According to the English crime writer P.D. James (1920-) “for a book to be described as detective fiction there must be a central mystery and one that by the end of the book is solved satisfactorily and logically, not by good luck or intuition, but by intelligent deduction from clues honestly if deceptively presented.” (James. 2009: 16). This is traditionally conducted via a detective; a figure deployed within the narrative structure ‘whose occupation is to investigate crimes’ (Oxford. 2006: 202). Therefore detective fiction represents an enigma, a puzzle to be solved through an intriguing series of events and clues presented by the writer to its audience; that are taken on a journey through a process of reasoning, elimination and conclusion to solve a mystery. The narrative formula allows the audience to engage on an exploration of self-discovery as “the mystery’s solution supplies a temporary sense of self through which the reader is offered an apparatus for negotiating the boundaries that define identity.” (McCracken. 1998: 50).
Detective fiction can be defined and situated into various different categories; “one is taxonomic…placing it in relation to other types of popular literature…Westerns, science fiction, spy tales and so on. John G. Cawelti’s (Adventure) has grouped these types into larger categories called ‘archetypes’ which are convenient for making an initial distinction between two major kinds of detective fiction, ‘Mystery’ and ‘Adventure.’ (Rzepka. 2005: 9). This raises the question of how detective fiction appeals to past and present audience’s and its position as part of a mass market publication in contemporary society. In order to answer this question it is important to briefly summarise the rise o...
... middle of paper ...
...http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Detective_Fiction_(Bookshelf). [Accessed 20th April 2012]
Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory. (2007) Detective Fiction, Herman, D. Jahn, M. & Ryan, M. [On-line] Available from: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wWNnBndF9uEC&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&dq=generic+conventions+of+detective+fiction&source=bl&ots=nN3XjelCQo&sig=w_epfgfc-_S9UUZhgH65xBIxMbY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=p7KfT-H_GafE4gTW_-y2Aw&ved=0CFAQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=generic%20conventions%20of%20detective%20fiction&f=false. [Accessed 19th April 2012]
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Literary Estate. (2000) The Official Website of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Literary Estate. [On-line] Available from: http://www.sherlockholmesonline.org/. [Accessed 20th April 2012]
The Sherlock Holmes Company, (2010). [On-line] Available from: http://www.sherlockholmes.com/. [Accessed 21st April 2012]
The birth of classic detective fiction was originated just in the mid nineteenth century, and was producing its own genre. Classical detective fiction follows a set of rules called the ‘Ten commandments of detective fiction’. The genre is so popular it can bee seen by the number of sales in any good book stores. Many of these books have been created a long time ago and there is still a demand for these types of books. The popularity is still ongoing because it provides constant entertainment, and also the reader can also have a role of detective trying to solve the crime/case committed. Classical detective fiction has a formula, the detective story starts with a seemingly irresolvable mystery, typically a murder, features the astute, often unconventional detective, a wrongly accused suspect to whom the circumstantial evidence points, and concludes with a startling or unexpected solution to the mystery, during which the detective explains how he or she solved the mystery. Formula that includes certain elements such as, a closed location to keep the number of suspects down, red hearings spread around the stories to keep the reader entertained yet interacted.
...ense. All four of those characteristics make up the basis of this genre. “The hard-boiled detective was created in the pages of Black Mask magazine in the early 1920s by Carroll John Daly, a largely forgotten hack. He was immediately followed by Dashiell Hammett, who brought real talent to the genre and gave it literary credentials” (Penzler). Daly also created one of the first series of private eye novels, topping Hammett as one of the most famous authors of that time. Not soon after, the author of “The Big Sleep”, Raymond Chandler, closely trails after Hammett in his novel writing becoming vastly popular. “Raymond Chandler followed Hammett with his immortal Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep and eight subsequent novels. As a pure writer whose use of simile and metaphor has never been equaled, Chandler remains one of the giants of 20thcentury literature” (Penzler).
Dashiell Hammett’s novel, The Maltese Falcon, is a hard-boiled detective novel; a subset of the mystery genre. Before the appearance of this sub-genre, mystery novels were mainly dominated by unrealistic cases and detectives like Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. As Malmgren states, “The murders in these stories are implausibly motivated, the plots completely artificial, and the characters pathetically two-dimensional, puppets and cardboard lovers, and paper mache villains and detectives of exquisite and impossible gentility.” (Malmgren, 371) On the other hand, Hammett tried to write realistic mystery fiction – the “hard-boiled” genre. In the Maltese Falcon, Hammett uses language, symbolism, and characterization to bring the story closer to reality.
Professor’s comment: This student perceptively examines the role of the city as a setting and frame for detective fiction. Focusing on two early examples, Poe’s “Murders in the Rue Morgue” and Hoffmann’s “Mademoiselle de Scudery,” both set in Paris, his sophisticated essay illuminates the “cityness” or framed constraint that renders the city a backdrop conducive to murder—such as the city’s crowded, constricted nature, promoting vertical rather than outward movement and increasing hostility and the fact that so much urban life occurs at night, a reversal of the natural order and facilitating illicit activity. He compels us to look in new ways both at the city and at detective fiction.
