WHAT IS CRIME FICTION?

Crime Fiction is a story about a breaking of the law, usually murder.

It can also be referred to as 'mystery fiction', 'detective stories', 'private eye novels', 'whodunits', or perhaps 'murder-mysteries'.

The aim is for an investigator to discover who the perpetrator is by using facts, clues and deduction.

P.D. James defends her genre - it is not a lack of quality writers but that, due to the popularity of the genre, many texts are published.

THE HISTORY OF CRIME FICTION

Mystery stories in English can be traced to around 1790.

Edgar Allan Poe wrote 'The Purloined Letter'. (See 'Suggested Readings 1')

By the 1850s-60s, so called 'sensation novels' were written in Britain that used melodramatic techniques to write about solving of mysteries.

'Case book' writers of the 1850-60s - were short stories that appeared together in a magazine. Focused on crimes and solved using police procedure. Supposedly 'true crime' stories.

1878 Anna Katherine Green wrote about skilled detective work in 'The Circular Study'. (See 'Suggested Reading 2') https://librivox.org/the-circular-study-by-anna-katharine-green/

 

Late 1800s Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created the famous Sherlock Holmes series. (See 'Suggested Reading 3')

These early crime fictions had some clear conventions.

• Disguise - essential to the plot. Seen in Sherlock Holmes and is said to be a result of the policing situation at the time. In the late 19th Century police had no authority. The only way to gather evidence was to assume a disguise. The necessity for disguise related to society's love/hate relationship with the police at the time. The general suspicion of police may have encouraged the portrayal of a love/hate relationship between investigator and police. Sherlock Holmes seems to have begun this tense relationship with the law.
• The Importance of Reconstructing the Crime - this became a key part of solving the crimes in crime fiction of this era.

By the turn of the century (early 1900s) there was an explosion of crime fiction. Some focused on science and the use of physical evidence and investigation. Others were concerned with crimes that seemed impossible. These were crimes that seemed beyond rational explanation.

 

THE GOLDEN AGE of CRIME FICTION

The period after WWI is referred to as 'The Golden Age' of crime fiction. An era stopping in the 1930s (before WWII) or to the end of 1945 (the end of WWII). A period in history that saw it roar to popularity and many esteemed writers emerged.

 

As with any genre, with popularity and social change there came different approaches. Sub-genres of crime fiction are often talked about in this age.

 

BRITAIN - 'INTUITIONISTS'

Also termed 'Classical' mystery texts.

The detective and the intrigue are the focus.

Atmosphere is crucial but realistic settings or characters are not.

The detective is not really in any great danger and use their wits to unravel the crime.

A reliance on logic as the investigator notices every detail and results in a solution.

These classic mystery stories are puzzles for the audience to solve and not about life.

Criticised for their improbable coincidences, stereotyped characters and being unbelievable.

Often set in isolated English manors, thus the term 'country-house whodunits'.

Etiquette was affronted by a violent crime.

The perpetrator masquerades as an upright member of middle class society but his/her character is revealed and order is re-established.

Known as 'clue-puzzles' or 'cosy' - seen as parlour games as opposed to horror.

Agatha Christie is the most celebrated write in this sub-genre. Popular in 1920s-30s. Her characters were never three-dimensional, but a set batch of types that reappeared in her 70 plus novels, eg: the doctor, the rich man, younger wife, etc. Christie was not concerned with realism; her focus is on the drawin of the puzzle and the subsequent unravelling by a clever, intuitive individual. NOR was her setting meant to be a realistic focus.

 

(See below this article for Agatha Christie's 'Murder on the Orient Express' Trailer.)

 

(See 'Suggested Reading 4' - Part 1 An Important Passenger on the Taurus Express. N.B: Continue reading at: https://www.springlakeparkschools.org/sites/springlakeparkschools.org/files/users/nmaist/murder-on-the-orient-express.pdf)

 

HOMEWORK

Recommended viewing of 'Murder on the Orient Express' Agatha Christie.

 

 

AMERICAN - 'REALISTS'

Main influence on tough type of crime fiction referred to as 'hard-boiled'.

This sub-genre attempts to portray reality.

Dorothy L. Sayers was one of the best known and popular. She wrote 'Whose Body?' and 'The Nine Tailors'.

 

(See 'Suggested Reading 5' - Chapter 1-3 Dorothy L.Sayers 'Whose Body?')

(Further Reading at: https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/sayers/body/whose-body.html)

 

The Realist emphasised representing reality and focused on very careful detective work.

The investigators followed police procedure.

Realists rejected the unbelievable.

They did not use melodrama or plots of international conspiracy.

Plots often involved science and were set in carefully constructed places that formed a very believable background. Set in ordinary, everyday institutions or clubs.

They revealed much about society at the time.

Much attention was paid to physical evidence. Meaning things could be seen and measured, eg: tyre tracks, footprints, stains/marks and moved furniture.

Sleuths spent time reconstructing the crime.

