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In this intimate Victorian life of the father of the detective story, Mr. Clarke uncovers and explores, with insight and sympathy, the private relationships of a fascinating writer. A literary coup...casts a fresh beam of light on the great, dark seam of Victorian sexual mores. —Observer
The Critical Heritage gathers together a large body of critical sources on major figures in literature. Each volume presents contemporary responses to a writer's work, enabling students and researchers to read for themselves, for example, comments on early performances of Shakespeare's plays, or reactions to the first publication of Jane Austen's novels. The carefully selected sources range from landmark essays in the history of criticism to journalism and contemporary opinion, and little published documentary material such as letters and diaries. Significant pieces of criticism from later periods are also included, in order to demonstrate the fluctuations in an author's reputation. Each volume contains an introduction to the writer's published works, a selected bibliography, and an index of works, authors and subjects. The Collected Critical Heritage set will be available as a set of 68 volumes and the series will also be available in mini sets selected by period (in slipcase boxes) and as individual volumes.
Lyn Pykett offers a lively exploration of the novels of Wilkie Collins, author of the first recognised detective novel
Almost on the centenary of his death, this book studies the novels of Wilkie Collins and attempts to appreciate his representation of Victorian mores. It pays particular attention to Collins' views on sexuality, both male and female, and the laws concerning the distribution of property.
In the midst of a Victorian culture ingrained with strict social etiquette and societal norms, Wilkie Collins composed novels that contained asocial, even anarchic, impulses. A contemporary of Dickens, Collins creates a world more Kafkaesque than Dickensian, a world populated by doppelgangers, secret selves, oddballs, and grotesques. The essays of Reality's Dark Light: The Sensational Wilkie Collins purposefully work to expand Collins's legacy beyond The Woman in White and The Moonstone; they move well past the simplistic view of Collins's works as "sensation novels," "detective novels," or even "popular fiction," all labels that carry with them pejorative connotations. This collection repre...
Short and oddly built, with a head too big for his body, extremely short-sighted, unable to stay still, dressed in colourful clothes, 'as if playing a certain part in the great general drama of life', Wilkie Collins looked distinctly strange. But he was none the less a charmer, befriended by the great, loved by children, irresistibly attractive to women -- and avidly read by generations of readers. Ackroyd follows his hero, 'the sweetest-tempered of all the Victorian novelists', from his childhood as the son of a well-known artist to his struggling beginnings as a writer, his years of fame and his life-long friendship with the other great London chronicler, Charles Dickens. A true Londoner, ...
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"This international collection of essays celebrates the 200th anniversary of Wilkie Collins's birth by exploring his multi-faceted impact on nineteenth-century culture. Examining his lesser-known and shorter works alongside the great novels, this volume provides new perspectives for both students and admirers fascinated by his complex fictions"--
This eclectic collection brings together a range of critical voices, from varying disciplinary backgrounds, to comment on the life and works of Wilkie Collins. A close friend of Dickens, Collins engaged with some of the nineteenth centuryâ (TM)s most influential ideas and cultural developments. As this collection makes clear, he formed interesting connections with key figures in literature, art, theatre, medicine, and the law. As a result, his works often engaged with the periodâ (TM)s most influential ideas and cultural developments. Best remembered for spearheading the Sensation genre with The Woman in White and detective fiction with The Moonstone, Collinsâ (TM)s career actually encompassed a large amount of material that has remained relatively neglected until recently. Wilkie Collins: Interdisciplinary Essays offers readings of previously unstudied sources while offering new perspectives on the authorâ (TM)s most canonical works.