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Informationen zum Autor Peter Messent is Emeritus Professor of Modern American Literature at the University of Nottingham. A specialist on Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, and crime fiction, he has published numerous books and articles on a variety of nineteenth- and twentieth-century American writers. His most recent publication is the prize-winning book Mark Twain and Male Friendship (2009). Klappentext With its compelling blend of murder, mystery, and detection, it should come as no surprise that crime fiction is a hugely popular literary genre. The Crime Fiction Handbook presents a comprehensive introduction to the origins, development, and cultural significance of the crime fiction genre, focusing mainly on its American, British, and Scandinavian forms.The book's first main section presents an overview of the subject, addressing the politics of crime fiction and exploring some of its main variants - classical and hard-boiled detective fiction, the private eye and the police novel, and fictions of transgression. The section concludes with an exploration of three key elements of the genre: the links between vision, supervision, and the urban landscape; representations of the body and the acts of violence done to it; and issues both of race and gender.In-depth readings of fourteen of the most important crime fictions in the Western tradition then follow, beginning with Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and proceeding from classic works by Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler to contemporary writings by James Ellroy, Thomas Harris, Patricia Cornwell, Ian Rankin, and Stieg Larsson.The Crime Fiction Handbook offers fascinating insights into the appeal of crime fiction while revealing how the genre both entertains and provides a mirror to the most pressing social issues of the day. Zusammenfassung The Crime Fiction Handbook presents a comprehensive introduction to the origins, development, and cultural significance of the crime fiction genre, focusing mainly on American British, and Scandinavian texts. Inhaltsverzeichnis Acknowledgments viiIntroductory Note ixPart 1 Introduction 1Part 2 The Politics, Main Forms, and Key Concerns of Crime Fiction 9The Politics of Crime Fiction 11The Types of Crime Fiction 27Classical Detective Fiction 27Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction 34The Police Novel 41Transgressor Narratives 50Vision, Supervision, and the City 60Crime and the Body 75Gender Matters 85Representations of Race 96Part 3 Some KeyWorks in Crime Fiction 107Edgar Allan Poe: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841) 109Arthur Conan Doyle: The Sign of Four (1890) 116Agatha Christie: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) 127Dashiell Hammett: The Maltese Falcon (1930) 136Raymond Chandler: The Big Sleep (1939) 143James M. Cain: Double Indemnity (1936) 151Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955) 159Chester Himes: Cotton Comes to Harlem (1965) 167Maj SjEURowall and Per WahlEURoEURo: The Laughing Policeman (1968) 176James Ellroy: The Black Dahlia (1987) 187Thomas Harris: The Silence of the Lambs (1988) 198Patricia Cornwell: Unnatural Exposure (1997) 208Ian Rankin: The Naming of the Dead (2006) 218Stieg Larsson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005) 227End Note 241References 243Index 253...
List of contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introductory Note ix
Part 1 Introduction 1
Part 2 The Politics, Main Forms, and Key Concerns of Crime Fiction 9
The Politics of Crime Fiction 11
The Types of Crime Fiction 27
Classical Detective Fiction 27
Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction 34
The Police Novel 41
Transgressor Narratives 50
Vision, Supervision, and the City 60
Crime and the Body 75
Gender Matters 85
Representations of Race 96
Part 3 Some KeyWorks in Crime Fiction 107
Edgar Allan Poe: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841) 109
Arthur Conan Doyle: The Sign of Four (1890) 116
Agatha Christie: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) 127
Dashiell Hammett: The Maltese Falcon (1930) 136
Raymond Chandler: The Big Sleep (1939) 143
James M. Cain: Double Indemnity (1936) 151
Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955) 159
Chester Himes: Cotton Comes to Harlem (1965) 167
Maj SjEURowall and Per WahlEURoEURo: The Laughing Policeman (1968) 176
James Ellroy: The Black Dahlia (1987) 187
Thomas Harris: The Silence of the Lambs (1988) 198
Patricia Cornwell: Unnatural Exposure (1997) 208
Ian Rankin: The Naming of the Dead (2006) 218
Stieg Larsson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005) 227
End Note 241
References 243
Index 253
Report
"Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty." (Choice, 1 September 2013)
"Messent's readings are always perceptive and his book offers an excellent introduction to a diverse genre." (The Guardian, 8 March 2013)
"Those interested in the more arcane byways of crime fiction will find this concise but intelligent volume invaluable, with its academic (but accessible) analyses of some of the key texts in the genre. What is perhaps the most valuable aspect of the book is the fact that Peter Messent has managed to unearth new insights into this much written-about subject -- no easy task in the 21st century, when a considerable amount of analysis of the field (including, in a modest way, by this writer) is so endemic." (Crime Time, 27 February 2013) "...at a stroke this volume joins the library of key texts in the field." (Crime Time, February 2013)
"... a good introduction to a prolific genre." (Times Literary Supplement, March 2013)
