The Cambridge Companion to Crime Fiction (Cambridge Companions to Literature)

310 Pages·2003·0.96 MB·English

by  Martin Priestman

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TheCambridgeCompaniontoCrimeFiction
The Cambridge Companion to Crime Fiction covers British and American
crimefictionfromtheeighteenthcenturytotheendofthetwentieth.Aswell
asdiscussingthe‘detective’fictionofwriterslikeArthurConanDoyle,Agatha
ChristieandRaymondChandler,itconsidersotherkindsoffictionwherecrime
plays a substantial part, such as the thriller and spy fiction. It also includes
chapters on the treatment of crime in eighteenth-century literature, French
andVictorianfiction,womenandblackdetectives,crimeinfilmandonTV,
police fiction and postmodernist uses of the detective form. The collection,
byaninternationalteamofestablishedspecialists,offersstudentsinvaluable
referencematerialincludingachronologyandguidestofurtherreading.The
volumeaimstoensurethatitsreaderswillbegroundedinthehistoryofcrime
fictionanditscriticalreception.

THE CAMBRIDGE
COMPANION TO
CRIME FICTION
MARTIN PRIESTMAN
cambridge university press
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Cambridge University Press
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© Cambridge University Press 2003
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CONTENTS
Notes on contributors page vii
Crimefiction:achronology x
Introduction:crimefictionanddetectivefiction 1
martin priestman
1 Eighteenth-centurycrimewriting 7
ian a. bell
2 TheNewgatenovelandsensationfiction,1830–1868 19
lyn pykett
3 TheshortstoryfromPoetoChesterton 41
martin a. kayman
4 Frenchcrimefiction 59
sita a. schu¨tt
5 Thegoldenage 77
stephen knight
6 Theprivateeye 95
dennis porter
7 Spyfiction 115
david seed
8 Thethriller 135
david glover
v
contents
9 Post-warAmericanpolicefiction 155
leroy l. panek
10 Post-warBritishcrimefiction 173
martin priestman
11 Womendetectives 191
maureen t. reddy
12 Blackcrimefiction 209
andrew pepper
13 CrimeinfilmandonTV 227
nickianne moody
14 Detectionandliteraryfiction 245
laura marcus
Guidetoreading 269
Index 277
vi
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
ian a. bell isProfessorandHeadofEnglishattheUniversityofWales,
Swansea. His main publications include Literature and Crime in Augustan
England(1981),Defoe’sFiction(1985)andHenryFielding:Authorshipand
Authority (1994). He has written extensively on eighteenth-century litera-
ture,Scottishliteratureandcrimefiction.
david glover is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at the
University of Southampton. He is the author of Vampires, Mummies, and
Liberals: Bram Stoker and the Politics of Popular Fiction (1996). His most
recent book, co-authored with Cora Kaplan, is Genders (2000). He is cur-
rentlyworkingonaculturalhistoryofthe1905AliensAct.
martin a. kayman isaProfessorintheCentreforCriticalandCultural
TheoryatCardiffUniversity,whereheteachesCulturalCriticismandEnglish
Literature. He is the author of From Bow Street to Baker Street: Mystery,
Detection, Narrative (1992) and of various articles on law and literature.
From1997to2003hewastheeditoroftheEuropeanEnglishMessenger.
stephen knight,aProfessorofEnglishLiteratureatCardiffUniversity,
istheauthorofFormandIdeologyinCrimeFiction (1980)andContinent
of Mystery: A Thematic History of Australian Crime Fiction (1997). His
mostrecentbooksareRobinHood:AMythicBiographyandCrimeFiction,
1800–2000:Detection,Death,Diversity(both2003).Hehaswrittenessays
andtaughtcoursesoncrimefictionforsometimeandwasfor10yearsthe
crimefictionrevieweroftheSydneyMorningHerald.
laura marcus isaReaderinEnglishattheUniversityofSussex.Shehas
published widely on nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature and cul-
ture.RecentbooksincludeAuto/biographicalDiscourses:Criticism,Theory,
Practice(1998)andshehaseditedMarieBellocLowndes’TheLodger(1996)
and Twelve Women Detective Stories (1997). She is currently writing a
vii
notes on contributors
book on cinema and modernism, and co-editing The Cambridge History
ofTwentieth-CenturyEnglishLiterature.
nickianne moody isHeadofMediaandCulturalStudiesatLiverpool
JohnMooresUniversity.SheisaconvenoroftheAssociationforResearchin
PopularFictionandeditorofitsjournalDiegesis.Shehasco-editedMedical
Fictions (1998) and Consuming Pleasure (2000), and published widely on
film,TV,sciencefiction,fantasyandromanceaswellascrimefiction.
leroy l. panek is Professor of English and Chair of the English de-
partment at McDaniel College, Maryland. He has written extensively on
popularfiction:recentbooksincludeTheAmericanPoliceNovel:AHistory
(2003) and New Hard-boiled Writers: 1970s–1990s (2000). His Watteau’s
Shepherds: The Detective Novel in Britain (1979) and his Introduction to
theDetectiveStory(1987)bothreceivedEdgarAllanPoeAwardsfromthe
Mystery Writers of America; he has also received the George Dove Award
fromthePopularCultureAssociationofAmerica.
andrew pepper is a Lecturer in English and American Literature at
Queen’sUniversityBelfastandauthorofTheContemporaryAmericanCrime
Novel:Race,Ethnicity,Gender,Class(2000).Heiscurrentlyworkingona
criticalhistoryofcrimefictiontobepublishedbyPalgrave.
dennis porter wasuntilrecentlyProfessorofFrenchandComparative
Literature at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His books include
ThePursuitofCrime:ArtandIdeologyinDetectiveFiction(1981),Haunted
Journeys:DesireandTransgressioninEuropeanTravelWriting(1991),and
Rousseau’s Legacy: Emergence and Eclipse of the Writer in France (1995).
Inrecentyearshehasdevotedmostofhiswritinglifetoworksforthestage,
andistherecipientofanumberofawardsinthefield.
martin priestman isaProfessorofEnglishatRoehamptonUniversity
of Surrey. Books on crime fiction include Detective Fiction and Literature:
TheFigureontheCarpet(1990)andCrimeFictionfromPoetothePresent
(1998).HehasalsopublishedCowper’sTaskStructureandInfluence(1983)
and Romantic Atheism: Poetry and Freethought, 1780–1830 (1999). He is
currentlyeditingtheworksofCharlesDarwin’sgrandfather,Erasmus.
lyn pykett isaProfessorofEnglishandProVice-ChancellorattheUni-
versityofWalesAberystwyth.Shehaswrittennumerousbooksandarticles
on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century fiction and culture. Her books
includeTheImproperFeminine:TheWomen’sSensationNovelandtheNew
WomanWriting(1992),TheSensationNovelfrom‘TheWomaninWhite’
to‘TheMoonstone’(1994),andEngenderingFictions:TheEnglishNovelin
viii