本文是一篇英语文学论文，本文通过层层分析，得出结论，认为小说除了表现出深刻的社会寓意和道德批判之外，也提醒人们要保有客观辩证的视角，对世界上的人和事存在一个“公正的”、“警醒的”态度。
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 John Fowles and Literary Creation
The British writer John Fowles (1926–2005) was a postmodernist and 20th-century icon. He was called one of the “most talented post-war novelists” (Malcolm 293) and the “only English writer with the power, vision, knowledge, and wisdom of Tolstoy or James” (Dianne 223). A History of British Literary Thought (Li and Zhang 621) credits Fowles with pioneering British postmodern aesthetics. John Gardner (1933–1982) called Fowles “one of the English-speaking novelists of today whose work can become a timeless classic” (Aubrey 9). Fowles was complimented by William Palmer: “His narrative is as mysterious as Tarot cards; his logic is as rigorous as Anthony Burgess; and his writing is as exquisite as Vladimir Nabokov” (113). John Fowles’s writings have substantial philosophical issues and artistic styles. Their depth and readability attract readers and academics.
Fowles’s spirituality and cultural background are anchored in England, France, and Greece; therefore, he feels more impacted by European culture than British society. Fowles started writing in the early 1950s. He writes because it lets him indulge in fantasy and freely create character scenes and dialogues to escape his unsatisfying exterior existence (Olshen 53). He was originally a teacher. After publishing The Collector in 1963 and succeeding, he quit teaching to write full-time. During his more than 40-year creative career, John Fowles left behind six novels and several non-fiction works. Many of his works, such as The Collector, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, and The Magus, has been the bestseller in the US and UK and are required reading for literary courses in universities in both countries.
1.2 Introduction to The Collector
The Collector, published in 1963, has won the Smith Prize for Literature. The literary world of the era noticed Fowles after this book’s success, and he began his tireless exploration of life and art, achieving productive results throughout his life.
The Collector is mainly telling the story of a bank clerk named Ferderick Clegg, who came from an ordinary working-class family, had no possessions and a solitary personality, and gradually developed a dark and deformed psychology. The butterfly collection was his passion. He fell in love with Miranda after he accidentally met her. Clegg knew he was unable to attract this rich, creative girl, so when he instantly became wealthy after winning the lottery, he abducted Miranda and imprisoned her in a dank cellar. Miranda eventually died of pneumonia after being missing for a long period of time.
The book has four sections. The first part is the diary of the male protagonist, Clegg, covers from his infatuation for Miranda to his successful kidnapping and to Miranda’s death. The second part is Miranda’s diary, which chronicles her life after imprisonment and focuses on her loathing for Clegg and her struggles with him. In the third and fourth parts, Clegg describes Miranda’s gradual death and his unapproved burial. At the end, Clegg finds another Miranda-like girl with a lower social status and plans to repeat his old tricks and commit his second crime.
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Studies Abroad
Fowles’s early writings had a stronger influence in the US as a British writer, and the public accepted them earlier than academia. Following the publication of The French Lieutenant’s Woman in 1969, UK academics initiated a systematic review of Fowles’s novels. Thus, most academics originally studied Fowles’s writing style and other works. The study on The Collector mainly focused on feminism, existentialism, and storytelling strategies.
In the beginning, the researchers focused on Fowles’s writing style and other works. The Aristos introduced Roy Mack Hill to Fowles’s “game writing” style. He considered Fowles to be a profound phi
