Wuthering Heights with Evie Solheim

Nadya Williams and Evie Solheim discuss Wuthering Heights, what makes it a gothic classic, why Emily Brontë's moral ambiguity still provokes, how the novel speaks to a generation starved for romance, and why the new film adaptation trades subtlety for TikTok-style spectacle. Also: Anna Karenina, Virginia Woolf, and Greta Gerwig's Narnia.

—

Get the Mere Orthodoxy ebook, Spiritual Formation for the Family, at http://mereorthodoxy.com/family

Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.

Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, R30 Key Moments in the History of Christianity: Inspiring True Stories from the Early Church Around the World, by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Apply for Beeson Divinity School's Ph.D program by April 1 for Fall 2026 admission here: https://bit.ly/BeesonPhD

—

Chapters

• 00:11 – Opening reading from Wuthering Heights and intro to the Brontë sisters
• 01:54 – Welcome to Season 2 of Christians Reading Classics; introducing Evie Solheim
• 03:25 – What makes a classic? Timelessness, breaking the mold, and the canon
• 06:35 – Plot summary: key characters, places, and the structure of the novel
• 08:43 – The gothic genre: origins, elements, and its American descendants
• 10:22 – Southern Gothic: Flannery O'Connor, Faulkner, and True Detective
• 13:12 – How we first meet Cathy — and the unreliable narrators telling her story
• 16:28 – Advice for first-time readers: Emily Brontë's biography and creative world
• 19:43 – Virginia Woolf's essay on Wuthering Heights and what it means to write like that
• 22:56 – Why Wuthering Heights resonates with Americans today: romance, apps, and longing
• 27:21 – The new film adaptation: competing with TikTok, not other movies
• 31:43 – Comparing Wuthering Heights to Gone with the Wind: land, love, and star-crossed tropes
• 36:28 – Good cinematic adaptations: Greta Gerwig's Little Women vs. Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights
• 41:10 – Is Wuthering Heights amoral? Reading Heathcliff's fate through a biblical lens
• 47:29 – Closing question: the classic Evie wishes she had written — Anna Karenina