A Companion to Crime Fiction
Published on 19. February 2010
Book
Hardback
648 pages
978-1-4051-6765-9 (ISBN)
Description
A Companion to Crime Fiction presents the definitive guide to this popular genre from its origins in the eighteenth century to the present day
* A collection of forty-seven newly commissioned essays from a team of leading scholars across the globe make this Companion the definitive guide to crime fiction
* Follows the development of the genre from its origins in the eighteenth century through to its phenomenal present day popularity
* Features full-length critical essays on the most significant authors and film-makers, from Arthur Conan Doyle and Dashiell Hammett to Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorsese exploring the ways in which they have shaped and influenced the field
* Includes extensive references to the most up-to-date scholarship, and a comprehensive bibliography
Reviews / Votes
"Including a helpful introduction by Rzepka and conclusion by both editors, the volume is a welcome addition to the impressive "Blackwell Companion to Literature and Culture" series and to scholarship on crime and detective literature. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers. " (Choice, 1July 2011) "Whilst the editors admit that the collection is not entirely representative (there is no mention of Japanese manga, for instance, or any consideration of hybrids of crime and science fiction), this companion offers an encyclopaedic account of crime fiction and its generic cross-fertilisations, and is an essential guide for students and scholars alike." (Routledge ABES, 2011)"This substantial and informative book covers a wide variety of themes within the genre and also a long time span from the eighteenth century to the present . . . It will give all aficionados of the genre hours of enjoyment. It is indeed a trusty companion that will entertain and add to our knowledge." (Reference Reviews, 2011)
"It will give all aficionados of the genre hours of enjoyment. It is indeed a trusty companion that will entertain and add to our knowledge." (Languages & Literature, 2011)
"Several of the contributors praise books and authors long out of print. Hopefully, this companion will encourage readers and librarians to hunt them down and enjoy." (Book News, 1 March 2011)
"In all, despite its shortcomings in terms of narratology and a few logical inconsistencies, Rzepka and Horsley's Companion to Crime Fiction offers a broad-ranging and well-argued introduction to this field of popular culture. Beginning students will certainly profit from its thematic diversity and wide historical reach." (Kult Online, 2011)
"A Companion to Crime Fiction goes into enormous detail but is reasonably easy to read. It is not an academic-styled book but a guide to how crime fiction has developed over time to accommodate an increasingly demanding audience/reader. With essays from some of the most educated scholars in this field of research, the reader gains a greater understanding in terms of a general overview of the genre, individual authors and producers of film, the blurred lines between crime fiction and other genres and an in depth, well researched analysis of crime fiction itself." (M/C Reviews, November 2010)
More details
Series
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
Hoboken
United Kingdom
Publishing group
John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 250 mm
Width: 175 mm
Thickness: 39 mm
Weight
1285 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4051-6765-9 (9781405167659)
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Charles J. Rzepka | Lee Horsley
A Companion to Crime Fiction
Book
06/2020
1st Edition
Wiley
€59.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Charles J. Rzepka | Lee Horsley
A Companion to Crime Fiction
E-Book
01/2010
Wiley-Blackwell
€35.99
Available for download
Persons
Charles Rzepka is Professor of English at Boston University, where he teaches and writes on British Romanticism, popular culture, and detective and crime fiction. His publications include The Self as Mind (1986), Sacramental Commodities (1995), Detective Fiction (2005), and Essays, Inventions, Interventions (2010).
Lee Horsley is Reader in Literature and Culture at Lancaster University, where she teaches two specialist crime courses. Her publications include Political Fiction and the Historical Imagination (1990), Fictions of Power in English Literature 1900-1950 (1995) Twentieth-Century Crime Fiction (2005), and an expanded paperback edition of the 2001 publication The Noir Thriller (2009).
Content
Introduction: What is Crime Fiction? (Charles J. Rzepka).
Part I: History, Criticism, Culture
1. From the Newgate Calendar to Sherlock Holmes (Heather Worthington).
2. From Sherlock Holmes to the Present (Lee Horsley).
3. Criticism and Theory - (Heta Pyrhonen).
4. Crime and the Mass Media (Alain Silver and James Ursini).
5. Crime Fiction and the Literary Canon (Joel Black).
Part 2: Genre of a Thousand Faces
6. The Newgate Novel and the Police Casebook - Lauren Gillingham
7. From Sensation to The Strand (Christopher Pittard).
8. The "Classical" Model of the Golden Age (Susan Rowland).
9. Early American Crime Fiction: Origins to Urban Gothic (Alexander Moudrov).
10. The "Hard-Boiled" Genre (Andrew Pepper).
11. The Pursuit of Crime: Characters in Crime Fiction (Carl Malmgren).
12. Crime, Forensics, and Modern Science (Sarah Dauncey).
13. Police Novel (Peter Messent).
14. Noir and the Psycho-Thriller (Philip Simpson).
15. True Crime (David Schmid).
16. Gangs and Mobs (Jonathan Munby).
17. Historical Crime and Detection (Ray B. Browne)
18. Crime and the Spy genre (David Seed).
19. Crime and the Gothic (Catherine Spooner).
20. Feminist Crime Fiction and Female Sleuths (Adrienne Gavin)
21. African-American Detection and Crime Fiction (Frankie Bailey).
22. Ethnic Postcolonial Crime and Detection (Anglophone) (Ed Christian).
23. Crime Writing in Other Languages (Sue Neale).
24. Postmodern and Metaphysical Detection (Patricia Merivale).
25. Crime and Detective Literature for Young Readers (Christopher Routledge).
26. Crime in Comics and the Graphic Novel (Arthur Fried).
27. Criminal Investigation on Film (Philippa Gates).
Part 3: Artists at Work
Fiction:
28. William Godwin (1756-1836) - Philip Shaw
29. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) - Maurice Lee
30. Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) - Andrew Mangham
31. Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) - John Hodgson
32. Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) - Leroy Panek
33. Agatha Christie (1890-1976) - Merja Makinen
34. James M. Cain (1892-1977) - William Marling
35. Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) - Esme Miskimmin
36. Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) - Jasmine Hall
37. Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) - Alicia Borinsky 38. Chester Himes (1909-1984) - Stephen Soitos
39. David Goodis (1917-1967) - David Schmid
40. P. D. James (1920- ) - Louise Harrington
41. Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) - Bran Nicol
42. Elmore Leonard (1925- ) -Charles J. Rzepka
43. Sara Paretsky (1947- ) - Malcah Effron
44. Walter Mosley (1952- ) - John Gruesser
Film:
45. Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) - Nick Haeffner
46. Martin Scorsese (1942- ) - Mark Desmond Nicholls
47. John Woo (1946- ) - Karen Fang
Conclusion - Lee Horsley and Charles J. Rzepka