By suggesting that the highest standard of truth can be achieved when many individuals contribute their stories, Walter implies that it can be unwise to rely too heavily on any single perspective. Walter compares the narrative to court testimony and emphasizes the importance of truth. However, this quote also reveals the deeper philosophical motive behind the novel's structure. The complicated plot makes this structure necessary, since there are many times when a key character is not present and therefore cannot speak to what events were taking place at this time. Rather than the entire narrative being presented from a single point of view, the many characters' perspectives will be included. This quote comes from Walter's narration, early in the novel, as he explains the story's unusual structure. ' in a genre invented by Collins and not by Poe.Thus, the story here presented will be told by more than one pen, as the story of an offence against the laws is told in Court by more than one witness-with the same object, in both cases, to present the truth always in its most direct and most intelligible aspect. Eliot called it 'the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels. 'The Moonstone', is seen by many as the first true detective novel T. The 1860s saw Collins' creative high-point, and it was during this decade that he achieved fame and critical acclaim, with his four major novels, 'The Woman in White' (1860), 'No Name' (1862), 'Armadale' (1866) and 'The Moonstone' (1868). It was in 1848, a year after the death of his father, that he published his first book, 'The Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., R.A'., to good reviews. In 1846, Collins became a law student at Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar in 1851, although he never practised. Returning to England, Collins attended Cole's boarding school, and completed his education in 1841, after which he was apprenticed to the tea merchants Antrobus & Co. However, there is still much to be discovered about this superstar of Victorian fiction.īorn in Marylebone, London in 1824, Collins' family enrolled him at the Maida Hill Academy in 1835, but then took him to France and Italy with them between 18. He is studied widely new film, television, and radio versions of some of his books have been made and all of his letters have been published. Most of his books are in print, and all are now in e-text.

Now, Collins is being given more critical and popular attention than he has received for 50 years. But after his death, his reputation declined as Dickens' bloomed. A close friend of Charles Dickens from their meeting in March 1851 until Dickens' death in June 1870, William Wilkie Collins was one of the best known, best loved, and, for a time, best paid of Victorian fiction writers.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins