Social Issues in Literature

Wuthering Heights is unique among novels of its time for its poetic presentation, its lack of authorial comment, and its unusual narrative structure, exerting the energies of hate and love from the confined world of the story. The book deeply challenged embedded Victorian conventions regarding gender equality, religion, and class. This compelling volume discusses the author Emily Bronte''s background, the details of which are still not well understood; class conflict in the context of rural and industrial Britain; and contemporary perspectives on class conflict.