Detective novels
Detective novels are one of the most popular genres in popular literature. According to statistics, detective novels account for 15% to 25% of the total book sales in Europe and the United States. . Sherlock Holmes, created by Conan Doyle, has become the most famous fictional character in the world. The total sales volume of Agatha Christie's novels has reached 2 billion copies ("Guinness World Records 2000"). This cannot but be said to be a miracle. . Detective novels have also been in great demand since they were introduced to China at the end of the 19th century. After the 1980s, a large number of translated detective novels were published, with the total number probably ranging from 1,500 to 2,000 (or even more). Local detective novels have also made great progress. Detective novels by Cheng Xiaoqing, Sun Liaohong and others are still being reprinted today. There are hundreds of contemporary detective novels written every year. Below, I have excerpted two explanations about detective novels for your reference (detective novels are generally called "Mystery Story [Novel]" or "Detective Story" in Europe and the United States, and in Japan they are generally called "mystery novels").
Detective mystery novels are an integrated genre of Western popular literature. They belong to the same category of thrilling mystery novels as gothic novels, crime novels and the spy novels, police novels and suspense novels derived from them. Detective novels mainly write about characters with amazing reasoning and judgment intelligence, who solve crimes (mostly murders) based on a series of clues. Its structure, plot, characters, and even the environment have a certain pattern and formula, so it is also a kind of formula literature. Since most cases in traditional detective novels are solved by reasoning, some people also call them mystery novels.
In the early 19th century, the capitalist system had been established, bourgeois democracy was developing day by day, church and state were separated, and the police system was gradually established. This was the social foundation for the production of detective novels.
Detective novels began to develop in the mid-19th century. American writer Edgar Allan Poe is considered the originator of Western detective novels. He created the first amateur detective story in three famous detective novels: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841), "The Secret of Marie Roquette" (1842) and "The Purloined Letters" (1844). The image of Detective Dubin. Dupin solved crimes through observation and reasoning, which became the model for the image of detectives in later detective novels. Edgar Allan Poe*** wrote 7 detective novels. Although they are only a small part of his works, they pioneered the mode of detective novels and had a significant impact on the development of detective novels.
Although Edgar Allan Poe laid a good foundation, in the United States, it was not until Anna Catherine Green (1846 ~ 1935) published "The Case of Leavenworth" (1878) decades later that , detective novels began to become popular. The Leavenworth Case is considered the first detective novel written by a woman.
The situation in Europe is very different. The French soon realized that detective stories had the potential to become widely popular. In 1863, Emile Gaborio (1835-1873) published his first detective novel "The Murderous Case", which created the image of the police detective Mr. Lecoq. Lecoq is a nobody, a reformed criminal. Although the story is sensational, its depiction of the police and the French legal system is quite realistic. Gaborio's works are very popular at home and abroad in France. He played a great role in promoting the development and popularity of detective novels in France. After him, many detective novel writers appeared one after another.
In Britain, detective novels have gained a wide readership. Following the success of "The Woman in White" (1859-1860), Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) published "The Moonstone" in 1868. With its twists and turns and touching plot and profound character descriptions, it is considered to be the first novel. A true full-length detective novel. Collins's friend Charles Dickens also dabbled in this field, and his unfinished "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" is a detective novel. The detective novel that is widely popular, enduring and influential all over the world is undoubtedly the Sherlock Holmes by British A. Conan Doyle (1859～1930). In "A Study in Scarlet" (1887), Conan Doyle first created the image of Sherlock Holmes, a brilliant amateur detective. After that, he used Holmes as the protagonist and Watson as the foil in "The Sign of Four" (1889), "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1902), "The Uncanny Valley" (1915) and many short stories to solve the problem. Various difficult crimes. Sherlock Holmes became a more famous worldwide literary figure than his author.
The success of Sherlock Holmes’ detective stories led to the mushrooming of detective novels in the West.
Major early writers include: British Richard Austin Freeman (1862-1943), who created the first detective to use forensic science, Dr. John Thorndike, and pioneered the "reverse detective novel". That is to first explain the identity of the criminal, and then flashback to the circumstances of solving the case; Baroness Oakes (1805 ~ 1947), in the book "The Old Man in the Corner", first wrote about the "easy way" of sitting in an easy chair and relying on reasoning to solve the case. "chair" detective; Al E. Wood Mason (1865～1948), who shaped the detective Mr. Hannold; Gilbert Kane Chesterton (1874～1936), who shaped the priest detective Father Brown, E. Demon C. Bentley (1875～1956), created the detective Philip Trent; Ernest Brammer (1869～1942), created the blind detective Max Carrados. In the United States, Carolyn Wells (1869-1942) portrayed Detective Fleming Stone; Melville Davidson Post (1871-1930) portrayed Uncle Abner. However, during this period, the stories of Raphael written by the British Ernest William Hornane (1866～1941), and the robber Arsene Lux written by the French Maurice Leblanc (1864～1941) Class stories are the most popular among readers.
