Collins' sensational masterpiece was deeper than it looked. The sinister plot in the Woman in White is possible because of the property laws that constrained a married woman in 19th century England - unless her inheritance was tied up in trust, a woman's property became her husband's upon marriage. Ten years after Collins' fictional sensation, John Stuart Mill, famous for writing On Liberty, would blisteringly observe in The Subjection of Women that the legal constraints binding women in marriage rendered them essentially domestic slaves.
Collins never again combined sensationalism with social critique with such success. The Moonstone uses the same narrative technique of collected testimonies, but is more of a detective novel. Collins wrote other social problem novels, but the social commentary started to drown out character and plot development. As one wit quipped:
"What brought Wilkie's genius nigh perdition? Some demon whispered, Wilkie, have a mission."
I’d read some about that after I finished the book, as I was thinking about the review. He handled the balance between the social context and the story well enough to avoid the sermonizing trap—sounds like he struggled with that later on.
Yes, his third best known novel No Name, has all of the twists and turns of WiW and is critiquing how those born illegitimately are treated, but I found the main character not quite believable - too many dramatic shifts in behaviour.
Joel, what a fabulous deep dive into ' masterpiece (although the Moonstone is just as fantastic). Wonderful to discover all the details surrounding the publication. Longing to pick this one back up now. (Also, how in the world are you going to read War and Peace in a month and still get anything else done?)
Thank you. And The Moonstone is definitely on my TBR now. Re War and Peace: Lord, have mercy. I think I’ll start it earlier to give myself time. Moby Dick isn’t too long, so I can handle that in a couple of weeks and push into W&P before the month starts. At least, that’s probably what I’ll do.
Fantastic of course. And hard not to talk about the spoilers, but the end is all that matters. What a coverup! What a way to line one's own pockets. What a way to write a novel starting from the end and working backwards to be most convincing!
I hope I didn’t give too much away; I thought I could glance off the spoilers without giving them all away. It’s such a remarkably well composed novel.
Picked up woman in white. Already read almost half of your years list. Will revisit some maybe since it’s been a long time ago I read them. Been reading nonstop and trying to keep my head above water with life in general. 🤓
I’m really disappointed that Wilkie Collins isn’t female. For some reason, I had it in my head that Wilkie was a “she”. I plan to read The Woman in White this year, and now I’ll have to make myself think in a male voice instead of female. I just read The Haunted Hotel, and I had the female writer in mind the whole time. This is like when you’re reading a character, and you have an image of them in your head, and then the author tells you they have blonde hair when CLEARLY they have black hair in your head. It’s disorienting.
Collins' sensational masterpiece was deeper than it looked. The sinister plot in the Woman in White is possible because of the property laws that constrained a married woman in 19th century England - unless her inheritance was tied up in trust, a woman's property became her husband's upon marriage. Ten years after Collins' fictional sensation, John Stuart Mill, famous for writing On Liberty, would blisteringly observe in The Subjection of Women that the legal constraints binding women in marriage rendered them essentially domestic slaves.
Collins never again combined sensationalism with social critique with such success. The Moonstone uses the same narrative technique of collected testimonies, but is more of a detective novel. Collins wrote other social problem novels, but the social commentary started to drown out character and plot development. As one wit quipped:
"What brought Wilkie's genius nigh perdition? Some demon whispered, Wilkie, have a mission."
I’d read some about that after I finished the book, as I was thinking about the review. He handled the balance between the social context and the story well enough to avoid the sermonizing trap—sounds like he struggled with that later on.
Yes, his third best known novel No Name, has all of the twists and turns of WiW and is critiquing how those born illegitimately are treated, but I found the main character not quite believable - too many dramatic shifts in behaviour.
Joel, what a fabulous deep dive into ' masterpiece (although the Moonstone is just as fantastic). Wonderful to discover all the details surrounding the publication. Longing to pick this one back up now. (Also, how in the world are you going to read War and Peace in a month and still get anything else done?)
Thank you. And The Moonstone is definitely on my TBR now. Re War and Peace: Lord, have mercy. I think I’ll start it earlier to give myself time. Moby Dick isn’t too long, so I can handle that in a couple of weeks and push into W&P before the month starts. At least, that’s probably what I’ll do.
In haven’t read this, even though I do like to read all the classics. I shall have to check it out!
It’s really tremendous!
Fantastic of course. And hard not to talk about the spoilers, but the end is all that matters. What a coverup! What a way to line one's own pockets. What a way to write a novel starting from the end and working backwards to be most convincing!
I hope I didn’t give too much away; I thought I could glance off the spoilers without giving them all away. It’s such a remarkably well composed novel.
Picked up woman in white. Already read almost half of your years list. Will revisit some maybe since it’s been a long time ago I read them. Been reading nonstop and trying to keep my head above water with life in general. 🤓
I’m really disappointed that Wilkie Collins isn’t female. For some reason, I had it in my head that Wilkie was a “she”. I plan to read The Woman in White this year, and now I’ll have to make myself think in a male voice instead of female. I just read The Haunted Hotel, and I had the female writer in mind the whole time. This is like when you’re reading a character, and you have an image of them in your head, and then the author tells you they have blonde hair when CLEARLY they have black hair in your head. It’s disorienting.
An exceptional analysis of a complex book.