bottom of the Hill Publishing – 30 iun 2014 10231 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Lulu – 11 noi 2015 10677 lei  6-8 săpt.
  SC Active Business Development SRL – 12 oct 2016 11015 lei  38-44 zile
  Bibliotech Press – 21 iul 2019 11254 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Indoeuropeanpublishing.com – 30 iun 2010 11273 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Blurb – 6 feb 2019 11320 lei  38-44 zile
  11504 lei  6-8 săpt.
  LIGHTNING SOURCE INC – 16 iul 2018 11674 lei  17-23 zile
  Indoeuropeanpublishing.com – 6 ian 2023 11679 lei  6-8 săpt.
  12027 lei  6-8 săpt.
  General Press – 31 dec 2016 12070 lei  6-8 săpt.
  RUPA – 29 feb 2000 12662 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Norilana Books – 25 feb 2007 13099 lei  6-8 săpt.
  MiraVista Interactive – 22 mai 2019 13297 lei  38-44 zile
  Maple Press – 31 dec 2013 13802 lei  6-8 săpt.
  14867 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Walker, Wright & Thompson – 25 dec 2016 14898 lei  38-44 zile
  Book Jungle – feb 2009 14942 lei  6-8 săpt.
  HarperCollins Publishers – 29 feb 2000 15595 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Simon & Brown – 31 oct 2010 16802 lei  38-44 zile
  Delhi Open Books – 21 mai 2020 16889 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Simon & Brown – 23 oct 2018 17943 lei  38-44 zile
  Simon & Brown – 10 noi 2018 18476 lei  38-44 zile
  Pomona Press – 31 dec 2005 19153 lei  38-44 zile
  Lulu.Com – 15 feb 2018 20952 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Echo Library – 31 mar 2006 26786 lei  38-44 zile
Hardback (31) 4713 lei  3-5 săpt. +3201 lei  7-11 zile
  Pan Macmillan – 3 apr 2017 4713 lei  3-5 săpt. +3201 lei  7-11 zile
  CHARTWELL BOOKS – 22 noi 2021 4804 lei  3-5 săpt.
  WORDSWORTH EDITIONS LTD – 14 sep 2019 4896 lei  3-5 săpt. +1311 lei  7-11 zile
  Flame Tree Publishing – 14 ian 2020 5775 lei  3-5 săpt. +1512 lei  7-11 zile
  Arcturus Publishing – 31 oct 2022 6907 lei  3-5 săpt.
  WORDSWORTH EDITIONS LTD – 14 dec 2022 8027 lei  3-5 săpt. +1680 lei  7-11 zile
  Penguin Random House Children's UK – 2 sep 2020 8278 lei  24-35 zile +3579 lei  7-11 zile
  EVERYMAN – 25 sep 1991 8806 lei  24-35 zile +3777 lei  7-11 zile
  UNION SQUARE & CO – 6 iun 2022 8949 lei  3-5 săpt. +2755 lei  7-11 zile
  UNION SQUARE & CO – 20 mar 2024 10938 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Penguin Books – 5 noi 2008 11003 lei  3-5 săpt. +2285 lei  7-11 zile
  Mint Editions – 6 apr 2020 11556 lei  3-5 săpt.
  chiltern publishing – 26 sep 2018 12879 lei  3-5 săpt. +2430 lei  7-11 zile
  Everyman's Library – 30 sep 1991 16729 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Outlook Verlag – 24 sep 2019 43382 lei  3-5 săpt.
  FV éditions – 22 ian 2020 11517 lei  6-8 săpt.
  12th Media Services – 31 dec 1846 11947 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Chump Change – 9 noi 2016 12710 lei  6-8 săpt.
  13982 lei  6-8 săpt.
  13986 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Ancient Wisdom Publications – 8 dec 2013 15250 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Indoeuropeanpublishing.com – 6 ian 2023 19655 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Bibliotech Press – 21 iul 2019 19836 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Norilana Books – 23 feb 2007 19870 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Lulu – 11 noi 2015 19978 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Throne Classics – 27 mai 2019 20804 lei  38-44 zile
  Prince Classics – mai 2019 20804 lei  38-44 zile
  22151 lei  38-44 zile
  Simon & Brown – 23 oct 2018 23133 lei  38-44 zile
  Simon & Brown – 10 noi 2018 24043 lei  38-44 zile
  Echo Library – 31 dec 2006 34874 lei  38-44 zile
Legat în piele (1) 11748 lei  3-5 săpt. +3346 lei  7-11 zile
  UNION SQUARE & CO – 29 feb 2016 11748 lei  3-5 săpt. +3346 lei  7-11 zile
CD-Audio (1) 11964 lei  3-5 săpt. +979 lei  7-11 zile
  Bolinda Publishing – 27 feb 2019 11964 lei  3-5 săpt. +979 lei  7-11 zile

