Watched by the Dead: A Loving Study of Dickens' Half-told Tale |
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This is a discussion of Dickens's final book, "Edwin Drood". The general gist of Mr Proctor's book is that Jasper is a failed murderer, that Edwin Drood is not dead, and that Edwin himself plays the part of Datchery.
Mr Proctor bases his hypothesis entirely on his (very impressive) knowledge of Dickens's work. In this regard he reads into Jasper a character which is entirely missing from Dickens's text. In the text, Jasper is unfailing in declaring his affection for Edwin, and there is not one word of Dickens's to say that this is false: Proctor, having decided that Jasper is a murderer, clearly has to state that this is all a fake, which is something he is, obviously, unable to prove.
However, for anyone interested in "Edwin Drood". this is an essential and extremely important reference. That being the case, it is a serious fault that there is only one copy of "Watched by the Dead" scanned in. A quality on-line copy is important for research. Sadly, the single copy scan is imperfect. Pages 104 and 105 are omitted entirely, and the bottom corner of page 59 is missing.