Detective mystery novel is a comprehensive genre of western popular literature, which belongs to the category of thriller mystery novel together with gothic novel, crime novel, spy novel, police novel and mystery novel. Detective novels mainly write about people with amazing reasoning and judgment intelligence, and solve the mystery of crime (mostly murder) according to a series of clues. Its structure, plot, characters and even environment have certain patterns and procedures, so it is also a procedural literature. Because most traditional detective novels solve cases by reasoning, some people call them mystery novels.
/kloc-At the beginning of the 9th century, the capitalist system has been established, bourgeois democracy is developing day by day, politics and religion are separated, and the police system is gradually established, which is the social basis for the emergence of detective novels.
Detective stories began to develop in the middle of19th century. Edgar allan poe, an American writer, is regarded as the originator of western detective novels. In three famous detective novels, Murder in Moge Street (184 1), The Secret of Marirogate (1842) and Stolen Letters (1844), he created the image of Du Bin, the first amateur detective. Du Bin solved the case through observation and reasoning, and became a model of detective image in later detective novels. Edgar allan poe has written seven detective novels, although they only account for a small part of his works, but they have created a pattern of detective novels and exerted great influence on the development of detective novels.
Although Poe laid a good foundation, detective stories did not become popular in the United States until several decades later when anna katharine green (1846 ~ 1935) published The Leavenworth Case (1878). The Leavenworth Case is considered to be the first detective novel written by a woman.
The situation in Europe is very different. The French soon realized that detective stories might be popular. 1863, Emile Gaboriaud (1835 ~ 1873) published his first detective novel, The Bloody Case, which shaped the image of detective Mr. Laicock. Laicock is a nobody, a reformed criminal. Although the story is very emotional, the description of the police and the French legal system is quite true. Gaboriaud's works are very popular in France and abroad, and he has greatly promoted the development and popularization of French detective novels. After him, many detective story writers appeared one after another.
In Britain, detective stories have won a wide audience. Wilkie Collins (1824 ~ 1889) published the Moon Stone in 1868 after the success of The Woman in White (1859 ~ 1860), with its twists and turns and touching plots. The enduring detective stories with world influence belong to the Sherlock Holmes stories of Conan Doyle (1859 ~ 1930) in Britain. Conan Doyle first created Sherlock Holmes, a talented amateur detective, in A Study of Blood Characters (1887). Since then, in many short stories, such as Four Signs (1889), The Hound of the Baskerville (1902) and uncanny valley (19 15), Sherlock Holmes is the protagonist and Watson is the foil. Sherlock Holmes became a more famous world literary figure than his author.
The success of Sherlock Holmes' detective stories has made detective stories mushroomed in the west. The early major writers were: Richard Austin Freeman (1862 ~ 1943), an Englishman, who created the first detective, Dr. John Thorndike, who used forensic medicine, and created an "anti-detective novel", that is, he first confessed the identity of the criminal and then flashed back to the case; Baroness Oakes (1805 ~ 1947) first wrote an "easy chair" detective who sat in an easy chair and solved the case by reasoning. A Ai Wu Mei Sen (1865 ~ 1948) created the detective Mr. hannode; Gilbert Kane chesterton (1874 ~ 1936) created the priest detective Father Brown, Edmund G. Bentley (1875 ~ 1956), and created the detective Philip Trent; Ernest Brammer (1869 ~ 1942) created the blind detective Max Carados. In the United States, Caroline Wells (1869 ~ 1942) created the detective Fleming Si Tong; Melville Davidson Post (187 1 ~ 1930) created Uncle Abner. However, during this period, Ernest William Horn of England (1866 ~ 194 1) wrote Raphael's Story and Maurice Lebron of France (1864 ~ 1) wrote Grand Theft Auto Assen.
The period between World War I and World War II is called the "golden age" of western detective novels. There are thousands of detective stories in Britain and America alone. Reading detective stories is not only a pastime of the leisure class, but also a pastime of the lower class. At this time, the romanticism in these early works gradually disappeared, and murder became an essential factor in every novel. But most of the victims in these works are just symbols. What people care about is no longer the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil, but how to solve the mystery. Most writers in the "golden age" only regard their creation as a guessing game to entertain readers, or an intellectual contest between readers and writers (through his fictional detective). Because readers and detectives have the same clues and opportunities to solve crimes, such novels are also a fair quiz. The works of this period mainly focus on relaxing maze games, which neither discuss social problems nor reflect social reality.
