The Figure Of The Detective

This book begins with a history of the detective genre, coextensive with the novel itself, identifying the attitudes and institutions needed for the genre to emerge in its mature form around 1880. The theory of the genre is laid out along with its central theme of the getting and deployment of knowledge. Sherlock Holmes, the English Classic stories and their inheritors are examined in light of this theme and the balance of two forms of knowledge used in fictional detection--cool or rational, and warm or emotional. The evolution of the genre formula is driven by changes in the social climate in which it is embedded. These changes explain the decay of the English Classic and its replacement by noir, hardboiled and spy stories, to end in the cul-de-sac of the thriller and the nostalgic Neo-Classic. Possible new forms of the detective story are suggested.

This book begins with a history of the detective genre, coextensive with the novel itself, identifying the attitudes and institutions needed for the genre to emerge in its mature form around 1880. The theory of the genre is laid out along with its central theme of the getting and deployment of knowledge. Sherlock Holmes, the English Classic stories and their inheritors are examined in light of this theme and the balance of two forms of knowledge used in fictional detection—cool or rational, and warm or emotional. The evolution of the genre formula is driven by changes in the social climate in which it is embedded. These changes explain the decay of the English Classic and its replacement by noir, hardboiled and spy stories, to end in the cul-de-sac of the thriller and the nostalgic Neo-Classic. Possible new forms of the detective story are suggested.

This masterful collection of seventeen classic mystery stories, dating from 1837 to 1914, traces the earliest history of popular detective fiction. Today, the figure of Sherlock Holmes towers over detective fiction like a colossus—but it was not always so. Edgar Allan Poe’s Dupin, the hero of “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” anticipated Holmes’ deductive reasoning by more than forty years. In A Study in Scarlet, the first of Holmes’ adventures, Doyle acknowledged his debt to Poe—and to Émile Gaboriau, whose thief-turned-detective Monsieur Lecoq debuted in France twenty years earlier. If Rue Morgue was the first true detective story in English, the title of the first full-length detective novel is more hotly contested. Among the possibilities are two books by Wilkie Collins—The Woman in White (1859) and The Moonstone (1868)—Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s The Trail of the Serpent (1861) or Aurora Floyd (1862), and The Notting Hill Mystery (1862-3) by the pseudonymous “Charles Felix.” As the early years of detective fiction gave way to two separate golden ages—hard-boiled tales in America and intricately-plotted “cozy” murders in Britain—and these new sub-genres went their own ways, their detectives still required the intelligence and clear-sightedness that characterized the earliest works of detective fiction: the trademarks of Sherlock Holmes, and of all the detectives featured in these pages.

The field of detective fiction is vast, and The Oxford Book of Detective Stories brings together the best short fiction from around the world to show how different nationalities have imposed their own stamp on the genre. As well as English and American stories from acknowledged masters such as Ellery Queen, Dashiell Hammett, and Agatha Christie, the anthology includes stories by Simenon, Conan Doyle, Sarah Paretsky, and Ian Rankin, and roams across Europe and further afield to embrace Japan, Denmark, Holland, Italy, Argentina, Czechoslovakia, and other countries. Women detectives, police procedurals, the amateur sleuth, locked-room mysteries are all here, and in her introduction Patricia Craig examines the figure of the detective in international literature.

The social world is a big, complicated place! We are all social detectives as we observe, gather, and make sense of the clues within different social contexts (settings, situations, and the people in them) to figure out the hidden rules for expected behaviors. This leads us toward understanding how we each feel and think about others in a situation and how we choose to respond to each other’s actions and reactions. We are good Social Detectives when we use our eyes, ears, hearts, and brains to figure out what others are planning to do next or are presently doing and what they mean by their words and actions. This revised, expanded 2nd edition of the awarding-winning storybook teaches from the social learner’s perspective about the power of observation, reading context, and interpreting clues before choosing how to respond in ways that meet their social goals. A new structured approach to observation, new illustrations reflecting a broader range of inclusion and diversity in characters, practice pages and activities for deeper learning, specific teaching tips, and a glossary of Social Thinking Vocabulary and concepts are just some of the new material you’ll find inside. This is the first book in the Superflex® series. It guides readers on a journey of discovery where they can: · Learn formulas for gathering clues by observing a setting, situation, and people in it · Be empowered to figure out how the social world works through their own detective lens · Learn to identify feelings and emotions and connect them to behaviors · Understand that all feelings are okay, even uncomfortable ones, and we can still learn and grow · Get support from emojis and special word banks · Find core Social Thinking® Vocabulary words highlighted throughout to support and strengthen key learning concepts · Have numerous opportunities to make smart guesses about hidden social rules in various situations · See examples and tips for school, home, and community life · Celebrate how all of us are social observers who are affected by others’ actions and reactions

For anyone interested in crime fiction and television, or for those wanting to understand America's idolization of the good guy with a gun, Detectives in the Shadows is essential reading.