Is Heathcliff a Murderer? by J A Sutherland

Is Heathcliff a Murderer? by J A Sutherland

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Summary

The author investigates 34 suggested conundrums in 19th-century fiction, such as: does Becky kill Jos at the end of "Vanity Fair"? Rather than intending to catch out the novelists, he typically finds a reason for the seeming anomaly and pays homage to the critical activities of the close reader.

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Is Heathcliff a Murderer? by J A Sutherland

Readers of Victorian fiction must often have tripped up on seeming anomalies, enigmas, and mysteries in their favourite novels. Does Becky kill Jos at the end of Vanity Fair? Why does no one notice that Hetty is pregnant in Adam Bede? How, exactly, does Victor Frankenstein make his monster? Why does Dracula come to England rather than himself an invisible suit? Why does Sherlock Holmes, of all people, get the name of his client wrong? In Is Heathcliff a Murderer? (well, is he?) John Sutherland investigates 34 conundrums of nineteenth-century fiction. Applying these 'real world' questions to fiction is not in any sense intended to catch out the novelists who are invariably cleverer than their most detectively-inclined readers. Typically, one finds a reason for the seeming anomaly. Not blunders, that is, but unexpected felicities and ingenious justifications. In Is Heathcliff a Murderer? John Sutherland, recently described by Tony Tanner as 'a sort of Sherlock Holmes of literature', pays homage to the most rewarding of critical activities, close reading and the pleasures of good-natured pedantry.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780192834683
ISBN 10 0192834681
Title Is Heathcliff a Murderer?
Author J A Sutherland
Series Oxford World's Classics
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Oxford University Press
Year published 1998-05-21
Number of pages 268
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.