The Woman in White

I just read Wilkie Collins' "The Woman in White" as part of an OLLI (Oscher Lifelong Learning Institute) course on "Sensation and Gothic Novels." The novel is considered the original mystery novel. Although I've never been drawn to mystery novels, this novel is both fantastical and fantastic. The plot is intricate, the characters are vivid, the writing is gorgeous -- a combination of soaring rhetoric and succinct exposition -- lucid, lyrical, mellifluous, often almost musical. I am particularly fond of Walter Hartright, the novel's most good-hearted and pure-minded character. And the infinitely intriguing and charismatic Count Fosco is a character for the ages: he out-Falstaffs Falstaff. The story is told by a long series of narrators -- some of them central characters, some of them peripheral characters. Each narrator has incomplete knowledge, and each narrator knows things no other narrator knows. Collins was trained in the law, though he never practiced law, and he states at the outset that "the story will be told by more than one pen, as the story of an offence against the laws is told in Court by more than one witness -- with the same object, in both cases, to present the truth always in its most direct and most intelligible aspect; and to trace the course of one complex series of events, by making two persons who have been most closely connected with them, at each successive stage, relate their own experience, word for word." The legal beagles among you will enjoy Collins' droll depictions of lawyering and lawyers: * Spoken by a lawyer: "Let us not dispute about our views. I live, professionally, in an atmosphere of disputation, Mr. Hartright; and I am only too glad to escape from it[.]" * Spoken by a lawyer: "It is the great beauty of the Law that it can dispute any human statement, made under any circumstances, and reduced to any form." * Spoken by a lawyer: "I liked to feel her hearty indignation flash out in me in that way, We see so much malice and so little indignation in my profession." * Spoken by a lawyer: "She only answered by putting up her cheek to me to be kissed. Even lawyers have hearts; and mine ached a little as I took leave of her." * Spoken by a lawyer: "There are many varieties of sharp practitioners in this world, but, I think, the hardest of all to deal with are the men who overreach you under the disguise of inveterate good humor."

I first started reading this book on November 1 2018. It was chosen as a group classic read by my Goodreads Reading For Pleasure book club. Since I had both the kindle and Audible audiobook, for most of the book I did Immersion reading, which is reading the kindle version while listening to the audiobook at the same time. I continued the book until the beginning of December when health reasons caused me to put it aside until the middle of January. At no time did I consider not finishing the book. It's one of the most unique books that I have ever read. The book is made up of narratives as told by the various people involved in story as it would have been had they been called as witnesses in a court of law. The first and last narrator is Walter Hartright, the hero of the story. He saves his friend, Professor Pesca from drowning, leaving him forever in Walter's debt. In return Professor Pesca is delighted when he is able to recommend Walter for a situation as a drawing master for two young ladies, half sisters, Marian Holcombe and Laura Fairlie, at Limmeridge House in Cumberland. From his arrival at Limmeridge House until the end of the story, Walter's fate is intertwined with that of the two heroines of the story, Marian and Laura. But before his arrival at Limmeridge House, Walter Hartright has a chance meeting with a woman who has escaped from a madhouse, The Woman in White, Ann Catherick. Her fate too becomes intertwined with that of Walter Hartright, Marian Holcombe, and especially, Laura Fairlie. The author, Wilkie Collins, was a great friend of Charles Dickens who published his works in serialized form in a magazine owned by him. The Woman in White was his most successful novel and considered a "Sensation" novel. Today we would classify it in the suspense or thriller genre. The Woman in White is not a fast read because if you read it too fast you might miss something important to the story. There are unexpected twists and turns that you never see coming. I spent quite a bit of time trying to guess what lay behind the actions of the two main villains of the story. What secrets were they trying to hide and what motivated them to behave as they did. I fully intend to read more of Wilkie Collin's works.

This is another of those books that I've long intended to read but somehow never got around to. My resolution for 2017 is to rectify some of that neglect. The Woman in White is in the grand tradition of the densely plotted Victorian novel. It is, in fact, downright Dickensian or Jamesian in its wordiness. Modern readers who have not been exposed to the circuitous descriptions and verbiage of such writers may falter over its 600+ pages. But lovers of the language may find themselves drooling, as I did, over its skillful use. The story starts with a young drawing master, Walter Hartwright, encountering a mysterious woman dressed all in white as he walks along a moonlit London road. The woman is in distress and asks for directions which Walter gives her and sends her on her way. Soon after, he hears a policeman asking if anyone has seen the woman, who, he says, has escaped from an asylum. Walter keeps quiet and the policeman's search is unsuccessful. Walter has been engaged to teach drawing to two young ladies at Limmeridge House in Cumberland; Laura Fairlie, fair, gentle, pretty, guileless orphan whose guardian is her uncle, the hypochondriac/narcissist Frederick Fairlie, and Marian Halcombe, Laura's elder half-sister and companion, dark, strong-willed, intelligent and resourceful. Over the next few months, Walter and Laura fall in love, but Laura has already been promised (by her deceased father) to Sir Percival Glyde, Baronet, and she is determined to honor that commitment. Marian, understanding the impossible situation, advises Walter to leave the country to get over Laura. With the help of a friend, he secures a position with an archaeological expedition headed to South America. Laura, much to her sorrow, marries Glyde. It is clear from the beginning that Glyde is a villain, although it isn't certain at first just what his villainy entails. When the honeymooners return from a trip to Italy, they have Count and Countess Fosco in tow. Count Fosco is Glyde's closest friend and his wife - surprise, surprise! - is Laura's aunt, who was estranged from the family over the matter of a bequest. It soon becomes clear that both Glyde and Fosco are "embarrassed" financially and their only hope of redeeming themselves is to call on Laura for a loan from her inheritance. Her husband attempts to pressure her into signing papers that would authorize the funds, but, with Marian supporting her, she refuses. How can the nefarious duo get the funds they need? Well, if Laura were dead... Collins' complicated plot over the next few hundred pages explicates very clearly the inequality in law of women and men at that time. A woman was under the control of her father or her guardian until she married and, once married, she was under the thumb of her husband. A married woman could hardly do anything without her husband's consent. She had little recourse in the courts of the time. Willie Collins was trained in the law and he understood this very well. He created a strong and empathetic female character in Marian Halcombe and yet, resourceful as she was, she had little hope of combating the villainous Glyde and Fosco without the manly assistance of Walter Hartwright. Perhaps I was particularly sensitive to this theme, having just completed reading The Bell Jar, but it seemed to me that this book could be read as a 19th century feminist treatise. Collins effectively uses the multiple narrator strategy of telling his story by offering witness statements from all of the principal characters, much as would happen in a court of law. In spite of its length, its complicated plot and its 19th century verbiage, this is a real page-turner of a book. I found it hard to put down and I could not wait to see where the twists and turns of the plot would take me next. As an early example of the mystery novel, with Walter Hartwright standing in as the everyman detective, this sets a high bar for later writers of such novels to reach. Indeed, this has been included on some lists of the greatest novels of all time, and I would not argue with that assessment.

As an English Lit traditionalist, I judge fiction on the classical criteria: plot; theme/moral; character development/believability; descriptive powers, the beauty of the prose; and syntactical “sins”/clarity/economy. Wilkie Collins “Woman in White” (WIN) delighted me for one, overwhelming reason: the author’s ability to see below the surface of things, people and emotions. Like other literary geniuses (e.g., Shakespeare, Dickens, the Russians, Mitchell, Dreiser), Collins can see what most of us cannot. By reading, or, better, studying, his prose, we can, perhaps, learn to extract more nectar from everyday life. “Hope springs eternal in the human breast,” as Alexander Pope said; so, we keep trying. Collins’ insightful observations, metaphors, similes and epithets are so brilliant, griping and unforgettable that they literally obliterate his faults (a painfully slow plot, a meager theme, and errors of syntax that can throw us off stride). Oh, would that we could see, and, hence, describe scenes and people like Collins! It is manifestly unfair to quote his lines, as we will surely not chose the ones that would have fascinated you, but we cannot simply give conclusions; we must give illustrations. So, with apologies to Mr. Collins, consider these penetrating and moving excerpts: ​“The sky was without a cloud, and the dawning mystery of moonlight began to tremble in the region of the eastern heaven. The sense of peace and seclusion soothed all thought and feeling into a rapt, unearthly repose…the deepening light seemed to hover over us with a gentler influence still, when there stole upon it from the piano, the heavenly tenderness of Mozart. It was an evening of sights and sounds never to be forgotten…We sat silent in places we had chosen – Mrs. Vesey sleeping, Miss Fairley playing the piano tenderly, Miss Holcombe reading – till the light failed us. By then, the moon had stolen round to the terrace, and soft, illuminating rays of light slanted across the lower end of the room. The change from twilight to obscurity was so beautiful that we banished the lamps, by common consent, save the glimmer of two candles on the piano…” If moving similes and insightful descriptions of people and places are to your liking, you will love this book. If captivating plots and realistic characters are your preference, you won’t. 3 Stars BookAWeekMan ([...])

