Keşke 1

Nurgül Keşkek

Asst. Prof. Barış Mete

20th Century British Novel

21 April 2020

Analyzing John Fowles’ Novel The Collector with the Characterisations of

Psychological Thriller

Abstract

The Collector is written by John Fowles who is one of the most famous 20th century British

novelists. The Collector may be described both as a promising first novel which is published

in 1963 and as a bestseller. It is taken seriously by literary scholarship which testifies to its

literary qualities (Huffaker 79). It is estimated one of the most astonishing thriller novels.

Thriller is a genre which is characterized by “the sudden rush of emotions, the excitement,

sense of suspense, apprehension, and exhilaration that drive the narrative, sometimes subtly

with peaks and lulls, sometimes at a constant, breakneck pace” (findmeanauthor.com).

Psychological thriller is one of the subgenres of the overarching thriller genre but it has some

very specific characteristics that make it different from other types of thrillers. Psychological

thriller is often used due to the fact that both deal with characters’ mental states and the

devious depths of the human mind (BCLS). In this article, the main concern is to analyse

John Fowles’ novel The Collector in terms of some specific characterisation of psychological

thriller like function of setting, characterisation of the protagonist, point of view, crime,

tension and suspense over the specific examples from the novel.

Keywords: thriller, psychological thriller, tension, suspense, point of view

Introduction

The Collector is a thriller novel which is written by English author John Fowles in 1963.
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The novel tells the story of Fredrick Clegg, a man in his mid-20s who is obsessed with an art

student Miranda Grey. Clegg stalks Miranda secretly and then he kidnaps her and holds her

captive in the cellar of his rural farmhouse. Katarina Drzajic 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 (206). But, before scrutinising the novel, we should

comprehend ‘thriller’ as a literary genre and its sub-genre ‘psychological thriller’ accordingly.

There is no narrow definition of thriller. A thriller as a genre of literature, film, and

television whose primary feature that induces strong feelings of excitement, anxiety,

tension, suspense , fear, and other similar emotions in its readers or viewers (literarytems.net).

Thrillers are dark, engrossing, and suspenseful plot-driven stories and thriller writers have

laser-focused expertise in keeping a reader interested. James Patterson defines thriller in his

book Thriller:Stories To KeepYou Up All Night:

“Thrillers provide such a rich literary feast . . . this openness to

expansion his one of the genre’s most enduring characteristics.

But what gives the variety of thrillers a common ground is the

intensity of emotions they create, particularly those of

apprehension and exhilaration, of excitement and breathlessness,

all designed to generate that all-important thrill. By definition, if

a thriller doesn’t thriller, it’s not doing its job.

Thriller is a big genre in fiction and covers a multitude of sub-genres, including

psychological, mystery, action, spy, military, disaster, police procedural and so on. In addition

to these sub-genres, there are also examples of thrillers combined with other popular genres

like romantic thrillers.

Historical Development of Thriller in Literature

Thriller dates back ancient epic poems. Thought to be one of the earliest prototypes of the

thriller genre, Homer’s Odyssey uses similar techniques to today’s modern thrillers. The hero

of this epic poem, Odysseus voyages home through extraordinary hardships and trials. He
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contends with Cyclopes, a one-eyed giants and the Sirens, who sing sailors to their death.

These encounters leave the readers to wonder the denouement of Odysseus. Even, there are

many exemplary fairy tales of thriller –like tendencies. One of them is Little Red Riding

Hood. The European fairy tale can be traced back to the 10th century and tells the story of a

little girl who walks through the woods to bring food to her sick grandmother. She runs into

the “Big Bad Wolf”. Later, he swallows the grandmother and waits for the girl, all while the

reader wonders what will happen to the girl.

Before the 20th century, The Count of Monte Cristo, written by Alexander Dumas in 1844 is

a daring and adventurous revenge thriller. This literary classic brings reader on a perilous and

suspenseful adventure following the main character’s quest for vengeance, satisfaction and

ultimately peace. Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart (1843) and A Cask of Amontillado

(1846) are the examples of thriller literary works.

With the 20th century came modern day thrillers. The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of

Secret Service (1903) by Robert Erskine Childers is an early example of spy fiction and an

espionage novel. The Bourne Identity (1980) by Robert Ludlum and in recent years, we have

seen titles from Vince Flynn, well-known for writing political thriller novels, and Dan Brown

who writes his bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code in 2003 (Pribbenow).

The Collector by John Fowles as a Psychological Thriller

Psychological thriller is one of the subgenres of the overarching thriller genre, but has some

very specific characteristic that make them different from other types of thrillers.

Psychological thrillers generally emphasize the unstable or delusional mental and emotional

conditions of the characters, and focus on the devious depths of the human mind (BCLS).

