Crime Fiction Notes Essay

Study read over your essay and familiarise yourself with your wording use up discussions Figure out the arguments in your fling practise exams dont just Know the material REALLY UNDERSTAND itThe Big SleepObservation conventions that atomic number 18 constant throughout generations of offense fiction genre (passion, detachment, love, hope, justice) are a reflection on the timeless and universal human needs conventions that are subverted are a reflection of changing values and context place setting 1950s post WW2 Economic depression Desire for hope, justice, escapismTheoristsSchwartz crime fiction serves to explicate the dangers and pleasures of life. There is human feeling with which the audience faecal matter empathise Gives the illusion that they have entered the world of crimeMiller A rhetorically sound definition of genre must be centred not on the substance or form of discourse, yet on the action it is used to accomplish, manipulate audiences empathy to engage them i n the text typical of tralatitious crime fiction GENRETechniques(Remember these techniques interchangeably and moreover use the appropriate ones)Context specific1. SubvertContext Desire for hopeConvention shoot noir subgenre traditionally seek to realistically portray the inescapable low-pitched nature of society subverted Happy Ending Observation & Theorist Imperative of genre to cater for subversion to become relevant to socio- sparing or political context Chandler, the cycles and transformations of genre can be seen as a response to the changing political, genial and economic conditions2.Context socio-economic context of 1940s World War 2 America midst of an economic depression employment was low and consequently crime was on the rise yearning for justice and heroism to correct the broken nature of society Convention Characterisation of Marlowe as determined and relentless Ironic and self-depreciating talks Im just a guy whose paid to do other masss laundry embodies disposition of lone ranger Heroicconnotations, why did you have to keep going?, too some people told me to stop. Observation and Theorist Crime fiction gives the audience what it NEEDS3.Context 1950s audience can critique broken society and judge morality of characters Convention Conforms to traditional structure of c/f red herrings, witnesses, investigation, unveiling of mystery Lack of floor no point of view audience critique characters E.G. Marlowe, womanizer, heavy drinker, blatant disrespect for authority and the law, I dont know what I am going to tell them- but it get out be pretty close to the truth retain a degree of morality, reproach toward reprehensible behaviour, my, my, my, so many guns for so few brains. Reflects ambivalent noir concept that everything good is tainted with evil Observation and theorist Convoluted plotline makes the audience objective viewer Critique the broken society and the morality of characters Livingston, different genres are concerned w ith different world viewsUniversal1. ConformContext common timeless human desires transcend context and audience and hence are constant throughout generations of crime fiction Convention human fascination with romantic love interest foregrounded interaction betwixt hardboiled detective Marlowe and femme fatal Vivien Rutledge Verbal sparring soaked in double-entendres indicative of sexual tension do you always think you can handle people like trained seals? uh-huh and I usually get away with it too Theorist Colette, romance pervades oral and written story-telling as far back as can be tracedAnils GhostObservations1. Post-colonial text exposure to different culture challenges Western perspective of crime fiction genre Barthes, it is in relation to other texts within a genre rather then in relation to lived experiences that we make sense of certain events within a text. Cohen, Genres are open categories. Each member alters the genre by adding, contradicting or changing constituents , especially those members most closely related to it. 2. Challenges not only our understanding of the genre, but also our perception of the world around us Berger Never again will a single story be told as though it were only the one. 3. Crime fiction can be a means of contextual political and philosophical discussion The subjectivity of truth Nihilism and post-modernismTechniques1.Context socio-political context 1980s Sri Lanka multifaceted civil war unimaginable for a western audience but can relate to universal themes Convention brain-teaser as a medium for Anils quest for her identity Ambiguous characterisation forces reader to share in her frustration and confusion Refuses to be defined or typecast, religious allusion, The return of the prodigal, I am not a prodigal Symbolised through an aggressive campaign to chose her own style Observation and theorist international audience relate to a common quest multifaceted nature of identity Ambiguity and struggle within an ind ividual, broody of wider post modern society2.Observation, context and theorist Fister crime fiction deliberately exploits anxiety within the reader through reflecting and magnifying societies fear du jour. Terror of those sustenance within civil warConvention explored through specific victims, personalise pain agonising imagery Gunesenas crucifixion, prized the nails from the tarmac, freeing his hands fear impregnates every facet of society personification of Sri Lankan national fear through simile used to warn against the dangers of truth, truth is like a flame against a lake of flatulency3.Observation aware of the horrendous acts of violence but absent from the actual event never presume to understand the degree of suffering novel seeks to extrapolate sympathy NOT empathyConvention Subversion post-modern style, not one single perspective, intrusive narration to explore a variety of characters perspectives. (Berger Never again will a single story be told as though it were o nly the one.) Foregrounds the differences the darkest Greek tragedies were innocent compared to what was happening here compares European mythology with Eastern reality, highlights wide discrepancies between crime fiction Theorist Texts challenge audiences worldly perceptions Cole This can function as a form of social protest and reform giving crime writers the status symbol of social activists.More on VALUES