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Ioláni, o Tahití tal como era
Aunque William Wilkie Collins (Londres 1824-1889) no publicó su primera novela, Antonina or the Fall of Rome, hasta 1850, llevaba años escribiendo y poniendo a punto su estilo literario. A esa época de juventud pertenece Ioláni o Tahití tal como era, la primera novela escrita por Wilkie Collins, cuyo manuscrito, tras innumerables subastas y peripecias, acaba de ver la luz este año, siglo y medio después de haber sido escrito. Wilkie Collins había crecido leyendo las novelas de Ann Radcliffe, gusto que compartía con su madre, y disfrutaba recitando en familia los párrafos más escabrosos de libros como El Monje o Frankenstein, de modo que a los veinte años, cuando escribió Ioláni, su imaginación se hallaba imbuida de literatura gótica, tan popular en aquel tiempo.
El autor de inolvidables novelas como La dama de blanco o La piedra lunar definió su primera obra, Ioláni, como«una mezcla de romance gótico y aventuras en los mares del Sur, a medio camino entre Radcliffe y Stevenson». Cabría añadir que esta novela, por su tema -una mujer es condenada y perseguida por un pérfido patriarca religioso y huye penosamente de él, poniendo a salvo su amor e independencia-, tan querido al género gótico, se emparenta con otras dos de la misma época: una anterior, El Italiano, o el confesionario de los penitentes negros (1797), de Ann Radcliffe, y otra posterior, La letra escarlata (1850), de Nathaniel Harwthorne.
El autor de inolvidables novelas como La dama de blanco o La piedra lunar definió su primera obra, Ioláni, como«una mezcla de romance gótico y aventuras en los mares del Sur, a medio camino entre Radcliffe y Stevenson». Cabría añadir que esta novela, por su tema -una mujer es condenada y perseguida por un pérfido patriarca religioso y huye penosamente de él, poniendo a salvo su amor e independencia-, tan querido al género gótico, se emparenta con otras dos de la misma época: una anterior, El Italiano, o el confesionario de los penitentes negros (1797), de Ann Radcliffe, y otra posterior, La letra escarlata (1850), de Nathaniel Harwthorne.
174 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
About the author
Wilkie Collins
2,299 books3,151 followersWilkie Collins was an English novelist and playwright, best known for The Woman in White (1860), an early sensation novel, and The Moonstone (1868), a pioneering work of detective fiction. Born to landscape painter William Collins and Harriet Geddes, he spent part of his childhood in Italy and France, learning both languages. Initially working as a tea merchant, he later studied law, though he never practiced. His literary career began with Antonina (1850), and a meeting with Charles Dickens in 1851 proved pivotal. The two became close friends and collaborators, with Collins contributing to Dickens' journals and co-writing dramatic works.
Collins' success peaked in the 1860s with novels that combined suspense with social critique, including No Name (1862), Armadale (1864), and The Moonstone, which established key elements of the modern detective story. His personal life was unconventional—he openly opposed marriage and lived with Caroline Graves and her daughter for much of his life, while also maintaining a separate relationship with Martha Rudd, with whom he had three children.
Plagued by gout, Collins became addicted to laudanum, which affected both his health and later works. Despite declining quality in his writing, he remained a respected figure, mentoring younger authors and advocating for writers' rights. He died in 1889 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. His legacy endures through his influential novels, which laid the groundwork for both sensation fiction and detective literature.
Collins' success peaked in the 1860s with novels that combined suspense with social critique, including No Name (1862), Armadale (1864), and The Moonstone, which established key elements of the modern detective story. His personal life was unconventional—he openly opposed marriage and lived with Caroline Graves and her daughter for much of his life, while also maintaining a separate relationship with Martha Rudd, with whom he had three children.
Plagued by gout, Collins became addicted to laudanum, which affected both his health and later works. Despite declining quality in his writing, he remained a respected figure, mentoring younger authors and advocating for writers' rights. He died in 1889 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. His legacy endures through his influential novels, which laid the groundwork for both sensation fiction and detective literature.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 20, 2018
The stumbling first work of a promising young author!
