Classics of Detective Fiction - Carleton University · ELEMENTS OF DETECTIVE FICTION Appealing...
Transcript of Classics of Detective Fiction - Carleton University · ELEMENTS OF DETECTIVE FICTION Appealing...
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CLASSICS OF
DETECTIVE FICTION
Week 2: Henning Mankell, Dogs of Riga
Week 3: Ian Rankin, Black and Blue
Week 4: David Pirie, Dark Water
Week 5: Howard Engel, There Was an Old Woman
Week 6: Sarah Paretsky, Critical Mass
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FUNCTION OF DETECTIVE FICTION
Analytical: To solve a puzzle.
Social: To probe social, political, spiritual
issues.
Aesthetic: To present the puzzle and the
issues in an artful, pleasing manner.
Escape: To provide fantasy and escape
from the everyday.
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ELEMENTS OF DETECTIVE FICTION
Appealing detective to guide readers through puzzle.
Detailed environment described with imagination, humour, poetry, horror.
Complex characters representing social reality and social fantasy.
Conclusion of justice.
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DETECTIVE STORY ORIGINS
1840s: Rationality to control primitive
impulses; gothic/monstrous crime; Poe.
1843-1844: Emotions/melodrama over
rational industrialism; Dickens.
1890s-1910s: Scientific method,
deductive reasoning, genius sleuth vs.
genius criminal; Holmes/Conan Doyle.
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DETECTIVE STORY ORIGINS
1914-1930s: British Golden Age;
questioning social order and/or
maintaining status quo; GKC, Christie.
1930s-1950s: Criticism of city
corruption, crime, loose morals;
“hardboiled” prose, “noir;” Hammett,
Chandler.
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DETECTIVE STORY ORIGINS
1950s-1960s: Psychological/social
analysis and realism; R. Macdonald.
1960s-1970s: Noir spawns niche genres
→ regionalism and social issues:
European noir and social criticism:
Scandinavian/Tartan Noir; Mankell and
Rankin.
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DETECTIVE STORY ORIGINS
Romantic/Victorian eras: Re-imagining
British society/social problems; Pirie.
Canadian crime: Distinguishing Canada
from U.S./Br.; working against noir but
also within it; Engel.
Feminist noir: Liberalism; against noir’s
anti-feminism but applies “male” traits to
women; Paretsky.
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NOIR – CLASSIC ERA
What is noir?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K77
aPil7btM
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ROSS MACDONALD
1915, Born in California, U.S.
1919, Moves to Ontario; father
leaves the family.
1920-32, Unsettled schooling and housing.
1932, Enrolls in Waterloo College using
insurance legacy from father’s death.
1938, Graduation; meets classmate
Margaret at graduation and marries after.
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ROSS MACDONALD
1944-46, Margaret successful as detective
novelist/screenwriter; moves to LA area.
1944-46, Macdonald navy officer;
publishes first novel, Dark Tunnel.
1947-48, Blue City and Moving Target.
1949, Publishes first book as “John
McDonald.”
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ROSS MACDONALD
1950, Drowning Pool.
1951, Defends PhD; possible suicide
attempt; daughter’s behaviourial
problems; undergoes psychoanalysis.
1955, Barbarous Coast; Linda’s car
accident/trial; Freudian analysis.
1958, Doomsters (break with Chandler).
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ROSS MACDONALD
1959, Galton Case (major break with 30s
noir); Linda’s disappearance; heart attack.
1960s, Sells Archer stories to TV; writes
series of best novels: The Chill (‘64),
Black Money (‘66); The Good-Bye Look
(‘69).
1966, Film, “Harper” (Paul Newman).
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ROSS MACDONALD
1970, Linda dies in sleep; environmental
activism.
1971, Underground Man; critical acclaim
for Macdonald.
1975, Film, “Drowning Pool” (Newman).
1981, Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
1983, Dies.
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MACDONALD CHARACTERISTICS
Context: Reflects post-WWII values gap;
searching for new values in materialistic
world; from cynicism to understanding.
Influences: Coming out of noir tradition;
by 1960s adapting genre to suit new
values (mythology, psychoanalysis) ->
existentialism, self-reflection
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REACTIONS – GROUPS/PARTNERS
Have you read Macdonald before?
What were you initial reactions while
reading Barbarous Coast?
Did the characters, setting, tone, or
point of view leave any impressions
on you?
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MACDONALD CHARACTERISTICS
Style: Elegance, simplicity; striking
similies; psychological observation.
Narrative: 1st person = voice of Archer →
sensitive tone; mercy not justice sought.
Structure: Family sagas, hidden relations;
“tragedies of the privileged;” uncovering
and understanding = story of discovery.
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MACDONALD CHARACTERISTICS
Themes: Nothing can be hidden; all
crimes will out.
Web of influences: nothing we do is
without impact on someone else.
Psychological baggage: mistreated
children by sinful mothers/fathers →
mental neuroses → violence.
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THE BARBAROUS COAST
Detective: Lew Archer, developing
sensitivity and disgust with corruption; not
cynical; exercising compassion.
Secondary characters:
Retired boxer: Victim of prejudice, class;
race/religion differences; dignity
Young boxer: Social ambitions; looser
morals; consumer.
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THE BARBAROUS COAST
Mob: Behind most businesses, seeking
legitimacy.
Movie industry execs: Culture of
privilege, exploitation, subterfuge;
rewriting reality.
Outsiders: Lifeguard, Archer, newspaper
reporter, nurse/sister → Looking for a
new way to live (362-363)
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SETTING
Santa Teresa (aka Santa Barbara), CA:
Mental institution = Shelter for madness
and wealthy; benign or dangerous?
Athletic club = Stage for social hierarchies
to play out (staff vs. members),
resentments, hidden hatreds.
Las Vegas = Wasteland for vice.
Ocean = Purity made a site of human vice.
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PLOT
Hester/Lance socially ambitious,
using blackmail to make new life.
Leads to entanglements with
mob-backed movie world.
Disappearance of Hester brings Archer
into world of false relations/identities.
Pursuit exposes true causes of death.
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ISSUES
With truth exposed, Tony is
set up to seek revenge. Archer protects
him by manipulating evidence.
Youth are “punished” for their social
ambitions by death.
“Wholesome” values are renewed with
the safety of the nurse/sister and
husband.
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ARCHER AND FILM
Paul Newman, “Harper” (1966)
Paul Newman, “The Drowning Pool”
(1975)
Brian Keith, “Archer” (1975, NBC series)