Terry Eagleton’s collection of essays
Heathcliff and the Great Hunger(1995) ‘settles’ a long enduring mystery concerning the lineage of one of literature’s most fabled characters: Heathcliff from Emily Brontë’s
Wuthering Heights(1847). The brooding and conflicted hero at the heart of the novel’s morose multi-generational love story – that “vengeful sadist”, to steal Helen Small’s condemning phrase – has undisclosed origins (vii). Early in Brontë’s novel, Mr. Earnshaw, the master of Wuthering Heights, travels to Liverpool for a three-day journey. He returns with a young Heathcliff who was “starving, and houseless, and as good as dumb, in the streets of Liverpool” (Brontë 31). Birthed from the depths of Earnshaw’s “great-coat”, Heathcliff is introduced…
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Citation: Saroukhani, Henghameh. "The Lost Child". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 May 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38879, accessed 26 November 2024.]