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 THE 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
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 THE 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
February 8, 2021
Está bien escrito, tiene ambientación, en la islas de la Polinesia, pero no me ha llamado la historia que cuenta en ningún momento, una lastima.
June 3, 2019
Este libro fue el primero escrito por el muy famoso, reconocido y genial Wilkie Collins, lo hizo siendo muy joven y cuando quiso publicarlo nadie se lo aceptó, así pues lo guardó en un cajón, años después conoce a Charles Dickens y gracias a esta amistad Collins logra publicar sus escritos por entregas y luego sus libros, pero este que nos ocupa nunca fue publicado, años más tarde lo vendió para convertirse en obra de teatro, misma que tampoco se llevó a cabo y así por cosas de la vida y del destino, nunca se volvió a saber de este escrito, se sabía de su existencia gracias a que el mismo Wilkie Collins lo había mencionado en varias entrevistas que le habían hecho, pero lo cierto es que con el paso del tiempo nadie supo dónde había quedado.
Fue hasta 1999 que apareció en una subasta y gracias a esto que fue publicado y hoy lo conocemos.
Bien, ya que conocemos la historia de este escrito, hay que decir de entrada que aunque se nota el estilo de la pluma de Collins, es completamente diferente a todo lo que, al menos yo, he leído de este autor hasta ahora.
Collins es más bien conocido por sus libros policiacos y sus tramas complejas de resolución de intrigas, este libro aunque tiene su intriga y se puede notar de entrada que es precisamente esto lo que ya le gustaba, más bien es un libro que trata sobre la venganza principalmente, pero también sobre la naturaleza humana, esa que resulta de los sentimientos más bajos en cuanto a quienes les gusta tener el poder, un poco tal vez también en cómo la religión o quienes manejan esta resultan en manipuladores de masas y hay también una historia de amor y odio.
Si bien es un libro algo entretenido me ha costado un mundo terminarlo se me ha hecho lento y pesado, pero sobre todo casi incomprensible, tiene una prosa tremendamente cargada y pesada, se nota que el joven Collins, como tal vez les podría pasar a muchos, quería lucirse al escribir esto, lo que resulta en florituras innecesarias, descripciones cargantes y palabrería sin sentido, hay mucha pretensión en este libro, en estas líneas no vamos a encontrar al prolijo y entretenido Wilkie Collins, tampoco veremos su peculiar sentido del humor, mucho tuvo que recorrer Collins entre este libro y las genialidades que lo hicieron famoso.
Ahora bien, resulta en un ejercicio interesante leer el primer trabajo de alguien tan reconocido como lo es este autor, es interesante ver como ha querido imponer un sentido de lo gótico en esta historia y para ello ha recurrido en plantear la historia en la Polinesia francesa, de manera que pudiera utilizar la brujería y la situación social de las tribus, es verdad que se nota que ahí había mucho talento, pero también le faltaba mucho para llegar a donde al final llegó en su escritura.
Para los fans de Wilkie Collins, como lo soy yo, podría resultar en un buen ejercicio esta lectura, sin embargo, no es en absoluto un libro que podría recomendar, no es fácil de leer y realmente cuesta seguirlo.
Fue hasta 1999 que apareció en una subasta y gracias a esto que fue publicado y hoy lo conocemos.
Bien, ya que conocemos la historia de este escrito, hay que decir de entrada que aunque se nota el estilo de la pluma de Collins, es completamente diferente a todo lo que, al menos yo, he leído de este autor hasta ahora.
Collins es más bien conocido por sus libros policiacos y sus tramas complejas de resolución de intrigas, este libro aunque tiene su intriga y se puede notar de entrada que es precisamente esto lo que ya le gustaba, más bien es un libro que trata sobre la venganza principalmente, pero también sobre la naturaleza humana, esa que resulta de los sentimientos más bajos en cuanto a quienes les gusta tener el poder, un poco tal vez también en cómo la religión o quienes manejan esta resultan en manipuladores de masas y hay también una historia de amor y odio.
