SHIVANGI DUBEY

17/1897 III YEAR

HISTORIOGRAPHY OF DETECTIVE FICTION

Detective fiction is a genre of literature in which a detective, either an amateur or a

professional, solves a crime or a series of crimes. With few exceptions, the crime
involves one or more murders. Sometimes, detective fiction may revolve around
thefts or blackmail, but this is quite rare. The traditional elements of detective
fiction include the seemingly perfect crime; the wrongly accused suspect; the
bungling, dim-witted police; the greater powers of observation and superior mind
of the detective; and the unexpected denouement, in which the detective reveals
how the identity of the culprit was ascertained. Detective fiction operates on the
principle that superficially convincing evidence is ultimately irrelevant. Usually it
is axiomatic that the clues from which a logical solution to the problem can be
reached be fairly presented to the reader at exactly the same time that
the sleuth receives them and that the sleuth deduce the solution to the puzzle from
a logical

Scholars, such as R. H. Pfeiffer, have suggested that certain ancient and religious
texts bear similarities to what would in the future be called detective fiction. These
include stories in the Old Testament and in The One Thousand and One
Nights which contains several of the earliest detective stories, anticipating modern
detective fiction

"Das Fräulein von Scuderi" is an 1819 short story by E. T. A. Hoffmann, in

which the protagonist, Mlle de Scudery establishes the innocence of the police's
favorite suspect in the murder of a jeweller. This story is sometimes cited as the
first Western detective story and as a direct influence on Edgar Allan Poe's first
murder mystery.

Detective fiction, as we know it today, truly began in 1841 when Edgar Allan Poe
introduced Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin who first appeared in the short story, ‘The
Murders in the Rue Morgue’. At the time of publication, the word detective did
not even exist; the character’s name “Dupin” suggests the English word dupe, or
deception, which Dupin utilizes in order to obtain the information he requires to
solve a case. While Poe's was not the first story to include a mystery or a murder, it
was the first to introduce the then-new character of the detective. It was also the
first story to revolve entirely around the solution of a murder-related puzzle.

Poe devised a "plot formula that's been successful ever since, give or take a few
shifting variables,” say Carol and Heiferman. Poe followed with further Auguste
Dupin tales: "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" in 1843 and "The Purloined Letter" in
1845. Poe referred to his stories as "tales of ratiocination", remarks Kenneth in
‘Edgar A. Poe: A Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance’. In stories such as
these, the primary concern of the plot is ascertaining truth, and the usual means of
obtaining the truth is a complex and mysterious process combining intuitive logic,
astute observation, and perspicacious inference. "Early detective stories tended to
follow an investigating protagonist from the first scene to the last, making the
unravelling a practical rather than emotional matter”, states Kismaric.
Wilkie Collins, sometimes referred to as the "grandfather of English detective
fiction", is credited with the first great mystery novel, ‘The Woman in
White’. His next novel ‘The Moonstone’ contains a number of ideas that have
established in the genre several classic features of the 20th century detective story.
Dorothy L. Sayers called it "probably the very finest detective story ever written".

However, it was Arthur Conan Doyle who truly cemented it as a popular literary
genre. The first obvious difference between the two authors was in the volume of
output. As opposed to Poe, who only created three stories featuring Dupin, Doyle
created 56 short stories and four novels featuring Sherlock Holmes. It was Conan
Doyle who developed the idea of the "consulting detective," who works
independently from the police--along with a not-quite-bright companion whose
involvement may provide comedy, drama, suspense or an opportunity to befuddle
the reader with misinterpretations of clues and red herrings.

The period between World War I and World War II (the 1920s and 1930s) is
generally referred to as the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. During this period,
a number of very popular writers emerged, mostly British. Female writers like
Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers constituted a major portion of notable
Golden Age writers. The most widespread subgenre of the detective novel became
the whodunit. According to scholars Carole Kismaric and Marvi Heiferman, "The
golden age of detective fiction began with high-class amateur detectives sniffing
out murderers lurking in rose gardens, down country lanes, and in picturesque
villages. Many conventions of the detective-fiction genre evolved in this era, as
numerous writers — from populist entertainers to respected poets — tried their
hands at mystery stories."

