The Fate of Fenella was an experiment in consecutive novel writing inspired by J. S. Wood and published in his magazine The Gentlewoman in twenty-four parts between 1891 and 1892 in London.
When first published in book form its title was The Fate of Fenella: by Twenty-four Authors. It was first published in London by Hutchinson and Company and by the Cassell Publishing Company in New York in 1892. The authors who contributed chapters included Bram Stoker, Frances Eleanor Trollope and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Background
The novel first appeared as a twenty-four part serial in J. S. Wood's weekly magazine, The Gentlewoman, in 1891 and 1892. Each of the authors wrote one chapter and passed the novel on to the next person in line. The odd-numbered chapters were written by women, and the even-numbered chapters by men, thus alternating in developing the narrativeFate of Fenella, The Spectator, May 1892, retrieved 21 February 2014 – although one of the men in the list, "Frank Danby", was in fact a woman. The completed work was republished as a three-volume novel by Hutchinson & Co. of London in May 1892,Fate of Fenella, bramstoker.org, retrieved 21 February 2012 with a review noting the absence of a controlling mind. The novel was also published in Germany that year by Bernhard Tauchnitz in Leipzig in English.
Contemporary review The following review appeared in The Spectator in May 1892: The result has been a fairly readable novel, that tells an extremely silly story. The plot is ridiculous; the characters waver and change from chapter to chapter; but there are occasionally strong situations, and scraps of fairly good dialogue. On the whole, however, the book is an amusing one; more amusing still when the reader remembers the conditions under which it has been written, and the difficulties with which the separate authors had to contend.
The chapters The quotation marks in some chapter titles are as shown in the book (from the "cheap" edition of August 1892 by J. S. Wood) Helen Mathers, "Fenella" Justin McCarthy, Kismet Frances Eleanor Trollope, How it strikes a contemporary Arthur Conan Doyle, "Between two fires"Richard Lancelyn Green and John Michael Gibson, A Bibliography of A. Conan Doyle, revised edition, Boston London and New York, Hudson House, 2000, pp. 345–6 May Crommelin, Complications F. C. Phillips, A woman's view of the matter “Rita”, So near — so far away Joseph Hatton, The tragedy Mrs. Lovett Cameron, Free once again Bram Stoker, Lord Castleton explains"Lord Castleton Explains", in The Gentlewoman dated 30 January 1892, Chapter 10 of The Fate of Fenella Florence Marryat, Madame de Vigny's revenge Frank Danby, To live or die? Mrs. Edward Kennard, "The scars remained" Richard Dowling, Derelict Mrs. Hungerford, Another rift Arthur A'Beckett, In New York Jean Middlemass, Confined in a madhouse Clement Scott, "Within sight of home" Clo. Graves, A vision from the sea H. W. Lucy, Through fire and water Adeline Sergeant, "Alive or dead?" George Manville Fenn, Retribution "Tasma", Sick unto death F. Anstey, "Whom the gods hate die hard"
References
External links
Bram Stoker Online txt and PDF versions of chapter 10. German edition. Leipzig: B. Tauchnitz, 1892.