Dickensians! discussion
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No Thoroughfare
Dramatic Dickens! Year
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No Thoroughfare (hosted by Lee)
For Your Perusalhttp://goldstraw.org.uk/no_thoroughfa...
I found this article and copy, 1st edition, of the play months ago. The connection says it is not secure, but the Foreward and the Afterword have incredibly well researched information. This PDF does include the entire text of the play. I will re-post this link in August.
I don't mind at all if you read the play but comments on it specifically should hold until August 1, Sam, when we have completed Dickens's novel. Note: (I have changed my original opinion as it seems to become confusing to analyze both works simultaneously. ) I will post my last summary of the novel Thursday, August 1.
I found so much wonderful information here that I cannot attempt to summarize it all, as, after all, my original intent was to explore only the novel. I believe now that the 2 stories are so intertwined that neither can be complete without the other!
Bionic Jean wrote: "A book we've mentioned once or twice Victorian Writers and the Stage: The Plays of Dickens, Browning, Collins and Tennyson (Connie first discovered it) has some interesting details ..." and "The end of his sentence is that '.. on the stage it introduced a third author: Charles Fechter, the lead actor.'"In message 119, Jean introduced some critical information which I missed, with apologies to Jean! She pointed out earlier the confusion surrounding the authorship of the play, and the fact that several versions of it starting popping up on the continent. The authorship became anyone's best guess.
I still maintain that our best source of information regarding authorship must remain with Collins and Dickens themselves. And as far as illegitimate theater goes, Wilkie Collins had fully established drama as his legitimate providence with his play The Frozen Deep. That is why Dickens felt totally comfortable assigning the drafting of the play to Collins, as we saw later in Dickens correspondence to an unnamed American publisher.
Bionic Jean wrote: "Thank you so much Lee, for summing up the last couple of years of Charles Dickens's life. Just a week age I was reading the final chapters of John Forster's biography..."I would really like to read the "Pilgrim Letters". (see Jean's message 149). It seems they contain a great deal of pertinent information.
As usual, Jean remains leaps and bounds ahead of me despite my best efforts!
Thank you, Jean!
S U M M A R Y - ACT III - "On the Mountain", Monday, July 29 (11 pages).*Note: I recommend that the reader review the passages “In the Valley” regarding the men’s overnight stay in Basle. There Vendale sampled Obenreizer’s “common cabaret brandy”, where Vendale observed, “It has a coarse after-flavour, and I don’t like it. . . It burns, though!”
"On The Mountain" begins with a mesmerizing description of their ascent of the Alps, as the two men leave the valley of the Rhone in the distance. The climb is rugged and difficult, but having been raised in the mountains and a practiced mountaineer, Obenreizer climbs easily and silently. Their destination is the first Hospice, a place of rest and lodging for Alpine climbers. They will stop briefly at several hospices.
They approach the Bridge of the Ganther, which is desolate in mid-winter. Obenreizer leads them across, warning Vendale that the slightest sound could bring upon them “tons and tons of snow, that would not only have struck you dead, but buried you deep, at a blow.” Vendale follows his guide trustingly until they reach the first Hospice, a solitary Inn where a few hardy travelers are resting. Obenreizer, prevents them from even speaking to his companion, saying ” . . . we want no advice and no help, [only] to eat and drink.”
A voice from the inn shouts a warning of the dangerous trek before them. “If the Tourmente [French for storm] comes on, take shelter instantly!” They continue and almost immediately are met by a raging storm. The violence of the storm is unmatched, and the travelers are confronted by a monster of blinding wind and chilling cold. Obenreizer produces his concoction of wine and offers it again to Vendale, who drinks. Then an ominous drowsiness overtakes Vendale in a place where to stop and rest would mean certain death.
Suddenly Vendale finds himself in a fierce and unexpected struggle with the hardy Obenreizer. It is a struggle to the death. The villain Obenreizer speaks: “I promised to guide you to your journey’s end . . . the journey of your life ends here.” As Vendale struggles, Obenreizer confesses all: his thievery of the money, his forging of Vendale’s signature and his intent to murder him.
Overwhelmed by his armed assassin and drugged by the poisoned wine, Vendale asks what has he ever done to deserve this treachery? Here Obenreizer invokes the very theme of the novel: Vendale has given him no exit, no thoroughfare . Dangling on the precipice of an icy cliff, Vendale shouts out a blessing for his beloved Marguerite. A great chasm of the mountain lies below, and he falls.
******* “The mountain storm raged again, and passed again. The awful mountain-voices died away, the moon rose, and the soft and silent snow fell.”
The story continues with only asterisks to mark the shocking transition. Marguerite appears out of nowhere. We are treated to the howl of dogs later in the night, and we learn that a group of men are out to rescue the lost travelers. Marguerite is with them! She is a mountain climber from her youth and loyal Joey Ladle accompanies her. The hounds follow the snowy trail until the rescuers reach the great abyss. Marguerite sees someone lying far below on a shelf of ice. The rescuers see no sign of life in the early morning light, and the danger is too great for a rescue. Marguerite rises and demands to be lowered to her lover, dead or alive.
The tension and suspense mount as a rescue is performed by the “inspired” woman. The body is raised on a litter and in the deathly silence she covers Vendale with her body.
A Note My apologies for the lengthy summary. I am puzzled as to why the author didn't turn this into two separate chapters. The entire novel pivots within these eleven pages. The "Illiminatable" is not to be questioned. I have my own suspicions as to why he put so much action and fury into one chapter. We can compare this to how the same events were handled in the drama soon.
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Thank goodness most people ignored Charles Dickens's request to destroy all the letters he had written and sent them, or we would not have any of this! We know that he made Georgina and Mamie carry armfuls of letters he had received (from great people like Tennyson etc.) outside and made a great bonfire of them! Such a loss 😟
"I still maintain that our best source of information regarding authorship must remain with Collins and Dickens themselves." Yes, absolutely. John Forster is our source for Dickens's own words (not sure about Collins) and Charles Dickens's son too also said how much he dreaded - and avoided whenever he could - train journeys after the train crash at Staplehurst.
What an eventful chapter we have today! And thank you for your excellent summary, which was no mean feat.
Lee wrote: "A Note My apologies for the lengthy summary. I am puzzled as to why the author didn't turn this into two separate chapters. The entire novel pivots within these eleven pages. The "Illimitable" is n..."Thank you very much Lee for this excellent summary of a dramatic chapter! Indeed I did not trust the brandy before. I cannot understand why Mr Vendale ventured alone with that weird Obenreizer.
These descriptions of an icy, mineral landscape are fantastic and threatening. The waterfalls and torrents create acoustic illusions, giving impression of hearing human voices. I was reminded of a world of comic books or even of "Frozen" when the outlines of the mountains are ghostly and menacingly vertiginous.
Claudia wrote: "The waterfalls and torrents create acoustic illusions, giving impression of hearing human voices. I have never been to Switzerland or its magnificent Alps, so I didn't know what he was talking about 'hearing human voices'. Have you experienced this, Claudia?
I have been thinking about re-reading The Frozen Deep myself. And Dickens absolutely loved Switzerland and he climbed the Alps himself, though I imagine he only went in the safe seasons. I have been looking for a map of the trails he took through the Alps but not found any. The New York TImes published an essay that would be pertinent here. But given the ravages of climate change the last 40 years, I doubt he would even recognize Switzerland or the Alps as the are today.
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/tr...
The same article about Dickens's travels in Switzerland, but with an attached photo I couldn't copy.https://www.unine.ch/files/live/sites...
I have experienced this last week again near me. There is a small stream which may swell up quickly in case of heavy rains. Depending on where you are, depending on the stones or grasses, you definitely hear indistinct human voices and it sounds funny but for those not used to it, it may be irrationally frightening if someone is alone in the woods.Thomas Mann described such a phenomenon in a passage of Der Zauberberg where he described the huge noise near a waterfall with shrieking voices and trumpets (of the Judgement), a Wagnerian scene.
Claudia wrote: "I have experienced this last week again near me. There is a small stream which may swell up quickly in case of heavy rains. Depending on where you are, depending on the stones or grasses, you defin..." It is stunning that you have experienced this phenomena yourself, Claudia. You have brought the imagery to life for me! Thank you for sharing!
SUMMARY: ACT IVThe Clock-Lock
Act IV: The Clock Lock, Obenreizer’s Victory, and The Curtain Falls
Winter has passed after the tragedy in Switzerland in the mountains. We are now back in Neuchatel, the city from which the original “Swiss postmark” was received. A notary, Maitre Voigt, is in discussion with a new client: M. Obenreizer. M. Voigt is astonished by the coincidence that he had once, long ago, had a client by the name of Vendale.
Obenreizer is subdued and dressed in mourning, due to the recent death of his late traveling companion, Mr. Vendale. The two are discussing recent events and the upcoming appointment of Obenreizer to a new position. There are vivid scars on Obenreizer’s face which he says he received trying to save his companion’s life on the mountain pass at Simplon.
Obenreizer complains bitterly that his former employer, Defresnier and Company have discharged him from service without explanation. In addition, his former ward Marguerite has “. . . withdrawn herself from my authority, and takes shelter (Madame Dor with her) in the house of the English lawyer, Mr. Bintrey . . .” Simply put, Marguerite has defied Obenreizer and declares that she is revolted by him.
Maitre Voigt, having known Obenreizer’s father in the year past, is eager to help him but encourages the angry individual to stop worrying. The notary asks him to leave his office and return in the morning for his first day of employment. Obenreizer leaves his office but is consumed with questions as to how the name of Vendale could possibly have been previously known to the notary.
The main thrust of this chapter is to introduce a security vault owned by the notary which contains a multitude of private legal documents. The vault is guarded by an invention of M. Voigt who, using his clockmaker skills, has tied a clock or timing device inside the vault to lock it. Obenreizer learns the secret of this device and alters it so that the vault will open on his command. He wants to see the Vendale files locked away in the vault.
Mr. Bintrey arrives and greets the notary in front of his establishment. He whispers some information which appears to stun M. Voigt. The chapter ends with the notary frozen in position in front of his office door.
Note on Act IV. Due to the paucity of comments during my exploration of No Thoroughfare, I will post all of Act IV at one time to assist any reader who has already completed the novel. That will give you an opportunity to comment before the reading ends, for anyone who is participating.
The last 2 scenes / chapters will be posted under spoiler tags for the next 24-48 hours if you are still completing your reading. If a reader has comments concerning the play No Thoroughfare: A Drama in Four Acts and how it differs from the short novel I have introduced, feel free to add them now and before the reading thread ends on August 3.
If there are any readers still present at this time, I would be interested in your comments comparing the styles of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. It is apparent from recent scholarship that both men attempted to make the transition from novel to play as smooth and transparent as possible. In my opinion, they were quite successful in disguising which author wrote which chapter or scene, given the fact that we know the play was primarily constructed by Wilkie Collins , with minor contribution and suggestions by his friend and mentor Charles Dickens. Given that Dickens was busy doing countless readings in America while the play was drafted and presented in London, primary credit to Collins and the actor Mr. Fechter for the success of the play seems merited.
If you disagree, this is the time to speak up before the thread ends in 3 days.
Thanks to those who have joined me in this reading of No Thoroughfare.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...NOTE: "Obenreizer's Victory" begins at "the foot of the Simplon, on the Swiss side".
The Simplon Pass
—Brook and road
Were fellow-travellers in this gloomy Pass,
And with them did we journey several hours
At a slow step. The immeasurable height
Of woods decaying, never to be decayed,
The stationary blasts of waterfalls,
And in the narrow rent, at every turn,
Winds thwarting winds bewildered and forlorn,
The torrents shooting from the clear blue sky,
The rocks that muttered close upon our ears,
Black drizzling crags that spake by the wayside
As if a voice were in them, the sick sight
And giddy prospect of the raving stream,
The unfettered clouds and region of the heavens,
Tumult and peace, the darkness and the light—
Were all like workings of one mind, the features
Of the same face, blossoms upon one tree,
Characters of the great Apocalypse,
The types and symbols of Eternity,
Of first and last, and midst, and without end.
William Wordsworth
SUMMARY: “Obenreizer’s Victory”, JULY 30.Obenreizer, Mr. Bintrey and Maitre Voigt meet to discuss the situation of M. Obenreizer’s niece. Obenreizer demands that the young woman be delivered to his possession within one week or he will take Marguerite by force.
Suddenly, a door opens. The drama hits its peak as there are two people standing behind the office door: Marguerite and Vendale! He is alive.
Vendale confronts his attempted murderer as though he were ”a man risen from the dead.” A caged bird in the courtyard begins to sing. (Why are all Dickens’s birds caged?) The villain is frozen in shock while the story is unfolded by M. Bintrey. He explains how Marguerite decided to follow her fiancée through the mountains, as she was already very suspicious of the intent of Obenreizer. She feared for Vendale’s life, and she was proven correct. Her loyal Joey Ladle determined to accompany her. Madame Dor supported the two as she had been aware and supported the two lovers.
