THE ENGLISH DETECTIVE NOVEL: HISTORICAL AND THEORETICAL ASPECT
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/folium/2023.2.3Keywords:
detective genre, detective novel, classical detective novel, modern detective novel, postmodern detective novelAbstract
The current article deals with the peculiarities of the development and formation of the English detective novel. Three main stages of English detective fiction – classic, modern, and postmodern are described. It is established that the classical detective novel is a kind of puzzle that is built around the mystery of solving a crime. The narrative is built logically and consistently, and the protagonist discovers the truth by critically analyzing the facts. The compositional features of the detective story determine the binary opposition of the characters, mostly male, – good (the detective, their assistants) and bad (the criminal, their accomplices). In a modern detective novel, the puzzles are scattered and mixed, often falling into the hands of secondary characters. To solve the mystery, it is no longer necessary to have good deduction skills but to pay attention to a certain important point that is key to the investigation of the crime and usually becomes obvious to the assistant or friend of the protagonist. Women play brilliantly in the detective scene, acting both on the side of good and evil. The instruments of crime are becoming more and more diverse and extravagant. In a postmodern detective novel, the picture of the crime is rather blurred and not very important. Various variants of its interpretation and the feelings of the characters come to the fore. The most characteristic feature of the detective novel of this period is its polyphony: the plot of the work necessarily has inclusions of historical, philosophical, adventure, or science fiction novels with a psychological component. The desire to restore justice, which is basic to the detective, disappears, and the division into good and bad becomes conditional or false. The central character in the work is an ordinary person with a whole palette of emotions and problems that prevent him or her from realizing his or her purpose in this world. Events in a postmodern detective story develop around the process of searching for and cognizing oneself.
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