Wilkie (William) Collins can be described as the author of the first full-length detective stories in English. Born in London in 1824, he was the son of a landscape painter. He was educated at private schools, but received his real education on a two-year tour of Italy with his family. He trained as a lawyer, but became a full-time writer in his early twenties. During the 1860s, with the publication
of novels of mystery, suspense and crime, he became
a household name. Of these novels, The Woman in
White (1860) and The Moonstone (1868) were the most successful, and are still widely read today.
Collins was very highly thought of by contemporary critics and his books were widely read in both America and Europe. The famous British author Charles Dickens was his friend and mentor, and like Dickens, Collins was a tireless social campaigner. After 1870, Collins’s novels concentrated more on social issues such as prostitution and vivisection than on good story-telling.
Collins suffered from gout, and was addicted to opium for the last twenty-seven years of his life (at the time, opium was considered to be a safe painkiller). Collins’s private life was unconventional: he had two mistresses and married neither of them, although he had three children by one, Martha Rudd. He died in 1889.
Wilkie (William) Collins can be described as the author of the first full-length detective stories in English. Born in London in 1824, he was the son of a landscape painter. He was educated at private schools, but received his real education on a two-year tour of Italy with his family. He trained as a lawyer, but became a full-time writer in his early twenties. During the 1860s, with the publicationof novels of mystery, suspense and crime, he becamea household name. Of these novels, The Woman inWhite (1860) and The Moonstone (1868) were the most successful, and are still widely read today.Collins was very highly thought of by contemporary critics and his books were widely read in both America and Europe. The famous British author Charles Dickens was his friend and mentor, and like Dickens, Collins was a tireless social campaigner. After 1870, Collins’s novels concentrated more on social issues such as prostitution and vivisection than on good story-telling.Collins suffered from gout, and was addicted to opium for the last twenty-seven years of his life (at the time, opium was considered to be a safe painkiller). Collins’s private life was unconventional: he had two mistresses and married neither of them, although he had three children by one, Martha Rudd. He died in 1889.
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