ENGL 2020: Themes in Literature and Culture: Detective Fiction: Home

Since Edgar Allan Poe invented the modern mystery novel in the mid-19th century, the number of authors writing in this field has steadily increased along with a demand for such literature. As a response to such growth, this text features articles on 100 of the most important writers of the genre.

Mystery and detective novels are popular fictional genres within Western literature. As such, they provide a wealth of information about popular art and culture. When the genre develops within various cultures, it adopts, and proceeds to dominate, native expressions and imagery. American mystery and detective novels appeared in the late nineteenth century.

When you're in the mood for suspense, nothing delivers like a collection of mystery and detective stories. These tales have been culled from the golden age of the genre, when masters like Charles Dickens, Thomas De Quincey, Laurence Sterne, and William Makepeace Thackeray were producing stories at a rapid clip to satisfy millions of devoted readers.

With essays by an international group of scholars, Questions of Identity in Detective Fiction delves into the ways in which this genre, given its status as popular yet marginalized literature, allows for the exploration of a wide range of meanings. Contributors examine how the genre both mirrors and focuses the personal/sexual/ ethnic/spiritual, how it interfaces with national literatures and histories, and how the generic identity of detective fiction has evolved over time.