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rachelmanija Mar. 15th, 2020 10:32 am)
rachelmanija Mar. 15th, 2020 10:32 am)I have just started reading the classic epistolatory mystery novel/Gothic from 1860. I've read Walter Hartright's first chapter and Vincent Gilmore, Solicitor's chapter. So far I have somehow remained completely unspoiled for this book so please do not spoil me!
While Collins sometimes goes on and on and on, he also has extremely propulsive storytelling that makes it obvious why this is a classic. Also, there's a lot of funny bits, which I was not expecting. It's tremendously fun and while it has many now-familiar tropes, it doesn't feel at all stale; I have only the vaguest guesses about where it's all going.
Walter Hartwell is a young drawing teacher who's offered a position teaching painting to two young women at Limmeridge House. On his way there, walking down a dark road at night, a hand suddenly touches his shoulder! A woman in white has appeared out of nowhere!
She requests his help getting a carriage, mentions that she has fond memories of the mistress of Limmeridge House, and says she's afraid of a Baronet. He helps her out, but after she's gone two men appear, searching for a woman in white: "She has escaped from my Asylum. Don't forget: a woman in white."
Hartwell says nothing.
Hartwell goes on to Limmeridge House, where he meets the rather extraordinary Marian Halcombe, a young woman with a lovely body and ugly masculine face, who puts down women constantly but is also smart as a whip and devoted to her half-sister, the properly feminine Laura Fairlie, who always... dum dum da dum... dresses in white. They are the wards of their uncle Mr. Fairlie, a prissy, obnoxious invalid who seems to either largely be a hypochondriac, or else to have a genuine illness (I suspect migraines) but to be using it to the hilt to boss everyone and avoid responsibility.
Hartwell promptly falls madly in love with Laura, only to discover that her uncle has engaged her to... dum dum da dum... a Baronet! Sir Percival, who everyone thinks is just perfect. How odd, then, that Laura does not seem pleased with this state of affairs, or that she received an anonymous letter warning her about him.
Hartwell confides in Marian, who does some research and discovers that their late mother Mrs. Fairlie had taken a young girl under her wing when Marian was away at school. The girl was Anne Catherick, who had some vague mental issue and closely resembled Laura, to whom she was close in age. On Mrs. Fairlie's advice, Anne Catherick always dressed in white!
Back in the present day, Anne Catherick is discovered cleaning Mrs. Fairlie's grave. Hartwell interrogates her, and learns that she did indeed send the anonymous letter, but not because, as he assumed, she had been "ruined" by Sir Percival. It was because Sir Percival put her in the Asylum.
Anne then vanishes, leaving Hartwell and Marian puzzled. They decide to consult a friend of the family, who is a lawyer. At this point Hartwell takes off, as Sir Percival is going to be visiting and it would be awkward. Laura is not thrilled with this state of affairs.
It then switches to the solicitor's narration. He adores Sir Percival because he's a man and a Baronet and clearly perfect, and decides to just ask him about the Anne Cathcart business and take his word for it. Meanwhile, Anne's mini greyhound hides from and barks at Sir Percival while adoring literally everyone else, causing the solicitor to think how silly small dogs are.
Sir Percival assures the solicitor that Anne's mother asked him to put Anne in an asylum because she was a lunatic, and Anne's mother confirms this in a letter. The solicitor is satisfied. But then! Laura asks him to draw up a legal document saying that if she dies, her fortune goes to Marian, not her husband. Sir Percival very strongly nixes this, and Mr. Fairlie won't commit to backing her up. The solicitor gets nervous, but feels he has no choice but to write a will saying that her fortune goes to Sir Percival and not tell Laura he did this. ARRRRRRRGH.
I am very worried for Laura.
This is just the first 140 pages!
Things I noticed: though only Anne Catherick is called "the woman in white," there are at least three women in white: her, Laura, and Mrs. Fairlie.
I suspect that Anne and Laura are sisters, and Anne and Sir Patrick know this and that's why he's trying to hush up Anne. I'd guess twins but I think they're not quite the same age.
Once again, no plot spoilers for the rest of the book! But I would love to discuss what's happened up to now.
The Woman in White (Penguin Classics)
While Collins sometimes goes on and on and on, he also has extremely propulsive storytelling that makes it obvious why this is a classic. Also, there's a lot of funny bits, which I was not expecting. It's tremendously fun and while it has many now-familiar tropes, it doesn't feel at all stale; I have only the vaguest guesses about where it's all going.
Walter Hartwell is a young drawing teacher who's offered a position teaching painting to two young women at Limmeridge House. On his way there, walking down a dark road at night, a hand suddenly touches his shoulder! A woman in white has appeared out of nowhere!
She requests his help getting a carriage, mentions that she has fond memories of the mistress of Limmeridge House, and says she's afraid of a Baronet. He helps her out, but after she's gone two men appear, searching for a woman in white: "She has escaped from my Asylum. Don't forget: a woman in white."
Hartwell says nothing.
