The Collector was John Fowles’ first novel. It was made into a film in which Terence Stamp played the young man whose obsession for collecting butterflies was accompanied by an obsession to collect and make a captive of a young girl from Hampstead. Hampstead is the place John Fowles was living in at the time.

cellar as a luxury prison. To begin with, he did this as a kind of dream gesture imagining Miranda as his permanent guest, imagining her coming to appreciate him, to conquer his loneliness, finally to love him. And then he decided to put Newton, Michael (2002). The Encyclopedia of Kidnappings. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 978-1-438-12988-4. Crowther, Bosley (June 18, 1965). "Terence Stamp Stars in 'The Collector' ". The New York Times: 28. Yes, I think I sold it for 5,000 which was I suppose a bargain, but I never regretted getting that money. That did set me free from teaching.The 38th Academy Awards (1966) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 2015-01-11 . Retrieved 2011-08-24.

Power and control are central aspects of Fowles's novel. From the beginning, Clegg uses chloroform to subdue Miranda; the pad of chloroform will reappear later in the novel during one of Miranda's escape attempts. Clegg also gags Miranda and binds her hands whenever he takes her upstairs. The basement where she lives is impenetrable and soundproof, and even if it were not, nobody lives nearby enough to hear her scream. Miranda may be better-educated than Clegg, but Clegg's uncanny ability to exercise control and predict how she might try to escape means that he is well-prepared for any rebellion. Meehan, Paul (2014). Horror Noir: Where Cinema's Dark Sisters Meet. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-786-46219-3.For many years I have felt in exile from English society, perhaps particularly English middle class society. I’ve never felt an exile from England itself, from its climate, its countryside, its cities, its past, its art, but yes, yes, I do feel in exile. I think this is a good thing for a novelist. If a novelist isn’t in exile I suspect he’d be in trouble. Christopher Wilder, a spree/serial killer of young girls, had The Collector in his possession when he was killed by police in 1984. [24] Robert Berdella [ edit ] Shakespeare's play The Tempest is frequently alluded to in Fowles's novel, and the comparisons and contrasts between the two stories reveal Clegg's and Miranda's mindsets in The Collector. Clegg tells Miranda that his name is Ferdinand; in The Tempest, the character Ferdinand is a cultured and kind prince with whom Miranda falls in love. It is clear that this is the side of his character that Clegg wants the captive Miranda to see. Yet Miranda calls Clegg Caliban. In The Tempest, Caliban is a monstrous man who tries to rape Miranda. Yet Prospero, the powerful magician who serves as Shakespeare's protagonist, reduces Caliban to slavery. Caliban is violent, uncivilized, and undesirable. This is how Miranda views Clegg throughout much of The Collector. By analyzing The Collector in light of its similarities to The Tempest, one can unearth revealing aspects of the characters. Art

I always like one character in my book in that situation, because I find that gives the book a kind of onwardness. A sort of archetypal image I have which I associate with the novel is that of the voyage. This, the learning novel where the central character or a main character has to learn something, does give a kind of energy to narrative, and it does catch out the reader because most readers also want to learn something. So it’s a kind of engine. I think it’s an engine in the book. I wrote the first draft in a month, yes, and I revised it considerably. I didn’t take a month, you know, between my starting and my completed work. What were those ten years like while you were writing but not being published? Were you in a state of expectation or frustration or both or what? Mystery for me has energy, you know absolutely fixed answers destroy something, they’re a kind of prison, although obviously there are areas where you have to know the answer. Bagchee, Syhamal (1980). " "The Collector": The Paradoxical Imagination of John Fowles". Journal of Modern Literature. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. 8 (2): 219–234. ISSN 0022-281X. JSTOR 3831229.Bob Berdella: The Kansas City Butcher". Archived from the original on 10 February 2015 . Retrieved 15 February 2021. Scholar Katarina Držajić considers The Collector "one of the most prominent novels of the 20th century, [which] may be viewed from many interesting perspectives – as a psychological thriller, a Jungian study, a modern or postmodern piece of literature. John Fowles is well established as a master of language, using a variety of tools to convey different meanings and bring his characters closer to his reader." [13] Reception [ edit ] John Robert Fowles was born in Leigh-on-Sea, a small town in Essex. He recalled the English suburban culture of the 1930s as oppressively conformist and his family life as intensely conventional. Of his childhood, Fowles said "I have tried to escape ever since."

But you put a lot of…I have the impression that you put a lot of your own personal philosophical views into your novels. His decision to collect not only butterflies, but also the long admired object of his fantasy, Miranda, is made possible by the fact that he wins a large amount of money. As a prisoner in a secluded basement, Miranda is cared for very well, and thus at first the reader has the feeling that Ferdinand is not a monster, but a pitiful, lonely man in need of love. Ferdinand thinks that money is enough to make Miranda love him. But he is wrong. You’re constantly referring to other writers, a lot of English writers. Do you feel yourself very much part of a company and a tradition of writers?Furthermore, the article could also examine the literary techniques used by Fowles in The Collector. The novel is known for its unique narrative structure, which alternates between the perspectives of Clegg and Miranda. Fowles also employs various literary devices such as symbolism, foreshadowing, and irony to enhance the themes and plot of the novel. There is no need to search here for symbolic echoes. Mr. Fowles's prison has nothing in common with the distresses of Kafka or Camus. He tells, for its own sake, a horrifying yarn. And he may well turn out to be a leader in the van Spetse. And again I had another love affair, with Greece, which was a different country in those days.