Emily Bronte's novel "Wuthering Heights," set in the moors of Yorkshire, northern England, in the late 18th century, has long been staple reading in Japan.
The story of Catherine Earnshaw and her lover, the adoptee Heathcliff, has spawned over 20 Japanese interpretations since the novel was first translated into Japanese by Yasuo Yamamoto in 1932. Renditions include manga series (including a yuri lesbian-themed manga by Takako Shimura), stage productions, a children's book version and a contemporary rewriting of the story called "A True Novel" ("Honkaku Shosetsu" by Minae Mizumura) in which "Wuthering Heights" is set in postwar Japan. With the translation of this reworking from the original Japanese into English (by Juliet Winters Carpenter), the story comes full circle.
So, what is it that endears Emily Bronte's only novel to the Japanese people?
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