The very first paragraph of this essay drew me in. The enigmatic nature of Emily Bronte and the description of her as "stronger than a man, simpler than a child, her nature stood alone" is what has always fascinated me about her; and the observation that Wuthering Heights is a story so detached from the rest of the world, politically and historically, is an interesting one to consider. Would the book have the same impact had it been more interconnected with some type of culture other than its own, other than the small world of Wuthering Heights? I think that the self-contained nature of the novel adds that mysterious dark air that makes the novel what it is. It has such a secluded, otherworldly air, and I think this also contributes to the strange characteristics of Heathcliff, Catherine, and all the other characters in the novel. The culture within the novel, the culture of the Grange and the Heights and the relationship between the two, is rich in and of itself, and possibly even more so because of the lack of an outside influence.
Something else I found interesting about Armstrong's text was her discussion on the incorporation of photography into society and how it "brought the more remote regions to the metropolis in much the same way that Wuthering Heights did" (438). She talks about how the photographer is detached from the photograph as much as Emily remained detached from her writing, but I think I disagree with this-- from all the descriptions I've read about Emily and her personality, I think that there's a lot of her characteristics in this novel-- distant, melancholy, troubled. She didn't necessarily recount a story of her life or deliberately placed herself within the pages, but I believe that she's as much a part of the novel as a photographer is a part of the photograph. You can't see the photographer in the picture, but there's a trace of him and his artistic eye in the picture-- it's how you can look at an Ansel Adams photograph and know immediately who took it without being told. The artist always incorporates his or her own style or approach into the art being produced.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I like that you pointed out the description on Bronte. It really brings to light how much of a sort of social outcast she was and how that probably affected how she wrote and even the amount she wrote. Wuthering Heights in another world would certainly have been an interesting venture and one that I'd be very willing to see or read. Because the story is not solely dependent on the environment, I think it would work very well in other settings and adaptations.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely when it comes to the incorporation of the artist’s beliefs (in this case Emily Bronte and the photographer) in their work. I don't think it's possible for the artist not to include connotations that are embedded in what they write, create, capture, or even steal.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, a photographer makes his lively hood not by the photos that he takes, but how the pictures he takes differ from all other photographer's photos. The photographer's ability to capture the right height, the right light, and the right subject is what differentiates a drab photo from a high quality, long lasting, beloved photograph. Their chosen height, their lens, and even where they choose to point the camera tags the photo with information about who the photographer is and what they were thinking at that moment.
Just like a picture, it is impossible to create a work of art without incorporating some of your prejudices, beliefs, and figments of reality that the author has grown up around. If the author has not experienced what they are writing, whether through life experience, books, or some other direct form, then a writer has no ability to write any form of reality about a subject. (Unless, of course, it is science fiction or the like.)
As such we, as human beings, are only able to write about things that we have experienced, read about, or are tricked into believing by someone or something.
For example, the notion of something going on "forever" is hard to comprehend in most respects, but to look out at an ocean and see nothing in the distance except blue waves rolling towards you, makes it plausible to imagine the idea that the water goes on "forever."
The falsely acquired idea of "forever”-if you don’t know there is a continent out there- is now embedded in the author and they are able to express what "forever" is because a life experience has created for them the idea of an immeasurable distance or time.