Number One Classic ~ BrontëBlog

Friday, August 28, 2009

Number One Classic

Friday, August 28, 2009 4:32 pm by M. in In the News, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights No comments

Wuthering Heights is number one on the Waterstone's classics chart. Apparently, the Twilight-oriented edition of the novel has something to do with it. From The Telegraph:

Teenage readers of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight fantasy books have been flocking to buy Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, because it is the central character's favourite book.
In Eclipse, the third book in Meyer's series, Bella Swan, the chaste love of vampire Edward Cullen, makes repeated references to Brontë’s masterpiece.
She compares the vampire to turbulent Heathcliff as she quotes Brontë’s heroine Cathy.
"If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger," she tells Edward.
Sarah Clarke, children's books buyer for Waterstone's, said: "By highlighting Wuthering Heights in her novels, Stephenie Meyer has introduced Emily Brontë to the Twilight generation."
HarperCollins, the publisher, has even printed a new "gothic" jacket for Wuthering Heights - similar to the look of Meyer's books - to attract her fans.
It has sold more than 10,000 copies in Waterstone's booksellers stores since May, more than twice as many as the traditional Penguin Classics edition.
A spokesman for the chain said it was the first time Wuthering Heights had topped its classic books chart since it started compiling such figures in 1998. It has been number one in the classics chart for four months.
Simon Robertson, the company's classics buyer, said: "I don’t think a vampire’s recommendation has ever sent a book to number one before."
The surge underlines how important Meyer now is in the British book market. Her four Twilight books were the four best selling books of the first six months of 2009, selling more than 1.8 million copies in total. (Stephen Adams)

The Guardian insists on the matter:

Teenage fans of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series have sent Wuthering Heights – the favourite novel of the books' hero and heroine – soaring to the top of the classics bestseller charts.
A new edition of the novel, repackaged in a similar style to Meyer's Twilight books – black cover, white flower, tagline "love never dies" – was released in May this year, and has already sold more than 10,000 copies in the UK, nearly twice as many as the traditional Penguin Classic edition, making it Waterstone's bestselling classic.
"Love the Twilight books? Then you'll adore Wuthering Heights, one of the greatest love stories ever told," gushes the book chain's synopsis of Emily Brontë's novel. "Cathy and Heathcliff, childhood friends, are cruelly separated by class, fate and the actions of others. But uniting them is something even stronger: an all-consuming passion that sweeps away everything that comes between them. Even death!"
Meyer's human heroine Bella and her vampire hero Edward cite the 1847 novel as their favourite book; Bella even quotes Cathy speaking about Heathcliff, saying of Edward that "if all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger".
Just as Cathy is torn between Edgar and Heathcliff, so is Bella the centre of a love triangle between Edward and Jacob the werewolf.
"Wuthering Heights is of course a steady seller, but it's usually Pride and Prejudice, or whichever classic has recently been adapted for film or TV that is at the top. I don't think a vampire's recommendation has ever sent a book to number one before," said Waterstone's classics buyer Simon Robertson.
The novel might be flying off the shelves, but readers posting reviews on Waterstone's website weren't entirely impressed by Brontë's writing. Giving it just one star, Hayley Mears wrote that "I was really disappointed when reading this book, it's made to believe to be one of the greatest love stories ever told and I found only five pages out of the whole book about there love and the rest filled with bitterness and pain and other peoples stories". Another reviewer wondered if the book was "in old english or mordern understandable english?" "if so i want it but it sounds like it's just the original version with a different cover," she wrote. (Alison Flood)

Other news outlets mirror these news: Christian Science Monitor or ANI News.

Emily Brontë joins the Drury Lane Theatre's ghosts according to Nottingham Evening Post:

"By that time, most of the audience had left. Suddenly, my mother said, 'Look!' There was a woman dressed like Emily Bronte with ringlets and an austere gown standing on her own on the edge of the circle. I remember thinking it was odd she was wearing period clothes. Then, she looked back at us and walked through a door. (Giles Taylor, actor)