Fenella

Familiarize yourself with the entire book in electronic form via the link on the website of the SZKEO of the Russian Federation. The gift illustrated edition is printed on domestic fluffy pigmented book-designer paper with a bookmark of the same... color as the cap.

The novel "Fenella" is a collective work of twenty-four British authors, each of whom wrote the subsequent chapter, taking the "relay baton" from their predecessor. As a result, the composition emerged with a rather original plot. Among the authors of "Fenella" were known literati such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker. The text of the novel is translated by Mikhail Pavlovich Chekhov. The book is adorned with illustrations by British artist Martin Jay Leighton.

The novel "Fenella" is a unique phenomenon in literature of the late 19th century, as this original work has not one, but a whole twenty-four authors. Each of them wrote the subsequent chapter of the novel, taking the peculiar "relay baton" from their predecessor. The initiator of this amusing literary game was English businessman Joseph Snell Wood (1853-1920). In addition to business, he was involved in various public affairs, including overseeing charitable hospitals for the poor. Publishing activities played an important role in Wood's life. In particular, in 1890, he founded the magazine "Gentlewoman" in London. In an effort to attract new readers, Wood tried to come up with some non-traditional methods. In the very first issue of the magazine, he published the opening chapter of some novel. The intrigue was that the second and all subsequent chapters were to be written... by the readers themselves! The idea worked, and in response to Wood's call, letters with possible options for the second chapter began to arrive at the editorial office. The best text was chosen for publication. This game stretched over a full twenty issues of the magazine, each of which featured a new chapter of the novel. The result satisfied Wood quite well. The chapters of the novel, written by the British "collective mind," had only one flaw - it was felt that they were written by amateurs, dilettantes. Then Wood decided to continue his game, elevating it to a higher level. He turned to English writers and proposed that they create a collective novel in the same way. Among Wood's acquaintances, this idea initially evoked a certain skepticism. Writers are bright individualists - they believed - and hardly anyone of them would agree to be merely some "ingredient" of a common literary "vinaigrette." However, contrary to the skeptics, Wood's proposal appealed to leading British fiction writers, and as a result, in 1891, the first chapter of the novel "Fenella" was published in the pages of the magazine "Gentlewoman." It was followed by other chapters, totaling twenty-four, each with its own author. The honor of introducing the main character of the novel to readers fell to the popular English writer Helen Matthews. Among the authors of "Fenella" were well-known literati like Arthur Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker (a brief reference about each author is provided in this book).

The unique novel, which emerged at the initiative of Joseph Wood, was introduced to domestic readers by Chekhov's brother - Mikhail Pavlovich Chekhov. He translated all twenty-four chapters of "Fenella," and in 1903, this collective work of English authors with an unpredictable plot was published by the lithographic publishing house "Energия."