Ioláni, or, Tahíti as it was: A romance [Hardcover]

Now revered as a giant of classic English literature, Wilkie Collins clearly learned from the missteps of his first efforts. For this, we can be grateful! But it must be admitted that Collins' first attempt at a novel has an overwrought hoary plot much more suited to a breathless Harlequin romance or a melodramatic soap opera set in the South Pacific.

Idia, abandoned as a young girl and barely past childhood herself, finds the child, Aimata, forsaken by her natural guardians, and assumes the responsibility for care and upbringing. Although Aimata has always felt some deep misgivings about him, Idia is swept away by Iolani, the high priest of Oro, and bears his son. When Iolani attempts to enforce the Tahitian custom of slaying his first born, Idia, Aimata and the child flee for their lives seeking refuge in the village of rival chieftain, Mahini. Falling in love with the girl child, Aimata, Mahini sees the events as an opportunity to achieve his matrimonial as well as his leadership ambitions and provokes an all out tribal war with Iolani and his brother, the king of Tahiti. Sorcery, sacrifice, bloodshed, treachery and mayhem ensue.

While the plot and the milieu are so far removed from what we will enjoy in Collins' later work as to be sadly laughable, there are germs of ideas and spots of beauty that shine through and clearly persist into the much more polished output for which he became so famous - the psychology of female victim and male villain; assertive, independent and aggressive heroines; the use of his own voice as a narrator to insert explanatory information from time to time; courage and determination in the face of danger and extremity; lush, descriptive passages -

"The thunder still sounded its hollow retreat in the distance, and the rain drops still pattered faintly on the torn, dripping leaves of the forest. The waters of the lake, had changed in the night to a monotonous dun colour and still heaved wearily about, though the violence of the tempest was over and past. The tops of the mountains were hidden in deep mists and the thick, black clouds of a few hours since, had amalgamated into great masses of a grey hue, cold and indistinct to look upon, yet promising, in the eastern heaven, a bright and beautiful day."

and short gems of philosophy that cannot fail to provoke thought and discussion -

"While liberty frees the body, captivity loosens the soul. It is when the body is in bonds, that the spirit most experiences its perilous privilege of freedom."

If you're a confirmed Collins fan, you're sure to enjoy Iolani and recognize it for what it is - the stumbling first work of a promising young author. If you have yet to read anything by Collins, for goodness' sake, be sure you DON'T start here! Pick up A Woman in White or The Moonstone, and move on to Blind Love, Armadale and The Law and the Lady. By then you'll be a confirmed fan and you can come back to this one.

Paul Weiss

I CONSIDER MYSELF MOST FORTUNATE IN HAVING BEEN ABLE TO OBTAIN THIS VOLUME; I AM AN AVID READER OF THIS AUTHOR'S FICTIONAL WORKS AND HIS FIRST NOVEL REVEALS MANY OF THE THEMES TO BE DEVELOPED IN HIS LATER WORK: ABUSE OF AUTHORITY, WOMEN WHO REVOLT AGAINST CONVENTIONAL IDEAS, THE DARK SIDE OF RELIGION, PSYCHOLOGICAL INSIGHTS INTO PEOPLE WHO HAVE SUFFERED TRAUMA. THE SUSPENSE AND THRILLER ASPECTS OF COLLINS' LATER WORKS ARE ALSO PRESENT, BESIDES THE EXOTIC LOCATION AND SOCIETY, AND MAKE THIS NOVEL QUITE A PLEASANT READ.
THE INTRODUCTION BY IRA B. NADEL SHEDS MUCH LIGHT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF WILKIE COLLINS AS AN AUTHOR AND SHOULD BE READ BY ANYONE WHO IS AS INTERESTED IN THE WORKS OF WILKIE COLLINS AS I AM.

This is a book that "is what it is." It is a tedious blundering work with stilted language and only a tiny hint of the author, Wilkie Collins, became. I did find the introduction by the editor, Ira Nadel, interesting and informative; I enjoyed reading that but I did not enjoy the book at all.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 4 reviews  2.8 out of 5 stars