Experiments in suspense: technique in the early fiction of Wilkie Collins

This study addresses the critical tendency to view Wilkie Collinss early novels, Basil, Hide and Seek, and The Dead Secret, as failed attempts at writing The Woman in White. I propose that these novels deserve more attention, as they demonstrate Collinss technical concerns in creating a novel of suspense, specifically those related to narrative construction and narratorial presence. I first explore how the early novels serve as experimentations with technique and conclude by discussing how Collinss narrative strategies in The Woman in White and The Moonstone stem from his findings in the earlier novels.