What follows are selected excerpts from Tony Hilfer's The
Crime Novel: A
Deviant Genre (U. Texas, 1990). Hilfer cites approvingly
Julian Symon's
note that "character psychology and implicative setting are
frequently
essential in the crime novel whereas an ingenious puzzle may
be dispensed
with altogether" (2). Hilfer further states that
"the central and defining feature of the crime novel is that
in it, self
and world, guilt and innocence are problematic. The world of
the crime
novel is constituted by what is problematic in it." (2) He
defines four
types of protagonists: the killer, the guilty bystander, the
falsely
suspected, and the victim. Much of the rest of the study
deals with the
themes of crime novels. Haven't read it thoroughly, but it
looks good.
Sorry if this is too academic a post. Thought some might be
interested.
Bill Hagen
<billha@ionet.net>
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