Twentieth-Century Crime Fiction

Gill Plain's discerning and scholarly overview of gender issues in 20th-century crime fiction concentrates largely on six authors - Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Joseph Hansen, Dick Francis, Sara Paretsky and Katherine V Forrest. ! Plain's Freudian approach has enabled her to achieve what would appear impossible. Incredibly, she has found something new to say about Sara Paretsky, who is surely the most over-analysed living exponent of feminist crime fiction. Her analysis of Paretsky's work!develops a set of fascinating cultural resonances. Dick Francis's novels are also subjected to a searching Freudian analysis, covering such unexpected topics as homosociality, multiple otherness, Oedipal strictures and the fantasy of the secret self. The result is intriguing and thought-provoking ! this is an impressive scholarly work which will be of immense value to students of crime fiction. Plain offers many fascinating new insights into a genre which has all too often been dismissed as trivial by short-sighted critics This is an impressive scholarly work which will be of immense value to students of the genre. Gill Plain's discerning and scholarly overview of gender issues in 20th-century crime fiction concentrates largely on six authors - Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Joseph Hansen, Dick Francis, Sara Paretsky and Katherine V Forrest. ! Plain's Freudian approach has enabled her to achieve what would appear impossible. Incredibly, she has found something new to say about Sara Paretsky, who is surely the most over-analysed living exponent of feminist crime fiction. Her analysis of Paretsky's work!develops a set of fascinating cultural resonances. Dick Francis's novels are also subjected to a searching Freudian analysis, covering such unexpected topics as homosociality, multiple otherness, Oedipal strictures and the fantasy of the secret self. The result is intriguing and thought-provoking ! this is an impressive scholarly work which will be of immense value to students of crime fiction. Plain offers many fascinating new insights into a genre which has all too often been dismissed as trivial by short-sighted critics This is an impressive scholarly work which will be of immense value to students of the genre.