Detective fiction's real origins lurk in the popular press of the early nineteenth century, where the detective and the case were steadily developed. The well-known masters of early crime fiction, including Collins and Dickens, drew on this material, found in texts that have rarely been reprinted or even discussed. Heather Worthington combines scholarly and archival study with theoretically informed analysis to unearth the foundations of detective fiction.
Author(s): Heather Worthington
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 216
Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 10
Introduction......Page 12
1.1 Commodified crime: Murder for the masses......Page 17
1.2 Murderous illegalities: Legalised murder......Page 20
1.3 Murder for the literary classes......Page 31
1.4 Connoisseur of crime: De Quincey's defence of the 'Murd'rous Art'......Page 32
1.5 Sensational literature and literal sensation: Blackwood's 'Tales of Terror'......Page 41
2.1 Literary professional: Professional literature......Page 57
2.2 Preventive medicine: 'Passages from the Diary of a Late Physician'......Page 60
2.3 Legal treatments: Evidence of necessity......Page 80
2.4 Legal treatments: Proving the case......Page 85
2.5 Agent of the law: A gent of the law......Page 90
2.6 Accessory after the fact......Page 108
3.1 Police in literature: Literary police......Page 114
3.2 Transitional text, textual transition: From delinquency to detection......Page 115
3.3 A life, partly regular, partly adventurous......Page 118
3.4 The New Police: Perception and reception......Page 126
3.5 Preventive police or personal threat?......Page 132
3.6 A common sight: A site of commonality......Page 141
3.7 The profession of policing......Page 151
3.8 Dickens's 'Detective' Police......Page 170
A rich inheritance......Page 181
Notes......Page 185
Bibliography......Page 198
C......Page 209
E......Page 210
M......Page 211
R......Page 212
W......Page 213
