Saturday 3 December 2011

Lunar literature...

Bearded brilliance: Wilkie Collins
THE MOONSTONE
by Wilkie Collins


The Moonstone is thought to be one of the first detective novels ever written in English.  So without dear old Wilkie Collins we might not have had Sherlock, Marple or Poirot.  However the genre is a familiar to us nowadays - we are not surprised by the long list of suspects, the red herrings or the celebrated investigator.  Yet reading The Moonstone, almost 150 years after it was written, it still feels fresh.


The book revolves around the theft of an Indian diamond called the Moonstone.  The story is told by different narrators (a method also used in his earlier novel, The Woman in White) all telling the tale from their own unique point of view.  This clever plot device stems from Collins' legal background – in court, various witnesses are called to shed light on a crime.


Collins also drew on his personal experience of opium addiction when creating the character of Ezra Jennings – a doctor's assistant who's got an unusual looks and suffers from an incurable illness.  He takes opium to help control the pain, just like Collins did to relieve his arthritis.


The flowery 19th century language used in The Moonstone can feel long-winded at times, but it never feels tiresome.  Beautiful and humourous descriptions really enhance this book and make you increasingly eager to find out who the culprit was.  Naturally, Collins keeps you hanging right until the last few pages!


INTERESTING FACT:  Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens were life-long friends.

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