What Is The Realism In The Collector

The Collector by John Fowles seems to adhere more to the taste of the contemporary reading public who had become accustomed to the stark and often grim realism of British fiction. The novel is written as a reinterpretation of realism, with postmodern elements as well, as Fowles himself admits that his purpose was suggesting that a surface realism only hints at the reality that lies beneath it.
The author’s choice of names 'Miranda' for the main female character and 'Caliban' as a nickname in her diary, make us think that Fowles’ purpose was to write the novel as a realist reinterpretation of Shakespeare's The Tempest, moreover if we take into consideration the four protagonists (Prospero, Caliban, Miranda, and Ferdinand). Excepting the absence of Ferdinand, similarities and links can be found between the play and The Collector. As a concludent example, there is the theme of double imprisonment, reiterated in both works: The Tempest and The Collector: on one

You could see it when she got sarcastic and impatient with me because I couldn't explain myself or I did things wrong. Stop thinking about class, she'd say. Like a rich man telling a poor man to stop thinking about money.”
In conclusion, the theme is the most realist element in the novel The Collector, along with the unity of the story, the detailed depiction of the two main characters, and the use of language. However, the way in which Fowles plays with realist and postmodern elements indeed make us wonder whether this work is realist or postmodernist. John Fowles beautifully combines characteristics of both realism and postmodernism to create an uncategorisable work of art, as he is considered to be the missing link between realism and postmodernism. . Fowles wanted to explore social changes in England, which had witnessed the rise of a wealthy group of people who did not come from high-class backgrounds, by reinterpreting realist