Wilkie Collins
Peter Ackroyd
2012
Chatto and Windus
186 pages
Ready for another dose of Wilkie enthusiasm? Of course you are!
I read this biography alongside reading The Moonstone to cash in on all the Wilkie goodness (and goodness it truly is). I bought this hardback practically the minute it was released and then (quite unfairly) abandoned it on my shelf and left it languishing there. I'm actually pretty glad I so carelessly left it on the shelf because, as it turned out, it was the perfect accompaniment to my month of Wilkie.
This is a short biography and shouldn't really be taken as a definitive life of the Wilkster. There aren't any excessive footnotes here. Rather it is a concise and entertaining overview of his life, with some brilliant explorations of his work.
Peter Ackroyd has such a brilliant style. I'm usually a bit turned off by biographies but in this case I was entertained throughout. Granted Wilkie had an interesting life, but there is something about the way Ackroyd comments on his behaviour that I found completely wonderful. Reading this has actually made me feel like trying more biographies, just to see how I'd get on. I'm certainly going to look out for another Wilkie biography, now I've had a taste of his ridiculously interesting life.
I think a few quotes are the best way to demonstrate the brilliance of this book:
On Wilkie's reunion with Martha after some time away: 'That reunion is not in doubt, since Martha gave birth to their third child nine months and seven days later.'
On his name: 'He was always simply known as Wilkie, not as Collins or Mr Collins.'
On his sexual and romantic adventures: 'To have two mistresses was, even by the standards of the nineteenth century, a precarious situation; but Collins seems to have adapted to it quite naturally and cheerfully.' - I bet he did, the saucy bugger.
He was an opium addict and a womaniser (though he did seem to treat his ladies relatively well) but his enthusiasm for his work almost measures up to my enthusiasm for his work. He always met his deadlines and wrote continuously until his death. I can't help but love him, and this overview and insight into his life has only made me love him even more. What's wrong with having a slight obsession with a nineteenth century womanising novelist? Nothing in my book.
Do you read many biographies? Would you rather read a short, overview-y biography or a detailed blow by blow account of someone's life?
Peter Ackroyd has such a brilliant style. I'm usually a bit turned off by biographies but in this case I was entertained throughout. Granted Wilkie had an interesting life, but there is something about the way Ackroyd comments on his behaviour that I found completely wonderful. Reading this has actually made me feel like trying more biographies, just to see how I'd get on. I'm certainly going to look out for another Wilkie biography, now I've had a taste of his ridiculously interesting life.
I think a few quotes are the best way to demonstrate the brilliance of this book:
On Wilkie's reunion with Martha after some time away: 'That reunion is not in doubt, since Martha gave birth to their third child nine months and seven days later.'
On his name: 'He was always simply known as Wilkie, not as Collins or Mr Collins.'
On his sexual and romantic adventures: 'To have two mistresses was, even by the standards of the nineteenth century, a precarious situation; but Collins seems to have adapted to it quite naturally and cheerfully.' - I bet he did, the saucy bugger.
He was an opium addict and a womaniser (though he did seem to treat his ladies relatively well) but his enthusiasm for his work almost measures up to my enthusiasm for his work. He always met his deadlines and wrote continuously until his death. I can't help but love him, and this overview and insight into his life has only made me love him even more. What's wrong with having a slight obsession with a nineteenth century womanising novelist? Nothing in my book.
Do you read many biographies? Would you rather read a short, overview-y biography or a detailed blow by blow account of someone's life?