The Collector -as abovementioned – is a novel about Frederick Clegg who is uneducated

and obsessive with a young girl. He kidnaps the girl and then, he expects her to be in love

with him. In this paper I will expose the fact that The Collector by John Fowles is a very good

example of psychological thriller due to the fact that it carries several specific characteristics

of psychological thriller.
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First of all, psychological thriller often contains elements of terror like dread and fear. The

psychological thriller author creates a dark and gloomy setting and a fearful atmosphere in

order to get the readers to feel disturbed. In the novel, after Clegg kidnaps Miranda, he holds

her in a cellar of a farmhouse. Miranda insists on going upstairs because of her

claustrophobia. Her suffocation strikes the similar effects on the readers. Also, tension is one

of the characteristics of the thriller genre in general and is a crucial feature in psychological

thrillers. During the novel the reader is tensed while being witnessed of Miranda’s attempts to

escape in many times.

Secondly, the features of the main character are quite specific in this type of sub-genre. In

psychological thrillers, the protagonists are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by

battling wits with the antagonist or by battling for equilibrium in the character’s own mind

(Galyaky.com). In The Collector, our protagonist Frederick Clegg is a lonely, awkward,

disturbed, socially inept and emotionally deprived young man. His fighting is neither against a

person nor his own mind. He does not live any inner conflict and he is quite convinced that he

is not mad. He is a stubborn character and believes that he is always right. His only fighting

is against the society. It is stated that, “Before winning the pools, he saw the world through

the eyes of a man who was bullied and rejected by society” (V.M.Simandan). For that reason,

he is unable to adapt to real world and he prefers living in dreams and fantasies to reality. He

creates an imaginary world for Miranda and himself to live as wife and husband forever

happily. Strangely, his intelligence is not steady throughout the novel. Just because before

kidnapping Miranda, while he was thoroughly preparing the details of his future actions. On

the other hand, sometimes he behaves so naive and simpleton towards Miranda. He makes

himself believe that one day Miranda will fall in love with him. Besides, his obsession is

another important feature. At first glance, it seems that he is obsessive with Miranda but, in

fact, he is obsessed with ‘owning something’. He decides to collect not only butterflies, but

also the long admired object of his fantasy that is Miranda. When Miranda sees his collection

of butterflies “Of course” she said. “I remember they said so in the paper. Now you’ve
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collected me.”(Fowles, 41). He treats Miranda with a divine vision in mind. For him, she is

the rarest object which a collector can ever get. He dreams a valuable collection in which

Miranda is always there as the most valuable item.

“She drew pictures and I looked after my collection (in my

dream). It was always she loving me and my collection, drawing

and colouring them; working together in a beautiful modern

house in a big room with one of these huge glass window . . .

She all pretty with her pale blonde hair and grey eyes . . . (8).

Miranda crowns his dreams and fantasies as ‘the purest item’ of his collection. That’s why

his affection to her has suddenly changed after she tries to seduce him.

“I could have done anything. I could have killed her. All I did

later was because of that night. It was almost like she was

stupid, plain stupid . . . She was like all women, she had a one-

track mind. I never respect her again . . . (98).

Thus, his obsession with Miranda is totally different from the society’s expectation.

Because in conventional kidnapping events -like Miranda mentions her diary- after

kidnapping the woman is raped and killed by the kidnapper (112). However, he feels and

thinks more deeply than a conventional person. He always expects Miranda to understand him

and feel like him. It is clearly seen the dialogue below.

“But there must be something you want to do with me?”

“I just want to be with you. All the time.”

“I bed?”

“I’ve told you no.”

“But you want to?”

“I’d rather not speak about it.”(67).

Thirdly, in typical psychological thriller as point of view, in general, first person narration

is used. This is because of the fact that limited first person narration is pulse and pounding
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for tense psychological thrillers (Masson). The Collector has been written in a style that

delivers a double perspective. It consists of four parts and each part is written by first person

narrator. The first and last two parts are written by the protagonist Frederick Clegg’s point of

view. On the other hand, the second part of the novel is taken from the diary of Miranda. In

the first two chapters, same events are written but by different two people who are the

kidnapper and the victim. Miranda and Clegg are completely unalike. Clegg constantly

analyses the situation in a monotonous way whereas Miranda prefers to talk about her

feelings. The first person narration provides more chance to reader in order to create mostly

empathy towards the characters in the novels. Also it provides the reader with an opportunity

to evaluate the story’s events effectively. In this novel, Fowles leaves the readers to their own

devices that for whom they feel pity, empathy and sympathy or justify according to their own

perspectives.

Furthermore, crime and violence are the characteristics of psychological thriller. In The

Collector we do not witness any physical violence- except Miranda hits Frederick with axe –

but psychological violence wears away at not only Miranda but Clegg as well. At the end of

the diary of Miranda, it seems that she is a completely nervous wreck and her hatred to Clegg

increases incrementally.

“Oh my God my God I could kill myself. He is going to kill me

with despair . . . I went mad with rage. I threw a bottle of ink at

him. He has always abused me . . . I hate God. I hate whatever

made this world, I hate whatever made the human race, made

men like Caliban possible and situations like this possible (231).

Apart from kidnapping, as a crime, there is murder as well in the novel. Despite the fact

that Clegg treats Miranda as his guest, Frederick Clegg causes the death of Miranda. He

ignores her illness and he leaves Miranda to her fate. After Miranda’s death, Clegg feels sorry

and guilty and even he thinks to commit suicide until he finds Miranda’s diary in which it is

written that she never loves him (253).

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Finally, suspense is a crucial characteristic of the thriller genre. It gives the reader a feeling

of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, anticipation and tension.

Suspense is a major device for the securing and maintaining of interest. It also requires a

skilful manipulation of the reader/viewer for the arousal of lingering sensations and

impressions (Indrusiak 39). Suspense may be either of two major types: in one, the outcome is

uncertain and the suspense resides in the question of who or what or how; in the other, the

outcome is inevitable from the events which have gone before and the suspense resides in the

audience’s anticipation, in the question of when (Bozkurt ed. 88).

When the novel The Collector ends, many questions are still left unanswered. Last part of

the novel- Clegg’s next plan for another girl- gives some clues to the reader.

“As I say, it would be possible (if I hadn’t learnt my lesson.) She

isn’t as pretty as Miranda, of course, in fact she is only an

ordinary common shop girl, but that was my mistake before,

aiming too high, I ought to have seen that I could never get what

I wanted from Someone like Miranda . . . I have not made up my

mind about Marian (another M!) this time it won’t be love, it

would be just be for the interest of the thing and to compare

them . . . But it is still just an idea . . . (254-255).

As the novel ends with those words, many open ended questions and sense of wonder

appear in reader’s mind. Will Frederick Clegg kidnap the shop girl? If so, what will happen to

the girl? Will Clegg enrich his ‘collection’? With all these questions, the first type of suspense

is handled in the novel The Collector. The outcome is uncertain and it gets the reader to

question and interpret the end of the novel.

Conclusion

John Fowles’ first novel The Collector which is published in 1963 is one of the most

outstanding thriller novels of post modern literature. The story is about a lonely, socially inept
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and emotionally deprived young man Frederick Clegg’s kidnapping and holding on a young

girl Miranda. Frederick Clegg, an abnormal kidnapper has obvious problems not only coming

to terms with himself –though he never accepts it- but also developing and maintaining

normal human relationships in modern social life. Clegg’s mental illness and psychopathic

attitudes like obsession, self focused and lack of empathy behaviours make the novel a very

successful psychological thriller.

Psychological thriller as subgenre often incorporate elements of mystery, and action and

characters may have some sort of “abnormal psychological state such as agoraphobia –fear of

open field-, anxiety, split personality or paranoia. In this paper, my central focus has been the

some specific characterisations of psychological thriller on the basis of the novel The

Collector.

First, I have focused on the setting of the novel which is dark, gloomy and noisome cellar

and its impact on the reader. Next, characterisation is another significant feature in

psychological thriller and our protagonist Clegg presents a very typical deprived person both

psychologically and emotionally and socially. Thirdly, first person narrations of both Clegg’s

and Miranda’s perspectives allow the reader to feel deeply empathic with the characters’

emotions and thoughts. Then, crime and tension are two inevitable characterisations of

psychological thriller and throughout the novel these have been witnessed clearly. Finally,

suspense is a crucial feature and suspenseful end makes unforgettable the novel by leaving a

final and memorable impact on the reader. Consequently, The Collector is one of the most

breathtaking psychological thriller novels in terms of carrying many specific features of the

genre.
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WORKCITED

Bozkurt, Bülent ( ed.) Literary Terms: A Companion to the Study of Literature” Hacettepe

University. 1993.

Fowles, John. The Collector. Dell Printing. U.S.A.1964.

Huffaker, Robert. John Fowles. Boston, 1980, p:79

Indrusiak, Elaine. “Narrative Suspense in Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred Hitchrock” Vol.5

UniversidadE Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. December 2018.

Masson, Sophie, “What is Point of View?” January 20, 2010

https://writerunboxed.com/2010/01/20/what-point-of-view/ Accessed: 20 April 2020

Patterson, James ed. Thriller. Canada: MIRA Books 2006. p.iii

“Psychological Thrillers and Psychological Suspense.” BCLS. 17 October 2018.

https://www.bcls.lib.nj.us/psychological-thrillers-and-suspense. Accessed: 18 April 2020.

“Thriller Fiction Genre” n.d. http://www.findmeanauthor.com/thriller_fiction_genre.htm

Accessed: 18 April 2020.

V.M . Simandan. “An Analysis of The Collector by John Fowles”.08 June 2011.
https://www.simandan.com/an-analysis-of-%E2%80%98the-collector%E2%80%99-by-john-
fowles/ Accessed: 20 April 2020
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