eBook

Ioláni; or, Tahíti as It Was

Wilkie Collins

2014

Overview

Written 150 years ago, never published, and presumed lost for nearly a century, Wilkie Collins's earliest novel now appears in print for the first time. Ioláni is a sensational romance--a tale of terror and suspense, bravery and betrayal, set against the lush backdrop of Tahiti. The book's complicated history is worthy of a writer famous for intricate plots hinging on long-kept secrets. Collins wrote the book as a young man in the early 1840s, twenty years beforeThe MoonstoneandThe Woman in Whitemade his name among Victorian novelists. He failed to find a publisher for the work, shelved the manuscript for years, and eventually gave it to an acquaintance. It disappeared into the hands of private collectors and remained there--acquiring mythical status as a lost novel--from the turn of the century until its sudden appearance on the rare book market in New York in 1991. This first edition appears with the permission of the new owners, who keep the mystery alive by remaining anonymous. The novel is set in Tahiti prior to European contact. It tells the story of the diabolical high priest, Ioláni , and the heroic young woman, Idüa, who bears his child. Determined to defy the Tahitian custom of killing firstborn children, Idüa and her friend Aimáta flee with the baby and take refuge among Ioláni's enemies. The vengeful priest pursues them, setting into motion a plot that features civil war, sorcery, sacrificial rites, wild madmen, treachery, and love. Collins explores themes that he would return to again and again in his career: oppression by sinister, patriarchal figures; the bravery of forceful, unorthodox women; the psychology of the criminal mind; the hypocrisy of moralists; and Victorian ideas of the exotic. As Ira Nadel shows in his introduction, the novel casts new light on Collins's development as a writer and on the creation of his later masterpieces. A sample page from the manuscript appears as the frontispiece to this edition. The publication of Ioláni is a major literary event: a century and half late, Wilkie Collins makes his literary debut. Originally published in 1999. ThePrinceton Legacy Libraryuses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Subject: Action & Adventure / Action & Adventure- FA / Areoi / Assassination / Boasting / Calmness / Classical mythology / Confidant / Coral reef / Cruelty / Determination / Dowry / Edmund Yates / Eloquence / Epigram / FICTION / Firmament / Gentleness / Governess / Harriet Martineau / Hatred / Henry Crabb Robinson / Horowitz / Human sacrifice / Idia / Independent woman / Infanticide / Infatuation / Islet / Kamehameha II / Language & Literature / Laughter / LITERARY CRITICISM / General / Literature / Mary Russell Mitford / Misery (novel) / Mourning / Noble savage / Omoo / On the Beach (novel) / Oracle / Persecution / Picturesque / Pity / Poetry / Polygamy / Polynesia / Pretext / Ridicule / Salt Rock / Satire / Scurvy / Seclusion / Sneer / South Seas (genre) / Subplot / Suffering / Suffrage / Superiority (short story) / Supplication / Symptom / Tahiti / Tahitians / Term of endearment / Thatching / The Last Victim / The Sea Monster / The Various / To This Day / Travels (book) / Vacation Time / Warfare / Wild man / Wilkie Collins / Wreath
• ISBN: 9781400864942, 1400864941, 9780691034461, 069103446X, 0691600414, 9780691600413, 0691630356, 9780691630359