Description
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1994 "[Collins] clearly relished performing his life, one minute as the well-known author Wilkie Collins, the next as 'Mr. William Dawson' holidaying in Ramsgate with Mrs. Dawson and the children... Dealing with such an extraordinary life and such extraordinary fictions, most accounts of the artistic life would have no difficulty in presenting the one as simply a spill-over from the other. In this admirable biography, Catherine Peters resists such reductiveness."--Stephen Gill, The Times Literary Supplement "[Collins's] oddity was increased by his addiction to opium, which he carried around with him in a silver hip-flask. 'All his life,' we learn from his present biographer, he was 'haunted by a second self,' by the idea that 'someone was standing behind him.' ... Catherine Peters's book is crammed with interesting details."--Peter Quennell, The Evening Standard "The first readable portrait of Collins as a human being."--Francoise Riviere, The European "A wonderful case study in Victorian morals... [Peters] offers a fascinating story, plainly told."--William St. Clair, Financial Times "As intelligent and comprehensive account of [Collins's] work as we are ever likely to have."--Claire Tomalin, Independent on Sunday
Table of Contents*FrontMatter, pg. i*CONTENTS, pg. vii*ILLUSTRATIONS, pg. ix*ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, pg. xi*One. Families (1788-1822), pg. 1*Two A Happy Family (1823-1835), pg. 19*Three. Educations (1836-1840), pg. 37*Four. The Prison at the Strand (1841-1847), pg. 55*Five. Publication ( 1847-1851), pg. 75*Six. 'The Fire of Artistic Ambition'(1851-1852), pg. 95*Seven. The Sorcerer and the Apprentice (1852-1853), pg. 115*Eight. In the Sorcerer's Footsteps (1853-1854), pg. 131*Nine. The Setting-up of a Balloon (1855-1856), pg. 147*Ten. The Frozen Deep (1856-1858), pg. 165*Eleven. Secret Connections (1858-1859), pg. 187*Twelve. The Woman in White (1859-1860), pg. 205*Thirteen. At the Top of the Tree (1860-1862), pg. 227*Fourteen. No Name (1862-1864), pg. 247*Fifteen. Armadale: The Self and the Shadow (1863-1866), pg. 263*Sixteen. 'Wild yet domestic': Wilkie's family mysteries (1867-1868), pg. 285*Seventeen. The Moonstone (1867-1870), pg. 303*Eighteen. After Dickens (1870-1872), pg. 319*Nineteen. Wilkie and the Theatre (1871-1874), pg. 333*Twenty-one. The Law and the Lady (1874-1879), pg. 367*Twenty-two. The Unknown Public (1878-1885), pg. 385*Twenty-three. The Final Years (1885-1889), pg. 407*Twenty-four. The Journey's End (1889), pg. 427*APPENDIX A. Charles Collins' 'Secret Connection', pg. 435*APPENDIX B. Wilkie Collins' Travelling Desk, pg. 439*APPENDIX C. Wilkie Collins' First, Unpublished Novel, pg. 441*References, pg. 445*Bibliography, pg. 479*Index, pg. 493