Let me first state that this is the fifth book that I have read by Wilkie (Dead Secret, Haunted Hotel, Moonstone, and No Name). I went into this book with some bias since I have very much like the other stories that I have read by him. I will say that this book did not disappoint. This is a very good book that I would recommend. With that being said, the book does begin a little on the slow side. However, after the first 100 pages or so the story really begins to pick up and does not stop until the end. This is a story, not so much about the Woman in White, as it as about Laura and Marian. Marian, although being somewhat "ugly", turned out to be my favorite character, along with Count Fosco. The Woman in While plays a small but key role in the book. The mystery surrounding her makes the book very interesting since she seems to hold the key to the demise of Sir Percival Glyde. Percival has a secret that can cause him great pain and social harm. This is the mystery of which the Woman in White knows and is trying to communicate to Laura so to save her from Percival and Count Fosco. Also, it does come out in the end how Laura and the Woman in White look so much alike. You must put aside your doubts about so many conincidences and remember this is just a story. If you can do this, the book will be so much better. Count Fosco: what can I say about him. He is one of the best villians in literature. Deep down you know he is bad guy. Deep down Laura and Marian knows he is a bad guy but he is such a gentleman. He can talk in a way that is degrading but he does it in such a way that the characters don't even realize they are being insulted. He is also very cunning and smart. However, he does have one weakness that comes through in the end. It is not the looks of a woman that is his weakness but an admiration of this person on an intellectual level. This woman, and I will not give it away, is his match when it comes to cunning and wit. He realizes this and acknowledges it. In the end, you love to hate Count Fosco since you know he is the brains behind the whole conspiracy but what a gentleman. After the slow beginning, the book picks up and does not disappoint. If you have read the Moonstone or No Name, which in my opinion are equal to or better than this book, the Woman in White will not let you down. If you have read Woman in White and are thinking about Wilkie's other works, then I sugget the Moonstone and/or No Name. In the end, read this book. You will not be disappointed that you did. It is a little long (645 pages in the modern library edition) but I read it in a week. It is an easy, enjoyable read and worth the time.

All the contrived intrigue and interesting characters of a minor Dickens work, with little of the humor, pacing, or satisfaction, it is still a wonderful insight to the contrived plotting of Victorian literature. Fun to read for a Dickens fan and anyone interested in the era.

