Questions Of Identity In Detective Fiction

Author : Anita Higgie,Linda Martz
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 225 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2009-03-26
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781443809078

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Questions of Identity in Detective Fiction by Anita Higgie,Linda Martz Pdf

With essays by an international group of scholars, Questions of Identity in Detective Fiction delves into the ways in which this genre, given its status as popular yet marginalized literature, allows for the exploration of a wide range of meanings. Contributors examine how the genre both mirrors and focuses the personal/sexual/ ethnic/spiritual, how it interfaces with national literatures and histories, and how the generic identity of detective fiction has evolved over time. Chapters include discussions of novels and short stories from American, Argentine, British, Canadian, French, German, and Japanese national literatures, ranging from the mid 19th century to the early 21st century.

Author : Marieke Krajenbrink,Kate M. Quinn
Publisher : Rodopi
Page : 361 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : History
ISBN : 9789042025295

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Investigating Identities by Marieke Krajenbrink,Kate M. Quinn Pdf

Investigating Identities: Questions of Identity in Contemporary International Crime Fiction is one of the relatively few books to date which adopts a comparative approach to the study of the genre. This collection of twenty essays by international scholars, examining crime fiction production from over a dozen countries, confirms that a comparative approach can both shed light on processes of adaptation and appropriation of the genre within specific national, regional or local contexts, and also uncover similarities between the works of authors from very different areas. Contributors explore discourse concerning national and historical memory, language, race, ethnicity, culture and gender, and examine how identity is affirmed and challenged in the crime genre today. They reveal a growing tendency towards hybridization and postmodern experimentation, and increasing engagement with philosophical enquiry into the epistemological dimensions of investigation. Throughout, the notion of stable identities is subject to scrutiny. While each essay in itself is a valuable addition to existing criticism on the genre, all the chapters mutually inform and complement each other in fascinating and often unexpected ways. This volume makes an important contribution to the growing field of crime fiction studies and to ongoing debates on questions of identity. It will therefore be of special interest to students and scholars of the crime genre, identity studies and comparative literature. It will also appeal to all who enjoy reading contemporary crime fiction.

Author : June Thomson
Publisher : Doubleday
Page : 178 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 1977-01-01
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 038513245X

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A Question of Identity by June Thomson Pdf

Author : Nels Pearson
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2016-04-22
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781317151968

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Detective Fiction in a Postcolonial and Transnational World by Nels Pearson Pdf

Taking up a neglected area in the study of the crime novel, this collection investigates the growing number of writers who adapt conventions of detective fiction to expose problems of law, ethics, and truth that arise in postcolonial and transnational communities. While detective fiction has been linked to imperialism and constructions of race from its earliest origins, recent developments signal the evolution of the genre into a potent framework for narrating the complexities of identity, citizenship, and justice in a postcolonial world. Among the authors considered are Vikram Chandra, Gabriel García Márquez, Michael Ondaatje, Patrick Chamoiseau, Mario Vargas Llosa, Suki Kim, and Walter Mosley. The essays explore detective stories set in Latin America, the Caribbean, India, and North America, including novels that view the American metropolis from the point of view of Asian American, African American, or Latino characters. Offering ten new and original essays by scholars in the field, this volume highlights the diverse employment of detective fictions internationally, and uncovers important political and historical subtexts of popular crime novels.

Author : Casey Cothran,Mercy Cannon
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2015-10-14
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781317435242

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New Perspectives on Detective Fiction by Casey Cothran,Mercy Cannon Pdf

