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The Haunted Hotel - Wilkie Collins
The Haunted Hotel
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4.00 5
In this story, as the chief character is internally melodramatic, the story itself ceases to be merely melodramatic, and partakes of true dreams - T.S. EliotLike Poe before him and Conan Doyle after, Wilkie Collins shifted easily from rational domains to the "supernatural". Like them, he is famed... show more
In this story, as the chief character is internally melodramatic, the story itself ceases to be merely melodramatic, and partakes of true dreams - T.S. EliotLike Poe before him and Conan Doyle after, Wilkie Collins shifted easily from rational domains to the "supernatural". Like them, he is famed for original contributions to "ratiocinative" (detective) literature, but often preferred to indulge his occult predilection - a lifelong indulgence. His first published story The Last Stage Coach Man (1843) was a supernatural allegory of trains; perhaps his last lucid effort (before ill health and opium drained his powers) was his short novel, The Haunted Hotel (1878).Collins' methods and themes, developed and elaborated in his earlier, massive novels, are streamlined and concentrated here into a tight novelette. The same relentless pace and narrative power, the same attention to plot and backdrop detail that distinguish The Moonstone and The Woman in White are evident here, as is the obsession with destiny and willful struggle against it.Collins' much-loved Venice provides the scenery and fatal beauty, the grim waterways and palaces the author will haunt with mysterious woman, grotesques and bloody conspiracies. The Countess Narona is one of Collins' cosmopolitan enchantresses; she acts, but as a tool of her doom. T.S. Eliot wrote, The principal character, the fatal woman, is herself obsessed by the idea of fatality; her motives are melodramatic; she therefore compels the coincidences to occur, feeling that she is compelled to compel them. Collins relieves the tension with some wry characterizations and ironies; the theatrics are sustained. Indeed, theatrical motifs figure heavily, Collins himself being heavily involved with the stage at that period.The Haunted Hotel appears to be loosely based upon a case from teh annals of French crime; the scene, scenery, players and conflicts, and especially the horror, come straight from Collins' overstimulated, no doubt overwrought, most certainly haunted imagination.
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Format: ebook
Publisher: Project Gutenberg
Pages no: 145
Edition language: English
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Community Reviews
EpicFehlReader
EpicFehlReader rated it
3.0 Review | The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins
This is the second or third Wilkie Collins book I've read and I feel like he maybe used the 19th century equivalent of "click bait" to get readers lol. This and The Woman In White are both books with misleading titles. The Haunted Hotel is just under 130 pages and I would say MAYBE a dozen of those ...
tmwstw
tmwstw rated it
4.0 The Haunted Hotel
Great story, well written and good characters, with the story being told at an enjoyable pace which maintains your interest. It is not until the last couple of chapters that the "truth" is revealed, and then as with all good books of this type you are not quite sure if the "truth" has been told. Gre...
Danielle's Reading Adventures
Danielle's Reading Adventures rated it
4.0
I liked this story. It was multifaceted in that it was not just a haunted house story, but also a murder mystery. Collins builds the suspense and the feeling of curiosity that keeps the reader engaged. I found the writing to be far from dated. The language was not antiquated, but felt almost moder...
Rene Hasekamp
Rene Hasekamp rated it
This book by Wilkie Collins was a disappointment to me after The Women in White. Th book starts good and one is hopeful to read a good mystery novel. However, the way the mystery is solved by Collins was a great disappointment to me.
Marvin's Bookish Blog
Marvin's Bookish Blog rated it
3.0
This is Wilkie Collins' only novel that has a supernatural theme. It is a solid entry in the genre of Victorian ghost stories but is in no way the equal of Collins' mysteries, The Moonstone and The Woman In White. Nonetheless it is quite entertaining. Again we have strong female characters and many ...
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