The claims of thievery, forgery and fraud were confirmed by Bintrey’s communications with the winery Defresnier and Company. What remained was to rescue Vendale from imminent harm and remove the niece from Obenreizer’s control. Bintrey and Vendale, having succeeded in destroying the villian’s plans, offer him a compromise.
Instead of prison, they demand that he resign any legal authority over the niece and then be banished entirely from both England and Switzerland. Obenreizer is defeated, and he agrees to sign the compromise.
A secret remains concerning the lost Walter Windale. Elaborate explanations reveal that Vendale is the “missing” orphan child! A dramatic letter is shared that was found in the vault and written by the foster mother who wished to adopt an infant the Foundling Hospital. Social chasms are revealed to show that the orphan, called a “bastard child” by Obenreizer would destroy Marguerite’s social position forever.
But the stain of parentage is overcome by Marguerite’s sudden and open declaration of love to George Vendale.
SUMMARY: “THE CURTAIN FALLS” “There is merry-making in Cripple Corner”. The final chapter opens in London with a glimpse inside Wilding and Co., Wine Merchants. Simultaneously, there is a wedding taking place in Switzerland. Mrs. Goldstraw, the housekeeper who had opened Pandora’s Box at the beginning of the story, is busy decorating the London establishment.
In the town of Brieg there are flags, rifle shots and music from a brass band. The entire town seems to be celebrating the marriage of Marguerite and Vendale. The gorgeous Alps glow in a “deep blue sky”. There is a parade in progress heading to the little town church.
All the characters in the novel, except for the housekeeper, are present, even a happy Madam Dor. As the celebration reaches its peak in the church and the marriage takes place, two men stand silently outside. They have news about Vendale’s companion who had accompanied him across the wild mountain passes.
Obenreizer had visited a mountain Hospice a few days previously. After he left the Hospice he continued through the mountains until he was overtaken by an avalanche and was killed.
The story ends ” . . . amidst the ringing of the bells, the firing of the guns, the waving of the flags . . . “ and the riotous joy of the marriage. Marguerite does not see the small procession carrying a dead body down the street, and she and Vendale depart Switzerland on a marriage train . . . towards the shining valley”.
Let's defy the paucity!This Clock Lock passage began like a Dickens chapter and ended like a Collins one: repetitions, alliterations in the first sentence, an atypical countryside notary, Me Voigt, with bees and goats and a cow, a quite benevolent man unfortunately falling prey to Mr Obenreizer.
We understand that Me Voigt trusts him from the start because he knew his father well. We readers, have stopped trusting Mr Obenreizer from the start.
Another typical feature of Dickens' style is the literal translation of some French phrases or grammatical forms, e.g. "To work, to work" comes from "Au travail!".
The closing lines of this passage are very gripping and it may look like a Collins device. What did Me Voigt learn from Mr Bintrey?
Thank you very much Lee for this huge work with much Dickensian background while you had to take care with other issues as well! Thanks Jean for sharing wonderful material and knowledge about the Foundling and some Dickensian background with us!
Yes, leaps and bounds!
Lee wrote: "S U M M A R Y - ACT III - "On the Mountain." A superb article was written by Samia Ounoughi entitled The Swiss Alps and Character Framing in NO THOROUGHFARE
Juste un mot pour vous dire: Citation for a valuable academic article below by: Samia Ounoughi. "The Swiss Alps and Character Framing in No Thoroughfare". Charles Dickens and
Europe, Cambridge Scholars Publishing:, 2013. ffhal-01901832f
https://hal.science/hal-01901832/docu...
" Dickens adds new criteria to character framing. He brings forward the idea that characters are not only determined by their direct environment. He show that the constant interactions between the characters and their environment lead to a constant mutual definition and redefinition of both characters and the continent. . . . Dickens here pictures any individual's life in itself as a No Thoroughfare."
For example, you can view the dramatic change brought about in the character of Marguerite when she leaves the protection of Obenreizer and takes off into the mountains, exercising her free will and her expertise in mountain climbing.
The Swiss Alps https://hal.science/hal-01901832/docu...More participants and discussion in this reading of
No Thoroughfarewould have facilitated a full analysis of this article " The Swiss Alps and Character Framing". However, given the late date, I will simply share a few very pertinent quotes. Feel free to add your comments while this thread remains open if you chance to explore this article. An analysis of character framing is particularly pertinent after ACT III: "On The Mountain" where we find the characters struggling hand to hand physically and rhetorically with one another, but struggling also with the monstrosity of the challenge of the mountains.
