Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë and the truth about the 'real-life Heathcliff'

When Emily Brontë published Wuthering Heights in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, outraged Victorian critics deemed it savage, indecent and immoral. One described it as “a compound of vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors”.

After Brontë’s death, when the novel began to find success, many were surprised to find that such a tempestuous gothic romance had been written by a quiet parson’s daughter. But did a real-life romance inspire…

© La Conversation - jeudi 13 octobre 2022