Din seria Vintage Classics

Preț: 5724 lei

Nou

Puncte Express: 86

Preț estimativ în valută:
1096 1194$ 921£

Carte disponibilă

Livrare economică 26 noiembrie-10 decembrie
Livrare express 12-16 noiembrie pentru 2267 lei

Preluare comenzi: 021 569.72.76

Specificații

ISBN-13: 9780307455185
ISBN-10: 0307455181
Pagini: 385
Dimensiuni: 132 x 205 x 22 mm
Greutate: 0.29 kg
Editura: VINTAGE CLASSICS
Seria Vintage Classics


Recenzii de la cititorii Books Express


Alina-Andreea Badea a dat nota:

O iubire la nivel spiritual. Personajele au un anumit egoism, doresc ce e mai bine pentru ele, si isi calca pe sentimente, atat ale lor cat si a celor din jur. De asemenea, este un roman in care se prezinta, mai mult sau mai putin, schimbarea adusa de anumite traume ale copilariei, de ex. personajul Hitcliff. Stilul gothic a facut cartea si mai atractiva de citit, dar acest aspect tine mult de gusturi.


Maria Nastasia a dat nota:

Structurally this book is a brilliant enigma. It feels like a series of unconscious decisions on Emily's part which for a novel that spends a lot of time dramatizing the darker realms of the human psyche is another masterstroke. Our narrator is almost immediately shoved aside by a first-hand witness of all events, Nelly, the housekeeper. Bronte uses this technique of doubling up throughout the novel - eventually Catherine and Heathcliff's children will replace Catherine and Heathcliff. Virtually every character in this novel has a twin. At times it's confusing trying to recall who is whose offspring or relative but this only adds to the novel's atmosphere of some kind of elemental drama unfolding in which individuals are no less cyclical, no less driven by primitive energies than the surrounding moors. Wuthering Heights is an adventure into the heart of darkness, anticipating Conrad by more than fifty years. It's also a novel that feels spookily intimate with death.

Citește tot Restrânge

Notă biografică

Emily Jane Brontë was the most solitary member of a unique, tightly-knit, English provincial family. Born in 1818, she shared the parsonage of the town of Haworth, Yorkshire, with her older sister, Charlotte, her brother, Branwell, her younger sister, Anne, and her father, The Reverend Patrick Brontë. All five were poets and writers; all but Branwell would publish at least one book.

Fantasy was the Brontë children’s one relief from the rigors of religion and the bleakness of life in an impoverished region. They invented a series of imaginary kingdoms and constructed a whole library of journals, stories, poems, and plays around their inhabitants. Emily’s special province was a kingdom she called Gondal, whose romantic heroes and exiles owed much to the poems of Byron.

Brief stays at several boarding schools were the sum of her experiences outside Haworth until 1842, when she entered a school in Brussels with her sister Charlotte. After a year of study and teaching there, they felt qualified to announce the opening of a school in their own home, but could not attract a single pupil.

In 1845 Charlotte Brontë came across a manuscript volume of her sister’s poems. She knew at once, she later wrote, that they were “not at all like poetry women generally write…they had a peculiar music–wild, melancholy, and elevating.” At her sister’s urging, Emily’s poems, along with Anne’s and Charlotte’s, were published pseudonymously in 1846. An almost complete silence greeted this volume, but the three sisters, buoyed by the fact of publication, immediately began to write novels. Emily’s effort was Wuthering Heights; appearing in 1847 it was treated at first as a lesser work by Charlotte, whose Jane Eyre had already been published to great acclaim. Emily Brontë’s name did not emerge from behind her pseudonym of Ellis Bell until the second edition of her novel appeared in 1850.

In the meantime, tragedy had struck the Brontë family. In September of 1848 Branwell had succumbed to a life of dissipation. By December, after a brief illness, Emily too was dead; her sister Anne would die the next year. Wuthering Heights, Emily’s only novel, was just beginning to be understood as the wild and singular work of genius that it is. “Stronger than a man,” wrote Charlotte, “Simpler than a child, her nature stood alone.”


From the Paperback edition.