This collection establishes new perspectives on the idea of mystery, as it is enacted and encoded in the genre of detective fiction. Essays reclaim detective fiction as an object of critical inquiry, examining the ways it shapes issues of social destabilization, moral ambiguity, reader complicity, intertextuality, and metafiction. Breaking new ground by moving beyond the critical preoccupation with classification of historical types and generic determinants, contributors examine the effect of mystery on literary forms and on readers, who experience the provocative, complex process of coming to grips with the unknown and the unknowable. This volume opens up discussion on publically acclaimed, modern works of mystery and on classic pieces, addressing a variety of forms including novels, plays, graphic novels, television series, films, and ipad games. Re-examining the interpretive potential of a genre that seems easily defined yet has endless permutations, the book closely analyzes the cultural function of mystery, the way it intervenes in social and political problems, as well as the literary properties that give the genre its particular shape. The volume treats various texts as meaningful subjects for critical analysis and sheds new light on the interpretive potential for a genre that creates as much ambiguity as it does clarity. Scholars of mystery and detective fiction, crime fiction, genre studies, and cultural studies will find this volume invaluable.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 360 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2009-01-01
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9789042029170

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Investigating Identities by Anonim Pdf

Investigating Identities: Questions of Identity in Contemporary International Crime Fiction is one of the relatively few books to date which adopts a comparative approach to the study of the genre. This collection of twenty essays by international scholars, examining crime fiction production from over a dozen countries, confirms that a comparative approach can both shed light on processes of adaptation and appropriation of the genre within specific national, regional or local contexts, and also uncover similarities between the works of authors from very different areas.Contributors explore discourse concerning national and historical memory, language, race, ethnicity, culture and gender, and examine how identity is affirmed and challenged in the crime genre today. They reveal a growing tendency towards hybridization and postmodern experimentation, and increasing engagement with philosophical enquiry into the epistemological dimensions of investigation. Throughout, the notion of stable identities is subject to scrutiny.While each essay in itself is a valuable addition to existing criticism on the genre, all the chapters mutually inform and complement each other in fascinating and often unexpected ways. This volume makes an important contribution to the growing field of crime fiction studies and to ongoing debates on questions of identity. It will therefore be of special interest to students and scholars of the crime genre, identity studies and comparative literature. It will also appeal to all who enjoy reading contemporary crime fiction.

Author : Julie H. Kim
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 270 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2020-05-05
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781476640426

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Crime Fiction and National Identities in the Global Age by Julie H. Kim Pdf

To read a crime novel today largely simulates the exercise of reading newspapers or watching the news. The speed and frequency with which today's bestselling works of crime fiction are produced allow them to mirror and dissect nearly contemporaneous socio-political events and conflicts. This collection examines this phenomenon and offers original, critical, essays on how national identity appears in international crime fiction in the age of populism and globalization. These essays address topics such as the array of competing nationalisms in Europe; Indian secularism versus Hindu communalism; the populist rhetoric tinged with misogyny or homophobia in the United States; racial, religious or ethnic others who are sidelined in political appeals to dominant native voices; and the increasing economic chasm between a rich and poor. More broadly, these essays inquire into themes such as how national identity and various conceptions of masculinity are woven together, how dominant native cultures interact with migrant and colonized cultures to explore insider/outsider paradigms and identity politics, and how generic and cultural boundaries are repeatedly crossed in postcolonial detective fiction.

Author : Annette Trefzer,Ann J. Abadie
Publisher : Univ. Press of Mississippi
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2014-04-29
Category : Literary Collections
ISBN : 9781626741539

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Faulkner and Mystery by Annette Trefzer,Ann J. Abadie Pdf

Faulkner and Mystery presents a wide spectrum of compelling arguments about the role and function of mystery in William Faulkner’s fiction. Twelve new essays approach the question of what can be known and what remains a secret in the narratives of the Nobel laureate. Scholars debate whether or not Faulkner’s work attempts to solve mysteries or celebrate the enigmas of life and the elusiveness of truth. Scholars scrutinize Faulkner’s use of the contemporary crime and detection genre as well as novels that deepen a plot rather than solve it. Several essays are dedicated to exploring the narrative strategies and ideological functions of Faulkner’s take on the detective story, the classic “whodunit.” Among Faulkner’s novels most interested in the format of detection is Intruder in the Dust, which assumes a central role in this essay collection. Other contributors explore the thickening mysteries of racial and sexual identity, particularly the enigmatic nature of his female and African American characters. Questions of insight, cognition, and judgment in Faulkner’s work are also at the center of essays that explore his storytelling techniques, plot development, and the inscrutability of language itself.

