#marian halcombe

[paris-in-space]

The idea for this has been circling around my head since I finished listening to the audiobook.

#the woman in white #the woman in white Wilkie Collins #marian halcombe #Walter hartright #Laura Fairlie #Anne Catherick #Paris’s box of classic lit blorbos

[costumeloverz71]

Marian Halcombe (Jessie Buckley) Green (or tan) embroidered coat & red vest.. The Woman In White (2018).. Costume by Susan Scott.

#marian halcombe #jessie buckley #the woman in white #susan scott

[alioshakaramazov]

#the woman in white #wilkie collins #if i was count fosco i simply would have let her kill me. rip to him but im different #marian halcombe

[avrelia]

Wow. I want this book badly.

Illustrations for "The Woman in White" by Wilkie Collins by Victoria Semykina Published by ELI 2016

More illustrations from here:

#woman in white #wilkie collins #victoria semykina #art #illustration #marian halcombe #laura fairlie #anna catherick #walter hartright #count fosco #sir percival glyde #madame fosco #frederick fairlie

[mxcottonsocks]

I hardly know to what forgetfulness of my obligations anxiety and alarm might not have tempted me, but for the quieting influence of my faith in Marian. My absolute reliance on her was the one earthly consideration which helped me to restrain myself, and gave me courage to wait.

The Woman in White, Third Epoch: Part 10

I really like the relationship between Walter and Marian. Their trust in each other and the way they work together is lovely.

#walter hartright #marian halcombe #walter+marian brotp #the woman in white #the woman in white weekly #3rd epoch part 10 #op tag

[aftout]

Ok Halcombe class doodle because uhm Collins was a bit confused I think

That is My wife

#a little bit too obsessed with the outfit she wore when applying for the royal society #juliette’s draft #my art #marian halcombe #gothic lit au

[red-umbrella-811]

“Any woman who is sure of her own wits is a match at any time for a man who is not sure of his own temper.”

—Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White

#the woman in white weekly #the woman in white #marian halcombe

[mfjenks]

Ladies and gentlemen, SHE

#the woman in white #marian halcombe #jessie buckley

[wheelsupin-azarathmetrionzinthos]

More of you need to read the Woman in White and understand that Marian Halcombe is one of the best characters ever created. 

#wilkie collins #Marian Halcombe #get on her level #the woman in white #she's the best

[farminglesbian]

the woman in white (2018) –episode 2

#the woman in white #jessie buckley #marian halcombe #so true ines #the outfits in this are sooo good #also what a horror story augh #patriarchy eh

[bookshelf-in-progress]

Daughter of the House of Dreams: A Fragment

Author's Note: This is the opening to a long-abandoned "Sleeping Beauty" retelling that I no longer plan to write, but I still like it as a piece of prose, and it sparked my enduring interest in second-person narration, so it feels relevant, and why should long-dead authors be the only ones who get to have their unfinished fragments published?

If you ever travel to Monetta City, be sure to visit Faraway Lane. Walk past the glittering new shops, and the shoppers in their bright silk dresses and top hats, and you'll find a cozy stone shop at the end of the street. This shop isn't grand and mighty like the other shops. It won't sniff and turn you away if your clothes aren't the latest fashion. It's a grandmotherly old shop that shakes its head at the prancing and preening of the younger shops, and invites you in instead. It holds no wares in its windows; it hardly has windows at all. But it has a warm and wide wooden door, with a shingle hanging above—Alessia Day, maker of dreams.

Don't ponder the sign's message too long—it means exactly what it says. Just slip inside, shut the door behind you, and look. Don't breathe too deeply, unless you want a week of crazy dreams, but allow yourself one gasp of astonishment. You won't be able to stop yourself. No living person has failed to feel awe toward the rows and rows of shelves, longer than streets and taller than palaces, filled to bursting with glass bottles in such bright colors that the dresses in the other shops' windows would weep in envy. Some bottles are the size of thumbnails. Most fit comfortably in the palm. Some are as large as breadboxes or steamer trunks or carriage horses, but the shelves manage to fit them all. And each bottle is filled to the brim with dreams.

If you don't understand, ask Alessia Day. You'll find her at a counter half a mile from the door, polishing bottles and humming a song you've heard but can't remember. She's an old woman now, and proud of it, but squint your eyes and start to daydream, and you'll see her as I remember her—a willow-wand girl with shining brown hair and eyes that sparkle with half-formed jokes.

Tell this girl how pretty she is (she'll laugh and call you crazy) and ask about her dreams. She'll tell you of her stock and sell you any dream you ask for—daydreams and pipe dreams, dreams of love, dreams of adventure, dreams of loved ones lost and loved ones found and people you've never met but wish you had. She'll show you dreams of lush and perfect islands, dreams where fishes fly through the air, and dreams where people swim the seas with fishes' tails. She'll pull down dreams that last a second but linger a lifetime, dreams that fill a month of stormy nights, dreams that fade on waking and dreams that drown out memories. If you let her, she'll talk of dreams until you drift off, and she'll bottle up your dream while you doze.

But if you're smart (I know you are) you'll step to the counter with a clear glass bottle, empty of everything but air, and ask for her story instead. She'd distill it in a dream for you, and be glad to do it—I once saw her whip it up in half a minute, and I'll bet she's even faster now. Buy the dream, but don't drink it right away. You won't be ready for it. Linger in the shop a while. Hear the story first from Alessia Day's lips, in that voice of hers that's sweeter than singing.

