Maria Plochocki (City University of New York)

Recent examinations of the functioning of the past within detective fiction – whether going back in time to reconstruct a crime or examine a larger criminal pattern/ trend in a past period – raise the question of how “dead,” to borrow Faulkner’s famous line, the past is. Whether considered from the standpoint of physics (time as a function of space and the expansion of the universe) or, as may seem more obvious, history, time is clearly neither dead/ finished nor objective, even indifferent, or perceived as such.

Papers are sought which examine the functioning and role of the past/ time perception in works of detective fiction, exploring the perspectives of individuals or whole groups (everyone involved in detection and pertaining to historical events/ memory) as well as more basic reconstruction of crimes. In particular, papers applying various disciplines, such as the sciences, psychology or history, to this question are welcome. For example, to what extent does past trauma, such as of a victim of murder or another crime, persist into the present and motivate the action of detective fiction, as has often been considered the case with fictional detectives? How does the victimization of a larger group, such as through genocide, serve to rationalize future crimes, such as those driven by vengeance? How authentic, and helpful, is going back in time to reconstruct not only criminal acts, but even motives and memories? To what extent do changes, whether in police practices, even entire regimes, serve to bury or even undo or compensate for the past?

Papers are sought which examine the functioning and role of the past/time perception in works of detective fiction, exploring the perspectives of individuals or whole groups (everyone involved in detection and pertaining to historical events/memory) as well as more basic reconstruction of crimes. In particular, papers drawing on disciplines such as the sciences, psychology or history in illuminating this question are welcome. For example, to what extent does past trauma, such as murder or another crime, and its persistence into the present motivate the action of detective fiction? How can it be examined through not only ethical and procedural lenses, but also psychological and other lenses? Similarly, going back in time to reconstruct not only criminal acts, but even motives and memories, long a staple of fictional and real-life detectives, can thus be analyzed from not only a practical standpoint, but a more philosophical one, drawing on principles of physics and philosophy.