Wilkie Collins

Basil illustrated Wilkie Collins

Basil is the second novel written by British author Wilkie Collins, after Antonina. In her introduction (Oxford World's Classics Edition), Dorothy Goldman applies psychoanalytic theories to argue that Basil and Mannion, Margaret and Clara, are each like opposite halves of the same person. A further doublet is between the active Ralph and the passive Basil, as the former notes in his dialogue.