Christie’s duels with her readers were especially in keeping with the times – this
was the age of “game fever”, when crossword puzzles were invented, and became
massively popular. After all the bloodshed during the war, readers and authors
wanted to escape. That is why Christie and her contemporaries did not wallow in
gore. Everyone knew someone who had been injured or killed, and several war-
wounded former soldiers turned to writing detective fiction in peace time. The
rules of the game of ‘playing’ Golden Age mysteries were codified in 1929
by Ronald Knox. A more detailed list of rules was introduced by S. S. Van
Dine in an article entitled "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories" 1928.

In 1930, Anthony Berkeley founded the Detection Club. This was a small dining
club, which was very selective about its membership. Berkeley, like his friend
Dorothy L. Sayers, fervently believed that crime fiction ought to be well-written
and ambitious, and they practised what they preached. Christie, Crofts, and Wade
were among the founder members, and soon the Club became a by-word for
excellence in crime writing. Detection Club members made a lasting and
unforgettable contribution to the genre.

The American reaction to the cozy conventions of British detective fiction was the
American Hardboiled School of crime writing, sometimes also referred to as
‘noir fiction.’ Authors like Raymond Chandler created new rules for detective
fiction and had a completely different and innovative approach to the writing of
detective fiction set in America. Hard-boiled crime fiction used a different set of
clichés and stereotypes. Generally, it included a murder mystery. However, the
atmosphere created by hard-boiled writers and the settings they chose for their
novels were quite a departure from English country-house murders. “…impetus
came from the conditions of American life and the opportunities available to the
American writer in the 1920s. The economic boom following the First World War
combined with the introduction of Prohibition in 1920 to encourage the rise of the
gangster. The familiar issues of law and lawlessness in a society determined to
judge itself by the most ideal standards took on a new urgency…” states Ian
Ousby.

Traditionally, detective fiction has been considered a form of ‘low’ culture. Early
critics of the genre dismissed it as middlebrow at best and, at worst, trashy.
Nowadays, the classic whodunnit format is often considered somewhat cosy and
safe – thanks, in part, to the extremely popular television productions of Christie’s
Poirot and Miss Marple novels. Too often, Golden Age detective fiction writers are
characterised as a writers of comfortable, formulaic page-turners. Lisa Hopkins
challenges this view, shedding light on the depth and complexity of their writing,
and showing that they often used literary allusions adeptly in order to deal with
themes of life, death and the human condition. Golden Age novels reflected the
times during which they were written and set the pattern for crime fiction for
decades to come.

However, Detective Fiction has undergone a few changes coming into the 21st
century. Detective fiction has begun to discover that non-white, non-male
(specifically in the case of hardboiled detective fiction) , non-heterosexual
characters don’t have to be the “other”, don’t need to be the villain and can very
well be the detective, solving crime and bringing about a semblance of justice.
Writers in the modern age are, therefore, diversifying detective fiction. Baroness
James of Holland Park, in her work ‘Talking about Detective Fiction’, writes that
"the solving of the mystery is still at the heart of a detective story," but that, like all
forms of entertainment, it has, as it must, evolved. "I see the detective story
becoming more firmly rooted in the realities and the uncertainties of the 21st
century, while still providing that central certainty that even the most intractable
problems will in the end be subject to reason." Fewer secret rooms and a lot more
psychology are the hallmarks of the modern whodunit. In fact, the new sub genre
of the 21st century has come to be referred to as ‘domestic noir’. Detective fiction
still follows the conventions set by its predecessors relatively closely, yet has
evolved with the time to retain its popularity through the years.
SOURCES:
1. British Detective Fiction in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries by Anne
Humpherys
2. How the Modern Detective Novel Was Born by Martin Edwards
3. The Mysterious Case of Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys by Carole
Kismaric and Marvin Heiferman
4. "A History of Detective Fiction: Literary Origins” (www.librarypoint.org)
5. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance by Kenneth
Silverman
6. Unusual Suspects by David Barnett