In a letter to Wilkie Collins, Dickens explains what he wants to achieve. "I have a general idea which I hope will supply the kind of interest we want. Let us arrange to culminate in a wintry flight and pursuit across the Apls. Let us be obliged to go over -- the Simplon Pass-- under lonely circumstances, and against warmings. Let us get into the horrors and dangers of such an adventure under the most terrific circumstances, . . . escaping from one whom the love, prosperity and Nemesis of the story depends.
There we can get Ghostly interest, picturesque interest, breathless interest of time and circumstance, and force the design up to any powerful climax we please. [emphasis added] If you will keep this in your mind as I will in mine-- urging the story towards it as we go along - we shall get a very AVALANCHE of power out of it, and thunder it down on the readers' heads!" Chs Dickens
Claudia wrote: "Thank you very much Lee for this huge work with much Dickensian background while you had to take care with other issues as well! Thank you for all your insights, Claudia. They were greatly appreciated. Having you close by the text - with your being in or near the Swiss Alps, added a degree of magic to your remarks!
The Swiss Alps are of a great importance in this story where the title "No Thoroughfare" totally makes sense. I began reading Samia's article and it sounds really insightful. Indeed walking through such hostile places is an extreme experience and it is a perfect interactive background for the climax scene.We have seen another instance of Dickens' experience in the Alps in Little Dorrit when they (all!) cross the St Bernard near Martigny. I was there once too, and just like the characters of the novel, we were engulfed in a thick fog. It is when you begin singing the church hymns you remember.
Thomas Mann certainly read books by Dickens in his life, but I have no clear evidence of that yet until 1924 when he published The Magic Mountain. He knew Davos very well and went there by railway to spend three weeks with his wife who was staying in a Sanatorium.His scenery descriptions are fantastic: snow, snowstorm, rainy days and fog and crisp clear sunny weather as well as the sharp mountain walls and the steep walks around are as necessary to the story as everything else. It is sheer poetry but also mirrors the inner thoughts of the main character. Moreover the thoughts which shape him come up during two trips outside (apart from daily health walks).
Here in No Thoroughfare we are reading mountain descriptions which are not only a mere background but a close part of the characters (fright, danger, aggressiveness, murderous impulses, defense). Take the scenic element away and the whole thing (I mean this chapter) collapses.
I confirm that Samia Ounoughi's article is definitely worth reading. Thanks to Lee, I discovered that Samia is a lecturer in English studies at the University of Grenoble in the French Alps, a specialist in English literature with a keen interest in geography and linguistics. It is definitely high standards but the article reads easily and through it, many elements of the narrative make sense.
She stresses the construction of inner self and identify through travel and geographical mobility, an interesting element of many Dickens novels I have read up to now, which are often structured by space dynamics.
Mod
And Claudia - I too keep thinking of Little Dorrit - and also the strange short story To Be Read at Dusk. Thanks for all your insights too.
I'll add more about the theatre in the final few days.
I have finally finished reading the story. I have to say it is full of twists and turns! What keeps standing out to me in this final section is how similar yet different this and The Frozen Deep seem to me. The distraught female characters coming to the scenes of the possible demise of their lovers and the use of the sight. Would you say that Joey Ladle’s warnings could be as a result of the sight which was utilized as a plot device in The Frozen Deep. Here Joey’s warnings aren’t defined as such but seem similar. This would have been a very Collins trope as opposed to Dickens. I can see the melodrama of this onstage especially the scenes on the mountain with the two men alone and with Marguerite searching for her lover.
I sort of expected in the end to find out that (view spoiler)
Thank you to Lee for keeping us going even when the busyness of life kept me from posting. I am glad to have read this novella.
I came to comment yesterday on Act III and realized we were on to Act IV and were almost done with the conversation. I still have one last chapter to go but eyes are gone so I will try and finish later today but for now must stop read and writing. I did want to offer my thoughts to now. I was fascinated by the change this story took from its seeming direction from Act I where it seemed it would be a story of story of either rightful inheritance or attempted fraudulent inheritance as I thought when I pointed out similarities to the Tichborne case which became popular around the time of writing. Instead we moved to a story of criminal fraud committed against the company and attempted murder to cover it up. Were I to know no more about the writing of this than just reading the text, I would have judged this the difference between Dickens and Collins because the initial plot and writing of Act I the early part of Act II seems very Dickens and the last of Act II and most of Act III seems so much like Collins to me. I noticed from comments, it is more complicated than that, but just wanted to share my thoughts. I also wanted to mention that based on Act I of the play (all I have finished) I recommend reading the play for comparison. I found the pacing and other differences of Act I of the play much more to my liking than the novel. But there seems to be multiple versions and I am not sure of the authorship of version I am reading. I will add last thoughts later.