The human mind tends to have an immense fascination with things that are impossible to explain or comprehend or, in simpler terms, mysteries. Commonly, crime and detective television shows exploit the peoples’ enthrallment toward mysteries to captivate and maintain viewership. For example, the television show, Luther, is very complex and exciting show in that it approaches these mysteries in a unique way. Neil Cross, the writer of the show, employs the use of various traditional detective story devices, including but not limited to the presentation of a problem followed by the detective’s canny methods to the resolution of the problem. In the case of the television show Luther, the problem that is presented is the murder of Alice Morgan’s parents.
The idea of a detective catching an elusive convict or solving an improbable crime has been prevalent in all corners of the world, spread throughout many cultures and societies. The detective genre is held as the idea that an individual has to solve a crime. This detective usually has nothing to gain from solving the crime, but they see it more as an obstacle. The detective doesn’t always take every case, as human beings, we are too often curious of the impossible; our natural instinct is to question why and how things work in this world. People crave mystery, to taste a bit of improbable, to see what the detectives see, to see what is overlooked by many. The idea of an intelligent witty, sharp “sleuth” with an obedient sidekick has been prevalent
Forensics is a scientific method of gathering and examining information about a crime. It is used in the law for figuring out when, where, and what happened at the scene of the crime. Mystery writers must use forensics when writing about crime solving. This draws in the readers because of how realistic the mystery seems. In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story “The Red-Headed League,” the author shows his perspective on justice while exemplifying his linear and detailed style, with the main character depicting the story in chronological order and the detective using deductive reasoning to solve the crime.
the cover of this book there would be a mystery, a story of detectives, eye-
A detective story is a genre of fiction in which a person attempts to solve a crime. The detective may be a professional or an amateur, and generally has nothing to gain from solving the crime. However in Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King”, the main character Oedipus is not only determined to solve a crime, but he is also in pursuit to find his own identity. This is similar to Arthur Conan Doyle’s “A Scandal in Bohemia” where Sherlock Holmes has been hired to work as a detective in return for monetary compensation. Both situations enable Oedipus and Sherlock to gain from unraveling the mysteries that sweep their towns hence making these stories different from most detective stories.
The acclaimed authors, Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle, formulate the characters of Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes respectively, to be similar in the way that they analyze, deduce, and connect segments of desperate and often-thought “unsolvable” detective cases. Through their comparable techniques and system of deduction, Dupin and Holmes never fail to trace back their evidence to the scene of the crime. However, due to the vast difference in the writing styles of Poe and Doyle, the audience observes the main characters not as clones, but rather an analogous pair that think alike, but do not act alike. The personalities of Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes, although present are recognizable differences in their actions, continue to
Mysteries have always held great fascination for the human mind, not least because of the aura that surrounds them and the realm of the Unknown into which they delve. Coupled with the human propensity of being particularly curious about aspects which elude the average mind, the layer of intrigue that glosses over such puzzles makes for a heady combination of the literary and the popular. In the canon of detective fiction worldwide, no detective has tickled the curious reader’s imagination and held it in thrall as much as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. The 221-B, Baker Street, London ‘amateur’ detective combines a rare blend of intellectual prowess and sharp wit to crack a series of baffling riddles.
Tzvetan Todorov views detective fiction as literature that speaks for itself and needs no introduction. According to Todorov, detective fiction should adapt to its new genre instead of going beyond traditional literature (43). Todorov views detective fiction as two separate entities: the crime that establishes the groundwork of the story and the investigation that backtracks the crime in a logical manner. Todorov believes that these stories, “in their purest form,” are completely independent from each other but are essential in the creation of a detective story (43). The purpose of the first story is to learn about the crime in a detached viewpoint where “[the narrative] is absent but real” while the purpose of the second story is to linearly
The detective story is a tale that features a mystery and/or the commission of a crime, emphasizing the search for a solution. It distinguishes itself from other forms of fiction by the fact that it is a puzzle. The detective story did not just spring into being in its current form, but rather, evolved over time. The first true detective stories were written by Edgar Allan Poe. Many writers and critics have plainly stated that he is the inventor of detective fiction. Poe introduces one of the most basic elements of the detective story, which is the presentation of clues for his readers. This idea becomes very important in all subsequent works of detective fiction. That is, in all such fiction, all of the clues are available for the reader and the detective to solve the crime (usually murder), and at the end of the story, the reader should be able to look back on the clues and realize that he could have solved the mystery. A detective story in which the solution is suddenly revealed to the reader in considered bad form.
Pos-Ho. Critical survey of mystery and Detective Fiction. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey Salem Press, 1988. pgs 1332-1337
Detective fiction is read and has been read for going on 200 years, simply because the stories are entertaining. The authors are truly what help to draw people back to the genre. This appeal of reading for fun is one that would strike any literate person as intriguing, and that’s exactly what detective fiction does. Because there are no serious moral or social values to be derived from reading these mysteries, people keep coming back! I have enjoyed reading detective fiction for eight years now, and it’s the simple escape from the “required” or educational readings that keep me coming back, and that’s the most likely reason that detective fiction has managed to stay around and so popular for such a long time.