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, 187681 Began writing short stories, published before he was 20 Ships doctor, Doctorate 1885
Portrait, 1897
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, Married twice, golf 5 kids
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, selfabsorbed drug addict. Deductive Reasoning and Inference
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 82year old woman Inconsistencies Slater was framed
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
History
First policewoman in the UK, 1914, Edith Smith
The Golden Age, Agatha Christie, 1890-1976
Years between 19201939 Agatha Christie: The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 1920 English setting Detectives: Hercule Poirot (1920), Miss Marple, 1926 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd 1926, provoked a storm of protest because of Dr. Sheppard, the narrator.
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
Agatha Christie
The Golden Age Dorothy Sayers (1893-1967)
Writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator, Christian humanist Student of classical and modern languages, Oxford, 1915, first class honors Blackwells, cole des Roches, Copywriter, advertising firm, Friends with T.S.Eliot and C.S.Lewis Married once, no kids Turned to serious academic work: translated Dantes Divine Comedy, and the French Song of Roland
The classical detective story - clues, puzzle, timetables, the great detective, reason, deduction, rules, nobility, athlete, super-human - and with love! Detective: Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey , Whose Body, 1923 14 novels & short stories
Lord Peter Wimsey
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.
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.
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
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 Carr (1961), Len Deighton (1962), Frederick Forsyth (1971)
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
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)
Challenging the genre
Jorge Luis Borges (1941), Umberto Eco (1983), Paul Auster (1987) Peter Heg (1992), Arturo Perez-Reverte (1993)
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 Arnaldur Indridason: Jar City, 2005 Sjowall and Wahloo: The Laughing Policeman Peter Heg: Smillas Sense of Snow Kerstin Ekman: Blackwater
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?
