JUNE'S CLASSIC RECOMMENDATION
A Note on 'Classics'
 |
| A classic. Look exciting? You bet. |
Books defined as 'classics' often receive bad press with the
public at large, seen simply as the preserve of academics and high school
English lessons. Labelling anything as being 'classic' can almost make it
appear the preserve of the elite and cultured only, which can be daunting and
even actively off putting to those who don't consider themselves well versed in
that particular area, be it books, plays, films, music or even art.*
When
people casually refer to 'a classic'; say Citizen Kane, or Frankenstein,
they do so with the unspoken assumption that you have experienced said classic,
leaving you agreeing profusely with their opinions in a blind panic, in case
they find out you have committed the atrocious crime of not having seen
'Welles' pièce de résistance'. Alternatively, if you are brave enough to
admit that you haven't read Victor Hugo's magnum opus, the questioner usually
looks at you with a mixture of disbelief and pity, and mentally takes a nought
off your estimated IQ. Due to this sort of intellectual arrogance and the
humiliation it creates, so called 'classics' often fill the average person with
a sense of dread, with memories of being force-fed Of Mice and Men before regurgitating essays
on the American Dream being the final nail in the coffin of
interest. Those who do peruse classics usually do so for academic purposes,
or with something like duty when they reach number 63 on their bucket
list. Of course, for every Educating Rita determined to better
themselves, there are normal people, outside of education, who do genuinely
read and watch these classics for pleasure.
I have studied English Literature, and have both
enjoyed and endured classics. The important thing is, they are no different
from any other book or film. The label of 'classic' simply denotes that it has
been influential, and rather popular. It doesn't mean that it is restricted in
some way only to those worthy of reading it; contrary to popular belief, there
is no air of exclusivity surrounding classics. If anything it is more of a
public property than other books or films, and no one should feel afraid or
barred from experiencing it. It doesn't mean you'll like it of course, any more
than a positive book review means you'll like that book; popular consensus may
deem it to be 'the best' in some way, but you won't know until you try
it.
Wuthering Heights
Apologies for the overlong prelude, but I didn't want people to just see 'classic' or 'Wuthering Heights' and immediately turn off. I'll admit to a dislike of certain established 'classics' (am I alone in feeling total apathy when faced with Austen?), but I think that Wuthering Heights is so fresh and visceral, so ahead of its time, that it would be a disservice to confine it simply to the classics shelf which passes so many people by. It is an ideal advocate to turn around people's preconceptions about dusty, indigestible tomes; Wuthering Heights
is everything people believe a classic is not; exciting, thrilling, wild, emotional, heartfelt...
Forget your preconceptions of a dry, old classic
studied in school or a wailing woman in a red dress waving her hands about on a
moor; Emily Brontë's only novel is a chronicle of two families hopelessly
entwined by love and hate, and one of the most powerful love stories ever told.
I challenge anyone with blood in their veins to not be moved by the raw
emotions and brutal landscape of Emily's masterpiece. Although Jane
Eyre, the 'classic' penned by Emily's sister Charlotte, also deals with
doomed love, in comparison it leaves me cold. (Proof, if needed, of the truth
in the claim that not all 'classics' should be lumped together in the mind. If
two classic novels, by two sisters, can be so different, why
on earth would you read Ulysses and then presume to judge Pride
and Prejudice on its merit?!) The happy resolution of Jane
Eyre feels less satisfying than the rather more ambiguous parting
lines of Wuthering Heights. There is no 'Reader, I married him'
here to cushion us; we are trapped with Ellen Dean to follow the course of the
Heathcliff's jealous obsession to its conclusion, generations on.
The most
compelling (but not sole) female protagonist in Wuthering Heights is
continually present, yet as an unearthly, almost idolised figure which haunts
the living; Cathy is the spark that cause all. Inspiring passionate love
and hatred in equal measure; this is what makes her such a compelling presence,
even beyond death, that poor, plain good Jane Eyre
could never hope to compete. Nor, indeed, would she aspire to. The highly
questionable morals and behaviours of the protagonists, and the edge of
wickedness they possess is what creates such strong emotions in those who
encounter them; including, of course, the readers. Cathy and Heathcliff, in
their unnatural passions and inhuman acts, feel far more human and sympathetic
than any of the more mild characters who have been committed to paper. The fact
that we still feel a pity for their doomed love, despite their complete
selfishness and the destruction they choose to wreak on innocent lives, is a
testament not only to Emily Brontë's skill, but also her comprehension of human
nature. For death to be presented as a triumphant release, something romantic even,
is a feat achieved by very few writers; we could call it the 'Romeo and Juliet
effect'**.
Read this if you enjoyed:
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Or indeed any book by du Maurier; the brooding, gothic atmosphere that du Maurier perfected pervades Wuthering Heights, and the themes of jealousy and possessive, doomed love are central to both. Passionate, classic novels by talented female authors that will stay with you long after the final page.
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
A short novella exploring sin, corruption and the slide into moral decline. Dorian Gray and Heathcliff are very different types of men, but both tragic figures who condemn themselves to living hell.
- Anything which is marketed as the two protagonists (insert names here) being subject to a 'fatal attraction'
If you want a tragic, angsty love story between two doomed lovers, Wuthering Heights is the thing to go for. No competition. Sorry, poor deluded Stephanie Meyer.
* I refer here to art in terms of paintings, sculptures and installations, rather than 'the arts' in the broader capacity before anyone picks hairs.
** But that'd just be pretentious.