Claudia wrote: "I confirm that Samia Ounoughi's article is definitely worth reading. Thanks to Lee, I discovered that Samia is a lecturer in English studies at the University of Grenoble in the French Alps, a sp..."
I am glad you were able to read Ounoughi's article. I think she is uncovering a significant thesis topic here looking at the "travel" impact on characterization that is typically ignored. Her ideas are not limited to Charles Dickens's novels. Looking at how environment influences character is something Leo Tolstoy explored in one of his famous works. This would make a great dissertation topic!
My last thoughts are less on the novella than on what followed. I could not help but think of Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Final Problem." which also featured a life and death battle of the hero and villain on a cliff. I'm not suggesting Dickens and Collins originated the idea, but scene is like a meme, sometimes a cliché, but we will always have this type of life and death struggle in a awe-inspiring natural setting, and the Dickens/Collins is a memorable example that I believe to further influence authors to come. This is also true for the psychological "duel," the authors' had them fight in their thoughts and dreams previous to the physical struggle.
Lee wrote: "Sam What a perfect conclusion to our reading of No Thoroughfare."Well that was just my last thoughts on the novella. I still am indebted to you. Jean, and the other members whose contributions made this more enjoyable. Thanks all!
Now I turn the story over to Connie and Jean or any other readers who wanted to comment on the play. As you know, the play was set and performed immediately after the novel and it was a huge success. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Thor....
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Thor...
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Richard Pearson says it is a self-reflexive play, exploring the processes of collaboration.
Like Lori, I keep being reminded of The Frozen Deep, both in its similarities and its differences. In a way the relationship between author and hero, antihero, or villain or deceptions within these roles were more obvious there than in No Thoroughfare. Wilkie Collins played the fresh upright young hero on stage, and Charles Dickens played Richard Wardour.
I mentioned that in No Thoroughfare George Vendale is typical of Wilkie Collins's upright confident young heroes, and is set against the introverted and troubled Walter Wilding.
"Their business partnership echoes the collaboration of the story's authorship, and sems symbolically to suggest Dickens' relinquishing of his position to help the younger Collins. The troubled man, anxious about his identity, unable to justify his position, might be taken as a self-conscious portrayal of Dickens as the author adrift, illegitimate and uneasy. Further, the reduction of Walter Wilding to a 'Name' alone - a disembodiment without an identity of his own - might be taken to echo the erasure of Dickens as the author of the text, his becoming a name merely attached to the advertising."
Then with the death of Wilding we have the arrival of Jules Obenreizer - whose role as you will remember, was amplified so much from the novella by the lead actor and third author Charles Fechter. Richard Pearson calls Obenreizer "the surrogate who seeks to control the narrative through performance."
He considered that Obenreizer is a kind of theatrical alter-ego for Dickens, who was so brilliant at portraying villains on stage. We have read accounts of people fainting at his portrayal of Bill Sykes in his readings of Oliver Twist, and his own heart rate shot up as (and after) he performed them. Richard Pearson extends this idea of Dickens being possessed by the villain, saying:
"the actor supplants the writer. Vendale thinks Obenreizer his partner and friend, while all the time he is plotting against him as his rival and enemy. Symbolically Dickens-as-Obenreizer, having tried to block the progress of the narrative - creating a "No Thoroughfare [i.e. no way through] is finally superseded by the younger, stronger man. 'Obenreizer was always in the way' we are told."
There were to be no more collaborations after this one, but Wilkie Collins went on to develop his writing for the stage considerably. I feel this interpretation to be quite poignant.
We still have 2 more days on No Thoroughfare 😊
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(I hope to add a little more tomorrow.)
