Wilkie Collins

R sum Publi en 1857 (soit trois ans avant La Dame en blanc), Secret absolu est aujourd'hui consid r couture l'un des romans les plus forts de Collins. Michel Le Bris, " red couvreur " du grand romancier rival de Dickens et pr facier de la pr sente dition, souhaitait voir cette merveille retraduite de fond en comble et dans un souci de fid lit absolue l'original, dont la critique, l' poque victorienne, avait soulign l'aspect " scandaleux ". Le lecteur ne s'en plaindra pas, malgr la perspective de quelques nuits blanches. Quant l'intrigue, ou n'en dira rien ou presque pour ne pas se f cher avec ceux qui ont encore en d couvrir les pi ges. Contentons-nous d'en planter bri vement le d cor: un manoir sur la c te de Cornouailles, une famille honorable mais peu dou e pour le bonheur, un secret lourd porter - et si bien gard qu'il r ussira empoisonner la vie de plusieurs g n rations. Qu'on se rassure pourtant: Collins a pris soin d'ouvrir sous les pas du lecteur quelques chausse-trapes de sa fa on. Le connaissant, on aura d j devin que le fameux secret une fois r v l ruinera comme il se doit la fa ade respectable de ce petit monde, travaill dans l'ombre par les puissances conjugu es - et refoul es - du crime, du sexe et de l'argent. Bref, un Collins du meilleur tonneau, o l'on retrouve mieux que jamais peut- tre " l'ind cence au service du suspense ". selon la trouble formule que l'admirable: Alfred Hitchcock, fervent disciple du ma tre, reprendra plus tard son compte avec le succ s que l'on sait.

R sum Fianc e humili e, veuve manipulatrice et soumise voluant dans une famille en apparence respectueuse des usages de la haute soci t victorienne... Qui est vraiment la comtesse Narona ? Une intrigante pr te tout pour toucher une prime d'assurance sur la vie de son poux, ou bien la victime de craintes superstitieuses sur laquelle le destin semble s'acharner ? Entre Londres et Venise, Collins campe des personnages aux facettes multiples et complexes qui seront, consciemment ou non, les complices d'une mort naturelle qui ne tardera pas se r v ler suspecte.

R sum En 1881, la jeune Emily Brown et sa meilleure amie Cecilia Wyvil sont pensionnaires dans une cole pour jeunes filles. Peu avant les vacances estivales, Emily, apprend qu'une jeune professeur est renvoy e. Avant de partir, cette jeune femme confie Emily, qui est orpheline, qu'elle a connu son p re mais se refuse lui en dire beaucoup plus. Quelques temps apr s, gr ce Cecilia, Emily a quitt la pension et trouv un travail de secr taire chez sir Jarvis... (plus) En 1881, la jeune Emily Brown et sa meilleure amie Cecilia Wyvil sont pensionnaires dans une cole pour jeunes filles. Peu avant les vacances estivales, Emily, apprend qu'une jeune professeur est renvoy e. Avant de partir, cette jeune femme confie Emily, qui est orpheline, qu'elle a connu son p re mais se refuse lui en dire beaucoup plus. Quelques temps apr s, gr ce Cecilia, Emily a quitt la pension et trouv un travail de secr taire chez sir Jarvis Redwood. Malheureusement, Emily doit rapidement se rendre Londres, sa tante est gravement malade. Et l , elle d couvre qu'on lui cache quelque chose sur l d c s de son p re. D cid e, obstin e, Emily fera tout pour d couvrir les v ritables causes de cette mort.

"Le Secret - Livre IV" par Wilkie Collins. Wilkie Collins tait un crivain britannique (1824-1889).

The Frozen Deep is an 1856 play, originally staged as an amateur theatrical, written by Wilkie Collins under the substantial guidance of Charles Dickens. The play's genesis lay in the conflict between Dickens and John Rae's report on the fate of the Franklin expedition. In May 1845, the "Franklin expedition" left England in search of the Northwest Passage. It was last seen in July 1845, after which the members of the expedition were lost without trace. In October 1854, John Rae (using reports from "Eskimo" (Inuit) eyewitnesses, who informed that they had seen 40 "white men" and later 35 corpses) described the fate of the Franklin expedition in a confidential report to the Admiralty: "From the mutilated state of many of the corpses and the contents of the kettles it is evident that our wretched countrymen had been driven to the last resource-cannibalism-as a means of prolonging survival. This blunt report was presented under the assumption that truth would be preferred to uncertainty. The Admiralty made this report public. Rae's report caused much distress and anger. The public believed, with Lady Franklin, that the Arctic explorer was "clean, Christian and genteel" and that an Englishman was able to "survive anywhere" and "to triumph over any adversity through faith, scientific objectivity, and superior spirit." Dickens not only wrote to discredit the Inuit evidence, he attacked the Inuit character, writing: "We believe every savage in his heart covetous, treacherous, and cruel: and we have yet to learn what knowledge the white man-lost, houseless, shipless, apparently forgotten by his race, plainly famine-stricken, weak, frozen and dying-has of the gentleness of Exquimaux nature." Jen Hill writes that Dickens's "invocation of racialized stereotypes of cannibalistic behavior foregrounded Rae's own foreignness." John Rae was a Scot, not English, and thus held to not be "pledged to the patriotic, empire-building aims of the military." The play by Dickens and Wilkie Collins, The Frozen Deep, was an allegorical play about the missing Arctic expedition. The Rae character was turned into a suspicious, power-hungry nursemaid who predicted the expedition's doom in her effort to ruin the happiness of the delicate heroine.

