Introduction

Indian Diamonds 105
into the negative, although the basic assumption remains that an object of such
immense value, rarity and often age, must exert some kind of unexplainable influence.
The “poetry” of the journal article and Fleming’s “myth” evoke the otherworldly
and romantic associations of diamonds. The otherworldly quality of diamonds
surfaces in their connection with the Oriental ‘treasure trove’. Diamonds
serve as an ideal romanticised stand-in for this imaginary region through their
association with luxury, abundant and presumably ownerless treasure.
Diamonds as such have always been the centre of legends and myths: In
Hindu mythology they come into existence through the sacrifice of a god (Harlow,
“History of Diamonds” 119), and the famous fable of the valley of diamonds,
featuring either Sindbad or Alexander the Great as its principle hero, has been
transmitted in innumerable versions. Real historical diamonds, too, seem to have
attracted stories like hardly any other objects (Proctor 287). The stories especially
those about the history of the Koh-i-Noor captured the attention of the Victorian
public on its arrival in England.
Famous historical diamonds have a more or less thoroughly documented history;
it is usually a mingling of fact and fiction which also often features different
crimes. As the object of such a narrative, the diamond is individualised and identifiable
by name. Such a legendary diamond presents the twofold allure of a mythical
object and a financial asset. A singular and often named diamond, however,
lacks the interchangeable quality and anonymity of cash or any precious metal. In
turn, the individualised diamond is the centre and instigator of stories.
It should by now have become clear, I think, that diamonds in fiction and detective
fiction cannot be regarded as a mere “MacGuffin” to keep the plot in motion
(Hennelly 27) or as the plug for a text with “a hole in the middle” as Patrick
Brantlinger described The Moonstone (Brantlinger, “What is Sensational” 22, qtd. in
Hennelly 28). I would rather argue that the diamonds in The Moonstone and the
later texts cannotbe exchanged with any other objects. They are integral to the
texts and as they are identified as Indian their Otherness must be significant. I
propose to analyse the diamonds as Indian objects in texts which are concerned
with detection, either very overtly as in Doyle and Collins, or more peripherally as
in Trollope.
I will look at the fictional diamonds from different angles and concentrate first
of all on their stories which partly draw on existing and famous contemporary
diamonds. In the next step, I will consider the contexts which the diamonds appear
in in England, namely possession and inheritance, which are naturally central
themes of detective fiction. In a separate chapter the focus will be on the intricate
web of significances and metaphors which connect diamonds and women and
their ownership of diamonds. The introduction of romance into the detective plot
also provides a frame to analyse the endings of the stories and relies on diamonds
as distinctly Orientalised objects. A mode of writing termed the “Imperial Gothic”