The Moonstone

¶ … Moonstone," a cornerstone in English literature that marks the birth of detective novels

Wilkie Collins published his novel "The Moonstone" in 1868, after a series of novels that had already consecrated him as a genius in the art of sensational fiction. The genre became popular, at that time, in England and abroad, thorough the translations of Collins' novels. "The Moonstone" is written in a narrative form of a detective novel that leads thorough the complicated but well constructed plot built around the theft of a diamond of Indian origin from "a quiet English house" (The Moonstone, p. 46).

In the preface to his novel, Collins emphasizes the fact that the narrative form took over in the construction of The Moonstone, as compared to his previous works: "In some of my former novels, the object proposed had been to trace the influence of circumstances upon character. In the present story I have reversed the process. The attempt made, here, is to trace the influence of characters on circumstances" (The Moonstone, p.3).

The focus on the characters who are defining the atmosphere and bringing their own versions of the truth, passing their own judgments on the other characters involved in the story, is characteristic for theatre and Collins' detective novel embraces some of the techniques of this literary form. As someone once said about this novel: it belongs to a genre that should be called "storywright."

The introduction of the object whose story will generate the chain of events in the book is as grandiose as the object itself: the Idian yellow diamond. The first narrator, John Herncastle's cousin, writes to his relatives in England about the story of the diamond. He introduces the dramatic story of its history throughout the centuries, up to the battle of Seringapatam, in India, in 1799, where he and his cousin were present on the combatant side of the English troops. The story is dramatic and the drama is reflected in the words Herncastle's cousin uses to set the yellow diamond in the historical context and to add the mythical and mysterious dimension to this supposedly sacred object. History plays an important part in the presentation as it relies on the imperialistic forces that subjugated India and disregarded some of the country's most sacred values.

Robert P. Ashley, Jr. wrote in 1950 an article dedicated to Collins that was aimed at finding and explaining the reasons for the lack of success for Collins' writings in the world of literary criticism of his time, as opposed to the success he had to the public in the same period. Although he recognizes the merits of the predecessor of the modern detective novel, Ashley expresses his opinion that Collins has never surpassed the boundaries of a storyteller, however good his work would be: "Yet, it is a fact that he rarely, if ever, emerged from the confines of melodrama and sensation. Whatever his intentions and ambitions, plot inevitably took command in his narratives and dominated character and theme" (Wilkie Collins Reconsidered, p.270). This opinion has been contradicted by other literary critics who considered Collins' novel a literary work whose merits are not relying on the single fact that the author created a successful detective story and nothing more.

After having presented the history of the Hindu diamond and how it arrived in England, the frame of the actual story is built by the first storyteller: Gabriel Betteredge, house-steward in the service of Julia, Lady Verinder. The reference to Robinson Crusoe the steward quotes in the beginning of his story sends to the imperialistic journeys novels and reinforces the enterprise that surpasses the plot of a detective story Collins undertook in The Moonstone. The famous English humor manifests itself in the style Betteredge uses in his storytelling.

The first person to tell the story of the diamond as it happened on British soil is a seventy-year-old steward who is characterized by Mr. Franklin Blake, Lady Verider's nephew, as a person who knows more than anyone. Mr. Blake acts like the author himself, giving his narrators indications and explanations regarding the development of the story. He is actually explaining the very purpose of using multiple voices to bring the pieces of a suspense story together: "We have certain events to relate…and we have certain persons concerned in those events who are capable of relating them" (The Moonstone, p. 21). The first narrator, Mr. Betteredge introduces himself as one of the most objective characters in relation to the story since he needs to hear the explanation regarding his choice as the first and main narrator.

In both The Woman in White and The Moonstone, Colllins uses techniques that vary from those related to theater to the documentary. He masters the plot by using the testimonies of narrators who act as the interviewed witnesses. They are not forced, but they make their statements willingly and reveal a great deal about their own character and place in the frame of the story. The detective style approach is an undertaking that allows the public to take part in the development as it is narrated in turns by those who know and share or obscure parts of the truth as they know it.