Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Wilkie Collins

12:07 / 20.10.05

I'm currently obssessed with Wilkie Collins. It all started when Loomis bought a couple of his books - The Moonstone and Armadale.

I didn't fancy either of them much, to be honest - generally I dislike mysteries, and I was a little bit worried they'd be 'scary' - I'm not good with scary books or films! But I had nothing else to read, so i picked up Armadale - and was hooked within two pages.

It's over-the-top stuff, with a 'mystery' appearing from the very first page of each book, but the whole high drama catches you up. I'm also a bit of a soft-sell for anything with lovely dresses, candlelight and handsome gentlemen callers.

Well, so then I read The Moonstone, with its clever way of having the characters tell the tale - the characterisation in it is sheer genius. Followed by The Woman in White, which has been my favourite so far, and I've just started The Lady and The Law.

I'm now fascinated with Collins himself, and want to find more about him. It's not the greatest writing ever - or rather, it's brilliant at what it is, which is a rollicking good mystery tale with delightful manners and shocking baddies. I broke up my Collins-fest with a couple of Henry James books, and that was an abrupt change of pace and tone. But when I picked up Collins again I settled into the couch with a happy sigh.

Does anyone else read him, like him, have any recommendations for biographies?

Oh, and can someone tell me what makes a novel 'gothic'?

The Return Of Rothkoid

13:22 / 20.10.05

There's a Gothic Novels thread here that might help you out a bit. IIRC, Cavatina (who may or may not still post here) was academically involved in that area.

The Castle Of Otranto by Walpole is considered, I believe, to be the prototypical gothic novel.

Actually, Wikipedia's comments on it are quite good.

13:35 / 20.10.05

Ooh, cheers Rothkoid. Now, I didn't read that thread precisely because I thought 'gothic' novels weren't for me. I'm highly averse to anything spooky/ ghostly.

Yet Collins is nothing like that. It might sometimes seem like there's something odd going on but there's always a rational explanation. And bad people are bad for a reason, usually money.

Actually, I wonder if they would actually count as gothic at all, or if it's just a promotional thing. The back cover of The Moonstone gives a run down of the story that annoyed me, because I thought it gave the plot away, but once I'd finished I realised that it was actually incorrect - completely made up guff by someone who had obviously never read the book. So who knows, they might just have stuck 'gothic' in there too, thinking it sounded good.

14:12 / 20.10.05

I would call them sensation novels rather than gothic novels - much like Lady Audley's Secret and other novels and plays of the period which deal with scandalous doings and dark secrets. I think they do use some Gothic techniques and ideas, but then so does Dickens (e.g. in Bleak House as discussed by Cavatina elsewhere - mephitic gloom &c.)

I really enjoy Wilkie Collins but have read his books over such a long span of time that I'd have to revisit them to form a decent opinion, I think. A good plan!

15:05 / 20.10.05

I got the Moonstone out of the library but failed to get beyond the first few pages. On your recommendations I may make another attempt.
I did read a number of gothic novels during my A-level english, but I'm buggered if I can remember any of them. I remember loving M. R. James' ghost stories & Algernon Blackwood was pretty good, but possibly a little late for the period in discussion.

18:29 / 06.11.05

Has anyone else read No Name? I'm two thirds of the way through it just now, and possibly enjoying it even more than I did The Woman In White -it genuinely made me laugh out loud at one point as well, which I really wasn't expecting. the heroine seems to switch between nauseous disgust and incandescent fury, and I find that enjoyable as well. It's much less of a mystery novel than The Woman In White, but it feels amazingly tightly written for such a (relatively) long novel. Anyway, if no-one else has read it I'd recommend it to all...

13:14 / 07.11.05

No, but I've been meaning to - I'll get hold of it as soon as possible!

12:51 / 22.11.05

Penguin do a great three for one "Three Gothic Novels" which includes The Castle of Otranto". Highly recommended!

NP

12:26 / 25.11.05

I loved the Moonstone and it remains one of my favourites to this day. Betteredge is such a good character, and the story is simply fantastic. I especially like the part when they are waiting for the tide to go out and Franklin’s banging on about how good it is to smoke cigars.

Btw – Wilkie Collins used to live on Gloucester Road (nearest tube Baker Street) – I used to get the bus from outside his old house every day.

21:37 / 26.11.05

I bought No Name today and can't wait to read it. I have to finish Bleak House first though. And it's a long 'un.

20:59 / 29.11.05

Ariadne: it's brilliant at what it is, which is a rollicking good mystery tale with delightful manners and shocking baddies

Ariadne, I picked this up in the library last week, and it's good on Wilkie Collins' life and the era in which he lived -I've especially enjoyed reading about how books were serialised and how authors became famous in the Victorian era. I'm at the end now, but it covers a bit of what you were talking about above, the genres of the time (and to what extent they could be considered 'genres', really), and how they were received. It also manages to use the words 'homosocial' and 'liminal' in the first paragraph (twice) and then gets through the entire book without using either of them again.

It also makes Armadale sound very, very good, so I'm going to seek that one out -I bought The Moonstone at the weekend so will probably read that next.

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

16:00 / 23.12.05

How uncanny.

I just picked this up a few days ago as it was a recommendation by Elizabeth Kostova. So far I'm enjoying it. I thought it was a gothic novel too, until as I continued I found out it's a rather well-written detective story. When I finish, I'll post final opinions.