Crime Fiction: A History, II

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Scottish physician Writer of: detective stories, science fiction, historical novels, plays, romance poetry, non-fiction Jesuit School Stonyhurst College University of Edinburgh, Began writing short stories, published before he was 20 Ship’s doctor, Doctorate 1885 Portrait, 1897

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Doctor in Southsea – No clients  writing! “A Study in Scarlet” 1887, Sherlock Homes modeled after Joseph Bell Soccer, cricket, golf Married twice, 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, self- absorbed 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 82- year old woman Inconsistencies‘ Slater was framed

History Police Matrons in 1891 Isabella Goodwin hired in 1896 as police matron Becomes first detective police woman in New York, 1911 World War I, US prohibition of alcohol, 1919 Decline in the popularity of short stories First policewoman in the UK, 1914, Edith Smith

The Golden Age, Agatha Christie, Years between 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.

Agatha Christie 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

The Golden Age Dorothy Sayers ( ) Writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator, Christian humanist Student of classical and modern languages, Oxford, 1915, first class honors Blackwell’s, École des Roches, Copywriter, advertising firm, Friends with T.S.Eliot and C.S.Lewis Married once, no kids Turned to “serious” academic work: translated Dante’s Divine Comedy, and the French Song of Roland

Lord Peter Wimsey 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, novels & short stories

History US prohibition of alcohol, 1919 Wall Street Crash, leading to Great Depression, 1929 Alcohol prohibition repealed, 1933 Word War II, 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, Cold War, Joseph McCarthy heads anti-communist drive, Berlin Wall marks intensification of Cold War, 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”, Ian Flemming: “Casino Royale”, 1953 Graham Greene: “Our Man in Havana”, 1958 John le Carré (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 Høeg (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 – Henning Mankell: Sidetracked, 1995 – Arnaldur Indridason: Jar City, 2005 – Sjowall and Wahloo: The Laughing Policeman – Leif Davidsen: Lime's Photograph – Peter H ø eg: Smilla ’ s 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?