You won't believe half of it, but when you stagger from the shop and wander the empty, starlit streets, you'll ponder over passages until you stumble into bed at sunrise. And when you wake, the world will be different—you'll see tiny footprints on the windowsills, know things about the shadows on the walls, tip your hat to creatures in the corner of your eye, and realize there is another color no one else can see. You'll laugh and call it your imagination, but every second Tuesday, you'll start to wonder if the old woman was right, if the things she told you were true.

If you drink the dream she made, you'll know. I'll understand if you don't—some things are easier not to know. But if you do, and dream through her story, come to my house and ring the bell. My man will let you in—he'll know you by the wonder on your face. He'll bring you to my study, set you in my oldest, softest chair, and get us both settled with a steaming pot of tea. Then, once you've finished babbling, I'll close my eyes and tell you my part in the tale.

#the bookshelf progresses #i had completely forgotten the story that this was supposed to be the prologue to #then over the weekend i found the plot summary again #it was actually pretty cool #it was about this girl whose family served as the most prestigious dream-makers in the nation #because they provide dreams to the famed cursed and sleeping princess #and then she discovers that the princess could have been woken a bunch of times over the century #but her family prevented it because they didn't want to lose their cash cow #and then of course she has to find a way to break the curse #i don't know why i thought having this random dude as narrator was the way to go #(unless the story morphed a lot between initial idea and whatever story i intended to write with this prologue) #he was probably in the prince role #and would marry the princess while remaining friends with alessia #beyond that i have no clue what i was going for #(also i don't think i would do the 'he teams up with this girl and marries someone else' plot if i did it today #because i hate marian halcombe situations where the hero develops a strong dynamic with his adventure partner #only to for some inexplicable reason marry someone pretty and boring) #anyway today's a day where i want to write and don't really have time to #so i'm just posting this instead

[paris-in-space]

The Woman in White main characters lineup.

Walter, Anne, Marian and Laura.

I listened to the audiobook over the past few weeks, really enjoyed it, and had an idea for a drawing with these characters, so I did these designs for them first.

#the woman in white #the woman in white Wilkie Collins #Walter Hartright #Anne Catherick #Marian Halcombe #Laura Fairlie #Paris’s box of classic lit blorbos

[the-busy-ghost]

Love that Wilkie Collins apparently kept getting letters from guys who were convinced that Marian Halcombe must have been based on a real woman, begging him to introduce them because they were desperate to marry her

#Look Marian didn't need a man but also good for the girl that gets introduced to us as the ugly sister #And I don't mean in that silly Hollywood 'wears glasses but is otherwise conventionally hot way' #I mean 'there is nothing wrong with this woman but she has features that are still mocked and treated with revulsion in the 21st century #So yeah Marian can get it #Poor Wilkie Collins though like how many times do you have to break the hearts of various Berties and Georges and Neds #Before they understand that this fictional character you created isn't going to marry them #All these dudes totally convinced that he was hiding her somewhere #Not to mention all the exasperated parents in Britain whose sons won't get married because they're pining for a fictional woman #Young Algernon COULD be working hard to get a promotion at the bank but instead he's rereading the woman in white again #Cecil turns down a perfectly good job in Canada because he's president of the West Dulwich branch of the Miss Halcombe fan club #And I realise I sound very dismissive but honestly? Good for these young men as well #The Woman in White

[alioshakaramazov]

Who cares for his causes of complaint? Are you to break your heart to set his mind at ease? No man under heaven deserves these sacrifices from us women. Men! They are the enemies of our innocence and our peace—they drag us away from our parents’ love and our sisters’ friendship—they take us body and soul to themselves, and fasten our helpless lives to theirs as they chain up a dog to his kennel. And what does the best of them give us in return? Let me go, Laura—I’m mad when I think of it!

Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White

#she's my everything #the woman in white #wilkie collins #marian halcombe

[thethirdromana]

I can't remember who said it first, but I 100% agree that Marian Halcombe should have been the main character of The Woman in White (@animate-mush you quoted someone else saying this? I think?). I get that a female character couldn't dart around the country investigating like Walter can, but she could, for instance, have been the one to collate all the documents and draw the conclusions. That didn't all have to be Walter.

What I find fascinating is... I think Bram Stoker came to the same conclusion? His capable, efficient female character with initials MH is at the centre of the narrative: she collates the documents, and she at least co-directs the energies of the men. Marian almost vanishes from the story in Epoch 3; Mina is there from start to finish. I genuinely wonder if the boys learn to regret excluding Mina because Walter never learned to regret excluding Marian.

If so, good work, Bram. You did do it better.

#woman in white weekly #dracula daily #dracula spoilers

[mxcottonsocks]

Last week we got a general introduction to Count Fosco, but this week I think we really saw him in action for the first time. He does have a certain charm to him, which leaves me (like Marian last week) with a "half-unwilling liking for the Count." He is a lot of fun to read. And he does make some good points, e.g. "If the police win, you generally hear all about it. If the police lose, you generally hear nothing."

But we can see from the conversation that his morals are... not great. And his seeming celebration of "wise criminals", and belief that they are more common than is generally thought, doesn't seem to bode well...

And we do see that he is clever. We can see that in how he draws out information from the groom. I assume he used similar tactics on Marian (with the unintended help of Laura) when asking her about Mrs Catherick.

The most chilling thing about Count Fosco, though, remains his wife. We're left to wonder what exactly he did to her to so fully "tame" a woman who "advocated the Rights of Women, [including] freedom of female opinion" into a woman who "waits to be instructed [...] before I venture on giving my opinion in the presence of well-informed men". Just how did he break and remake her?

#count fosco #madame fosco #marian halcombe #laura fairlie #the woman in white #the woman in white weekly #2nd epoch part 3 #2nd epoch part 2 #domestic abuse mention #well implied