“The tide was on the turn, and the horrid sand began to shiver. The broad brown face of it heaved slowly, and then dimpled and quivered …”
Finding that one author who totally changes your outlook and appreciation on what you read and how you go about in life in general is hard to come by. I would actually assume that such an author is not purposely sought after at all and that perhaps in many cases a reader finds him or her by accident. Such was the case for me when a few years back I was looking around Amazon.com for Victorian gothic/mystery type novels and stumbled upon a book by the name of, “The Woman in White”.
“The best men are not consistent in good--why should the worst men be consistent in evil?”
I always found the crutch of paranormal influence on a story un – engaging yet I still hungered for the atmosphere of gothic drama. This lead me to a sub – genre of Victorian writing known as “Sensationalism” - a genre that shares the aspects and mood of gothic and horror, but revolves around more Earth bound situations. Heading in that direction I naturally then discovered the father and king of Victorian Sensationalism, Wilkie Collins whose writing style is as varied as it is deep, he does not just write for the purpose of suspense. Although reaching at times, all of his novels are based in reality, which makes the scenes of his stories all the more haunting and chilling.
“Your tears come easy, when you're young, and beginning the world. Your tears come easy, when you're old, and leaving it.”
Part philosopher - Collins subtly interjects his own thoroughly insightful observations on life. He usually accomplishes this by speaking through his characters, but after getting to know his writing style a reader will begin to tell when it is “Wilkie” who is trying to get through, however he never sounds preachy or outspoken.
Part romantic - Collins can convex emotions like love and sorrow through his characters with the most sincerest of execution without coming off as cheesy or “lovey dovey”.
Part social activist - Much of the subject matter that he wrote about was inspired by true events and sociopolitical problems at the time.
"Any woman who is sure of her own wits, is a match, at any time, for a man who is not sure of his own temper."
Much of the content involved with Collins novels were deemed in some cases obscene because he spoke of subjects like lust and vice very candidly for the period. However, Collins did not purposely spice up his stories in order to merely sell books, which brings me to his best feature as a writer – his balance. Although the genre he spearheaded was known as “sensationalism” he did not write to be sensational. He was just being honest about life and the state of the world that he lived in.
“What is the language of love, but a language of repetitions?”
Collins also gets an honorable mention for being quite the pimp for his day. He was never legally married, but had two mistresses, fathering children with one. Collins was no chauvinist though; many of the main characters and victims of his stories revolve around women and after he and one of his mistresses passed, his other mistress took care of their graves, an ending to his life as romantic and morbid as Collins’ own works.
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