Cultural Studies and Media Studies / Global Anglophone

Maria Plochocki (City University of New York)

Recent scholarship in detective fiction continues prior investigations of feminism in same, including female detectives, victims, and others; other social ills, like xenophobia and, of course, the value and valuation of human life; identity, whether national, racial, ethnic, or any other/s; and metaphysical affinities. From these has emerged a renewed treatment of place in detective fiction. In a 2021 article, Barbara Pezzotti writes of the “Mediterranean noir” strain of detective fiction, wherein the “gaze” of the detective, and reader, is turned toward this site of migration (often accompanied by tragedy) and crime connected not only to refugees and their striving for home and safety, but also corruption; rather than the centre of an empire, as in Ancient Roman times, it’s now more unambiguously the site of tragedy and moral decay. Others (authors and critics) write of crime in places where it may seem more plausible, even unremarkable, to a patronising Western gaze, such as in Colombia or Kenya (Veronica Villa Agudelo’s Marina series as analysed by Shelley Godsland and Peter Ribic on Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ, resp.) yet still subverts societal and readerly expectations, such as by featuring a tenacious female detective or one who uncovers a plotted insurrection -- and its detection/ investigation, which may be less expected. In an article also published earlier this year, M. Isabel Santaularia I. Capdevila cites the “foreign” associations of the genre, incl. its genesis at the height of the British Empire, with crime often occurring or at least originating “elsewhere” and experienced by Brits in contexts like travel or colonial administration, or following them “home,” as in Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone, considered by many the first work of detective fiction; more recently, the author adds, authors of detective fiction have chosen “foreign,” even exoticised locales for their tales, partly in an attempt to compete for readers by foregoing predictable and familiar settings. In a related vein, Carla Rodriguez Gonzalez and Esther Alvarez Lopez write of the stranger figure in crime fiction by women from the last two decades, partly constructed through its crossing, even disregard, of various boundaries, including geographic. More recently, Pamela Bedore aligns the seemingly incongruous genres of detective fiction and the literature of utopia, the idealised no-place first conceived by Thomas More. An even more innovative example is Claire G. Coleman’s Terra Nullius, classified by Iva Polak as a work of eco-crime, which serves to shift the focus of detection from “whodunit to whoizzit,” given that the victim, or among them, is nature, and those most affected and invested in detection, as usual, indigenous peoples, in this case, in Australia; knowledge (born) of place thus becomes essential to detection, challenging Eurocentric narratives of ratiocination, including the expected fruits of said detection.

Though the above synthesis attempts to trace the common denominator of space/ place/ location, the examples listed are, of course, quite diverse, sharing this theme among many divergent characteristics, which serves to raise the question of its function: what moral questions/ dilemmas does it raise or are associated with same? Where is crime inevitable, or at least expected, and why? Is this expectation a reflection or product of these places, or ignorant assumptions about them? How do such expectations correlate with the likelihood of investigation, including discovering “whodunit” (if there even is a “who”)? How are expected or established narratives of culpability, prosecution, and punishment confirmed or undermined depending on where the crime takes place? How is the genre itself altered through such re- or even dis-locations, including its affinities with other genres, plot structures, obligations to readers …? This session invites papers addressing questions like these, whether drawing on the subgenres/ authors mentioned above or any others.

What is the function of space/ place/ location in detective fiction? Detective fiction redefines the concept of genius loci, with crime either inextricably associated with certain locations or otherwise arising from and/ or defying place. Papers speaking to this relationship, and others related, are welcome in this panel.