The period between World War I and World War II is called the "golden age" of Western detective fiction. Thousands of detective novels have appeared in Britain and the United States alone. Reading detective stories was no longer just a pastime for the leisured class, but was also read by the lower classes. At this time, the romanticism of earlier works of this type gradually disappeared, and murder became an essential element of every novel. However, most of the murdered people in these works are just symbols. People are no longer concerned about the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil, but how to solve the mystery. Most writers of the "Golden Age" treated their creations simply as guessing games for the entertainment of readers, or as a kind of intellectual contest between the reader and the writer (through his fictional detective). Since readers and detectives have the same clues and chances of solving the case, this type of novel is also a fair intellectual contest. The works of this period were mainly maze games for leisure and boredom. They neither explored social issues nor reflected social reality.
The founder of the American Golden Age was S.S. Van Dyne, whose real name was William Henry Lai Chi (1888-1939). In a series of novels such as "The Benson Murders" (1926) and "The Canary Murders" (1927), he created the image of the knowledgeable detective Philo Vance and won the popularity of readers. After Wright came Ellery Quinn. Quinn was both the author's name and the detective's name. It was actually shared by Frederick Dannay (1905~) and Manfrid Lee (1905~1971). pen name. Quinn's works place various clues in front of readers from the beginning, allowing readers to solve the case together with the detective. Quinn's best works are the early "Mystery of the Dutch Shoe" (1931), "The Mystery of the Greek Coffin" (1932), "The Mystery of the Egyptian Cross" (1932) and "The Mystery of the Chinese Orange" (1934). The "Mystery Story Magazine" founded by Quinn played a certain role in promoting the development of short detective novels. During this period, the "easy chair" detective Nile Wolff created by Rex Stower (1886~) was also quite famous.
At the same time, a large number of detective novel writers appeared in Britain. The most famous is Agatha Christie (1891～1976), who is one of the most representative writers of the "Golden Age". He is good at using confusing layouts and suspicious characters to create many illusions, and finally proposes a surprising ending. She wrote nearly 70 detective novels in her lifetime, creating the images of two detectives, Poirot and Miss Mypole. Many of her novels, such as "Murder on the Orient Express" and "Tragedy on the Nile", have been made into movies. Other famous British detective novel writers include: Freeman Wells Crofts (1879～1957), who created the detective French; H. C. Bailey (1929~), who shaped the detective Reginald Forzen; Anthony Berkeley, who shaped the detective Roger Sheringham; the American-born John Dixon Carr ("The King of the Chamber") ( 1906～), shaped the detectives Fell and Henry Merivale; Dorothy Sayers (1893～1957), shaped the detectives Pitt and Lord Wim.
In the late 1920s, a kind of "anti-traditional detective novel" detective novel appeared in the United States, which was called "hard-boiled" detective novel. This type of novel describes difficult environments and fighting scenes, and is very different from traditional detective works in terms of story telling and character portrayal. Such works reflect social reality to a certain extent. After World War I, the worldwide economic depression hit the United States deeply. Workers were unemployed, living in poverty, officials were corrupt, and society was in unrest. Some excellent detective novel writers strive to reflect this social reality and improve the literary level of detective novels. Among them, the most famous writers are Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) and Raymond Chandler (1888-1958), the founders of the "hard-boiled" detective novels.
In their works, the characters are no longer symbols arranged for plot needs, and the detectives themselves are not omnipotent heroes. They have their own weaknesses and often fall into embarrassing situations. The detective in Hamel's novel is a combination of hero and robber. Although Chandler's private detective Philip Marlowe has an upright character, he is still an outlaw who constantly shoots and fights. The police in their works are often no longer the defenders of the law. The police 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, and they are generally faceted and flesh-and-blood, giving people a sense of reality. Hammett and Chandler are good at using crisp, vulgar and vivid dialogue 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 "The Big Sleep" (1939), "Farewell, Darling" (1940), " "Little Sister" (1949), etc., are not only representative works of early "tough guy" detective novels, but have also won a certain reputation in the literary world. The advantages of "hard-boiled" detective novels have not been well inherited and developed. After the Second World War, some detective novelists in the United States and Britain who pursued commercial value even pushed "tough guy" novels to the edge of erotic literature. The very popular Michael Spillane (1918~), in a series of detective novels with Mike Hammer as the protagonist starting with "The Jury and Me" (1947), focuses on describing sex and violence, and is full of eroticism. and bloody beating scenes, the impact of which was still felt into the 1970s.
