Well, I've done it. I have finally read all of the novels written by Charles Dickens. The last and unfinished is The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and the mystery of what happened to poor Edwin will forever be a mystery.
I read this along with the GoodReads Victorians group, and it has been fun and interesting to hear what other readers think about the mystery before it came to an abrupt halt. Dickens was only 22 chapters (i.e., six installments in the serialized version) before he died on June 9, 1870 after suffering a massive stroke the day before.
The basic premise is that young Edwin Drood, who reminded me a lot of Nicholas Nickleby with his bounce and confidence and charm, disappears and is presumed murdered. The chief suspects are his uncle, John Jasper, who is an opium addict and Neville Landless, a fiery scholar who is also somewhat of a rival for the affections of his betrothed, Rosa Bud.
The novel is set initially in a quiet village peopled by members of the clergy and their families--think Trollope--but moves quickly to London where it seems most of the action of the novel will take place.
Although Dickens left many notes about the chapters he wrote, he left none related to how the story worked out. Before starting the novel, he shared with his good friend and later biographer, John Forster, his basic idea for the novel, but what he actually wrote seems to depart substantially from what he outlined to Forster.
So, readers have been left for the past 150 years speculating as to what happened to Edwin. Was he murdered? Did he meet with an accident? Did he disappear of his own volition? If he was murdered, who did it--Jasper, Neville, the newcomer to the village, Mr Datchery, or someone else entirely?
Fun Facts: from Mental Floss
Other scholars and writers have attempted to solve the mystery on their own over the years. In 1914, the Dickens Fellowship held a mock trial for Jasper, with G.K. Chesterton serving as the judge and George Bernard Shaw as the foreman of the jury. (The fictional character was found guilty of manslaughter.) In 2015, the University of Buckingham set up a website called Drood Inquiry, where the public could submit their theories on the book’s conclusion. The ending that pinned Jasper as the murderer was by far the most popular, but the project also attracted some more surprising ideas. According to one submission, Edwin Drood was killed by the sweet mother of the local reverend.
I've been on the fence regarding reading a completion, but I just ordered a copy of a completion by Leon Garfield. I've heard this is pretty good, and I would like some resolution to the different threads.
My personal theory is that Jasper is sort of a Dr Jeckel/Mr Hyde character and murdered his nephew when he was in an opium-induced trip. Robert Louis Stevenson published his Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in 1886, so maybe he read Edwin Drood and had the same thought as me! However, I think the problem with the Jasper theory is that he is so clearly the villain, he must be a red herring! I actually love the idea of Edwin surfacing again near the end of the novel--he stole my heart, which really doesn't want him to be murdered!
There is a musical inspired by the fragment that I understand ends with the audience being asked to vote on what they think solves the various mysteries in the novel and then the cast performs that ending. I would love to see this in action!
Now that I have completed the oevre, I plan to go back and reread to my heart's content, probably starting with Bleak House, which I first read in college and then reread decades ago, so I do need a refresher. Little Dorrit is also high on the reread list.
