BRIEF LIVES: WILKIE COLLINS

by Melissa Klimaszewski

Wilkie Collins was one of the most popular writers in Victorian England. An innovator of detective fiction, Collins secured his fame with sensational novels that feature intricate legal plots, mistaken identities, and complex crimes. Collins also adapted many of his most famous works, such as The Woman in White, for the stage and became a prolific dramatist. Boldly challenging the mores of Victorian society in his life as well as in his prose, Wilkie Collins’ story is one of the most entertaining and unusual of his day.

This illuminating yet succinct biography offers fresh insights into Collins’ mixed race characters, his complicated family life, his collaborations with Charles Dickens, and several of his lesser-known works. Klimaszewski situates Collins within his own milieu and demonstrates how his work sparks new understandings of Victorian lives and letters.

Publication date: 01/03/2011