Commonplace #8

Some things that recently caught my interest

Exploring Life and Literature

**As usual, this post is too long for email. Please open it in your browser to view it. **

Dear Friends,

The end of March always feels like a threshold—winter’s final whispers fading as spring takes a firmer hold. It’s a time of transition, where the air carries both the last bite of cold and the first true warmth of the sun. March can be restless, a month of anticipation and unpredictability, but April arrives with a different energy—one of renewal, risk, and revelation.

April carries poetry in its bones, making it fitting that National Poetry Month begins then. It’s a month of blossoming, rain, and rebirth, and things daring to emerge after dormancy. There’s something both tender and bold about April; it invites us to step forward and embrace new beginnings, yet it also reminds us of impermanence—spring rains wash away the old, and the world reshapes itself.

How do you feel about this seasonal shift? Does it spark any particular memories or emotions for you?

This month, my literary focus was on women in literature. I announced that we would be reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Normally, this means I will write up some sort of review and have a discussion about the book. Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to that this month. However, one of my amazing readers,

Kate Rettinger

, wrote some thoughts on her reading of this classic work. I thought I would share them here with you in lieu of my own essay. Many thanks to Kate.

---

Response to My Latest Reading of Wuthering Heights by

Kate Rettinger

.

This was at least my third reading of Wuthering Heights. My lifetime experience of reading it is like observing a mountain from different locations and thus seeing varying perspectives of it. When I was a teenager I saw a movie version that did not include all of Heathcliff's behavior. At the time I thought that the obsession between Heathcliff and Catherine was romantic. I still remember my mother explaining that Heathcliff was a violent man and that the movie did not demonstrate that.

We had a beautiful, leather-covered copy of Wuthering Heights that belonged to my mother. The title and the edges of the pages were gold and it had lovely illustrations. These things attracted me at the time and I read it as a teenager. I learned something about the pitfalls to be wary of when choosing a relationship with a man, but mostly I thought the obsession was attractive.

I read the book again as an adult and was impressed with Emily Bronte's understanding of human nature and life. She and her sisters certainly had a deep understanding of human relationships and the weaker position that women often have within them. Emily, Charlotte, and Anne all wrote about men who could not be trusted. Mr. Rochester conveniently failed to mention his marriage and Heathcliff manipulated Isabella Linton into marrying him and young Catherine Linton into marrying his son.

Now I am older and wondered where the Bronte sisters learned so much about human beings and life. I read that their father was a pastor who did a lot of counseling of parishioners and probably others. He likely heard about many human frailties including domestic violence. I hope he didn't tell his family about specific parishioner's issues since that would be unethical but I'm sure he advised his daughters about the kinds of things that can go wrong in relationships and what to watch out for.

I am retired now but was a clinical therapist for 34 years during which time a significant amount of my work was with families who were experiencing domestic violence. Reading about Heathcliff reminded me of the many theories about human development and how trauma impacts children. A popular theory now is called Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). This theory has used research to identify several specific traumatic events that can have an adverse impact on an adult if they experienced several of these before the age of 18. We don't know Heathcliff's history but I think it is safe to say that he had experienced some ACES prior to arriving at the Earnshaw home. I can certainly understand why he endeavored never to be poor again. However, I would like to believe that Viktor Frankl was correct when he wrote about individuals having some capacity / opportunity to make a choice regardless of their traumatic experiences. Not every abused child becomes abusive. Heathcliff had all of the power in his household and over the property he accumulated. He used that power to harm everyone around him. He was miserable and made everyone else around him miserable, too.

My final thought about Wuthering Heights is that it is an early feminist novel. I do not have a degree in English and probably don't have the education to say that but it is my impression. Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects in 1792. Emily Bronte lived in the right era. She had to publish Wuthering Heights under a man's name. Catherine Earnshaw Linton had a choice between two men who were very different but marrying either of them would have given them power over her and limited her own choices.

Wuthering Heights remains one of my favorite books. I think that it has many layers to explore.

"I write only because
There is a voice within me
That will not be still."

-Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals

The Cerebrant by Evelyn Mary Dunbar courtesy of the Manchester Art Gallery

About a year ago, my friend

Victoria K. Walker

wrote an article on the artist Evelyn Mary Dunbar. I was particularly moved by the painting The Cerebrant. I have looked at it many times over the past year, often seeing myself as if in a mirror. You can read the original article exploring Dunbar’s work at the link below.

Evelyn Mary Dunbar: A Life in Art

---

Things of interest:

• Jillian Miller
  discusses a timely topic in her essay, Why Read Books?

• Naomi Xu Elegant
  explores the style of Streamline Moderne in her essay, why don’t we have whimsical buildings anymore?

• Erik Hogan
  explores the artist’s motivation in his essay, The Creative Fight.

• Michael S. Rose
  examines the decline of rigor in the classroom as he asks Whatever Happened to History?

• I don’t know where I first ran across

  Eve Matheson
  ’s writing but I do know that I was intrigued by the title of her series, Charcuterie. She curates a veritable smorgasbord of good reading treats.

• Writing a good book review is about more than just telling a reader why you liked it or not.

  Ann Kennedy Smith
  explores the The Art of Reviewing in her essay at Inner Life.

• In honor of Women’s History Month,

  Andrea Bass
  shared a list of 25 Favorite Women Writers and where to start with each one.

• I recently posted a note about curating a personal library or book collection. Since then, I have seen others discussing the same topic. Perhaps my own interest in the idea prompted my awareness of others.

  Matthew Morgan
  wrote an article last year called On Collecting Books which I have added to my own list of resources on the topic.

• Bill Davison
  explores Lessons in Coexistence as he observes nature on a hike. His photography is amazing.

• In a poignant ode to his father,

  Kert Lenseigne 🌱
  explores the relativity of time is his essay, It’s Time’s Nature.

• How to get started reading English Literature is a fantastic primer for anyone interested in testing the waters of exploration in the English literary tradition.

  Henry Oliver
  has done the hard work for you in compiling this guide.

• Peco
  and
  Ruth Gaskovski
  are collaborating with myself and many others to create The Reading Rebellion. Check out the article, read a book. It is that simple.

---

Personal Reading:

• To Know Christ Jesus by F. J. Sheed

• Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante

• Babylon’s Ashes by James S. A. Corey

• An Interpreter in Vienna by

  Kathleen Clare Waller

• The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

• Beyond the Great Snow Mountain by Louis L’Amour

• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

• President without a Party: The Life of John Tyler by Christopher Leahy

• Felicity by Mary Oliver

• Dark Sky by C.J. Box

• Crossfire Trail by Louis L’Amour

Life of the Mind Seminar (The Catherine Project):

• Almagest (Book 1) by Ptolemy

• On the Nature of Things by Lucretius

• Meditations by Descartes

---

Music:

Thanks to

Mike Sowden

for introducing me to this amazing artist. I thought it appropriate to share her music and talent in light of our celebration of women this month and everyday.

I also enjoyed listening to the music of Ben Nichols this month:

My son David recommends:

---

Poetry:

March Thought
by Hilda Conkling

I am waiting for the flowers
To come back:
I am alone,
But I can wait for the birds.

Final Thoughts:

For a while, I have been linking book titles to Bookshop.org in the event you want to purchase from a company other than the behemoth with two-day shipping. I also have a personal shop on that website featuring a few personal selections. You can find my shop at Beyond the Bookshelf Bookshop. Whether you click the links on the book titles or go to my personal shop, you support small independent bookstores throughout the country. These are also affiliate links, so I get a very small amount back, but it is another way to support my work here.

Beyond the Bookshelf is a reader-supported publication. If you are looking for ways to support Beyond the Bookshelf, please visit my support page and see how you can help continue the mission of exploring the connection between life and literature.

Until next time,