Crime Fiction (The New Critical Idiom) - Softcover

Scaggs, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415318246 ISBN 13: 9780415318242

Publisher: Routledge, 2005

Synopsis

Crime Fiction provides a lively introduction to what is both a wide-ranging and hugely popular literary genre. Using examples from a variety of novels, short stories, films and televisions series, John Scaggs:

• presents a concise history of crime fiction - from biblical narratives to James Ellroy - broadening the genre to include revenge tragedy and the gothic novel
• explores the key sub-genres of crime fiction, such as 'Rational Criminal Investigation', The Hard-Boiled Mode', 'The Police Procedural' and 'Historical Crime Fiction'
• locates texts and their recurring themes and motifs in a wider social and historical context
• outlines the various critical concepts that are central to the study of crime fiction, including gender, narrative theory and film theory
• considers contemporary television series like C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation alongside the 'classic' whodunnits of Agatha Christie.

Accessible and clear, this comprehensive overview is the essential guide for all those studying crime fiction and concludes with a look at future directions for the genre in the twentieth-first century.

About this title

Review:

'Crime Fiction presents a digestible yet highly informative and intricate analysis of the genre. It is a valuable resourse for mystery and detective aficionados in addition to scholars' - Amy C. Branman, In-between

About the Author:

John Scaggs is a Lecturer in the Department of English at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, Ireland. His research interests include Modern Fiction, with a particular emphasis on crime fiction and revenge tragedy, the Gothic and Literary Theory.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0415318246
• ISBN 13: 9780415318242
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184