The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-12-13
WILKIE COLLINS.
THY HE MADE COUNT TosCo
BLAND AND Eat.

A Queer View of Perfection in Women
Wonderful Mechanical Toys-How to
Eat Onions.
An English journalist describes an in
&terview that took place between himself
land Wilkis Collins at the ~latter's residence
a year or W ago.
II remember said Mr.. Collins. that /
Qsed to re ceive scores of letters from all
y barts of the world complaining of the
abstruse nature of my plots. And why.
do you Think Because, forsooth, they
were too difficult to follow. You make
us read every line; we can't skip cried
the plaintiff we even have to go back
to follow the clue. ] need scarcely say
that l took these letters as SO many COM
A pliments."
Then you were accustomed to receive
\ criticisms after the publication of a
novel;"
Certainly, and especially when l deal
with what it is the fashion to call risk
subjects, as / did when I wrote Fallen
Leaves and The New Magdalen.' The
women objected to the first, and parse ms
to the second"
"a Scott, Byron and Dickens. With latter
day novelists he had but slight acquain-
tance. perhaps | am old-fahsioned, !" he
y said, with a modest smile of se~lfdeprecia-
ton. l gathered mat, Though be liked
to have pleasant things saiG about him.
he held that a review, however favorable;
was of no real service. II the people did
not like a book they would decline to read
it in spite of all the reviews in the world
and it was the same about notices of
plays. whenever l have produced a
play" he said, Il have made a point of
going to the pit door when the people
came out. l listened to their talk, and
that was my gage of popular opinion"
I happened to ask the novelist how he
cam to evolve the famous Fosco, and
whether he had any particular person in
his mind, HE was q combination, /"
laughed Mr.. Collins. when | was writ
ing the storyI was at q dinner party one
night, and the table talk ran on the
villains of fiction. One lady said that no
fat man could be q villain. ] argued the
point and determined to make Fosco
fieshy. Itook the idea of the white mice
from a schoolfellow, who used to carry
the little things in his pocket. l thought
they would serve as a foil. made him
Italian because | had spent many months
in Italy, n thought it would be interest
ing to work up some of the local color"
For years Mr.. Collins had been subject
to violent attacks of govt. In the preface
to 1.-The Moonstonen he mentions that
the amusing chapters in which Miss Claek
tells her portion of the story were written
between fits Of agony. When his brain
, was highly wrought in the throes of
composition he suffered fearfully from
nerves, which meant ghosts. II would
begin." he said "say ~atmidnight, and work
on till three or four O'Clock in the silence
of the night, as the fit took me, smoking
cigars n drinking black coffee, my
mind absorbed in my situations.
Then the ghosts would begin to appear
and / used to make a rus to my bedroom.
There was n particular ghost which
would greet me when the situation had
been particularly horrible. 1t was a
fearful. shapeless monster, with the eyes
of fire and big green fangs. He came to
be quite a familiar in those days.
Would you tell me how you work, Mr..
Collins?" 1 asked. The veteran replied:
"Well, / am not one of those who have
the patience to write a scenario. I get the
main subject well into my head and leave
the details and complex Celebrations to
come afterward. Some novelists lind it
possible to begin at the beginning. 1
tried that method in The Woman in
White and failed egregiously."
OF all his works / judged that Mr.. Col
Inns liked '"The Woman in White' best.
/ remember his saying that translations
are the best gauge of popularity, and if
anyone takes the trouble to consult the
catalogue of the British Museum he will
find Chat Mr.. Collins novels have been.
translated into many Languages.