Extras

CHAPTER 1



1801--I have just returned from a visit to my landlord--the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with. This is certainly a beautiful country! In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist's Heaven: and Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us. A capital fellow! He little imagined how my heart warmed towards him when I beheld his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously under their brows, as I rode up, and when his fingers sheltered themselves, with a jealous resolution, still further in his waistcoat, as I announced my name.

'Mr. Heathcliff?' I said.

A nod was the answer.

'Mr. Lockwood, your new tenant, sir. I do myself the honour of calling as soon as possible after my arrival, to express the hope that I have not inconvenienced you by my perseverance in soliciting the occupation of Thrushcross Grange: I heard yesterday you had had some thoughts--'

'Thrushcross Grange is my own, sir,' he interrupted, wincing. 'I should not allow any one to inconvenience me, if I could hinder it--walk in!'

The 'walk in' was uttered with closed teeth, and expressed the sentiment, 'Go to the Deuce': even the gate over which he leant manifested no sympathizing movement to the words; and I think that circumstance determined me to accept the invitation: I felt interested in a man who seemed more exaggeratedly reserved than myself.

When he saw my horse's breast fairly pushing the barrier, he did pull out his hand to unchain it, and then suddenly preceded me up the causeway, calling, as we entered the court,--

'Joseph, take Mr. Lockwood's horse; and bring up some wine.'

'Here we have the whole establishment of domestics, I suppose,' was the reflection, suggested by this compound order. 'No wonder the grass grows up between the flags, and cattle are the only hedge-cutters.'

Joseph was an elderly, nay, an old man: very old, perhaps, though hale and sinewy.

'The Lord help us!' he soliloquised in an undertone of peevish displeasure, while relieving me of my horse: looking, meantime, in my face so sourly that I charitably conjectured he must have need of divine aid to digest his dinner, and his pious ejaculation had no reference to my unexpected advent.

Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff's dwelling. 'Wuthering' being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun. Happily, the architect had foresight to build it strong: the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting stones.

Before passing the threshold, I paused to admire a quantity of grotesque carving lavished over the front, and especially about the principal door; above which, among a wilderness of crumbling griffins and shameless little boys, I detected the date '1500,' and the name 'Hareton Earnshaw.' I would have made a few comments, and requested a short history of the place from the surly owner; but his attitude at the door appeared to demand my speedy entrance, or complete departure, and I had no desire to aggravate his impatience previous to inspecting the penetralium.

One step brought us into the family sitting-room, without any introductory lobby or passage: they call it here 'the house' pre-eminently. It includes kitchen and parlour, generally; but I believe at Wuthering Heights the kitchen is forced to retreat altogether into another quarter: at least I distinguished a chatter of tongues, and a clatter of culinary utensils, deep within; and I observed no signs of roasting, boiling, or baking, about the huge fire-place; nor any glitter of copper saucepans and tin cullenders on the walls. One end, indeed, reflected splendidly both light and heat from ranks of immense pewter dishes, interspersed with silver jugs and tankards, towering row after row, on a vast oak dresser, to the very roof. The latter had never been underdrawn: its entire anatomy lay bare to an inquiring eye, except where a frame of wood laden with oatcakes and clusters of legs of beef, mutton, and ham, concealed it. Above the chimney were sundry villanous old guns, and a couple of horse-pistols: and, by way of ornament, three gaudily painted canisters disposed along its ledge. The floor was of smooth, white stone; the chairs, high-backed, primitive structures, painted green: one or two heavy black ones lurking in the shade. In an arch under the dresser, reposed a huge, liver-coloured bitch pointer, surrounded by a swarm of squealing puppies; and other dogs haunted other recesses.

The apartment and furniture would have been nothing extraordinary as belonging to a homely, northern farmer, with a stubborn countenance, and stalwart limbs set out to advantage in knee-breeches and gaiters. Such an individual seated in his armchair, his mug of ale frothing on the round table before him, is to be seen in any circuit of five or six miles among these hills, if you go at the right time after dinner. But Mr. Heathcliff forms a singular contrast to his abode and style of living. He is a dark-skinned gipsy in aspect, in dress and manners a gentleman: that is, as much a gentleman as many a country squire: rather slovenly, perhaps, yet not looking amiss with his negligence, because he has an erect and handsome figure; and rather morose. Possibly, some people might suspect him of a degree of underbred pride; I have a sympathetic chord within that tells me it is nothing of the sort: I know by instinct, his reserve springs from an aversion to showy displays of feeling--to manifestations of mutual kindliness. He'll love and hate equally under cover, and esteem it a species of impertinence to be loved or hated again. No. I'm running on too fast: I bestow my own attributes over liberally on him. Mr. Heathcliff may have entirely dissimilar reasons for keeping his hand out of the way when he meets a would-be acquaintance, to those which actuate me. Let me hope my constitution is almost peculiar: my dear mother used to say I should never have a comfortable home; and only last summer I proved myself perfectly unworthy of one.

