The Woman in White is an epistolary novel written by Wilkie Collins in 1859, serialized in 1859-1860, and first published in book form in 1860. It is considered to be among the first mystery novels and is widely regarded as one of the first (and finest) in the genre of 'sensation novels'. Wilkie Collins William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and writer of short stories. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Titlepage of Aphra Behns Love-Letters (1684) An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. ... Detective fiction is a branch of crime fiction that centres upon the investigation of a crime, usually murder, by a detective, either professional or amateur. ... The sensation novel was a literary genre of fiction popular in Great Britain in the 1860s and 1870s. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... All the Year Round was a weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens which was published between 1859 and 1859. ... Hardcover books A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth, heavy paper, or sometimes leather). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... ISBN redirects here. ... As a proper name, No Name can refer to: A 19th-century sensation novel by Wilkie Collins A folk boyband from Montenegro (see No Name (band)) A rock band from Slovakia (see No Name (Slovak band)) A private label brand of the Canadian food retailer Loblaw Companies Limited (see no... Original logo for the musical The Woman in White. ... Titlepage of Aphra Behns Love-Letters (1684) An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. ... Wilkie Collins William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and writer of short stories. ... Year 1859 (MDCCCLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... The term serial refers to the intrinsic property of a series —namely its order. ... 1860 is the leap year starting on Sunday. ... Mystery fiction is a distinct subgenre of detective fiction that entails the occurrence of an unknown event which requires the protagonist to make known (or solve). ... The sensation novel was a literary genre of fiction popular in Great Britain in the 1860s and 1870s. ...

Plot introduction

The story begins when the hero, art master Walter Hartright, encounters a mysterious woman dressed all in white on a moonlit road in Hampstead. She is in a state of confusion and distress, and Hartright helps her to find her way back to London. In return, she warns him against a certain (unnamed) baronet, "a man of rank and title". Immediately after they part, Hartright learns that she may have escaped from an asylum. For other places with the same name, see Hampstead (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... For the brush-footed butterfly species, see Euthalia nais. ... A psychiatric hospital (also called, at various places and times, mental hospital or mental ward, historically often asylum, lunatic asylum, or madhouse), is a hospital specialising in the treatment of persons with mental illness. ...

He goes to Cumberland to take up a position as art tutor at Limmeridge House to two young women: Marian Halcombe and her wealthy half-sister, Laura Fairlie. He finds to his amazement that the story of the woman in white may be entangled with the lives of the two sisters. As a further complication, Walter and Laura fall rapidly in love. But she is already engaged, by her father's wish, to a man named Sir Percival Glyde, a baronet. In British, Australian, New Zealand, and some Canadian universities, a tutor is often but not always a postgraduate student or a lecturer assigned to conduct a seminar for undergraduate students, often known as a tutorial. ...

Walter and Marian together delve deeper into the mystery of the strange woman and engage in a battle of wits with Glyde's enigmatic Italian friend Count Fosco.

Discussion

The various strands of the plot combine to produce a thrilling story, leading this particular type of fiction to be described as 'sensation'. The sensation novel was a literary genre of fiction popular in Great Britain in the 1860s and 1870s. ...

The Woman In White is also an early example of a particular type of Collins narrative in which several characters in turn take up the telling of the story. This creates a complex web in which readers are unsure which narrators can, and cannot, be trusted. Collins used this technique in his other novels, including The Moonstone. This technique was copied by other novelists, including Bram Stoker, author of Dracula (1897), although by the end of the 19th century the technique was considered "old fashioned". For other uses, see Moonstone. ... Abraham Bram Stoker (November 8, 1847 – April 20, 1912) was an Irish writer, best remembered as the author of the influential horror novel Dracula. ... This article is about the novel. ...

As was customary at that time, The Woman in White was first published as a magazine serial. The first episode appeared on 29 November 1859 in Charles Dickens's magazine All the Year Round in England, and Harper's Magazine in America. It caused an immediate sensation. Julian Symons (in his 1974 introduction to the Penguin edition) reports that "queues formed outside the offices to buy the next instalment. Bonnets, perfumes, waltzes and quadrilles were called by the book's title. Gladstone cancelled a theatre engagement to go on reading it. And Prince Albert sent a copy to Baron Stockmar." The term serial refers to the intrinsic property of a series —namely its order. ... Dickens redirects here. ... All the Year Round was a weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens which was published between 1859 and 1859. ... Harpers redirects here. ... William Ewart Gladstone (29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British Liberal Party statesman and Prime Minister (1868–1874, 1880–1885, 1886 and 1892–1894). ... Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (in full Francis Charles Augustus Albert Emmanuel), later The Prince Consort, (26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the husband and consort of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ...

