Part 8: by Michael Moorman
The Moonstone, a popular novel, was in both All The Year Round and Harper’s Weekly. However, the story wasn’t published on its own within the journals. The story was published alongside other fictional and non-fiction stories relating to goblins, politics, and racism among other topics. Because of the inclusion of other topics and even the layout / structure of the journals themselves, a reader’s understanding of The Moonstone could be impacted. As Linda Hughes says, “‘Sideways,’ as [she] use[s] the term, includes analysis across genres; texts opening out onto each other dialogically in and our of periodicals” (Hughes 1-2). In other words, dialogue blends. In the case of The Moonstone, one’s understanding can be affected by unrelated articles and stories included either before or after Wilkie’s story. In this paper, I show how the inclusion of The Moonstone in both All The Year Round and Harper’s Weekly can influence one’s reading. Whether this is because one may perceive the fictional story as non-fiction or be influenced by unrelated articles surrounding the story, the placement of The Moonstone in the journals affects one’s reading of the story.
The title of All The Year Round. is created like an average newspaper although features stories like The Moonstone. It also begins with a quote from Shakespeare: "The story of our lives from year to year."
The Moonstone is a fiction novel created by Wilkie Collins. However, the journal’s creation being similar to a newspaper could confuse the story for non-fiction rather than simply a story. After outlining who conducted the journal, Charles Dickens, the journal notes that the writing contains “household words,” words that could be considered those discussed in an average household. Those words being said in average households are the ones that would have a journal like this. Therefore, if one wasn’t aware of The Moonstone being fictious, it may be conceived as news based on the title and layout of the journal in which the story is printed. The font of the title “The Moonstone” also adds to the importance of the story. The title is larger than both the journal being described as a “Weekly Journal” and the name of the conducted author. Therefore, it appears that the story’s title is the second most important part of this page, second to the title of the journal.
In addition to the layout and font of the page is the quote from Shakespeare. The quote does include the word “story,” a word to describe either real or fake events for educational or entertainment purposes. This word, “story,” can therefore allude to fictitious stories for entertainment purposes. However, the word can also mean real stories. As Shakespeare’s quote states how these “stor[ies]” are from “our lives,” one may take this quote to mean that the following dialogue is real or based on real events. However, it is to be taken seriously. As you will see in the following photos, if these stories were taken seriously as opposed to being considered as fiction, one’s reading may be drastically different due to themes of colonialism, gender, and class and socialism.
Similar to All The Year Round, Harper’s Weekly is designed like a newspaper. In the addition of Harper’s Weekly that published Chapter 13 of The Moonstone, the first article to follow the title of the journal was “New York Politics.”
Like All The Year Round, the chapters of The Moonstone are included in Harper’s Weekly as they are published. Are the stories the same? Yes. Can the meaning being interpreted differently based on other factors, including what other articles, news, and information is provided within the same journal edition? Absolutely. In the edition of Harper’s Weekly that contains Chapter 13 of The Moonstone, “New York Politics” is the first topic discussed. The edition immediately starts with political dialogue discussing the occurrences of government. Like All The Year Round, if these stories were taken seriously as opposed to being considered as fiction, one may read The Moonstone differently than another who reads it as fiction. This includes consideration of themes like colonialism, gender, and class and socialism.
When Sergeant Cuff begins his investigation into the missing Diamond, he accuses the servants who become the sole target of his investigation. He then asserts his power during his discussions with the mistress when he says how the “servants will accept it [his investigation] as even dealing” and that “instead of hindering the investigation, they will make a point of honour of assisting it” (Collins 105). Here, the Sergeant, an authority of the law that is put into position by the City, is making demands upon the lower class. In addition to this, the mistress expresses her concern with the Sergeant attending the home prior to him coming inside: “I have a presentiment that he is bringing trouble and misery with him into the house” (Collins 103). The mistress shows here how she is more nervous than appreciative of the Sergeant’s involvement. In neither of these cases does the Sergeant look protective. His involvement is more detrimental than helpful. He is even referred to as the “great Cuff” being a pompous remark towards to authoritative body (Collins 106). While reading this section after “New York Politics,” one may read Chapters 13 and 14 sideways as authoritative powers being more detrimental than helpful. They may mix the fictitious aspects of The Moonstone and mis them with governmental narrative.
The article, “Other Genii of the Cave,” is included in All The Year Round immediately after the publication of Chapters 13 and 14 where “a sexton was run away with by goblins.”
An article about goblins running away with an innocent sexton following Chapters 13 and 14 of The Moonstone is ironic as the “goblins” can be seen in The Moonstone. The “goblins” could be either Sergeant Cuff or the servants. The Sergeant comes into the home and enforces his own power over the occupants, including the owners. Like the goblins who ran away with the sexton out of their own wishes, Sergeant Cuff enforces his own power as “the great Cuff” (Collins 106) to get the results that he desires most. However, just like Gabriel’s opinion of Sergeant Cuff differs from his mistress – “The more I [Gabriel] saw of Sergeant Cuff, the better I liked him (Collins 103) – so can the readers. Therefore, the servants could also be considered as The Moonstone’s goblins.
