Note: This dark romance has fantastic elements that could be supernatural or psychological, centered around the enigmatic character known only as Heathcliff. (Fantasy: The 100 Best Books, by James Cawthorne and Michael Moorcock, may be the source for this observation, from a brief publication record of the 1st ed., deleted February 2020. Cawthorn and Moorcock may also report the precise publication date 1847-12-01.) The technique of nested narrative (a story within a story within a story), which distances reality and puts the reader into a mazelike narrative, reinforces the book's Gothicism. Tzvetan Todorov, in his book translated into English as "The Fantastic" (1973), defines the fantastic as the moment the reader must choose whether a story is reality or fantasy. Brontë's novel fits this definition. The novel was written between October 1845 and June 1846, and published in 1847 under the author's pseudonym "Ellis Bell". The first US edition was published in 1848 as "by the author of Jane Eyre" --in error. See the 1848 Variant Title for more information.