Alibis were often central to the solution.

Suspects gave false accounts were cleverly devised and had to be exposed.

The solution to the crime would hinge on a masked or assumed identity. Ingenious villains.

Criticised for not being socially aware. Thought to promote racism and the oppression of the working classes. It was argued they promoted common sense and clear thinking.

 

AMERICAN - 'HARD-BOILED' CRIME FICTION

After WWI the sub-genre of the 'hard-boiled' detective novel emerged.

Dominated the American crime fiction. Seen as the new wave of crime fiction and the old mystery sort was seen as tired.

Post-war yearning for something new.

The idea that a tough, streetwise investigator with honour at the core would save society from an evil.

It abandoned the intricate puzzles and replaced with rapid action.

Obvious marks of this sub-genre was the prevalence of violence.

Set in main streets of the cities, usually New York or LA.

Crimes were gruesome and the investigation revealed the seedy underbelly of the city. Sleazy world full of suspicion.

Constant threat of violence as the hero dodged danger. The hero was capable of defending himself. Resourceful, quick-witted and carried a gun.

Phillip Marlowe in 'The Big Sleep' personifies this character. Other writers Dashiell Hammett, Erle Stanley Gardner and Stephen Paul Cohen.

 

(See below this article, 'The Big Sleep' Trailer and 'Suggested Reading 6' 'The Big Sleep - Character Descriptions.)

 

For the most part, women were mainly decorative. To be seduced or betrayers, not to be trusted.

Formal police force were corrupt or useless.

Talk was colloquial, often snappy and clever.

The crime was shown to be but one example of the evil of the human society.

 

THE DISPUTE BETWEEN THE INTUITIONISTS AND THE REALISTS

Both argue about the role of the reader.

A.A. Milne wrote an Introduction to his 1922 novel, 'The Red House Mystery' which was a comprehensive promotion of the Instuitionist approach.

(See 'Reading 7 - An article on 'The Red House Mystery' and Chapter 1 from the novel.)

Years later in 1944, Chandler wrote a very famous essay called, 'The Simple Art of Murder' where he defended the Realist school's ideas.

(See 'Reading 8 - Raymond Chandler's Essay 'The Red House Mystery'.)

 

The Role of the Reader?

The Intuitionists, like Milne, they did not like the use of police procedure and scientific methos in the crime fiction novel. They argued the reader couldn't know these aspects of crime solving and was not fair.

To Milne, the notion that the reader uncovered the clues and facts with the detective was essential.

To them, the reader needed to be as able as the investigator to solve the puzzle using pure intelligence, intuition and logic was the key components of the genre.

Many of the sleuths are amateur geniuses or regular people who just happen to have great minds.

They didn't like the reader to be a mere spectator - they wanted them involved in the game.

 

Hammett and Chandler opposed this idea and felt the Intuitionists' was unrealistic.

The Realists argued the steps of routine polic procedure and the use of current science as logical because they achieved a speedier result.

They also saw that texts shoulld be set in the seedy sites of society since this is where these sorts of crimes took place.

Realists believed that to set their stories amongst the intelligentsia in society, as Intuitionists did, was extremely unrealistic.

 

21st Century Perspective

Both argued a philosophical argument about approach and being believable. It reflects how the need for naturalism dominated literature at this time.

In our twenty-first century where literary merit is not gauged solely by social realism we can easily think 'so what'.

Surely it does not matter to us if a text is not absolutely believable.

 

N.B: Be careful when you try to classify crime fiction texts. There is some overlap!

 

Contemporary Crime Fiction

Lifestyles are more paced and audiences are not tolerant of slow moving texts.

The make-up of the crime fiction audience has also changed.

The genre has become popular with women.

Since 1970s far more women write crime fiction.

There is now close attention to presenting non-stereotyped characters that are believable.

There is an increase in female detectives.

There has been a hostile movement against the unrealistic settings of the typical 'Golden Age' detective stories.

Instead modern crime fictions prefer to use hospitals, schools and laboratories - sites that can be described with credible detail and creates dark atmosphere.

Contemporary crime fiction does not skimp on action and violence. Violence can be very graphic.

Setting is manipulated to amplify the real world horrors.

WWII atrocities are echoed in 'The Skull Beneath the Skin'.

Texts reflected contemporary society's heightened awareness and sense of social responsibility for past wrongs.

Plots also reflect the societal change.

In 'The Skull Beneath the Skin' one motive is tax avoidance, another is the threat of a relationship that is incestuous.

In 'The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender' Marele Day makes use of the modern technological era.

Critics demand this kind of realism and that the characters live on the page.

Reviewers scoff at loose plots with unbelievable situations and too-neat coincidences. Stilted dialogue is also found wanting.

They insist on sustained suspense.

P.D. James, 'The Skull beneath the Skin' echoses the expectations of our time. Women writers write differently to men. "A special eye for detail, a sense of order, the nuances of human behaviour and humanity".