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po. 31 / WILKIE COU,INS AS WRITER FOR CHARLES DICKENS’ "HOUSEHOLD WORDS" (1850-1859), AND "ALL THE YEAR ROUND" (1859-1870): A SELECTION OF HIS SHORT STORIES, ESSAYS, AND SKETCHES WITH HEADNOTES AND CRITICAL INTRODUCTION Richard D. Seiter A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY March 1970 Approved by Doctoral Committee Department of English Graduate School Representative e BOWLING GREEN STATE LSSRAKt J7Z 77/ 436126 d7^ /ft# ABSTRACT The "grandfather of the English detective novel" is the title which most literary critics assign to Wilkie Collins, the author of The Woman in White (1859) and The Moonstone (I860), His close association after 1850 with that literary giant Charles Dickens makes for an easy comparison and tends to dwarf Collins* reputation. When these two men are evaluated together, they are usually considered to be members of the sensational school of novel writing, which followed ' Dickens’ famous formula—"Make ’em laugh, make 'em weep, and make 'em 1 wait.” Dickens' literary reputation goes far beyond this, but critics V' have had a tendency to dismiss further consideration of Collins' abilities. Mystery and suspense are universally recognized and praised as those qualities which drew the Victorian reader to his novels. But his xvriting has a neglected lighter side which developed early in his career when he was contributing short articles to popular weekly Journals—especially to Dickens' Household Words (1850-1859) and All the Year Round (1859-1870). Seeing Collins as a periodical essayist presents an approach that adds another perspective to his literary career. To provide context it is necessary to consider Dickens as editor and his editorial policies that affected Collins. The collection demonstrates Collins' versatility in form, tone, and subJect matter in these short articles, reminiscent in some ways of the eighteenth century periodical essay tradition. Many of his short stories, travelogues, personal and informal essays, and character sketches contain a subtle yet no less delightful humor which can be detected in his later famous mystery novels. Much of the humor originates from narrators and modified caricatures who belonged to the cosmopolitan middle class—the s-gme group that made up the largest segment of Household Words' reading public. Many of these narrators reveal their own trivial idiosyncracies while courteously exposing the ridiculous in other individuals who have managed to annoy them. Collins often uses these narrators to reflect the more whimsical . preoccupations currently circulating in the respectable middle class of mid-Victorian Lord on. In other essays he attempts to disseminate information or develop critical attitudes (especially in the arts) that would at once entertain readers and expand their knowledge. Ultimately these essays illumine the more quaint and obscure recesses of mid-Victorian "respectable" society with the pleasant discovery that part of human nature remains a timeless blithe spirit. PREFACE At present the literary and critical reputation of Wilkie Collins has been derived from his novels, particularly The Woman in White (I860), and The Moonstone (1869). Unfortunately the same worn cliches which were used by his contemporary critics are still being paraphrased in most present day commentary. Such statements as "a skillful contrivor (sicJ of plots" or a "master craftsman of suspense" are automatically assigned, classifying Collins as a second-rate novelist of the sensational school. One gets the impression scholars have fallen into the habit of giving Collins these tributes of faint praise because their cavalcade of English novelists is already long and crowded enough. Fortunately, my intei*est in Collins did not have its origins in this criticism; instead his name was first associated with Charles Dickens in a graduate seminar where reference was made to Dickens’ attempt to surpass The Moonstone by writing The Mystery of Edwin Drood. After reading both novels, I became curious to know more about the relationship between these two men, particularly the circumstances under which these novels were published. This led to the discovery that many of their novels (including The Woman in White and The Moonstone by Collins—A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, Hard Times, and Our Mutual Friend for Dickens) were published in Dickens* two popular Journals, Household Words (1850-1859) and All the Year Round (1859-1870). These Journals were available at iv Bowling Green University Library, arid my interests turned toward an examination of their subJect matter and editorial methods. At the same time, I began to read The Woman in White and became convinced that there was more literary merit in this novel than simple sensationalism because of the artistic craftsmanship displayed in weaving domestic realism and humor in counterpoint to relieve the mystery and suspense. Collins had spent several years prior to the publication of this novel as a staff member of Household Words writing short articles, j essays, and stories. After compiling an accurate checklist of these shorter works, reading the articles with great enJoyment, and examining what little criticism had been written about them, several ideas occurred to me which eventually became the goals for this proJect. The most immediate purpose is to collect a representative sampling of Collins’ shorter contributions to Household Words and All the Year Round in order to show that his craftsmanship goes beyond the sensational and macabre. These articles also demonstrate his appeal as a popular periodical writer in the mid-Victorian period, reflecting in an amusing way the more trivial concerns and vanities of the largest segment of the reading public—the respectable middle- class citizen of London. The variety and range of subJect matter and tone in these articles reveal how Collins stretches his readers' minds and imaginations as he teases their prudish sense of humor. In accomplishing the foregoing obJectives, two related areas inadvertently developed in the early pages of the introduction—the V roles of Dickens’ two Journals as popular literature and the relation ship between Collins as staff writer and Dickens as editor. The study of the two Journals is necessary in order to place Collins' writing in accurate historical perspective; my investigation includes a brief analysis of the subJect matter found in the Journals to make it possible to classify Collins' subJect matter in correlation to the other articles. The relationship between Collins as staff writer and Dickens as editor will reveal, in addition to a warm personal friendship, a sensitive awareness of the vast reading public to whom they addressed themselves. Even though the early sections of the introduction are preoccupied with Dickens and his Journals, it should be kept in mind that this material functions as needed background for understanding Collins' vibrant spirit when xvriting periodical literature. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PART I: INTRODUCTION................................................................................................. 1 Household Words: Historical Background. • 1 The Credo of Household Words i "A Preliminaiy Word".................. 5 The Kaleidoscopic World of Household Words 7 "Conducted" by Charles Dickens ......••••••••• 11 Maintenance of the Heart and Hearth. .••••••••... 21 Telemachus and the Mentor. ••••••..»..»••••• 24 The Darker Forms: The Short Fiction and the Historical Sketch: Melodramatic Themes, Suspense, Sentimentality, and Fatality .... .................. 29 The Lighter Forms: The Personal Informal Essay and the Character Sketch: Urbane Humor, the Middle-Class Point- of-View, and Faroe ° ■ 44 PART II: THE COLLECTION ....................................................................................... 71 Short Fiction (Headnote Commentary). ..•»•..••••• 71 "A Terribly Strange Bed" ...... ...................... ... 73 The Personal Essay (Headnote Commentary) ........................................ 100 "Bold Words by a Bachelor" ...*........................ .... 102 The Informal Essay—The Arts (Headnote Commentary) ..... 112 "To Think, or Be Thought For?" . ,....................................114 "Dramatic Grub Street - Explored in Two Letters1' ... 132 "A Breach of British Privilege". 151 The Informal Essay—Politics and Protocol (Headnote Commentary). ....................... .... ...................... 161 Vll "Strike!".....< .................. ....•••»< 163 "A Clause for the New Reform Bill" [with Charles DickensJ. ..................................................... 176 "Give Us Room!"........................... 185 Sketches of Character—Widow and Spinster (Headnote Commentary) ..................... 196 "Mrs. Badgery". ................ 198 "Pray Employ MaJor Namby!’’. ..«••• ................. 213 PART Ills AFTERWORD..................................................................................................... 229 FOOTNOTES ........ ................................................. ? ............................... 233 PRIMARY BIBLIOGRAPHY. ........................................................................................ 2/4-8 A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................ 252 I PART I: INTRODUCTION Household Words: Historical Background The first writing that Collins attempted came from the promise he made to