The Black Robe is an 1881 epistolary novel by famed English writer, Wilkie Collins. The book relates the misadventures of Lewis Romayne, and is also noted for a perceived anti-Catholic bias. As the story begins, Romayne and his friend, Major Hynd, are in Boulogne to visit Romayne's aunt, who is dying. While there, Romayne attends a card game, where he has an argument with a corrupt card sharp, the General, who challenges him to a duel. However, the general doesn't turn up himself but nominates his son, an accurate shot, who should win the duel. Romayne absolutely does not want to fight but is goaded into doing so. Against the odds, he accidentally kills his opponent, and the screams of the man's brother after the death come to haunt Romayne for the rest of his life. Romayne returns to his Yorkshire home, called Vange Abbey. Even in his own home, the Frenchman's younger brother's awful cries follow him. He finally leaves for London, to visit his old friend Lord Loring, who is the patriarch of a well-heeled Catholic family. While there, he meets Stella Eyrecourt, who falls in love with him. A Catholic priest named Father Benwell, who serves as a spiritual leader for the Lorings, determines that he will convert Romayne to the church, employing the services of young priest, Arthur Penrose, to this end. This is all done in an attempt to bring Romayne's family home, Vange, back to the church, who owned it before Romayne's family. Romayne, who is still haunted by the duel, sends Major Hynd to enquire about the family of the man he killed in hopes of assisting them monetarily. Additionally, he confides in Penrose who becomes a true friend to Romayne, despite his presumed ulterior motives. Father Benwell employs various tactics to undermine Romayne's marriage to Stella, finally culminating in the revelation of Stella's prior bigamous marriage to Bernard Winterfield. Winterfield had fallen in love with Stella and married her while erroneously believing that his wife from a previous marriage was dead. Eventually, Romayne is promoted to an ecclesiastical post in Paris. However, knowing that he is dying, Romayne finally decides to see Stella and his son. Father Benwell brings Romayne's lawyer to his deathbed, trting to confirm the validity of the will in an attempt to ensure the church inherits Vange. But as he dies, Romayne acknowledges he loves his wife and child, and has the will destroyed. This causes Vange-and the entire inheritance-to pass to his family, foiling Benwell's plans In writing the book, Collins has been accused of perpetuating an anti-Catholic bias common in the late 19th century. Collins himself may have helped fuel this belief, as he wrote to the Canadian Publisher of The Black Robe, regarding the Jesuits, "We must do all that we can to keep these 'black-robed gentlemen' within due limits.

The Dead Alive, also called John Jago's Ghost, is a novella written in 1874 by Wilkie Collins based on the Boorn Brothers murder case. The first idea of this little story was suggested to the author by a printed account of a trial which actually took place, early in the present century, in the United States... It may not be amiss to add, for the benefit of incredulous readers, that all the ''improbable events'' in the story are matters of fact, taken from the printed narrative.

"Le Secret - Livre III" par Wilkie Collins. Wilkie Collins tait un crivain britannique (1824-1889).

"Le Secret - Livre II" par Wilkie Collins. Wilkie Collins tait un crivain britannique (1824-1889).

"La Femme en blanc" par Wilkie Collins. Wilkie Collins tait un crivain britannique (1824-1889).

A Rogue's Life is a classic biography of the great English writer, Charles Dickens, by his close friend and colleague, Wilkie Collins. The critical reader may possibly notice a tone of almost boisterous gayety in certain parts of these imaginary Confessions. I can only plead, in defense, that the story offers the faithful reflection of a very happy time in my past life. It was written at Paris, when I had Charles Dickens for a near neighbor and a daily companion, and when my leisure hours were joyously passed with many other friends, all associated with literature and art, of whom the admirable comedian, Regnier, is now the only survivor.

Miss or Mrs.? is a venerable and classic crime thriller novel from Wilkie Collins and another gripping detective story from the great English mystery author.

"Le Secret - Livre VI" par Wilkie Collins. Wilkie Collins tait un crivain britannique (1824-1889).