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?