Wuthering Heights

Fandom
Name:	Wuthering Heights
Abbreviation(s):	WH
Creator:	Emily Brontë
Date(s):	December 1847
Medium:	book, film, music, television
Country of Origin:	United Kingdom
External Links:	at Wikipedia
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Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë, one of the three Brontë Sisters initially published under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent relationships with Earnshaw's adopted son, Heathcliff. The novel was influenced by Romanticism and Gothic fiction.

Wuthering Heights was accepted by publisher Thomas Newby. Charlotte edited a second edition of Wuthering Heights after Emily's death which was published in 1850. It has inspired an array of adaptations across several media, including a hit song by the singer Kate Bush.

Fandom

Fannish Perspectives

Wuthering Heights is quite popular with fans, being immensely referenced and cited by them, who often identify between the main characters, but beyond the lovers and not-lovers about the work, there were also many discussions about the romance between Catherine and Heathcliff, who were raised as siblings and many fans see this relationship as a pseudo-incest.

Along with Rochester, Heathcliff becomes one of the two of the most influential archetypes for the Byronic Hero.

Wuthering Heights is all about people who are so obsessed with each other that they have no sense of self as individuals. Catherine famously says, “Nelly, I am Heathcliff!” Heathcliff says of Cathy, “I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!” Wuthering Heights is not a book I enjoy, but the fact that I loathe it on a visceral level is not actually a criticism of its fine (if somewhat hyperactive) use of language.

[...]

Lord knows I can't stand the book, but it certainly is packed full with vivid atmosphere, gothic psychological horror, desperate passion and, in Heathcliff, the ultimate Byronic Asshat Hero. It doesn't get broodier than Heathcliff, and emotions don't get any more raw than his do. If your thing is tragic people wandering the moors wailing in heartbroken anguish and concocting terrible vengeances in gloomy halls, while swept away with consuming passion and being mean to each other and every one around them, then it doesn't get better than this.

— CarrieS 

Cathy/Heathcliff as the Proto-Incest Ship

Many later incest ships followed Cathy and Heathcliff's themes and vibes, such as Cersei Lannister/Jaime Lannister and Lucille Sharpe/Thomas Sharpe.

"Nelly, I am Heathcliff! 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. So don’t talk of our separation again: it is impracticable."

Cathy, Wuthering Heights, "Chapter 9"

"You are me, I am you. I need you with me. In me. Please, Jaime. Please."

Cersei, A Feast For Crows, "Jaime 1"

"That's the madness of it—the power of it. Even now. Lucille is me—and I am her. That dark thing—she lives inside me. All our lives we felt it—something stronger than love or hate. She is my fate—she made me and she will destroy me."

Thomas, Crimson Peak script, cut scene

Examples Fanworks

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Fanart

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  Wuthering Heights AU, Rey as Kathy and Kylo Ren as Heathcliff by Nemling (2016)

Archives, Communities & Resources

• Wuthering Heights book only, including adaptations @ AO3
• The Brontës—message board at C19
• sistersbronte—Brontë LJ community
• For more general Brontë-related links, see Brontë Fandom