I've enjoyed how this discussion is approaching "No Thoroughfare" from many different directions. I would like to look at it from the point of view of the theatre audience. The novella is longer and gives more detail about the characters. But because the works are so highly melodramatic, the play worked especially well for me. Melodramas were very popular with Victorian audiences, and this play would have been received well by audiences of all ages. The authors were writing for noisier theatres compared to today. Even though it was "over the top" in some ways, the melodrama would have helped the audience to follow the story easily. Melodrama also fits a story line with heroes and a villain.There were scenes to touch the heart (in the Foundling Home), scenes that were comic (with Joey Ladle and Madame Dor), and scenes that were thrilling (in the Swiss Alps). The clock-lock safe scene was wonderful since it showed how diabolical Obenreizer was, gave information about Vendale, and showed Swiss technology during the Industrial Revolution. The audience would have wondered if Obenreizer was a victim of his impoverished childhood, the possible second orphaned Walter Wilding, a sinister villain, or maybe all three. The Swiss setting was beautiful, dangerous, and exotic for that time. The authors were writing to entertain a family audience and they succeeded!
Thank you very much for all your hard work in presenting "No Thoroughfare," Lee, while dealing with your medical problems. I appreciate all your research, and found Samia Ounoughi's article to be very interesting. Thanks also to everyone else who contributed to the discussion.
Mod
Some of the parts you picked out were difficult to adapt, such as:
1. The clock-lock mechanism by Wilkie Collins.
It sounded like a good sort of stage prop, but in fact proved difficult in practical terms to have a safe which only opened once every 12 hours on a security timer. According to Richard Pearson, "In the play, the safe mechanism has to be altered to allow Obenreizer to set it to unlock in 5 minutes time, to accomplish his theft of papers."
2. The Swiss Alps.
I was talking about this to Lee, the other day. 😊 When Marguerite is lowered over the precipice to rescue Vendale, the text says:
"With such precautions as their skill and the circumstances admitted, they let her slip from the summit, guiding herself down the precipitous icy wall with her hand, and they lowered down, and lowered down, and lowered down, until the cry came up 'Enough!'"
It's between Acts IV and V, but all this was sadly deleted from the stage version, presumably because it would be so unseemly for an actress to do this!
Another difficulty was:
3. The immobility of Wilding
We read in the text about his introspective brooding:
"his body stopped, his step lost its elasticity ... there began to creep over him a cloudy consciousness of often-recurring confusion in his head. He would unaccountably lose, sometimes whole hours, sometimes a whole day and night"
This was not indicated at all on stage, perhaps because as Richard Pearson maintains, it would contravene the Aristotelean unities of time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic....
But I'm not sure Charles Dickens merely writing "Exit Wilding" really works.
Mod
Here are some of the different endings to the play (as promised ages ago!)
1. Obenreizer drinks laudanum on stage, and "as he crosses the threshold of the door, the curtain falls." (The London Text)
2. Obenreizer's "stagger" after swallowing the poison is omitted, thus leaving him to walk off-stage in dignity, and the audience to know he will die shortly afterwards. (Copy in Pierpont Morgan Library of a corrected proof)
3. Obenreizer staggers on stage, rejects Vendale's offer of help, and dies saying farewell to Marguerite. (De Witt copy)
4. Monks discover Obenreizer's body in the snow, beside the path leading to the church where Vendale and Marguerite are to be married, and a monk throws a cloak over the corpse to prevent them from seeing. (Yale 1)
5. Obenreizer is discovered alive in the snow and brought forward on a litter where he curses Marguerite and Vendale and dies in front of them. (Yale 2)
I'm not sure which of these I like best. Any ideas, anyone? Some endings certainly allow for more melodramatic acting than others, which the contemporary audiences would love, but and perhaps #4 would conform more to modern tastes.
On our penultimate day, another big THANK YOU to Lee for all the work you have put in on this exciting - exhilarating - read. And thanks to everyone who has joined in and contributed such interesting posts!
Having now finished the play, I agree with Connie that the play works much better than the copy of the novella that I read. I mentioned the pacing is better and the flow is better. Important elements are stressed that make the story not more readable but richer. As Connie said, the play better establishes both Obenreizer's rationale for his behavior and poverty as a potential contibutor toward as well, which inure more of a sense of sympathy fore him, but as Vendale is also proved to be from lower class origins, the play is also refuting that idea leaving Obenreizer ultimately responsible for his behavior. The differences in the play ( I read the De Witt copy from Jean's remarks) leave me with more questions than answers though on who wrote what and what came first. The novella seems much more hashed as if written to capitalize on the play or from notes. It feels like either a draft or a rushed piece from the copy I read. But what I am seeing seems to contradict the historical record if I got it right, which would mean the play was improved through the editing perhaps of the various editions? All said, I found the version of the play I read my favorite of all the plays we read and almost suitable for a present day performance. I have pusued the Pearson to get at what Jean meant although I won't get to read it immediately. Again thanks to all the the stimulating discussion and references.