While enjoying a month of fine weather at the seacoast, I was thrown into the company of a most fascinating creature: a real goddess in my eyes, as long as she took no notice of me. I 'never told my love' vocally; still, if looks have language, the merest idiot might have guessed I was over head and ears: she understood me at last, and looked a return--the sweetest of all imaginable looks. And what did I do? I confess it with shame--shrunk icily into myself, like a snail; at every glance retired colder and farther; till finally the poor innocent was led to doubt her own senses, and, overwhelmed with confusion at her supposed mistake, persuaded her mamma to decamp.

By this curious turn of disposition I have gained the reputation of deliberate heartlessness; how undeserved, I alone can appreciate.

I took a seat at the end of the hearthstone opposite that towards which my landlord advanced, and filled up an interval of silence by attempting to caress the canine mother, who had left her nursery, and was sneaking wolfishly to the back of my legs, her lip curled up, and her white teeth watering for a snatch.

My caress provoked a long, guttural gnarl.

'You'd better let the dog alone,' growled Mr. Heathcliff in unison, checking fiercer demonstrations with a punch of his foot. 'She's not accustomed to be spoiled--not kept for a pet.'

Then, striding to a side door, he shouted again--'Joseph!'--

Joseph mumbled indistinctly in the depths of the cellar, but gave no intimation of ascending; so his master dived down to him, leaving me vis-a-vis the ruffianly bitch and a pair of grim shaggy sheep-dogs, who shared with her a jealous guardianship over all my movements.

Not anxious to come in contact with their fangs, I sat still; but, imagining they would scarcely understand tacit insults, I unfortunately indulged in winking and making faces at the trio, and some turn of my physiognomy so irritated madam, that she suddenly broke into a fury, and leapt on my knees. I flung her back, and hastened to interpose the table between us. This proceeding roused the whole hive. Half-a-dozen four-footed fiends, of various sizes and ages, issued from hidden dens to the common centre. I felt my heels and coat-laps peculiar subjects of assault; and, parrying off the larger combatants as effectually as I could with the poker, I was constrained to demand, aloud, assistance from some of the household in re-establishing peace.

Mr. Heathcliff and his man climbed the cellar steps with vexatious phlegm: I don't think they moved one second faster than usual, though the hearth was an absolute tempest of worrying and yelping.

Happily, an inhabitant of the kitchen made more dispatch: a lusty dame, with tucked-up gown, bare arms, and fire-flushed cheeks, rushed into the midst of us flourishing a frying-pan: and used that weapon, and her tongue, to such purpose, that the storm subsided magically, and she only remained, heaving like a sea after a high wind, when her master entered on the scene.

'What the devil is the matter?' he asked, eyeing me in a manner I could ill endure after this inhospitable treatment.

'What the devil, indeed!' I muttered. 'The herd of possessed swine could have had no worse spirits in them than those animals of yours, sir. You might as well leave a stranger with a brood of tigers!'

'They won't meddle with persons who touch nothing,' he remarked, putting the bottle before me, and restoring the displaced table. 'The dogs do right to be vigilant. Take a glass of wine?'

'No, thank you.'

'Not bitten, are you?'

'If I had been, I would have set my signet on the biter.'

Heathcliff's countenance relaxed into a grin.

'Come, come,' he said, 'you are flurried, Mr. Lockwood. Here, take a little wine. Guests are so exceedingly rare in this house that I and my dogs, I am willing to own, hardly know how to receive them. Your health, sir!'

I bowed and returned the pledge; beginning to perceive that it would be foolish to sit sulking for the misbehaviour of a pack of curs: besides, I felt loath to yield the fellow further amusement at my expense; since his humour took that turn.

He--probably swayed by prudential considerations of the folly of offending a good tenant--relaxed a little in the laconic style of chipping off1 his pronouns and auxiliary verbs, and introduced what he supposed would be a subject of interest to me,--a discourse on the advantages and disadvantages of my present place of retirement.

I found him very intelligent on the topics we touched; and before I went home, I was encouraged so far as to volunteer another visit to-morrow.

He evidently wished no repetition of my intrusion. I shall go, notwithstanding. It is astonishing how sociable I feel myself compared with him.



CHAPTER 2



Yesterday afternoon set in misty and cold. I had half a mind to spend it by my study fire, instead of wading through heath and mud to Wuthering Heights.

