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This novel tells a story between a young girl named Miranda Grey and a clerk in the tax office, Frederic Clegg. Clegg was born in a poor family and has developed a habit of collecting butterflies. He is obsessed with this beautiful and artistic girl, Miranda. So he carefully designs to kidnap her and traps her into the cellar of his villa. At last, Miranda dies of illness because of lack of treatment and Clegg has already had the next target. This horrible story has attracted much attention as soon as it was published.
Among the past studies of The Collector, there are various opinions. On the one hand, overseas researches have different focuses and can be pided into three kinds. First, some of researchers like Kelsey Bennett analyzed its moral purposes from the aspect of ethics, mainly focusing on the causes and effects of Clegg’s mental abnormality (2007). Second, there are also some studies concerned with the themes of this novel like the theme of “captivity and confrontation” and the theme of “freedom of artists”. Third, many critics regard this novel as an ordinary one, thinking that this novel is not good as his latter works in the depth of thoughts and artistic innovation. Syhamal Bagchee says in his article, “the book had merely demonstrated that he could write well-enough to get published” (219). On the other hand, domestic studies of this novel start much later than overseas researches. And there are usually two research directions --- eco-feminism and existentialism. Between these two research angles, feminism occupies an important position. For example, Zhang Fengfeng analyzes the tragic fate of Miranda and the personality of Clegg so as to reveal the feminist thoughts and social criticism in this novel (2004). Besides, existential studies have been paid attention to in recent years. Some analysts try to interpret this novel from the aspect of existentialism. Li Xiaoping and Liu Wei, through discussing the characters and the existential theories, provide a special interpretation of this novel (2011).
Existentialism is a philosophical movement which started in the mid 19th century. In the mid 20th century, it became widespread in Europe especially in France. John Fowles read a lot about French literature of existentialism and was attracted by it when he was in Oxford University, thus, became an existentialist. He was greatly influenced by one of these greatest existentialists, Sartre who sees the freedom as the essence of human attributes. Sartre’s existential opinions can be summarized into three aspects. First, he believes that existence precedes essence which means one’s ego determines the essence of himself. Second, the world is absurd and the life is painful. What the world brings to us can only be depression, despair and negativity. And third, freedom is the spirit of his existential thoughts. Everyone is free to express himself and pursue what he wants.