The Woman in White opens with a mysterious encounter between artist Walter Hartright and an unnamed woman dressed entirely in white. Hartright runs into her late at night along the dark road from Hampstead Heath to London. The woman is clearly frightened, fleeing some unseen pursuer. She asks Hartright for directions, which he gives. He doesn’t know who she is, but his instinct tells him to help her. In her disconcerted ramblings, she tells him she had spent a brief portion of her youth in the country house he is planning to visit, and she warns him of an evil man he will soon encounter. After helping her on her way, Hartright eavesdrops on her pursuers: wardens from the insane asylum from which she escaped. Although he knows she’s distraught and probably not in her right mind, he can’t entirely dismiss what she’s told him because she has correctly named the inhabitants of the distant house to which he is about to travel. How’s that for a setup? The great thing about Wilkie Collins at his best is that he sets the highest expectations in the reader and then exceeds them on every level. Here, as in The Moonstone, he’s at his best. The breadth, intricacy, and coherence of his plots are extraordinary, the quality of his prose is superb, his characters are vivid and alive, and the worlds he creates are richly textured and utterly absorbing. As in The Moonstone, this story is told from multiple perspectives. In fact, it may be the first novel to be told by multiple narrators. The primary narrator, Hartright, makes a disclaimer up front, saying that the story will not be told in the usual novelistic form, but more in the form of a court case, in which each of the key players testifies in their own words about what they know. Collins shows an extraordinary range of styles as each narrator has a distinctive voice and perspective. Two of the least likable characters, the cunning and evil Count Fosco and the whiny, selfish Mr. Fairlie, offer up the funniest narratives in the book. Before we get to hear their sides of the story, we have seen them both act heartlessly, inflicting cruelty in their various ways on poor, virtuous Laura Fairlie. If these two were given a chapter to narrate in a contemporary mystery, the author would probably have them tell their story in nasty tones and malevolent terms to reinforce the reader’s hatred of them. But what, at bottom, allows one person to treat another heartlessly? In many cases, it’s a sense of arrogance, a sense that one is so far above the person they mistreat that the victim doesn’t matter and that all consideration is due to the perpetrator. This kind of arrogance is ripe for satire, and when Count Fosco and Mr. Fairlie do finally get their turns to narrate, we see the story through their hilariously distorted perspectives. The way they see the world around them is disturbing, to be sure, but they’re so self-absorbed and so colossally egotistical you can’t help but laugh. These chapters are some of the funniest I’ve ever read. The hardest thing about reading Collins is that the next book you read after his feels pale and thin. He truly was a master, and you can see in his works the pattern upon which almost all subsequent mystery and thriller writers built their work. I won’t try to summarize this one. I’ll just say that if you’re looking for a deeply absorbing read in which to immerse yourself, put this on your list.

This book first reached my "to-read" pile after I finished reading the Preston/Child mystery novel, Brimstone (Pendergast #5) . The mystery writing duo acknowledged that one of their characters was their homage to Collins and what is considered to be the first true mystery novel: The Woman in White. That curiosity deepened after reading Dan Simmons' Drood , where Simmons presents Wilkie Collins as his narrator in telling the tale of Charles Dickens' last days, and also presenting the two writers in a sort of Salieri-Mozart type of relationship. And when I finally sat down to read it, I found myself quite surprised how much I did enjoy it! 19th century novels are not everyone's cup of tea - although it does seem with so many being free on the Kindle and through websites like Project Gutenberg and Google Books, that more people are at least giving these books a fresh try. And this book is long - with sections that surely be entirely edited out under the thumb of a modern editor. Still, it is an important novel and one that deserves a wider audience than many other "classics." Oh, it does take a little bit to get used to the cadence of the novel - and the rampant sexism may startle some readers, but even that loses its power to shock and becomes almost comical. Like other books originally published in a weekly serial, there is a good bit of narrative overlap (compounded with Collins' verbosity) - which will be repetitive to fast readers, but those taking their time with it, may be thankful for this. Collins' love for words is evident, but he puts them to good use - particularly in his mastery of the various points-of-views he employed. Collins handles each character well, giving them their own unique voice (even the female characters - which is rather at odds with the frequently sexist comments). The basic structure of the novel itself is also quite remarkable. Collins sets each scene with an obvious eye towards basic logic, and with each section and character, it is obvious that everything was meticulously outlined before its addition into the book as a whole. It was an enjoyable read - it made me laugh a bit, and though the plot has since been "borrowed," the mystery felt familiar, but the strength of the characters prevented the book from being remotely boring. It truly is a masterpiece!

岩波文庫にも翻訳されているので、手頃に読めるが、本書で英語に接して読んているうちに、さまざまな世界文学への扉がひろがる。私はこのショッキングノベルと称されているこの作品が後のラテンアメリカ文学へつながっているように思われる。たとえばホセ·ドノソとか、そうゆう勘違いを許すほどの貴重な作品。文章も読みやすい。時間に余裕のあるひとは熟読。おすすめ。

I LOVE the book, I was surprised to discover that it includes the play version of The Woman in White as well, which was first performed in 1871. That's a great bargain for me.

I love the cover, it is so pretty and asthetic! It also had fast shipping

I bought this edition to read The Moonstone for class, but it's missing at least three chapters!! Chapter 21-23 are missing, from what I can see - there is a chance that there are more. The editor also changed words unnecessarily. Plus, it's two books in one, so it's super thick and hard to carry. Don't waste your money.

El libro me encantó lo recomiendo. Esta muy bien escrito y mantiene la intriga desde el comienzo hasta el final.