Hartwell goes on to Limmeridge House, where he meets the rather extraordinary Marian Halcombe, a young woman with a lovely body and ugly masculine face, who puts down women constantly but is also smart as a whip and devoted to her half-sister, the properly feminine Laura Fairlie, who always... dum dum da dum... dresses in white. They are the wards of their uncle Mr. Fairlie, a prissy, obnoxious invalid who seems to either largely be a hypochondriac, or else to have a genuine illness (I suspect migraines) but to be using it to the hilt to boss everyone and avoid responsibility.
Hartwell promptly falls madly in love with Laura, only to discover that her uncle has engaged her to... dum dum da dum... a Baronet! Sir Percival, who everyone thinks is just perfect. How odd, then, that Laura does not seem pleased with this state of affairs, or that she received an anonymous letter warning her about him.
Hartwell confides in Marian, who does some research and discovers that their late mother Mrs. Fairlie had taken a young girl under her wing when Marian was away at school. The girl was Anne Catherick, who had some vague mental issue and closely resembled Laura, to whom she was close in age. On Mrs. Fairlie's advice, Anne Catherick always dressed in white!
Back in the present day, Anne Catherick is discovered cleaning Mrs. Fairlie's grave. Hartwell interrogates her, and learns that she did indeed send the anonymous letter, but not because, as he assumed, she had been "ruined" by Sir Percival. It was because Sir Percival put her in the Asylum.
Anne then vanishes, leaving Hartwell and Marian puzzled. They decide to consult a friend of the family, who is a lawyer. At this point Hartwell takes off, as Sir Percival is going to be visiting and it would be awkward. Laura is not thrilled with this state of affairs.
It then switches to the solicitor's narration. He adores Sir Percival because he's a man and a Baronet and clearly perfect, and decides to just ask him about the Anne Cathcart business and take his word for it. Meanwhile, Anne's mini greyhound hides from and barks at Sir Percival while adoring literally everyone else, causing the solicitor to think how silly small dogs are.
Sir Percival assures the solicitor that Anne's mother asked him to put Anne in an asylum because she was a lunatic, and Anne's mother confirms this in a letter. The solicitor is satisfied. But then! Laura asks him to draw up a legal document saying that if she dies, her fortune goes to Marian, not her husband. Sir Percival very strongly nixes this, and Mr. Fairlie won't commit to backing her up. The solicitor gets nervous, but feels he has no choice but to write a will saying that her fortune goes to Sir Percival and not tell Laura he did this. ARRRRRRRGH.
I am very worried for Laura.
This is just the first 140 pages!
Things I noticed: though only Anne Catherick is called "the woman in white," there are at least three women in white: her, Laura, and Mrs. Fairlie.
I suspect that Anne and Laura are sisters, and Anne and Sir Patrick know this and that's why he's trying to hush up Anne. I'd guess twins but I think they're not quite the same age.
Once again, no plot spoilers for the rest of the book! But I would love to discuss what's happened up to now.
The Woman in White (Penguin Classics)
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I have not read The Woman in White, but if you still like Wilkie Collins by the end of it, I can give a very strong vote for The Moonstone. (Non-spoilery character enthusiasm.)
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If you are unspoiled and reading this chapterwise, you're reading it as the original audience did, who took bets on just what Sir Percival's secret was from this first installment onwards. Marian got a yacht named after her and was one of the breakout characters of the novel. One of my teachers made a case that Collins had fun with Walter and Laura's last names - Walter of the right heart and Laura the Fair - the standard Victorian novel couple - but Marian (& some other characters you're yet to meet) are where his novelist interests were at. There's some truth in that, but Laura, while more passive than Marian, is by no means without smarts or initiatve of her own, case in point:
Laura asks him to draw up a legal document saying that if she dies, her fortune goes to Marian, not her husband.
See, this kind of thing would never be thought of by a Dickens heroine. :)
I don't remember what I thought the relation between Anne and Laura was at that point. But well spotted about three women in white!
Background info which is absolutely not where the plot is going - supposedly, Collins' original inspiration for this novel a real life meeting between Collins, strolling home one evening in 1858, accompanied by his brother Charles and the painter Millais. They were accosted, so the story goes, by a woman dressed in flowing white robes escaping from a villa in Regents Park where she had been kept prisoner under mesmeric influence. I feel free to tell you because this is not true for Anne in the novel. Claire Tomalin in her Dickens biography made an interesting cross connection to Great Expectation, wondering whether Dickens, who was after all friends with Collins, might have gotten the image of a woman dessed in white from Collins telling that story, though his version became Miss Havisham.
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Oh, I love that.
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Marian is a terrific character, very rare for the time.
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I was 2/3rds of the way through The Moonstone when I got spoiled for it by Connie Willis’ To Say Nothing of the Dog, which I am still mildly grumpy about...
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Yes, let's have a readalong!
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Also, you're about to get to the Marian narration, which is the best part -- I look forward to hearing about it!
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I may have to give it another shot!
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I agree on the style and MALEness, but it's a delight anyway. Just wait till you get to Marian's narration. I can't wait to read your thoughts on it.
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