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The detective story--the classic whodunit with its time-displacement structure of crime--according to most literary historians, is of relatively recent origin. Early in its development, the whodunit was harshly criticized for its tightly formula-bound structure. Many critics prematurely proclaimed "the death of the whodunit" and even of detective fiction altogether. Yet today, the genre is alive, as contemporary authors have brought it into modern times through a significant integration of elaborate character development and psychology. With the modern psychological detective story emerging from the historical cauldron of detective fiction and early psychology, the genre continues to develop a complexity that reflects and guides the literary sophistication needed. This book, the first of its kind, analyzes over 150 whodunit novels and short stories across the decades, from The Moonstone to the contemporary novels that saved the genre from an ignominious death.
List of contents
Table of ContentsPreface
Introduction: The Detective Story in Transition
One.縋sychology: A Brief Look at Some Psychological Concepts Applied to the Classic Whodunit
Two.ç·¼n Illustrative Case: The Transition from the "Straight" Whodunit to the Psychological Whodunit-from Ellery Queen I to Ellery Queen II
Three.ç¸ey Authors and Featured Works with an Infusion of Psychology
Four.�68-1909: Undercurrents of the Unconscious Before Freud and During His Early Work
Five.�10-1919: Freudian Psychology and the First Psychological Detectives
Six.�20-1929: Psychological Detectives, Professional and Amateur
Seven.�30-1939: Psychology as Genuine Player and as Red Herring
Eight.�40-1949: The Post-Golden Age and the Eruption of the Unconscious
Nine.�50-1959: Psychiatrists, Defense Mechanisms, and the Invisible Witness
Ten.�60-1969: P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, and the Psychological Exploration of Character
Eleven.�70-1979: The Passing of Hercule Poirot and a Legacy of Generativity
Twelve.�80-1989: Surface Appearance and Psychological Reality
Thirteen.�90-1999: The Whodunit as the Sauce for Psychology's Entr閑
Fourteen.�00-2009: Back to Vienna
Fifteen.�10-2019: Two Strands-Freud and Feelings
Conclusion: Formula and Psychology in the Classic Whodunit
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Laird R. Blackwell is a humanities professor emeritus at Sierra Nevada College in the Lake Tahoe area of western Nevada, where he taught psychology and literature for 31 years. He is the author of four critical studies of detective fiction for McFarland and the recipient of nominations for an Edgar Award and an Agatha Award.
