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Post-1960S Detective Fiction POST-1960S DETECTIVE FICTION Week 1: Ross Macdonald, Lew Archer Week 2: Henning Mankell, Kurt Wallander Week 4: David Pirie, Conan Doyle Week 5: Howard Engel, Benny Cooperman Week 6: Sarah Paretsky, V.I. Warshawski NOIR TRAITS & TODAY’S THRILLER Today’s thrills based (in part) on 1930s-50s Noir elements: Urban crime -> Gangster films => Cynical "black film” Noir = “Dark” plots (murder, betrayal) -> Untrustworthy femme fatale -> Monstrous villain -> Tough, fatalistic hero Key films: Maltese Falcon (1941) – Huston, Hammett novel Double Indemnity (1944) – Wilder, Chandler rewrites Cain Touch of Evil (1958) – Welles, monstrous villain-sheriff Nicholas Christopher - Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City NOIR INHERITS ROMANTIC HERO Hero type Experience quest Sublime (monstrous yet Romantic hero – 19th C = beautiful in Nature) Doyle’s Study in Scarlet Lonely quest (making combines Western cowboy = something of oneself in West) Films High Noon & Touch of Evil Seeking justice Noir wrong man/detective = combine (urban jungle of corruption) Mr. Rochester, Jane Eyre; Heathcliff, Wuthering Heights; NORTHROP FRYE - ROMANTIC HERO “outside the structure of civilization and representing the force of physical nature, amoral or ruthless, yet with a sense of power and often leadership, that society has impoverished itself by rejecting" Introspective individual triumphs over social conventions Wandering, melancholy, misanthropic, alienated, isolated -> regret for actions, self-critical, self-sacrificing Estranged from his grounded/realist family -> solitary life -> Long-suffering love interest victimised by hero’s rebellion -> Fates intertwined often until death Rochester, Jane Eyre; Ahab, Moby Dick; Heathcliff Wuthering Heights ROMANTICISM: SUBLIME & SCARY What does the Romantic hero pursue? Sublime beauty Edmund Burke (1756): Whatever excites ideas of pain and danger, is terrible, induces pain, fear and pleasure simultaneously is the sublime Pleasure from viewing sublime from a safe vantage Rejects Ancient-Classical beauty as “lovely” (symmetrical) = “pleasurable” Modern seeks out - proximity to danger, fear, ugly, loss of boundaries = excitement, thrill, vitality WHAT IS ROMANTIC? "Romanticism" (1770 – 1860) Refers to an art movement -> 5 I’s -> individualism, imagination, idealism, inspiration, intuition Genius, high-feeling, adventure, Nature’s forces, Antiquity Examples: Beethoven, Napoleon ROMANTIC SUBLIME – 19TH C. ROMANTIC SUBLIME & GROTESQUE The “Grotesque” is a sub-set of Sublime: Strange, mysterious, magnificent Fantastic, hideous, ugly, unpleasant Distorted forms – animals/plants combined Twins, mixes, transitional creatures Grotesque can be further divided into “Uncanny” – demonic, familiar-unfamiliar, otherworldly, taboo Medieval Grotesque is comedic -> 19thc. Grotesque = pitiable, sympathy for malformed ROMANTIC GROTESQUE QUESTIONS: BLACK & BLUE Romantic hero seeks out sublime and grotesque experiences, rejects social norms and classic “pleasure.” Sublime and grotesque are frightening, sinister, compelling, often pitiable. What is the villain Bible John like? How has Scotland changed from Bible John to Johnny Bible’s times? How is Rebus’ mind affected by Bible John? POST-CHRISTIE FICTION CLIMATE 1950s = Post-colonial independence surge; art and pop culture express regional identity/issues Tartan noir = Uses Noir elements (hardboiled, crisp prose, police procedural, realistic setting/character) and adds Scottish regional flavour (issues, romantic-sublime aesthetic) Others: Muriel Spark, Val McDermid, Philip Kerr, Iain Banks, Ian Rankin Legacy: R. L. Stevenson, A. C. Doyle, J.M. Barrie, Josephine Tey RANKIN’S ROMANTIC SCOTLAND REBUS = PUZZLE Heraldic, Middle Ages, to denote surnames Puzzle combining pictures and letters to depict word or phrase Example: Word "been" is depicted by a bumblebee next to plus sign + and letter "n" Three salmon denote the surname "Salmon" Non verbis, sed rebus = ”Not by words but by things” IAN RANKIN 1960, Born Fife, Scotland in mining village. 1982, Finishes undergraduate degree. 1983-1986, Attends PhD program at University of Edinburgh. 1986, First novel, The Flood. 1987, First Rebus, Knots and Crosses. IAN RANKIN 1986-early 1990s, Marries, works various odd jobs. 1988-present, Hawthorne Fellow, Chandler Fulbright Award, CWA Short Story Dagger Awards. 1997, Publishes Black and Blue; shortlisted for Edgar Award; wins CWA Gold Dagger for Black and Blue. IAN RANKIN 1998, The Hanging Garden. 2000, Set in Darkness. 2002, OBE. 2003, Grand Prix Aus Roman Noir (Fr). 2005, CWA Diamond Dagger, Lifetime Achievement. 2015, Royal Society of Edinburgh. RANKIN CHARACTERISTICS Context: Centred in Edinburgh; depicts “gothic” Scotland → darker, more dangerous than tourist image; 19th-c. mix of proper and perverse. Influences: Contemporary literature, film, music; Scottish authors R.L. Stevenson and Murial Spark; Scottish political/social issues. RANKIN CHARACTERISTICS Themes: Connection between past and present Scottish social/political history; links between crimes and corrupt police/financial/political elite. Class struggles, development of Scottish economy, international influences, political scrambling. RANKIN CHARACTERISTICS Style: Quick paced prose; absurd situations and humour; later novels use narrative peppered with musical references = time and place in which Rebus lives. Narrative: Mostly 1st person omniscient from Rebus viewpoint; brief glimpses of other characters’ viewpoints. RANKIN CHARACTERISTICS Structure: Crime linked to social issue begins story; Rankin develops story threads as he writes it. Rambling quality as story grows in complexity, layers = different skins applied to basic crime (political, economic, social links), enlarge original problem. BLACK AND BLUE Detective: Access to high/low in society; does/says things others will not, no fear of consequences; guilty conscience, compassion for victims; sweet wrapped in prickly; problems with authority; few personal relations. Secondary characters: Tension with police colleagues/superiors. BLACK AND BLUE Criminals: Bible John, Johnny Bible; mob circle and henchmen. Victims: Oil rig worker, club women. Citizens: Cabbies, barmen, security guards, drinking friends, kids on the street. Workers: Environmentalists, rig workers, executives, pilots/stewardesses, journalists, bartenders. SETTING New vs. Old Edinburgh: City is a character itself; Rebus like a tour-guide; sense of patriotism, love of the city. Also exposing dirty underbelly of the pretty rivers, castles, cobbled streets. Other Scottish cities: Rivalry, differences. Inner city vs. gentrified areas: Influx of new money changes areas, crime. SETTING Pubs: Refuge for Rebus; culture of drinking in Scotland; social hub. Police station: Home for Rebus; source of tension and release; problem with superiors. Apartment: Chair/music/drink main comforts; not fully domesticated. Progress in story to rehabilitate Rebus. PLOT Murder of oil rig worker connected to drugs cartel, environmentalism, 1960s Bible John serial murders. Copycat murderer = Johnny Bible. Rebus personally linked to crimes = old partner’s possible corruption reopened. Rebus’ suspicion of police corruption complicates effort to solve crimes. ISSUES Corruption at all levels “a worm in the fabric of society” (Massie). The respectable as unrespectable, criminal. Intermingling of oil/drugs/politics and police protection of crime and sex abuse Foreign money investment into Scotland = instability, dependency. Gentrification vs. poorer neighbourhoods. ISSUES Detective opposed to slavish superiors bowing to authority, political pressure. Fraught personal and professional relationships; unable to maintain warmth. Sensitivity to crime; feeling personal responsibility for victims; depression. Inside mind of killer = no one understands the impulses – shared narrative with Rebus REBUS & FILM TV series, John Hannah Other Rankin: Writing Scotland: Sense of Place (BBC) Newsnight Review (BBC2) Ian Rankin’s Hidden Edinburgh (BBC4) WHAT IS THE GOTHIC? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNohDe gnaOQ Up to 3:22 –7:00 approx. Next week: Pirie and Gothic Horror - the legacy of Romantic sublime-grotesque.
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