There are a handful of detective novelists who strive to explore human problems and social realities. "The Judge and His Executioner", "Anchor" and "The Promise" by Christian writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt, who writes in German, seek the root causes of crime and advocate justice, and have a relatively obvious realism color. Georges Simenon, a Belgian writer who writes in French, writes detective novels about human exploration, focusing on the psychological activities of criminals. His concern is not who sinned, but why. He focuses on emotional logic and is dedicated to elucidating complex criminal motives. His works include "Yellow Dog", "Nervous War", "The Death of Auguste", "Maigre and the Reluctant Witness", etc.
Famous detective novelists after 1940 include: American Earl Stanley Gardner (1889-1970), who created Perry Mason, who was both a lawyer and a detective; Francis? Lockridge and Richard Jockridge, who wrote detective stories about Mr. and Mrs. North; Mary J. Radice and Martha Hennessat, who wrote under the pseudonym Emma Larson, created Wall Street Banker detective John Putnam Thatcher; British Elizabeth McIntosh (1896-1952), pen name Josephine Teay, who created Detective Grant; Robert Bruce Montgomery, pen name Ed Monte Crispin, created the detective Cane Gas Fenn.
The traditional detective novel model consists of four parts: 1. Mysterious environment; 2. Tight plot, including: ①Introducing the detective, ②Listing criminal facts and clues, ③Investigation, ④Announcement of case detection, ⑤Explanation of case detection, ⑥Ending; 3. Characters and relationships between characters, mainly including 4 types of characters: ① victim, ② criminal, ③ detective, ④ detective’s friend, good guy involved in crime; 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.
Detective novels are still very popular in the West, accounting for almost a quarter of annual book sales in the United States, and most of them are works for readers' entertainment. (Wang Fengzhen)
Excerpted from: "Encyclopedia of China? Foreign Literature", Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Press, 1982.
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Detective story is a popular literary genre that describes the investigation and solving of criminal cases (usually homicides). process. The traditional elements of detective novels are: ① A criminal case that seems to have no flaws; ② A suspect who is wrongly accused based on circumstantial evidence; ③ The botched work of a stupid police officer; ④ The detective’s keener observation and stronger thinking ability; ⑤ Ling In a surprising and unexpected ending, the detective tells how he found out who the culprit was. A common principle in detective fiction is that evidence that appears convincing on the surface is actually irrelevant. At the same time, the usual formula is: those clues that can deduce the logical answer to the question are clearly presented to the reader when the detective obtains them and infers the answer to the question through logical interpretation of these clues. .
The first detective novel was "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by E.A. Poe, published in April 1841. The profession of detective had emerged only a few decades before. It is generally believed that the author was influenced by Vidocq's "Memoirs" (1828-1829), who established the world's first detective agency in Paris in 1817. The French detective Dupin in the novel also appeared in two other novels: "The Secret of Marie Roget" (1845) and "The Purloined Letter" (1845).
The length of detective novels also quickly expanded from short stories to novels.
The French writer E. Gaborio's "Le Rouge Case" (1866) is an extremely successful novel with several sequels. W. Collins's The Moonstone (1868) is still one of the best British novels. A.K. Green became one of the earliest detective novelists in the United States with the publication of "The Leavenworth Case." The Secret of the Carriage (1886), written by the Australian writer F. Hume, was once an extremely imaginative book.
Of all fictional detectives, Sherlock Holmes is the most famous. He and his loyal but somewhat dull friend Dr. Watson first appeared in Conan Doyle's novel A Study in Scarlet (1887), and continued to appear in such collections of stories in the 20th century, such as "Memoirs" ( 1894) and the longer The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902). Sherlock Holmes's detective style has such great charm that the death of Conan Doyle did not end Sherlock Holmes' detective career. Some writers often play on the plots mentioned in the original work in an attempt to inherit the tradition of Sherlock Holmes.
A number of excellent detective novels appeared in the early 20th century, including "The Circular Staircase" (1908) by M.R. Reinhardt and "The Innocence of Father Brown" (1911) by G.K. Chesterton. and other Father Brown detective novels. In 1920, the names of detectives in many novels became household names, such as prosecutor French in F.W. Crofts' "The Bucket" (1920); A. Christie's "The Mysterious Case of Styles" (1920) Poirot in The Vicarage (1930) and Miss Marple in The Vicarage (1930); Lord Wimsey in D.L. Sayers's Whose Body (1923); S.S. Van Dyne's The Benson Murders Vance in "The Case" (1923); and Quinn in "The Secret of the Roman Hat" (1929) by F. Danai and M.B. Lee.