Author : Ronald R. Thomas
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Law
ISBN : 0521527627

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Detective Fiction and the Rise of Forensic Science by Ronald R. Thomas Pdf

This is a book about the relationship between the development of forensic science in the nineteenth century and the invention of the new literary genre of detective fiction in Britain and America. Ronald R. Thomas examines the criminal body as a site of interpretation and enforcement in a wide range of fictional examples, from Poe, Dickens and Hawthorne through Twain and Conan Doyle to Hammett, Chandler and Christie. He is especially concerned with the authority the literary detective manages to secure through the 'devices' - fingerprinting, photography, lie detectors - with which he discovers the truth and establishes his expertise, and the way in which those devices relate to broader questions of cultural authority at decisive moments in the history of the genre. This is an interdisciplinary project, framing readings of literary texts with an analysis of contemporaneous developments in criminology, the rules of evidence, and modern scientific accounts of identity.

Author : Thomas W. Kniesche
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 341 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2019-10-21
Category : Literary Collections
ISBN : 9783110422252

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Contemporary German Crime Fiction by Thomas W. Kniesche Pdf

A companion to contemporary German crime fiction for English-speaking audiences is overdue. Starting with the earlier Swiss “classics” Glauser and Dürrenmatt and including a number of important Austrian authors, such as Wolf Haas and Heinrich Steinfest, this volume will cover the essential writers, genres, and themes of crime fiction written in German. Where necessary and appropriate, crime fiction in media other than writing (TV-series, movies) will be included. Contemporary social and political developments, such as gender issues, life in a multicultural society, and the afterlife of German fascism today, play a crucial role in much of recent German crime fiction. A number of contributions to this volume will comment on the literary reflection of these issues in the texts. The goal of the volume is to make available to English-speaking audiences, to students, teachers and to a wider circle of interested readers, a series of articles on genres, topics, authors, and texts that will help them understand the scope and depth of German crime fiction, its ties to international traditions and also the specificity of the German context, its historical development and contemporary situation.

Author : P. Bedore
Publisher : Springer
Page : 204 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2013-11-07
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781137288653

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Dime Novels and the Roots of American Detective Fiction by P. Bedore Pdf

This book reveals subversive representations of gender, race and class in detective dime novels (1860-1915), arguing that inherent tensions between subversive and conservative impulses—theorized as contamination and containment—explain detective fiction's ongoing popular appeal to readers and to writers such as Twain and Faulkner.

Author : Renée W. Craig-Odders,Jacky Collins,Glen S. Close
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 237 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2006-03-20
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780786424269

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Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Detective Fiction by Renée W. Craig-Odders,Jacky Collins,Glen S. Close Pdf

The image of the hard-boiled private investigator from gritty pulp fiction, a terse and mysterious figure, has become increasingly universal as the detective novel crosses more and more borders. A booming genre in Latin America, Spain and other Hispanic cultures, detective fiction has transcended the limitations of its influences. Hispanic authors relatively new to the genre have published novels and series popular with the public, while a number of well-known writers have adapted the genre to reflect the concurrent globalization of modern society and the crimes within it. This volume presents a compilation of 11 critical essays on genero negro--contemporary detective fiction in the Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian canon. Surveying the last twenty years, the text analyzes emerging trends in this rapidly evolving genre, as well as the mutations and innovations taking place within the style. The first section of the book is dedicated to the detective fiction of Spain and Portugal. The second section surveys works from Latin America and the United States, where topics touch on universal subjects like crime, identity and feminism.