The servants are immediately believed to be at fault for the theft of the Diamond. Just like the goblins ran away with the sexton, the servants are believed to be the ones who ran away with the Diamond. With the influence of “Other Genii of the Cave,” a reader may also be influenced to believe that the servants are immediately at fault because of their arbitrary involvement based on the dictation of Cuff. The Sergeant asks Gabriel if any of the servants were showing signs of “temper” or if one had “unexpectedly taken ill” (Collins 109). A servant suddenly becoming “ill” could be a reference to mental illness or madness. With “Other Genii of the Cave” occurring immediately after the chapters, whose to believe that a reader wouldn’t compare a mentally ill servant that stole from their master to a goblin who ran away with a sexton? With the influence of this article that occurs immediately after the chapters, a reader may read this chapter differently.
This is a photo shown in Harper’s Weekly in the edition containing Chapters 13 and 14 of The Moonstone. The photo is included just before the two chapters begin.
The photo shows a man sitting on a pedestal higher than the rest of the people. He appears to be a man of power and is protected by a guard. The pedestal has the words “first in pe…” Although the third word is cut off from the photo, this man is clearly a higher-ranking person than the rest, and the “first in” words likely allude to him being of higher status. Other men, men appearing the be of lower ranking, are being pushed away from the higher-class man with looks of disgust on their face. The guard that is blocking the higher-class man is standing on a sign that says “truth” where the lower-class citizens are under clouds that contain the words “conspiracy” and “anarchy.”
After looking at this photo then reading The Moonstone on the following page, one may be influenced to believe that Sergeant Cuff’s beliefs and actions are correct. He is the guard standing on the words “truth.” Cuff represents a higher, more important purpose. The purpose that is the “truth.” The lower-class citizens being pushed away are then the servants, the ones causing conspiracy, the ones creating anarchy. They are lower-class citizens and shouldn’t be able to dictate rules and asks of the higher-class people, just like those shown in the photo. However, opinions on the meaning of the photo and whether one takes this into consideration when reading The Moonstone differs for everyone. One may see this photo and see servants stating how the higher classes’ “truth” is simply conspiracy and anarchy. If this is the case, one may read The Moonstone with the opinion that Cuff is a “goblin,” which can be read in comparison with “Other Genii of the Cave” above. Cuff is simply lying his way to get what he is looking for (the Diamond) whether this comes at the detriment of others.
The Moonstone was a popular novel that was released in fragments as it was published. It appeared in both All The Year Round and Harper’s Weekly among other news articles and stories. Because of the appearance of other photos, articles, stories, and even because of paper formatting, the interpretation of The Moonstone could have been influenced by other information in the paper. The Moonstone contains themes of colonialism, gender, and class and socialism. However, because of the additional information contained in the editions of the journals that contained The Moonstone, each reader may see the story differently. Where one person may believe that Sergeant Cuff is correct in his actions because he is all know, because what he says is the truth (like the photo from Harper’s Weekly), one may see Cuff as the gremlin “Other Genii of the Cave.” One reader may understand that The Moonstone is simply fiction where another may be influenced by news articles and the formatting of the journals to believe that there may be a deeper meaning to the writing. Although the stories are the same, the outside information influences the meaning of the story that is sandwiched between unrelated contributing details.
Works Cited
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. Oxford University Press, 2019. Print.
Collins, Wilkie. "The Moonstone: Chapter XIII." Harper's Weekly, 22 February 1868, p. 117.
American Historical Periodicals from the American Antiquarian Society, link-gale-com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/apps/doc/WDUMIV377990741/AAHP?u=ucalgary&sid=bookmark-AAHP&xid=25f95d0e.
Dickens, Charles. All The Year Round. 22 February 1868, pp. 241, Dickens Journals Online,
ProQuest, https://www.djo.org.uk/all-the-year-round/volume-xix/page-241.html.
Hughes, Linda K. “SIDEWAYS!: Navigating the Material(Ity) of Print Culture.” Victorian
Periodicals Review, vol. 47, no. 1, 2014, pp. 1–30, https://doi.org/10.1353/vpr.2014.0011.
Unknown Author. "Ides Febrvarii MDCCCLXVIII." Harper's Weekly, 22 February 1868, pp. 3,
Unknown Author. "Other Genii of the Cave." All The Year Round. 22 February 1868, pp. 246
250, Dickens Journals Online, ProQuest, https://www.djo.org.uk/all-the-year-round/volume-xix/page-246.html.