Overview
- Editors:
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Warren Chernaik
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Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Studies, University of London, UK
University of Southampton, UK
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Martin Swales
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University College London, UK
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Robert Vilain
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Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
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Table of contents (16 chapters)
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Back Matter
Pages 233-240
About this book
In the hands of many of the great writers, the unravelling of mystery is only one strand within a complex project. Other things get unravelled, too - the belief in a rationally explicable world, in the beneficent, ordering force of culture and civilization. Constantly the detective story delights in muddying the waters, in acknowledging the omnipresent possibilities of anarchy and carnage. As a genre, it is supremely able to combine popular appeal with the ability to disturb, provoke and challenge the reader.
The essays in this volume all pay tribute to, and seek to account for, the astonishing durability of the detective story as a narrative genre. They range generously, taking a variety of theoretical approaches and including detective fiction in languages other than English, but particular attention is paid to the 'Golden Age' of English detective story-writing and to the 'hard-boiled' American version of the genre. This is a collection that will appeal to the scholar and to the devotee alike; to all those, in fact, who cannot resist the lure of finding out whodunit.
Editors and Affiliations
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Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Studies, University of London, UK
Warren Chernaik
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University of Southampton, UK
Warren Chernaik
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University College London, UK
Martin Swales
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Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
Robert Vilain
About the editors
Warren Chernaik is Emeritus Professor in English at the University of London. Martin Swales is Chair of German at University College, London.
Robert Vilain is Lecturer in German at Royal Holloway, University of London.