Si bien es un libro algo entretenido me ha costado un mundo terminarlo se me ha hecho lento y pesado, pero sobre todo casi incomprensible, tiene una prosa tremendamente cargada y pesada, se nota que el joven Collins, como tal vez les podría pasar a muchos, quería lucirse al escribir esto, lo que resulta en florituras innecesarias, descripciones cargantes y palabrería sin sentido, hay mucha pretensión en este libro, en estas líneas no vamos a encontrar al prolijo y entretenido Wilkie Collins, tampoco veremos su peculiar sentido del humor, mucho tuvo que recorrer Collins entre este libro y las genialidades que lo hicieron famoso.
Ahora bien, resulta en un ejercicio interesante leer el primer trabajo de alguien tan reconocido como lo es este autor, es interesante ver como ha querido imponer un sentido de lo gótico en esta historia y para ello ha recurrido en plantear la historia en la Polinesia francesa, de manera que pudiera utilizar la brujería y la situación social de las tribus, es verdad que se nota que ahí había mucho talento, pero también le faltaba mucho para llegar a donde al final llegó en su escritura.
Para los fans de Wilkie Collins, como lo soy yo, podría resultar en un buen ejercicio esta lectura, sin embargo, no es en absoluto un libro que podría recomendar, no es fácil de leer y realmente cuesta seguirlo.
August 15, 2013
Iolani is interesting to read through the lens of it being Wilkie Collins’ first novel, especially as it was “lost” for 150 years, but it not his best book to start with if you don’t want to be turned off by the writing here – it gets much better! Like in Antonina, Collins manages to take usually exciting and urgent events like war and death and make them boring. One redeeming factor is that this book is a lot shorter.
The prose tends toward purple in many places, and there were many times when I got to the end of a paragraph and realized I had no idea what I’d just read. The introduction is correct when it says that there are confusing shifts in time. In the first three chapters, I had to revise my idea of what was going on twice. At first, it seemed (to me anyway) that the scene with Iolani and Idia walking along the lake was the first time they have sex, then it became apparent that she was pregnant, and then she is actually giving birth, and it sounded like this was all happening in a 24-hour period.
The characters are all pretty much one-dimensional, so there is little room for character development, and I didn’t really care very much about any of them, even the poor baby who doesn’t even get a name. There is almost no dialogue, either, so it hard to get much of a sense of anyone’s character.
This isn’t a great novel, and there’s a good reason it didn’t find a willing publisher, but it’s not bad for a twenty-year-old’s first attempt, written when the boss wasn’t looking.
The prose tends toward purple in many places, and there were many times when I got to the end of a paragraph and realized I had no idea what I’d just read. The introduction is correct when it says that there are confusing shifts in time. In the first three chapters, I had to revise my idea of what was going on twice. At first, it seemed (to me anyway) that the scene with Iolani and Idia walking along the lake was the first time they have sex, then it became apparent that she was pregnant, and then she is actually giving birth, and it sounded like this was all happening in a 24-hour period.
The characters are all pretty much one-dimensional, so there is little room for character development, and I didn’t really care very much about any of them, even the poor baby who doesn’t even get a name. There is almost no dialogue, either, so it hard to get much of a sense of anyone’s character.
This isn’t a great novel, and there’s a good reason it didn’t find a willing publisher, but it’s not bad for a twenty-year-old’s first attempt, written when the boss wasn’t looking.
February 9, 2018
Part fairy tale, part Victorian romance, part Gothic adventure story, Wilkie Collins "unpublished for 100 years" first attempt at a novel, is a historical curiosity but not a great literary novel. Collins, a devotee and contemporary of Charles Dickens, went on to become an author of some literary fame, but his initial attempt at writing left much to be desired. Like most of the Victorian era writers, Dickens, Elliot, and Trollope, Collin's writing was extremely descriptive, packed full of drama and had a lesson to be learned in life. His obvious lack of finesse can be attributed to his youth but there were flashes of the creativity that would become apparent in his later works. A Disney like story, Collins writing was a bit disjointed and I do not think that the Polynesian natives of pre-Colonial times spoke like Shakespearean actors with a healthy dose of thee and thys in their conversation. All in all, worth the time to read it (it is short), it was only somewhat entertaining but it did set the tone for some of the thematic elements of his later works.
