I was inspired--inspired by a cartoon entitled "Dude Watchin' with the Brontës." (I can't get over it--dude watchin' with the Brontës. I swear, that girl could be my Canadian soulmate.)
Anyway, if you follow the link, you'll see that the cartoon is about the differences and similarities the Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. Reading their Wikipedia articles (which I did just to make absolutely sure I was getting the joke [being unsure didn't make it any less funny, BTW]) piqued my interest further--what's the deal with those wacky Brontës?
Yes, I decided to read the works of each Brontë gal. "Have you ever read Wuthering Heights?" Neal asked me when I told him about this plan. When I answered in the negative, he replied, "Good luck," but not in the cheerful way. In the foreboding way.
Here's the thing: I don't feel like I suffered, educational-development wise, going to a public/ridiculously small school. I've done all right. But the one area in which I'm really lacking is in how many Serious Books I've read. For some reason, my high school did not go in for Serious Books. Or even "books anyone has heard of." In four years, we read two Shakespeare plays, Of Mice and Men, The Crucible, the first part of Beowulf (not even the part with Grendel's mother!) and then just a slew of pointless short stories and excerpts from non-famous/non-important books. They even stopped assigning the junior class The Jungle by the time I got to be that age. So no, I've never read Wuthering Heights and I've never read Jane Eyre, and I feel like I should. Also, The Tenant of Windfell Hall. Because why not?
So here's the plan: I am going to read one book by each of the Brontë sisters, in descending order by cultural relevance. In my time on this earth, collecting general knowledge, I have learned the most about Wuthering Heights, so Emily's up first. (Things I know about Wuthering Heights: Cathy, Heathcliffe. Babies. Death. The wildness of the moors reflects the wildness of Heathcliffe's character. It is best performed in semaphore.)
(Sorry, my choices were "embedding disabled by request" or "apparently actual Norwegian subtitles pasted on.")
Coming in second, we have Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. (I know there's a nanny, and kids and also a brooding dude. Like The Sound of Music with fewer chilluns? And no Nazis? Definitely no robots.)
And the third book I will read will be Anne's The Tenant of Windfell Hall. (What I know about it: it has a shorter Wikipedia article than her other book.)
So as I journey through these books, all for the first time, I will keep you posted on how it goes. Get excited!
In conclusion, I don't know how to tell Blogger to make that fancy e. I just found one and copy/pasted "Brontë" for this whole post instead of typing it out.
(P.S. Don't forget to scroll down after this post--there's a new monarch moment and a Harry Potter review.)
Friday, July 17, 2009
Brontë Odyssey: The Beginning
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8 comments:
In fairness to 'Wuthering Heights,' I read it in high school. Maybe if I read it now, I would enjoy it . . . seriously, I'm never reading that book again.
I thought my mom did a pretty good job with literature but I too feel like I need to read more of the classics. I was going to make a list of 4-5 of those "I can't believe you've never read..." books for this summer but totally forgot until I read this. Craig comes home in 5 weeks, maybe I could still get through 1 or 2 but I don't think W.H would be on my short list.
I have never heard anything good about it. But I did like Jane Eyre...kinda. I mean, I read it more than once and always by choice, but I can't say I really enjoyed it. That doesn't make any sense now but it might after you read it.
Ummm...I guess I'm a freak, but I've read Wuthering Heights twice. And really enjoyed both times. And owned two copies until the move to Kansas, at which time I sold the less pretty copy. It was a high school reading book, and when I was forced to take an extra humanities credit at Tech, my fiction class included it, so I read the whole thing again. I mean, I've enjoyed other books much more, but in terms of classics, one of my favs. I've never ventured into the other Bronte sistas...maybe I should try it. Loved the comic though!!
Well, Angela, I'm glad to hear a vote for Wuthering Heights. I'm going to be optimistic!
MacKenzie--what are your five "I can't believe you've never read . . ." books?
Could you save time by getting Cliff's Notes (Semaphore version)?
I read Wuthering Heights, possibly for the first time, a year and a half ago.
I can't say I found it incredibly enjoyable...but it was, at least, incredibly interesting.
I DO feel like I "suffered, educational-development wise, going to a public/ridiculously small school." With regular curriculum geared to the average student, and not enough people to justify advanced courses, I was shortchanged. When I got to college, I felt like I was the only person who hadn't taken calculus. As for books/plays, we read Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet, The Good Earth by Pearl Buck, the Grapes of Wrath, and that's about all I can remember. I normally read non-fiction, but when I get done with school in December I think I'll read a few classics.
You have a point about advanced classes. I never felt like everybody else had taken calculus, but I had never heard of AP tests, and I felt like I was the only one who didn't test out of basic history or science classes. However, I think I benefited from taking those basic classes in college (I always had a soft spot for 300-person lecture courses, and I'm not kidding), so I don't regret it now.
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