On coming up from dinner, however, (N.B.--I dine between twelve and one o'clock; the housekeeper, a matronly lady, taken as a fixture along with the house, could not, or would not, comprehend my request that I might be served at five.) On mounting the stairs with this lazy intention, and stepping into the room, I saw a servant-girl on her knees, surrounded by brushes, and coal-scuttles; and raising an infernal dust as she extinguished the flames with heaps of cinders. This spectacle drove me back immediately; I took my hat, and, after a four miles' walk, arrived at Heathcliff's garden gate just in time to escape the first feathery flakes of a snow-shower.

On that bleak hill-top the earth was hard with a black frost, and the air made me shiver through every limb. Being unable to remove the chain, I jumped over, and, running up the flagged cause-way bordered with straggling gooseberry bushes, knocked vainly for admittance, till my knuckles tingled, and the dogs howled.

'Wretched inmates!' I ejaculated, mentally, 'you deserve perpetual isolation from your species for your churlish inhospitality. At least, I would not keep my doors barred in the day-time. I don't care--I will get in!'

So resolved, I grasped the latch and shook it vehemently. Vinegar-faced Joseph projected his head from a round window of the barn.

'Whet are ye for?' he shouted. 'T' maister's dahn i' t' fowld. Goa rahnd by th' end ut' laith, if yah went tuh spake tull him.'2

'Is there nobody inside to open the door?' I hallooed, responsively.

'They's nobbut t' missis; and shoo'll nut oppen 't an ye mak yer flaysome dins till neeght.'3

'Why? cannot you tell her who I am, eh, Joseph?'

'Nor-ne me! Aw'll hae noa hend wi't,' muttered the head, vanishing.4

The snow had began to drive thickly. I seized the handle to essay another trial; when a young man without coat, and shouldering a pitchfork, appeared in the yard behind. He hailed me to follow him, and, after marching through a wash-house, and a paved area containing a coal-shed, pump, and pigeon-cote, we at length arrived in the huge, warm, cheerful apartment, where I was formerly received.

It glowed delightfully in the radiance of an immense fire, compounded of coal, peat, and wood; and near the table, laid for a plentiful evening meal, I was pleased to observe the 'missis,' an individual whose existence I had never previously suspected.

I bowed and waited, thinking she would bid me take a seat. She looked at me, leaning back in her chair, and remained motionless and mute.

'Rough weather!' I remarked. 'I'm afraid, Mrs. Heathcliff, the door5 must bear the consequence of your servants' leisure attendance: I had hard work to make them hear me!'

She never opened her mouth. I stared--she stared also. At any rate, she kept her eyes on me in a cool, regardless manner, exceedingly embarrassing and disagreeable.

'Sit down,' said the young man, gruffly. 'He'll be in soon.'

I obeyed; and hemmed, and called the villain Juno, who deigned, at this second interview, to move the extreme tip of her tail, in token of owning my acquaintance.

'A beautiful animal!' I commenced again. 'Do you intend parting with the little ones, madam?'

'They are not mine,' said the amiable hostess, more repellingly than Heathcliff himself could have replied.


From the Paperback edition.

Recenzii

"It is as if Emily Brontë could tear up all that we know human beings by, and fill these unrecognizable transparencies with such a gust of life that they transcend reality."
—Virginia Woolf

Descriere

"Wuthering Heights," first published in 1847, endures today as perhaps the most powerful and intensely original novel in the English language. This edition contains a biographical note and Preface by the author's sister Charlotte Bront, and an Introduction by Diane Johnson.

Textul de pe ultima copertă

Emily Bronte's only novel appeared to mixed reviews in 1847, a year before her death at the age of thirty. In the relationship of Cathy and Heathcliff, and in the wild, bleak Yorkshire Moors of its setting, Wuthering Heights creates a world of its own, conceived with a disregard for convention, an instinct for poetry and for the dark depths of human psychology that make it one of the greatest novels of passion ever written.

Caracteristici

A entertaining and high-energy adaptation of the famous novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, highlighting the lack of mobility in social classes and poor treatment of migrants at the time, whilst drawing modern parallels

Cuprins

PART I: Wuthering Heights: The Complete Text in cultural context
The Complete Text [1847]
Cultural Documents and Illustrations
PART II: Wuthering Heights: A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism
Psychoanalytic Criticism; P.K. Wion
Marxist Criticism; T.Eagleton
Cultural Criticism; N. Armstrong
Feminist Criticism; L.Pykett
Combining Critical Perspectives; S.Meyer

Premii