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Whether it is literary bravery or intellectual arrogance, James Wilson's debut novel tackles a mighty subject. Borrowing two characters, Walter Hartright and Marian Halcombe, from Victorian novelist Wilkie Collins, he also centers the story around a real life figure, J. M. W. Turner, one of England's greatest painters.
THE DARK CLUE is fictional, but much of its storyline is based on what little is known about the artist's life. The choice of Walter and his sister-in-law Marian, the two main characters in Collins's THE WOMAN IN WHITE, is interesting, but the inspiration for it never surfaces. It is not unusual for contemporary authors to borrow characters from the classics, but this seems an odd choice. Most readers will not be familiar with them, nor will they have such an extensive knowledge of the painter whose supposed biography fuels this story.
Despite the overwhelming abundance of information, it is an extremely intelligent and authentic novel in the Victorian manner, the language superbly echoing the time period. Walter is introduced by Marian to Lady Eastlake, an intellectual socialite, who persuades him to attempt a biography of the infamous painter, J. M. W. Turner. An artist himself, Walter is keen on doing so, and the main motive is to refute the ugly truth being offered up by another biographer named Thornbury. However, Hartright soon realizes that there is more to Turner's life than meets the eye.
Thus begins the trail of clues that leads both Marian and Walter to the slums and social parlours of London. Wilson's writing is very detailed and marvelously atmospheric. There are numerous characters who enter the picture and they each have a different story concerning the notoriously private Turner. The story of his life becomes more sordid and confusing as the novel labors onward. And it does labor. After the reader's initial interest is piqued, the book begins to take a different turn. Hartright begins to assume the supposed identity of Turner himself, neglecting his morals, values, and intense love for his wife and children. When Marian begins to worry about him and does her own investigative work, trying to understand the past life of Turner and the changing life of her brother-in-law, she soon becomes a victim of Walter's moral decline as well.
However, our hero descends into perversion far too easily. Argument could be made that Walter was already on the precipice of complete moral breakdown, but there is no early evidence, primarily because the character belongs to another author of a different era.
Wilson's decision to use the journals and letters of both characters makes it difficult to remember from whose point of view the story is being told. It creates a sense that the reader is doing a bit of the detective work as well. THE DARK CLUE also fluctuates in its thrill. The intelligence of Wilson's writing is awesome, but it overpowers the story itself. Art critics may find some merit in his analysis of Turner's work, but the reader will grow frantic unless he or she has a working knowledge of the Regency art world. Having read THE WOMAN IN WHITE, or seen its television interpretation on PBS, will also be of some value to the reader.
The novel has its superb moments and James Wilson is, without a doubt, an intelligent, perceptive and poetic writer. The research is correct, but it is not all encompassing. Lacking facts, Wilson can only hint at Turner's private life, leaving the reader to wonder what Walter Hartright saw in the basement.
--- Reviewed by Lorretta Ruggiero
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