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Crime Fiction: A History, II

Crime Fiction: A History, II. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930. Scottish physician Writer of: detective stories, science fiction, historical novels, plays, romance poetry, non-fiction Jesuit School Stonyhurst College University of Edinburgh, 1876-81

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Crime Fiction: A History, II

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  1. Crime Fiction: A History, II

  2. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,1859-1930 • Scottish physician • Writer of: detective stories, science fiction, historical novels, plays, romance poetry, non-fiction • Jesuit School • Stonyhurst College • University of Edinburgh, 1876-81 • Began writing short stories, published before he was 20 • Ship’s doctor, • Doctorate 1885 Portrait, 1897

  3. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 • Doctor in Southsea – • No clients writing! • “A Study in Scarlet” 1887, • Sherlock Homes modeled after Joseph Bell • Soccer, cricket, golf Married twice, 5 kids

  4. Sherlock Holmes • The Sign of Four, 1890 • The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1892 • The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, 1894 • Holmes dies – Moriarty, Reichenbach Falls, Switzerland • The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1902 • Holmes reappears • The Return of Sherlock Holmes, 1905 • The Valley of Fear, 1915 • His Last Bow, 1917 • The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, 1927 • Pattern for the great detective • Holmes: arrogant, omniscient, self-absorbed drug addict. • Deductive Reasoning and Inference

  5. Conan Doyle and justice • George Edalji • Threatening letters • Animal mutilation • Court of Criminal Appeal established in 1907 • Julian Barnes: Arthur & George, 2005 • Oscar Slater • German Jew and gambling-den operator • Bludgeoning an 82-year old woman • Inconsistencies‘ • Slater was framed

  6. History • Police Matrons in 1891 • Isabella Goodwin hired in 1896 as police matron • Becomes first detective police woman in New York, 1911 • World War I, 1914-17 • US prohibition of alcohol, 1919 • Decline in the popularity of short stories • First policewoman in the UK, 1914, Edith Smith

  7. The Golden Age, Agatha Christie, 1890-1976 • Years between 1920-1939 • Agatha Christie: “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”, 1920 • English setting • Detectives: HerculePoirot (1920), Miss Marple, 1926 • “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” 1926, provoked a storm of protest because of Dr. Sheppard, the narrator.

  8. Agatha Christie • Mixed education • Traveling • Married twice, one child • Nurse and Pharmacist during World War I • 80 detective novels • 56 languages • “The Mouse Trap”: 23,000 performances • The classical detective story - clues, puzzle, timetables, the great detective, reason, deduction, rules, bourgeoisie, non-human, devoid of love

  9. The Golden AgeDorothy Sayers (1893-1967) • Writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator, Christian humanist • Student of classical and modern languages, Oxford, 1915, first class honors • Blackwell’s, École des Roches, Copywriter, advertising firm, • Friends with T.S.Eliot and C.S.Lewis • Married once, no kids • Turned to “serious” academic work: translated Dante’s Divine Comedy, and the French Song of Roland

  10. Lord Peter Wimsey • The classical detective story - clues, puzzle, timetables, the great detective, reason, deduction, rules, nobility, athlete, super-human - and with love! • Detective: Lord Peter Death BredonWimsey , Whose Body, 1923 • 14 novels & short stories

  11. History • US prohibition of alcohol, 1919 • Wall Street Crash, leading to Great Depression, 1929 • Alcohol prohibition repealed, 1933 • Word War II, 1939-45 • Dashiell Hammett: “Red Harvest”, 1929 & Raymond Chandler: “The Big Sleep”, 1939.

  12. Hard-boiled crime fiction • Chandler and Hammett - Black Mask - pulp magazine. • The PI - Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe • The dark side of society - criticism of the US • Strong first person narratives • Film noir • Ended the era of the omniscient and arrogant detective.

  13. History • World War II, 1939-45 • Cold War, 1945-90 • Joseph McCarthy heads anti-communist drive, 1950-52 • Berlin Wall marks intensification of Cold War, 1961. • Cuban missile crisis, 1962 • Assassination of President Kennedy, 1963 • Civil Rights Acts outlaw racial and sexual discrimination in the US, 1964 • US embroiled in Vietnam War, 1964

  14. The Spy Novel • Graham Greene: “Brighton Rock”, 1938 and Eric Ambler: “The Mask of Demetrios”, 1939. • Ian Flemming: “Casino Royale”, 1953 • Graham Greene: “Our Man in Havana”, 1958 • John le Carré (1961), Len Deighton (1962), Frederick Forsyth (1971)

  15. The British Tradition • The Literary Crime Novel • P.D. James (1962), Ruth Rendell (1964), Lynda La Plante (1983) Elisabeth George (1988), Minette Walters (1993) • Reginald Hill (1971), Colin Dexter (1975) • BBC

  16. The American Tradition • First person narratives, somewhat hard-boiled • Elmore Leonard (1977), • James Elroy (1984), • Sue Grafton (A-1986), • James Lee Burke (1989), • Patricia Cornwell (1989)

  17. Challenging the genre • Jorge Luis Borges (1941), Umberto Eco (1983), Paul Auster (1987) Peter Høeg (1992), Arturo Perez-Reverte (1993)

  18. Scandinavian Crime Fiction • Liza Marklund: The Bomber, 1998 • Karin Fossum: Don't Look Back, 1996 • Stieg Larsson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, 2005 • Leif Davidsen: Lime's Photograph, 2001 • Henning Mankell: Sidetracked , 1995 • ArnaldurIndridason: Jar City, 2005 • Sjowalland Wahloo: The Laughing Policeman • Peter Høeg: Smilla’s Sense of Snow • Kerstin Ekman: Blackwater

  19. Questions • How are the two stories structured? • What is the pattern of “detecting”? • What are the characteristics of the two detectives? • What characterizes the “friend”? • Are the two stories dated?

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