20. Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone (1868)
Abstract
This chapter reads Wilkie Collins’s 1868 sensation novel The Moonstone in the literary and cultural context of nineteenth-century discourses on physiological psychology, gender, race and class, as well as on drugs such as opium and alcohol. It argues that the novel translates the violent dispossessions of Empire into domestic negotiations of inheritance and social relations, which is reflected both in the novel’s character constellation and the power hierarchies implied in the mode of narration. The chapter also provides an overview of Wilkie Collins’s oevre, the cultural and generic contexts of his writing, and the reception of The Moonstone from contemporary reviews to recent theoretical approaches.
Abstract
This chapter reads Wilkie Collins’s 1868 sensation novel The Moonstone in the literary and cultural context of nineteenth-century discourses on physiological psychology, gender, race and class, as well as on drugs such as opium and alcohol. It argues that the novel translates the violent dispossessions of Empire into domestic negotiations of inheritance and social relations, which is reflected both in the novel’s character constellation and the power hierarchies implied in the mode of narration. The chapter also provides an overview of Wilkie Collins’s oevre, the cultural and generic contexts of his writing, and the reception of The Moonstone from contemporary reviews to recent theoretical approaches.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Editors’ Preface V
- Contents VII
- 0. Metamorphoses in English Culture and the Novel, 1830–1900: An Introduction 1
-
Part I: Systematic Questions
- 1. Science and the Victorian Novel 23
- 2. Remediating Nineteenth-Century Narrative 51
- 3. God on the Wane? The Victorian Novel and Religion 71
- 4. Genres and Poetology: The Novel and the Way towards Aesthetic Self-Consciousness 87
- 5. The Art of Novel Writing: Victorian Theories 107
- 6. Victorian Gender Relations and the Novel 121
- 7. Empire – Economy – Materiality 149
-
Part II: Close Readings
- 8. Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus (1833–1834) 173
- 9. Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil, or The Two Nations (1845) 189
- 10. Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847) 205
- 11. Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (1847) 221
- 12. Anne Brontë, Agnes Grey (1847) 237
- 13. William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1847–1848) 253
- 14. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Mary Barton (1848) 273
- 15. Charles Kingsley, Yeast: A Problem (1851) 289
- 16. Charles Dickens, Bleak House (1853) 305
- 17. Anthony Trollope, Doctor Thorne (1858) 321
- 18. Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret (1862) 337
- 19. Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) 351
- 20. Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone (1868) 367
- 21. Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Coming Race (1871) 381
- 22. George Eliot, Middlemarch (1871–1872; 1874) 397
- 23. George Meredith, The Egoist (1879) 415
- 24. Walter Pater, Marius the Epicurean (1885) 431
- 25. Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) 445
- 26. Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) 461
- 27. Sarah Grand, The Heavenly Twins (1893) 479
- 28. George Moore, Esther Waters (1894) 495
- 29. Mona Caird, The Daughters of Danaus (1894) 511
- 30. Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure (1895) 529
- 31. H. G. Wells, The Time Machine (1895) 547
- 32. Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897) 565
- 33. Henry James, What Maisie Knew (1897) 581
- 34. Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim (1900) 597
- 35. Rudyard Kipling, Kim (1900–1901) 613
- 36. Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh (1903) 629
- Index of Subjects 645
- Index of Names 659
- List of Contributors 675
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Editors’ Preface V
- Contents VII
- 0. Metamorphoses in English Culture and the Novel, 1830–1900: An Introduction 1
-
Part I: Systematic Questions
- 1. Science and the Victorian Novel 23
- 2. Remediating Nineteenth-Century Narrative 51
- 3. God on the Wane? The Victorian Novel and Religion 71
- 4. Genres and Poetology: The Novel and the Way towards Aesthetic Self-Consciousness 87
- 5. The Art of Novel Writing: Victorian Theories 107
- 6. Victorian Gender Relations and the Novel 121
- 7. Empire – Economy – Materiality 149
-
Part II: Close Readings
- 8. Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus (1833–1834) 173
- 9. Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil, or The Two Nations (1845) 189
- 10. Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847) 205
- 11. Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (1847) 221
- 12. Anne Brontë, Agnes Grey (1847) 237
- 13. William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1847–1848) 253
- 14. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Mary Barton (1848) 273
- 15. Charles Kingsley, Yeast: A Problem (1851) 289
- 16. Charles Dickens, Bleak House (1853) 305
- 17. Anthony Trollope, Doctor Thorne (1858) 321
- 18. Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret (1862) 337
- 19. Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) 351
- 20. Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone (1868) 367
- 21. Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Coming Race (1871) 381
- 22. George Eliot, Middlemarch (1871–1872; 1874) 397
- 23. George Meredith, The Egoist (1879) 415
- 24. Walter Pater, Marius the Epicurean (1885) 431
- 25. Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) 445
- 26. Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) 461
- 27. Sarah Grand, The Heavenly Twins (1893) 479
- 28. George Moore, Esther Waters (1894) 495
- 29. Mona Caird, The Daughters of Danaus (1894) 511
- 30. Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure (1895) 529
- 31. H. G. Wells, The Time Machine (1895) 547
- 32. Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897) 565
- 33. Henry James, What Maisie Knew (1897) 581
- 34. Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim (1900) 597
- 35. Rudyard Kipling, Kim (1900–1901) 613
- 36. Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh (1903) 629
- Index of Subjects 645
- Index of Names 659
- List of Contributors 675