A strong theme in the novel is that of marriage and its impact on women (in particular on Laura Fairlie). The plot revolves around men stealing women's identities.

Count Fosco is a brilliant man, equally at home in art and science, a devotee of the opera and a deep student of chemistry who makes use of his pharmaceutical skills to further his treacherous plots. He is flamboyant, charismatic, Falstaffian, courtly, refined, romantic, and even tender-hearted (at least in regard to the little mice and birds he keeps), a breathtaking, larger-than-life villain whose exceeding pleasure in his own malevolent genius is only complete when he is forced to reveal his villainy, in all its glory, in a written confession at the climax of the novel.

Adaptations

Theater

• 2004 Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical The Woman in White

Film and television Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is a highly successful English composer of musical theatre, and also the elder brother of cellist Julian Lloyd Webber. ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... Original logo for the musical The Woman in White. ...

• 1912 Hollywood silent film
  • The Woman In White at the Internet Movie Database
• 1912 Hollywood silent film
  • The Woman In White at the Internet Movie Database
• 1917 Hollywood silent film
  • The Woman In White at the Internet Movie Database
• 1929 British silent film adapted by Robert Cullen starring Haddon Mason as Walter Hartright and Louise Prussing as Marian Halcombe
  • The Woman In White at the Internet Movie Database
• The 1940 film Crimes at the Dark House (1940) directed by George King is loosely based on The Woman in White with Tod Slaughter playing the part of the false Sir Percival Glyde and Hay Petrie as Count Fosco.
• 1948 Hollywood film adapted by Stephen Morehouse Avery starring Gig Young as Walter Hartright, Alexis Smith as Marian Halcombe, and Sydney Greenstreet as Count Fosco.
  • The Woman In White at the Internet Movie Database
• 1982 BBC miniseries adapted by Ray Jenkins starring Daniel Gerroll as Walter Hartright and Diana Quick as Marian Halcombe
  • The Woman In White at the Internet Movie Database
• 1982 Soviet film under the Russian title Zhenshchina v belom, directed by Vadim Derbenyov and starring Aleksandr Abdulov as Walter Hartright and Lithuanian actress Gražina Baikštite as both Laura Fairlie and Anne Catherick
  • Zhenshchina v belom at the Internet Movie Database
• 1997 BBC TV series adapted by David Pirie starring Andrew Lincoln as Walter Hartright and Tara Fitzgerald as Marian Halcombe; also broadcast on PBS television in 1998
  • The Woman In White at the Internet Movie Database
• A Woman in White was featured in the Pilot episode of the CW's Supernatural

Literature The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... The year 1940 in film involved some significant events. ... Tod Slaughter (19 March 1885 - 19 February 1956) was an English film actor, known for playing over-the-top maniacs in macabre Victorian settings in films. ... Gig Young (November 4, 1913 – October 19, 1978) was an Academy Award-winning American film actor. ... Alexis Smith Alexis Smith (June 8, 1921 – June 9, 1993) was an actress. ... Sydney Hughes Greenstreet (December 27, 1879 – January 18, 1954) was an English actor. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... Daniel Gerroll (born 16 October 1951 in London, England) is an actor, best known for his appearances on American television. ... Diana Quick (born on 23 November 1947 in London, England) is an English actress, best known for her role as Julia in Brideshead Revisited. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... Soviet redirects here. ... Aleksandr Abdulov (b. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... David Pirie (born December 16, 1953 in Liverpool, England) is a screenwriter, film producer, film critic, and novelist. ... Andrew Lincoln (born 14 September 1973) is an English actor, known for his roles in the series This Life (as Egg) and Teachers. ... Tara Fitzgerald (born September 18, 1967 in Sussex) is an English actress most widely known for her film roles in Sirens (opposite Hugh Grant) and the 1996 film Brassed Off. ... PBS redirects here. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... This article is about the US TV series. ...

• Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child published the novel Brimstone (2004), featuring a modern re-imagining of the villain Count Fosco.
• James Wilson, The Dark Clue (2001): a "sequel" to The Woman in White

Douglas Preston (born 1956 in Cambridge, Massachusetts) is an author of several techno-thriller and horror novels with Lincoln Child. ... Lincoln Child (born 1957) is an author of techno-thriller and horror novels. ... Brimstone is an archaic name for sulfur. ...

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

The Woman in White (novel)

• The Woman in White, available at Project Gutenberg.