Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

Is Heathcliff a Murderer?: Great Puzzles in Nineteenth-Century Fiction

John Sutherland

3.7/5 ( ratings)

In this quirky and intriguing book, John Sutherland has conveniently gathered together thirty-four nagging little questions, puzzles, errors, and enigmas from some of the best-loved examples of Victorian fiction. Readers often have stumbled upon seeming mysteries in their favorite novels. Why, for example, is the plot of The Woman in White irrevocably flawed? Is the hero of George Eliot's Middlemarch illegitimate? Why does the otherwise sensible Jane Eyre give in to a sudden and unexplained outburst of superstition? What is the real reason we find The Picture of Dorian Gray so disturbing? These answers and more can all be found in John Sutherland's entertaining and maddening book.
When it comes to literary criticism there's really nothing quite like the joys of close reading and good-natured inquiry. This is the spirit in which Is Heathcliff A Murderer was conceived and executed. Rather than trying to catch great authors in mistakes, Sutherland usually turns up perfectly plausible reasons for the seeming anomalies.
Everyone who reads nineteenth-century novels will thoroughly enjoy John Sutherland's exploration of the seemingly unanswered, and each chapter is a direct link to one of Oxford's World's Classics.

Language: English

Pages: 258

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Release: May 10, 1996

ISBN: 0192834681

ISBN 13: 9780192834683

Is Heathcliff a Murderer?: Great Puzzles in Nineteenth-Century Fiction

John Sutherland

3.7/5 ( ratings)

In this quirky and intriguing book, John Sutherland has conveniently gathered together thirty-four nagging little questions, puzzles, errors, and enigmas from some of the best-loved examples of Victorian fiction. Readers often have stumbled upon seeming mysteries in their favorite novels. Why, for example, is the plot of The Woman in White irrevocably flawed? Is the hero of George Eliot's Middlemarch illegitimate? Why does the otherwise sensible Jane Eyre give in to a sudden and unexplained outburst of superstition? What is the real reason we find The Picture of Dorian Gray so disturbing? These answers and more can all be found in John Sutherland's entertaining and maddening book.
When it comes to literary criticism there's really nothing quite like the joys of close reading and good-natured inquiry. This is the spirit in which Is Heathcliff A Murderer was conceived and executed. Rather than trying to catch great authors in mistakes, Sutherland usually turns up perfectly plausible reasons for the seeming anomalies.
Everyone who reads nineteenth-century novels will thoroughly enjoy John Sutherland's exploration of the seemingly unanswered, and each chapter is a direct link to one of Oxford's World's Classics.

Language: English

Pages: 258

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Release: May 10, 1996

ISBN: 0192834681

ISBN 13: 9780192834683

More books from John Sutherland

Phineas Finn

3.9/5 ( ratings)

He Knew He Was Right

3.8/5 ( ratings)

The Eustace Diamonds

3.9/5 ( ratings)

Eminent Victorians

3.7/5 ( ratings)

The History of Mr. Polly

3.6/5 ( ratings)

Literary Wonderlands: A Journey Through the Greatest Fictional Worlds Ever Created

3.6/5 ( ratings)

How to Read a Novel

Curiosities of Literature

3.2/5 ( ratings)

50 Literature Ideas You Really Need to Know

3.5/5 ( ratings)

Can Jane Eyre Be Happy?: More Puzzles in Classic Fiction

3.5/5 ( ratings)

Who Betrays Elizabeth Bennet?: Further Puzzles in Classic Fiction

3.6/5 ( ratings)

The Brontesaurus: An A-Z of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë (and Branwell)

3.7/5 ( ratings)

A Little History of Literature

3.9/5 ( ratings)

Lives of the Novelists: A History of Fiction in 294 Lives

3.9/5 ( ratings)

Love, Sex, Death, and Words: Surprising Tales from a Year in Literature

3.4/5 ( ratings)

How to Be Well Read

3.4/5 ( ratings)

Monica Jones, Philip Larkin and Me: Her Life and Long Loves

Curiosities of Literature: A Feast for Book Lovers

3.5/5 ( ratings)

How to be Well Read: A guide to 500 great Novels and a handful of literary curiosities

Incomplete Shakespeare: Hamlet

3.7/5 ( ratings)

Rate this book!

Write a review?