Wilkie Collins, Vera Caspary and the Evolution of the Casebook Novel

by A.B. Emrys

Overview

Wilkie Collins was one of the most popular novelists during England's Victorian era. While Collins scholarship has often focused on social issues, this critical study explores his formal ingenuity, particularly the novel of testimony constructed from epistolary fiction, trial reports and prose monologue. His innovations in form were later mirrored by Vera Caspary, who adapted The Woman in White three times into contemporary fiction. This text explores how the formal dialogue between Collins and Caspary has linked sensation fiction with noir thrillers and film noir.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786447862
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	04/15/2011
Pages:	220
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

A.B. Emrys is professor emeritus of English at the University of Nebraska-Kearney. She lives in Winter Park, Florida.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
 1. Framed: A Brief History of Documents as Narrative Frames
 2. How He Wrote His Books: The Apprentice Years of Framing Testimony
 3. The Woman in White: Collins Launches the Casebook Novel
 4. Counterpoint Witnessing in No Name and Armadale
 5. The Moonstone: Collins Eclipses His First Casebook
 6. Framed Testimony in Collins’s Later Novels
 7. The Casebook After Collins
 8. Before Laura: Vera Caspary’s Early Career and Novels
 9. Laura: A Noir Novel Deeply Rooted in Sensation
10. Laura and Bedelia: “New Woman” Noir
11. After Laura: Caspary’s Other Casebook Novels
12. Caspary Continues to Apply Multiple Focus
13. Reframed: Multiple Focus in Popular and Literary Texts
Conclusion
Bibliography
deletePrimary Collins Texts
deletePrimary Caspary Texts
deleteOther Primary Texts
deleteSecondary Texts
Index

Editorial Reviews

a clearly written scholarly trek over fresh critical ground...this is one of the year’s best books of mystery scholarship and deserves strong Edgar consideration”—Mystery Scene Magazine.

From the Publisher

a clearly written scholarly trek over fresh critical ground...this is one of the year's best books of mystery scholarship and deserves strong Edgar consideration

Mystery Scene Magazine