Gratification

I got my hands on Wuthering Heights from a friend recently. This classic was such a failure when it was first published that the author Emily Bronte went to her grave believing her only novel to be a failure. It seems like such a terrible punishment to an author, especially when the work is regarded as a masterpiece after his/her death. It brings to mind one of Oscar Wilde’s famous quotes:

There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about

Yesterday, I finally finished A Tale of Two Cities. Even though there were quite a few coincidences in the book, I think it is one of the best I’ve read, and are essential to the tale. Truly, this book has the most famous starting and ending lines in literature. Just before the end Sydney Carton, the most unappreciated character in the book, is said to be at peace and to have enough a sense of being gratified to think:

It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known

But in the real world, the public can be so ruthless, letting a great author like Emily Bronte die unappreciated during her lifetime.