Collected Memoirs, Letters and Literary Writings of Wilkie Collins

This carefully crafted ebook: 'Collected Memoirs, Letters and Literary Writings of Wilkie Collins' is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents.
Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. His best-known works are The Woman in White, No Name, Armadale, and The Moonstone.
Table of Contents:
Biographies:
Memoirs of the Life of William Collins (With Selections From His Journals and Correspondence)
Wilkie Collins' Charms (Biography by Olive Logan)
Letters and Literary Writings:
A Clause for the New Reform Bill
A Column to Burns
A Dramatic Author
A Fair Penitent
A Pictorial Tour to St George Bosherville
A Shy Scheme
Address from the Queen to Certain of Her Subjects in Office
Awful Warning to Bachelors
Books Necessary for a Liberal Education
Burns Viewed As a Hat-Peg
Considerations on The Copyright Question
Deep Design on Society
Doctor Dulcamara, MP
Dramatic Grub Street
How I Write My Books
Magnetic Evenings at Home
Pity a Poor Prince
Rambles Beyond Railways
Reminiscences of a Storyteller
Sermon for Sepoys
Thanks to Doctor Livingstone
The Cruise of the Tomtit
The Debtor's Best Friend
The Exhibition of the Royal Academy
The Little Huguenot
The National Gallery and the Old Masters

This carefully crafted ebook: "Collected Memoirs, Letters and Literary Writings of Wilkie Collins" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. His best-known works are The Woman in White, No Name, Armadale, and The Moonstone. Table of Contents: Biographies: Memoirs of the Life of William Collins (With Selections From His Journals and Correspondence) Wilkie Collins' Charms (Biography by Olive Logan) Letters and Literary Writings: A Clause for the New Reform Bill A Column to Burns A Dramatic Author A Fair Penitent A Pictorial Tour to St George Bosherville A Shy Scheme Address from the Queen to Certain of Her Subjects in Office Awful Warning to Bachelors Books Necessary for a Liberal Education Burns Viewed As a Hat-Peg Considerations on The Copyright Question Deep Design on Society Doctor Dulcamara, MP Dramatic Grub Street How I Write My Books Magnetic Evenings at Home Pity a Poor Prince Rambles Beyond Railways Reminiscences of a Storyteller Sermon for Sepoys Thanks to Doctor Livingstone The Cruise of the Tomtit The Debtor's Best Friend The Exhibition of the Royal Academy The Little Huguenot The National Gallery and the Old Masters

Auteur
Wilkie Collins, geb. 1824 in London als ältester Sohn des Landschaftsmalers William Collins und 1889 gestorben, hatte zunächst die juristische Laufbahn eingeschlagen, bis er beschloss, das Aufdecken von Kriminalfällen und Geheimnissen ausschließlich literarisch in Szene zu setzen. Er schrieb neben seinen Kurzgeschichten und Theaterstücken über 30 Romane. Seine heute berühmtesten Werke 'Der Monddiamant', in dem der erste Detektiv in der englischen Literatur auftritt, und 'Die Frau in Weiß', ein poetischer, mystisch-mysteriöser Thriller, fanden bereits beim zeitgenössischen Publikum größten Beifall.

Échantillon de lecture

JOURNAL OF 1816.

"January 1st, 1816. - Went with Willis to the Elgin Marbles, observed the simple attitudes of some of the figures to be peculiarly adapted to a new style of portrait. Then to Westminster Abbey, where I heard the organ playing, etc., and saw the bad monuments of some modern sculptors. I must write notes in my book before the thing criticised, mentioning the name, etc.; for I have seen most of the objects in this place often enough, but having forgotten them, I lost my time looking at them again, and coming, most likely, to the same conclusion, again to be forgotten, unless I keep a book for the purpose of entering everything I think worthy of remark.

" * Some time since I praised, from charitable and opposition motives, a certain picture, certainly much more than it deserved. I was told the other day, by an inferior artist, that he could not much value the opinion of one who had so much deceived him.

" * Feeling the thing, and being able to express it, makes the difference between amateur and painter - some persons put their ideas better than others. Has a man who cannot put them so clearly as to be understood, the ideas at all? Can he distinctly see it - could he not describe it, if he did?

" * April 13th. - Chatted with a visitor till twelve, when I posted this dreary ledger, on a dreary, black-looking April day, with one sixpence in my pocket, seven hundred pounds in debt, shabby clothes, a fine house, a large stock of my own handyworks, a certainty (as much, at least, a certainty, as anything short of 'a bird in the hand' can be) of about a couple of hundreds, and a determination unshaken - and, please God, not to be shook by anything of becoming a great painter, than which, I know no greater name. Although I have not at this moment a single commission of any kind whatever, I have property considerably more than adequate to discharge the debt above-mentioned - I mean property that would, even in these worst of times, sell for such a sum. Therefore, should my present views prove abortive, I shall not lose my independence - which whilst I have, I want no more.

" July 5th - How comes it that after all my struggles, I am at this moment so poor in purse? Those of my friends able to push me, are not inclined; and those inclined, not able. Now, as it is impossible to rise in the world, without connection - connection I must have. Therefore, I will paint some high personage, for the next Exhibition. (Why not the Princess Charlotte?) For my own comfort, I must paint this, as well as everything else I touch, in a superior style. I have no reason to be dissatisfied with the public judgment on my works, although, from various causes, I am not rewarded agreeably to, or consistent with, their acknowledgment of my deserts. As I have great reason to believe that their approbation of any particular picture (although not the one that I consider the best, at the time) is the criterion, I shall certainly bow to it. In the particular instance of the Cromer scene, I feel now that their selection is marked by judgment: the faults, however, of the 'Spring,' I hope to be able to remedy in my future productions - for which purpose, I will note those objections which have been made by others, and follow them with a critique of my own. "

Hopeful as the painter's anticipations still continued, untiring as were his efforts to extricate himself from his gathering embarrassments, they did not bring with them the success and security that he desired. The autumn was approaching, his exertions were the main support of his family, he had attempted to render them more advantageous by removing to a convenient and well situated dwelling; and now, to his dismay, he found, as the season advanced, that his income grew more and more insufficient to supply even the daily demands - economical though they were - of his new scale of expenditure; and that, unless some sudden change took place in his