In a sense, the 1930s was the golden age of detective fiction. The detective mentioned above continues to appear in our new novel. The works of D. Hammett were also very popular during this period. He wrote short stories and novels based on his experience as a private detective. The most famous one is the description of Sam Spade in "The Maltese Falcon" (1930). In Hammett's work, the characterization of the detective becomes as important as the mystery in earlier detective novels. The Thin Man (1932) was more traditional in style, establishing Nick and Charles and adding an exciting detective story about a witty couple. Following Hammett were R. Chandler and R. Macdonald, who also focused on describing the character of rough but humane detectives. The protagonists in their novels are Marlowe and Archer respectively. In the late 1940s, M. Spillane retained the writing style of hard-boiled detective novels like Hammett and others, but focused on describing sex and sadism in his works. Following "Me and the Jury" (1947), this has become a formula that has brought him staggering profits.
In the late 1930s, thanks to the mass distribution of paperback books, detective novelists became extremely wealthy. Among them in the United States was E.S. Gardner, whose lawyer Mason solved crimes in court. ; R. Stott, who portrayed the obese, orchid-loving detective Wolfe and his elegant assistant Goodwin; F. Lockridge and R. Lockridge, who portrayed another pair of clever Norths couple. In France, there is G. Simenon, who wrote novels one after another at a rapid pace, making the protagonist Maigret, the prosecutor in his novels, one of the most famous detectives after Sherlock Holmes. Other writers who inherited the tradition of Sherlock Holmes or found their own way include N. Blake (the pen name of the poet Day-Lewis), M. Innes, D.N. Marsh, J. Tye, and C. Dixon (J.D. Carr).
The Mystery Writers of America is a professional organization that aims to improve the standards of mystery stories, including detective novels. It was founded in 1945. It exerts a major influence through its annual Edgar Allan Poe Awards for outstanding works of art. Since the advent of the Cold War, people's interest in espionage and international intrigue has increased, and suspense novels have had some adverse effects on the popularity of detective fiction, but the successors of Poe and Conan Doyle still have a wide readership.
Important works on detective novels include "Killing for Fun" (1941; revised edition 1968) by H. Highgrave and "Catalogue of Crime" (1971) co-authored by J. Bazin and W.H. Taylor.
Excerpted from: "Encyclopedia Britannica? International Chinese Edition" (based on The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th edition, 1998), Beijing: China Encyclopedia Press, 1999.
Comprehensive list of Japanese detective novelists
Seiichi Morimura is a representative detective novelist who is good at describing events from the perspective of criminals and depicting psychological descriptions in detail
The work " The movie "Proof of Humanity" (Chinese name "Human Witness") was a sensation in China!
Hengmou Masashi can be said to be the founder of modern Japanese detective novels and the originator of modern Japanese mystery novels. Henggou Masashi wrote a series of mystery mystery novels, which improved Japan's role in World War II. The standard of later mystery novels narrowed the gap with Europe and the United States, and established the post-war period for Japanese mystery novels to catch up and dominate the world.
Seicho Matsumoto It can be said that Matsumoto's novels are more inclined to the causes of crime, and he is good at mystery novels describing business war themes. He is a master of Japanese literary circles and an outstanding master of mystery novels. His creations broke the fixed pattern of the original style and the changed style in the early Japanese detective novel world, and got rid of the socialist mystery novels in previous creations. He has many works, mainly including "The Black Mist of Japan" and "The Point and the Line" "Walls Have Eyes", "Sandware", "Women's Ladder", "The Price of Women", etc., "Sandware" and other works have also been filmed into movies of the same name.
Edogawa Ranpo, this dear friend The official history is several years earlier, so it is the father of mystery novels, and the official history is the founder of modern reasoning. Edogawa Ranpo, known as the "father of detective mystery novels" in the Japanese literary world, is the most famous detective in Japan. novelist. His works have complicated and confusing plots and strong suspense. They are not only full of eerie and strange atmosphere, but also have reasonable reasoning and judgment. They take absurd and fantasy romance as the main theme of creation, and they can deeply grasp the psychology of the characters, and their reasoning is rigorous. Impeccable! The detective Kogoro he wrote is a household name in Japan.
When it comes to female mystery novels, Misa Yamamura is the best one. The stories usually have a lot of emphasis on local customs and the plots are also very bizarre. Most of Yamamura Misa's works are set in Kyoto and have a local flavor, with twists and turns and bizarre plots. Each novel has an innovative yet reasonable ending. She is known as the "Queen of Mystery Novels".
Compared with the upper-class women, Natsuki Shizuko is a bit restrained. Her style is very delicate, and it is very touching to read her writing.
The style is delicate and deep, with "Evaporation" Won the Japan Mystery Writers Association Award.
The content of Nishimura Toshiyuki's article greatly surpasses Morimura's novels and is more perverted. But it reflects the social reality more profoundly