Hybridity in Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte

2526 Words6 Pages

Wuthering Heights is a Victorian novel written by Emily Bronte in the 19th century under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. The formal unity of Wuthering Heights has long been admired by critics. As its form is highly organized coherence, combined with its tight chronological organization and the opposing locations and voices within it help to structure the narrative, as do the genealogical ties that are of such thematic importance to the story. Its form is described as a “hybrid”. This term originally comes from biology, and (in literature) "hybrid" is a term usually applied to writing that shows the characteristics of two or more literary traditions or forms. Wuthering Heights demonstrates several genres qualities, such as romantic, gothic, tragic, realistic and domestic. And it is classified as a "hybrid" because of this. M. Bakhtin, in his article “Towards a methodology for the study of the novel”, includes his own definition of hybridity and how it applies to the novel. This research will discuss his point of view and the ways that our novel covers the different genres in terms of plot, themes and characterization as well as my point of view regarding this complex genres’ use.

To begin with, M. Bakhtin tried to discuss the concept of the novel in his article “Towards a methodology for the study of the novel”. In his first two paragraphs, he made a distinction between the novels and the other canon’s writings like epic and tragedy which follow exact structures and conventions which are pre-existing forms unlike the novel which is new in history and does not have a generic skeleton. In his opinion, the novel is not considered to be included in the canon because it is modern and has no conventions to follow. Bakhtin viewed the novel...

... middle of paper ...

...
1. Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. Gerald F. Else. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1967. Dorsch, T. R., trans. and ed. Aristotle Horace Longinus: Classical Literary Criticism. New York: Penguin, 1965. Ley, Graham. The Ancient Greek Theater. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1991. Reinhold, Meyer. Classical Drama, Greek and Roman. New York: Barrons, 1959.

2. Bakhtin, M.M. (1981) “Towards a Methodology for the Study of the Novel” in The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays, trans. C. Emerson and Holquist, ed. M. Holquist, University of Texas Press, pp. 3-11.

3. Bronte, E (2009 (1847) Wuthering Heights (ed I. Jack; introduction and additional notes H. Small), Oxford World’s Classics, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

4. Watson, Nicola and TowheedShafquat (ed.) (2012) Romantic and Victorians: “Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights: at Home and Abroad” London, Bloomsbury, pp. 351-410.

Open Document