Author : Lee Clark Mitchell
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 254 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2021-11-25
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780192659156

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Noir Fiction and Film by Lee Clark Mitchell Pdf

The argument of Noir Fiction and Film is curiously counterintuitive: that in a century of hard-boiled fiction and detective films, characteristics that at first seemed trivial swelled in importance, flourishing into crucial aspects of the genre. Among these are aimless descriptions of people and places irrelevant to plot, along with detectives consisting of little more than sparkling dialogue and flippant attitudes. What weaves together such features, however, seems to be a paradox: that a genre rooted in solving a mystery, structured around the gathering of clues, must do so by misdirecting our attention, even withholding information we think we need to generate the suspense we also desire. Yet successful noir stories and films enhance that suspense through passing diversions (descriptive details and eccentric perspectives) rather than depending on the center pieces of plot alone (suspected motives or incriminating traces). As the greatest practitioners of the genre have realized, the "how" of detective fiction (its stylistic detours) draws us in more insistently than the "what" or the "who" (its linear advance). And the achievement of recent film noir is to make that "how" become the tantalizing object of our entire attention, shorn of any pretense of reading for the plot, immersing us in the diversionary delight that has animated the genre from the beginning.

Author : Anthea Fraser
Publisher : Severn House Publishers Ltd
Page : 215 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2012-12-15
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781780102771

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Question of Identity by Anthea Fraser Pdf

Meet Rona Parish, a talented biographer who has a skill for writing about the past and encountering danger along the way, and her adorable golden retriever, Gus. Rona Parish has to verify a rumour of what seems to be a huge scandal which happened a long time ago at a closed-down school. But will the past catch up with her before she can unravel the truth? Biographer Rona Parish is at her wits' end when she struggles to finish her latest writing project. Open to distraction, she catches up with her friends and family and tries to clear her head in the meantime. An old school photograph in which someone seems to have been blacked out hints at a curious event . . . A far more inconvenient distraction, her twin sister Lindsey persuades her to use her detective skills for a discovery concerning an old school photograph in which someone deliberately blacked out a figure. Who is the mysterious person in the photograph and why would someone want to hide their identity? Rona Parish has to uncover long-forgotten secrets and a rumoured scandal that took place decades ago . . . Reluctantly, Rona takes on the job and tries to put the pieces together. But investigating a decades-old scandal proves trickier than she anticipated, and brings up the question if this story will stay buried after all . . . A page-turning cosy mystery set in the fictional English market town of Marsborough in the stunning Chiltern Hills. Fans of M.C. Beaton, Richard Osman, Reverend Richard Coles, G.M. Malliet, Margery Allingham, Betty Rowlands and Faith Martin will love this series. READERS ADORE RONA PARISH: "Excellent mystery" "I enjoy this series and like catching up with Rona Parish and her extended family" "This is a good clean murder mystery" "British cozy fans will enjoy the sophisticated plot and country atmosphere" Booklist "Solid plotting complements the author's in-depth examinations of the varied relationships among her characters, in particular the bond between Rona and Lindsey" Publishers Weekly The Rona Parish mysteries 1. Brought to Book 2. Jigsaw 3. Person or Persons Unknown 4. A Family Concern 5. Rogue in Porcelain 6. Next Door to Murder 7. Unfinished Portrait 8. A Question of Identity 9. Justice Postponed 10. Retribution

Author : Susan Hill
Publisher : Knopf Canada
Page : 382 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2012-01-03
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780307399175

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The Betrayal of Trust by Susan Hill Pdf

"Not all great novelists can write crime fiction but when one like Susan Hill does the result is stunning." —Ruth Rendell A cold case comes back to life in this sixth book in the highly successful Simon Serrailler detective series "eagerly awaited by all aficionados" (P.D. James). Freak weather and flash floods all over southern England. Lafferton is under water and a landslide on the Moor has closed the bypass. As the rain slowly drains away, a shallow grave--and a skeleton--are exposed; 20 years on, the remains of missing teenager Joanne Lowther have finally been uncovered. The case is re-opened and Simon Serrailler is called in as senior investigating officer. Joanne, an only child, had been on her way home from a friend's house that night. She was the daughter of a prominent local businessman, Sir John Lowther. Joanne's mother, unable to cope, killed herself 2 years after Joanne disappeared. Cold cases are always tough, and in this latest in the acclaimed series from Susan Hill, Serrailler is forced to confront a frustrating, distressing and complex situation.