Time for the Dickensians to move on to another adventure. I want to thank all the participants, and in particular, Jean whose enthusiasm and desire for scholastic accuracy makes this and the Works of Thomas Hardy book clubs unique.I want to conclude with some of Charles Dickens's personal reaction to the play once he returned from America to see it performed in London. First, his sister-in-law Georgina Hogarth speaks from a letter before he has seen the play:
"Charles would, I know, be most especially surprised at its success for he seems to have had little hope of it, from what he says in his letter. Of course, he had the piece sent out to him in acts, as Wilkie Collins wrote it-[Charles considered it] hopeless, although done with such great pain--[he thoughts] that it wanted life (as it does!) in short that it 'doesn't walk but goes about in a run'. However, it has taken and seems to be the Christmas success . . . "
Writing later to an acquaintance in America Dickens himself said, "I have seen No Thoroughfare: A Drama in Four Acts twice. Excellent things in it; but it drags ---to my thinking. It is, however a great success in the country, and is now getting up with great force in Paris". (Pilgrim12:108)
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But we've had some great final comments (I love your last two quotations regarding the personal reactions to the play!) So I'll leave this thread in the current folder for a few more days to allow people to finish off, and add anything they might like, too.
Thanks all!
I hate to follow Jean's lovely comment, which seems to put such a polished finish to this read, but I have just today finished reading the novella and wanted to thank everyone (especially Lee) for all the erudite comments and background info. I was not able to participate as I would have liked, since life gets in the way, but I so much enjoyed all the final thoughts. Sam's comment "This is also true for the psychological "duel," the authors' had them fight in their thoughts and dreams previous to the physical struggle." gave me an entire "other" mental exploration of what was going on during the trip up the mountain.
BTW, I could not help drawing parallels between James Carker and Obenreizer, so whichever of these authors supplied the writing, much was owed to the original villain that sprang from the imagination of Charles Dickens.
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Today I received my copy of the Dickens Fellowship journal, (Spring 2024 - they are behind) and it had an essay about Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens which the editorial referred to.
Those of us who have read John Forster's massive 3 volume biography of Charles Dickens, which is the one all the others are based on, know that it includes a lot about his works too. Perhaps you, like I, might be surprised that there is not more personally about Wilkie Collins. Sometimes it is suggested there was some jealousy between the two friends of Charles Dickens.
Wilkie Collins never wrote his own biography of Charles Dickens, but he did have a copy of John Forster's which he "amended". For example, where John Forster wrote "Dickens was the most popular novelist of the century", Wilkie Collins added "after Walter Scott". 😁
It is clear that Wilkie Collins was very defensive about his part in their collaborations, and this is understandable, as we have seen for ourselves that editors frequently miss out his (and others') chapters completely and only include the parts known to be by Charles Dickens. (Wherever possible in our group reads we try to track these missing parts down and read them in the original context. Some have been very enjoyable stories in their own right.)
But why I'm putting this here, is that the editor quotes a letter which Wilkie Collins wrote about No Thoroughfare to Frederic Chapman (the publisher) who was trying to establish which parts were written by whom. He said:
"I inserted passages in his chapters, and he inserted passages in mine. I can only tell you that we as nearly as possible halved the work. We put the story together in the Swiss Chalet at Gad's Hill, and we finished the 4th Act side by side at two desks in his bedroom at Gad's Hill."
Don't you just love the mental image this conjures up? 🥰
Dickensians!
Books mentioned in this topic
No Thoroughfare (other topics)Barnaby Rudge (other topics)
No Thoroughfare (other topics)
No Thoroughfare: A Drama in Four Acts (other topics)
Oliver Twist (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Charles Dickens (other topics)Walter Scott (other topics)
Charles Dickens (other topics)
John Forster (other topics)
Wilkie Collins (other topics)
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He continues . . . This done, Dickens took his departure for the United States, leaving the destinies of the unwritten play safe, as he kindly said, in my hands. Fechter next presented himself with the scenario, laid the manuscript on my desk . . . and said:'Dickens has gone away for six months; he will find No Thoroughfare running when he comes back."
I believe this will prove that in some sense there are three authors of the drama. I have just also learned that there was correspondence between Dickens and Collins during his America travels, with Dickens making suggestions to the play for all five acts.