About the Author

Emily Bronte was born on 30 July 1818. Her father was curate of Haworth, Yorkshire, and her mother died when she was five years old, leaving five daughters and one son. In 1824 Charlotte, Maria, Elizabeth and Emily were sent to Cowan Bridge, a school for clergymen's daughters, where Maria and Elizabeth both caught tuberculosis and died. The children were taught at home from this point on and together they created vivid fantasy worlds which they explored by writing stories. Emily worked briefly as a teacher in 1938 but soon returned home. In 1846, Emily's poems were published alongside those of her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, in Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. The following year Wuthering Heights was published. Emily Bronte died of consumption on 19 December 1848.




Emily Bronte lived from 1818 to 1848. Although she wrote only Wuthering Heights and about a dozen poms she is accepted as one of the most gifted writers ever. Perhaps the intensity of her writing grew out of the extraordinary pressures of her home life.

Emily's mother died when she was three and she lived with her four sisters and one brother in a bleak, isolated Yorkshire village - Haworth. Her father doted on his only son, Branwell, and expected little from his daughters - they surprised him while Branwell wasted his life and died an alchoholic and drug addict. The girls suffered dreadfully at a cheap boarding school, the oldest two dying of malnutrition. Emily, Charlotte and Anne were brought home just in time but Emily never lost her terrible fear of institutions and of being closed in. The sisters later became governesses to help support Branwell, seen by their father as a future great artist. They also began to publish their writing, under male pen-names as there was much prejudice against women writers. Their first book, a collection of poetry, failed but Emily's novel Wuthering Heights, was highly acclaimed and is still widely read today.

Emily seldom left her home village yet produced one of the most powerful novels of the inner self ever written. She caught a cold at her brother's funeral in 1848 and died a few months later.

Reviews

Gr 8 Up-British actor Martin Shaw reads this shortened version of the classic Emily Bronte novel. His easily-understood accent is appropriate and helps to set the mood. Shaw reads at a very steady pace, pausing effectively for emphasis or when his character might be thinking. Usually calm and gentle, his voice can resonate with anger or other emotion when necessary. There is some differentiation in pitch to emphasize male vs. female speech, but it is not exaggerated or overdone. The abridgement retains Bronte's words linking speech or narration sometimes from one page to another. It provides students with an easier way to become familiar with the story and get a feel for her style. Teachers could use this presentation to introduce the novel or to entice students to read it on their own.-Claudia Moore, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

This splendid remake of Emily Bronte's novel shows it's possible to create a new version of a beloved classic that, while different from its predecessor, is equally compelling. Film buffs might think no one can come close to Laurence Olivier's masterful portrayal of Heathcliff, Bronte's brooding antihero. But they and audiences new to the story on film will be thrilled by Tom Hardy's brilliant interpretation as well as equally fine performances from the other talented cast members. The tale of the mysterious gypsy boy adopted by the Earnshaws, his abuse by his adoptive brother, Hindley (Burn Gorman), his profound love for his adoptive sister, Cathy (Charlotte Riley), and the revenge he wreaks on his tormentors unfolds amid beautifully filmed landscapes of the English moors. Even familiarity with the story won't detract from the film's dramatic impact. This entertaining and very reasonably priced program is highly recommended for all fans of literature and classic film.-Sheila S. Intner, Prof. Emerita, Simmons GSLIS at Mount Holyoke Coll., South Hadley, MA Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.