October 11, 2025
I really had no expectations for this book and found it to be quite the heart racing type of read. There is a super villain, warring tribes, a female main character that draws you into her story and for a first book by Wilkie Collins it is a masterpiece of pre-European explorers penetrating the traditions and islands of these tribes of peoples. Very few can lay out a description so detailed in such a beautiful way of landscape and scenery as Collins.
September 23, 2018
I love Wilkie Collins. I read anything he writes. I was excited to see this found first novel of his in print. I also understand how it has received such low praise. All writers must start somewhere, and there are glimpses of his genius to come in small doses with this book. I feel fortunate to have already read the gems of his oeuvre before finding this one.
May 15, 2023
He estudiado la cultura polinesia por más de 30 años, y esta novela no refleja en nada la cultura. Entiendo que es la primera novela del autor, que además no fue publicada en su época, pero simplemente es una historia que tiene nombres diferentes a los de su entorno. Definitivamente no me gustó ni la recomiendo
April 20, 2020
Muy divertido y muy diferente a otras novelas de Wilkie Collins. ¡El final es lo mejor!
October 12, 2026
First novel by my favorite 19th century author. Wildly uneven, but a good story.
March 7, 2018
La trama de esta novela está ambientada en la Polinesia francesa, una mujer intenta salvar a su hijo de un sacerdote malvado, en estas aventuras la acompaña una joven a la que acogió y cuido de niña.
La prosa de Wilkie Collins es magnífica, en pocas páginas ya me tenía siguiendo a los protagonistas por cuevas, bosques, lagos, etc...como si estuviera allí. Aunque abunda en descripciones, no se hacen nada pesadas.
Tiene un ritmo ágil, que te hace avanzar muy rápido en la historia, que en todo momento mantiene el interés.
La prosa de Wilkie Collins es magnífica, en pocas páginas ya me tenía siguiendo a los protagonistas por cuevas, bosques, lagos, etc...como si estuviera allí. Aunque abunda en descripciones, no se hacen nada pesadas.
Tiene un ritmo ágil, que te hace avanzar muy rápido en la historia, que en todo momento mantiene el interés.
March 15, 2013
A Romantic novel which was also the first written by Collins. It was rejected twice during his life time and went unpublished until rediscovered in the 1990's. Set in pre European contact Tahiti and is essentially a revenge tale. A villainous Tahitian priest seeks revenge on the woman who defies him and gives birth to a child he conceived. The priest seeks to destroy both follows his efforts to do so and the destruction this brings about.
January 6, 2010
I enjoyed reading this rather unique book. It isn't difficult to tell that it is a manuscript and a youthful work of Collins, but I had no problem setting that type of criticism aside and enjoying it for what it is--an imaginative, colorful, dramatic, and melancholy tale from a great author-to-be.
December 11, 2014
DNF, and I was really sad about it. Wilkie Collins is one of my favorite authors but this was pretty disappointing. I couldn't find Collins in much of this narrative. This is one of the reasons I have a pretty solid policy of not reading an author's unfinished manuscripts.
January 27, 2016
Junto a un lago dos mujeres viven. Una joven y embarazada, la otra anciana y cuidadora. Un loco sacerdote hermano de un Rey autoritario, fue el quien dejó embarazada a esta chica, algo pecaminoso. Querrá la muerte de ese nonato, sea como sea. ¡Que comience la huida!
August 20, 2016
great melodramatic story; fascinating apparent verisimilitude considering the author knew the south pacific only through his reading of contemporary reports; vivid characters; horrendous punctuation.
February 19, 2024
Wilkie tropical era
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews