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Crazy Catherine

Wuthering Heights next to some
teen vamp books. Think about
it. Heathcliff and Catherine
are kind of vampirical
in their craze for each other, no?
I CAME across this while wandering around in a book store yesterday. Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights in the Teen Read section ? I don't know of any teenagers who read  this classic anymore, what with fine literature like *Twilight and all occupying the prime display areas in the store these days. Who reads D.H Lawrence anymore, right ?  :) I must have read Wuthering Heights for at least 10 - 15 times, with the favourite passages read much more, when I was a teenager. I have two of the same book because the first one had started falling apart after some time. I knew the pages with my favourite Catherine and Heathcliff speeches by heart and often found myself dwelling on them the more I read it. Oh well. It was one of my literature books in school but I liked it better than the rest for its dark story and characters who are just as crazy and complex. 

Here's a passage from Wuthering Heights that I like. Melodramatic  but I still like it :) Crazy Catherine.

'This is nothing,' cried she: 'I was only going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy. That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other. I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.'

My literature teacher was a fun lady. I mean, you fear her a little because she could make you feel really stupid if she had wanted to but she was pretty, smart amd well-dressed, and I liked teachers who gave random words of wisdom.  

"Flirting is always good for your soul. Remember that, girls." That's my favaourite qoute by her. 

* I did read all four Twilight books, once :) Bella would probably be the most annoying, passive-aggressive character in the universe if she's for real.

Comments

  1. Gia15 May, 2012

    Oh I agree - no one would be able to stand bella's self-sacrificing/self-pitying attitude.

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    Replies
    1. JJ16 May, 2012

      yeap. she annoys the hell out of me. if i were Jacob, i'll kill her instead of doting on her.

      Delete
  2. Terra Shield15 May, 2012

    Oh, that is so sad... Wuthering Heights belongs in the classics section, definitely, not teen read.

    By the way, there's a song called Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush, and it's about Cathy and Heathcliff. You might like it.

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    Replies
    1. JJ16 May, 2012

      yeah...it was a bit sesat there la. hahaha. teenagers from a different time read it but these days, they dont i guess.

      i'm listening to it now :)
      nice :)

      Delete
  3. Beth15 May, 2012

    Ah, the classics! Other than being forced to read them in high school (and hopefully loving & appreciating them) I wonder if young people these days actually search them out for reading pleasure? If not, what a loss. So much of literature is built upon and references great literature that came before.

    “He's always, always in my mind - not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself - but as my own being.” Emily Brontë

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    1. JJ16 May, 2012

      i dont think so, Beth :) there are so many other easy reads these days that hold their attention unless of course when they are forced to read them in school. for me, i chose to read it in school. i opted for english literature to math :)

      i love that qoute. so much Cathy in there.
      :)

      Delete
  4. momto815 May, 2012

    my kids all read the classics!! I LOVE to read them and talk on and on and on about them, they get so interested they have no choice!

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    Replies
    1. JJ16 May, 2012

      i read them but not many others that i know who read them too. a very small group among my friends who read them actually.
      :) i hope your kids enjoy the classics as much as you do !

      Delete
  5. Adam15 May, 2012

    Never heard of the book before today

    ReplyDelete
  6. sundersartwork15 May, 2012

    You like to read Jaya?, that gets you millions of Jonathan points.I read all these when i was a kid then when i was a teenager i moved on to Dostoyevsky and imagined i was like Raskolnikoff and started hanging around in doorways looking angsty and writing corny poetry.In fact i was so corny a farmer tried to plant me. I have never read Twilight, but it is basically the authors fantasies?. He is the perfect guy, and he sparkles, he is a Ken doll for her Barbie. Did you ever listen to the Kate Bush song 'Wuthering Heights?'. She has always been popular, there was a bad joke about her but im not sure if i should tell it.OK..'two in the hand is worth one in Kate Bush', ...well i was a corny teenager.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JJ16 May, 2012

      of course i do, Jon ! at this point, i can't say i read a lot but i am constantly reading something.
      hahaha. i wrote corny poems too. i still have some of them and i cringe when read them now. yikes.
      yeah. Twilight is modern vamps. it's teen vamp saga, and i read it anyhow. my fav vamp series is Sookie Stackhouse. I have the entire collection! i also almost all of the author, Charlaine Harris' books too.
      yeah, i was listening to that song. her voice is a little dramatic :)
      corny teeanger. that you were, Jon!