The initiator of the golden age in America is S.S. Van Dane, whose real name is Wei Heng Lai Chi (1888 ~ 1939). In a series of novels such as Benson's murder (1926) and canary's murder (1927), he created the image of a knowledgeable detective Philo Vance, which won the readers' welcome. Wright was followed by ellery queen, who was the name of both the author and the detective. Actually, it is a pseudonym shared by Frederick Denay (1905 ~) and Manfred Lee (1905 ~1). Quinn's works put all kinds of clues in front of readers from the beginning, so that readers and detectives can solve the case together. Quinn's best works include The Mystery of Dutch Shoes (193 1), The Mystery of Greek Coffins (1932), The Mystery of Egyptian Cross (1932) and The Mystery of China Oranges (1932). The magazine "Mystery Fiction" founded by Quinn has played a certain role in promoting the development of short detective stories. During this period, Nilo Wolf, an "easy chair" detective created by Rex stouch (1886 ~), was also quite famous.
At the same time, a large number of detective story writers appeared in Britain. The most famous is agatha christie (189 1 ~ 1976), who is one of the most representative writers in the "golden age". He is good at using confusing layouts and suspicious characters to create many illusions, and finally puts forward a surprising ending. She wrote nearly 70 detective novels in her life, and created two detective images, Bojilo and Miss Mabel. Many of her novels, such as Murder on the Orient Express and The Nile Massacre, have been made into films. Other famous British detective fiction writers are Freeman Wells Croft (1879 ~ 1957), who wrote Detective French; H.C. Bailey (1929 ~) created the detective Reginald Fortzen; Anthony Berkeley Cox, who created detective Roger Sheringham; American-born john dickson carr (1906 ~) created detectives Phil and Henry Merryville; Dorothy sayers (1893 ~ 1957) created detectives Peter and WIM.
In the late 1920s, an "anti-traditional detective novel" appeared in the United States, which was called a "tough guy" detective novel. This kind of novel describes hard environment and fighting scenes, which is very different from traditional detective works in narrative stories and characterization. This kind of works reflects the social reality to some extent. After World War I, the worldwide economic depression hit the United States deeply, with workers unemployed, living in poverty, official corruption and social unrest. Some excellent detective story writers try to reflect this social reality and improve the literary level of detective stories. Among them, the most famous writers are dashiell hammett (1894 ~ 19 1) and Raymond Chandekan (1888 ~ 1958), the founders of the "tough guy school" detective novels. In their works, characters are no longer symbols arranged for the needs of the plot, and detectives themselves are not omnipotent heroes. They have their own weaknesses and often fall into embarrassing situations. The detective in Hameday's novels is both a hero and a bandit. Philip Marlowe, a private detective in Chandler's novels, is a fugitive. Although he is honest, he still insists on fighting with a gun. The police in their works are often no longer the defenders of the law, they often collude with underworld organizations, and some underworld organizations are often supported by powerful politicians. Other characters in the works often have their own personalities, all of which are multifaceted and flesh-and-blood, giving people a sense of reality. Hammett and Chandler are good at using clean, vulgar and vivid dialogues to reflect the characters' personalities, promote the development of the story and enhance the credibility of the story. Hammett's bloody harvest (1929), the glass key, the thin man (1932), Chandler's deep sleep (1939), Farewell to Dear (1940) and so on. The advantages of "tough guy" detective novels have not been well inherited and developed. After World War II, some detective novelists in the United States and Britain even pushed the "tough guy" novel to the edge of lazy literature. Mickey Spillane (19 18 ~), a very popular detective novel, started with Me and the Jury (1947), with the theme of sex and violence, full of erotic and bloody beatings, and its influence was still felt until the 1970s.
A few detective novelists try to explore human problems and social reality. Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Judge and His Executioner, Anchor and Promise, written in German, seeks the root of crime and advocates justice, which is obviously realistic. Georges simenon, a Belgian writer who wrote in French, explored people and focused on the psychological activities of criminals. What he cares about is not who committed the crime, but why. He pays attention to emotional logic and tries to clarify complex criminal motives. His works include Yellow Dog, Nerve War, Death in August, McGregor, Unwilling Witness, etc.
Other famous detective novelists after 1940 are: Stanley Gardner, American Earl (1889 ~ 1970), who created Paley Mei Sen who is both a lawyer and a detective; Francis Lockridge and Richard Euclid, writing detective stories about the North couple; Mary J. Lattice and Martha Hennessat, pen names Emma Larsen, created the Wall Street banker detective John Putna Schell; Elizabeth McIntosh of England (1896 ~ 1952), whose pen name is Josephine Tiey, wrote Grant the Detective. Robert Brice Montgomery, pen name Edmund crispin, created detective Cheval Finn.
The pattern of traditional detective stories consists of four parts: 1. Mysterious environment; 2. The plot is rigorous, including: ① introduction of the detective, ② enumeration of criminal facts and clues, ③ investigation, ④ announcement of the case, ⑤ explanation of the case, and ⑤ ending; 3. There are four types of characters in the relationship between characters: ① victims, ② criminals, ③ detectives, ④ friends of detectives, and good people involved in crimes; 4. Specific story background. The order of these four parts can be arranged and combined as needed, but they are the structural basis of traditional detective novels.
The purpose of detective novels is still very popular in the west, accounting for almost a quarter of the annual book sales in the United States, and most of them are works for readers' entertainment.