Monday, January 30, 2012

Ten of the worst nightmares in literature

At the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best nightmares in literature.

One novel on the list:
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Poor Lockwood gets snowed in on a visit to Wuthering Heights and has to stay the night. He dreams that he puts his hand through the bedroom window and has it seized by "the fingers of a little, ice-cold hand". There is a sobbing voice and suddenly a terrifying child's face. It is Cathy, and the rest of the novel is an explanation of this dream.
Read about another bad dream on the list.

Wuthering Heights appears on Mullan's list of ten of the best foundlings in literature, Valerie Martin's list of novels about doomed marriages, Susan Cheever's list of the five best books about obsession, and Melissa Katsoulis' top 25 list of book to film adaptations. It is one of John Inverdale's six best books and Sheila Hancock's six best books.

The Page 99 Test: Wuthering Heights.

--Marshal Zeringue