      Delete
  7. Pat Hatt15 May, 2012

    Never read that one and thankfully never even picked up a Twilight book, blah in every way to those. Teachers who give random advice are great.

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    1. JJ16 May, 2012

      i suggest Sookie Stackhouse for you, Pat :)
      yeah, she was a cool teacher.

      Delete
  8. Gorilla Bananas15 May, 2012

    Wuthering Heights is definitely a classic of the heaving-bosom-in-bodice variety. Did you enjoy any film or TV versions of it?

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    Replies
    1. JJ16 May, 2012

      yes, GB ! i did. also saw a local production of it.

      Delete
  9. Az16 May, 2012

    I loved reading Wuthering Heights but I only read it in my first year at University. The South African school curriculum was packed with everything Shakespearean during those years so I only got to the Brontë sisters in University. I was an avid reader from the ages of 10 until 21 - 22 reading an average of four books a week. And then I just went downhill from there ;P

    Didn't read the Twilight Saga although both my sisters did. I kinda knew the protagonist would irritate the shit out of me :)

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    Replies
    1. JJ16 May, 2012

      i think you would have staked the Twilight protagonist alright ! i would too haha.

      here, Shakespeare is a must too. i did have my share of it but literature is optional and many dont bother with it. when i did it, there were only 3 of us in the entire school who's opted for it and we didnt have a teacher in the school. we went to a private teacher for our lessons. even then, there weren't many teaching it at that point.

      yeah. i read quite a bit too. but now, it much less of course ;p
      just got a Phillipa Gregory book today. going to start on that. i love her books.

      Delete
  10. Outcast16 May, 2012

    I adore this post so much Jaya because one of my favourite books of all time is Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is one of the greatest characters in literary history in my opinion, he really is. I seriously love the Kate Bush song about the book too.

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    1. JJ16 May, 2012

      i told you, you are a special teenager, Matthew :p
      i'd never go out with Heathcliff, he is a bit too intense for me, but yeah, what a character!

      Delete
  11. Missed Periods16 May, 2012

    What a great passage. I haven't read Wuthering Heights since college. I might just give it another go.

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  12. Michael16 May, 2012

    I never did get to read Wuthering Heights but I have heard a lot about it, thanks for sharing some insight on it. sounds great!

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    1. JJ17 May, 2012

      Your welcome ! Hope you're convinced to read it , Matt.

      Delete
  13. R-A-J16 May, 2012

    Sadly the greatest piece of literature that had a lasting impression on my confused youth were the 'Mad' magazines ...:(

    I've never seen Twlight or read 'em.. though a lotta my guy friends hv totally abandoned it :)

    I like ur teacher's quote, Jaya :)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. JJ17 May, 2012

      I actually have the collection from the 50s to the 80s or 90s - mad mag I mean :)
      Never got into it though

      Delete
  14. Secret Agent Woman17 May, 2012

    I read a lot of classics as a teen but I can't say Wuthering Heights was a favorite. Never read or saw anything Twilight-related.

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    1. JJ18 May, 2012

      perhaps its not for all :) you'e not missing out on anything without Twilight i guess.

      Delete
  15. DWei17 May, 2012

    My girlfriend had the fun of reading this in High School, I on the other hand didn't have that fun. :P

    ReplyDelete
  16. nursemyra18 May, 2012

    I read classics all through my childhood and teens. I still read them now. Edith Wharton and Henry James are my favourites. though i'll always have a soft spot for Cathy and Heathcliff. Nursie xx

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    1. JJ18 May, 2012

      good favourites, Nursie :)
      cathy and heathcliff - they're like none other.

      Delete
  17. MunirGhiasuddin18 May, 2012

    I remember that as a teenager I really did not care for that book. It is a different story now, that I cannot remember one part of the a book by the time I get to an other. Life is ironic.

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    1. JJ18 May, 2012

      life is ironic indeed. there are things that i thought to myself that i'd never do ever, but i ended up doing them later in life, whole-heartedly :)

      Delete
  18. wizardOZZ19 May, 2012

    lucky me didn't read this ;) just kidding, just not my thing

    ReplyDelete

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