Laird R. Blackwell

Clues from the Couch

Psychology in Detective Fiction from Wilkie Collins to Winspear and Penny

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

The detective story--the classic whodunit with its time-displacement structure of crime--according to most literary historians, is of relatively recent origin. Early in its development, the whodunit was harshly criticized for its tightly formula-bound structure. Many critics prematurely proclaimed "the death of the whodunit" and even of detective fiction altogether. Yet today, the genre is alive, as contemporary authors have brought it into modern times through a significant integration of elaborate character development and psychology. With the modern psychological detective story emerging from the historical cauldron of detective fiction and early psychology, the genre continues to develop a complexity that reflects and guides the literary sophistication needed. This book, the first of its kind, analyzes over 150 whodunit novels and short stories across the decades, from The Moonstone to the contemporary novels that saved the genre from an ignominious death.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: McFarland
• Seitenzahl: 250
• Erscheinungstermin: 13. Juni 2022
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 15mm
• Gewicht: 412g
• ISBN-13: 9781476688374
• ISBN-10: 1476688370
• Artikelnr.: 65012776

Autorenporträt

Laird R. Blackwell is a humanities professor emeritus at Sierra Nevada College in the Lake Tahoe area of western Nevada, where he taught psychology and literature for 31 years. He is the author of four critical studies of detective fiction for McFarland and the recipient of nominations for an Edgar Award and an Agatha Award.

Inhaltsangabe

Table of Contents Preface Introduction: The Detective Story in Transition One.
Psychology: A Brief Look at Some Psychological Concepts Applied to the Classic Whodunit Two.
An Illustrative Case: The Transition from the "Straight" Whodunit to the Psychological Whodunit-from Ellery Queen I to Ellery Queen II Three.
Key Authors and Featured Works with an Infusion of Psychology Four.
1868-1909: Undercurrents of the Unconscious Before Freud and During His Early Work Five.
1910-1919: Freudian Psychology and the First Psychological Detectives Six.
1920-1929: Psychological Detectives, Professional and Amateur Seven.
1930-1939: Psychology as Genuine Player and as Red Herring Eight.
1940-1949: The Post-Golden Age and the Eruption of the Unconscious Nine.
1950-1959: Psychiatrists, Defense Mechanisms, and the Invisible Witness Ten.
1960-1969: P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, and the Psychological Exploration of Character Eleven.
1970-1979: The Passing of Hercule Poirot and a Legacy of Generativity Twelve.
1980-1989: Surface Appearance and Psychological Reality Thirteen.
1990-1999: The Whodunit as the Sauce for Psychology's Entrée Fourteen.
2000-2009: Back to Vienna Fifteen.
2010-2019: Two Strands-Freud and Feelings Conclusion: Formula and Psychology in the Classic Whodunit Bibliography Index