What is a detective in literature? Characteristics and features of the detective genre. Detective genre and its types Detective as a genre of modern literature

The main feature of the detective as a genre is the presence in the work of some mysterious incident, the circumstances of which are unknown and must be clarified. The most frequently described incident is a crime, although there are detective stories in which events that are not criminal are investigated (for example, in Notes on Sherlock Holmes, which certainly belongs to the detective genre, there are no crimes in five stories out of eighteen).

An essential feature of the detective is that the actual circumstances of the incident are not communicated to the reader, at least in their entirety, until the investigation is completed. Instead, the reader is led by the author through the process of investigation, having the opportunity at each stage to build their own versions and evaluate known facts. If the work initially describes all the details of the incident, or the incident does not contain anything unusual, mysterious, then it should already be attributed not to a pure detective story, but to related genres (action movie, police novel, etc.).

Genre features

An important property of a classic detective story is the completeness of facts. The solution of the mystery cannot be based on information that was not provided to the reader during the description of the investigation. By the time the investigation is completed, the reader should have enough information to base their own decision on it. Only a few minor details can be hidden that do not affect the possibility of revealing the secret. Upon completion of the investigation, all riddles must be solved, all questions must be answered.

A few more signs of a classic detective story were collectively named by N. N. Volsky hyperdeterminism of the detective's world(“the world of the detective is much more orderly than the life around us”):

• Ordinary environment. The conditions under which the events of the detective story take place are generally common and well known to the reader (in any case, the reader himself believes that he is confidently orientated in them). Thanks to this reader, it is initially obvious what is ordinary from what is being described, and what is strange, beyond the scope.
• Stereotypical character behavior. The characters are largely devoid of originality, their psychology and behavioral patterns are quite transparent, predictable, and if they have any prominent features, then those become known to the reader. The motives of actions (including the motives of the crime) of the characters are also stereotyped.
• The existence of a priori rules for constructing a plot that do not always correspond to real life. So, for example, in a classic detective story, the narrator and the detective, in principle, cannot turn out to be criminals.

This set of features narrows the field of possible logical constructions based on known facts, making it easier for the reader to analyze them. However, not all detective subgenres follow these rules exactly.

Another restriction is noted, which is almost always followed by a classic detective story - the inadmissibility of random errors and undetectable matches. For example, in real life, a witness may tell the truth, may lie, may be mistaken or misled, or may simply make an unmotivated mistake (accidentally mix up dates, amounts, names). In the detective story, the last possibility is excluded - the witness is either accurate, or lying, or his mistake has a logical justification.

Eremey Parnov points out the following features of the classic detective genre:

Typical characters

• Detective - directly involved in the investigation. A variety of people can act as a detective: law enforcement officers, private detectives, relatives, friends, acquaintances of the victims, sometimes completely random people. The detective cannot be a criminal. The figure of the detective is central in the detective story.
  • A professional detective is a law enforcement officer. He may be a very high-level expert, or he may be an ordinary, of which there are many, police officers. In the second case, in difficult situations, sometimes he turns to a consultant for advice (see below).
  • A private detective - for him, investigating crimes is the main job, but he does not serve in the police, although he may be a retired policeman. As a rule, he is extremely highly qualified, active and energetic. Most often, a private detective becomes a central figure, and to emphasize his qualities, professional detectives can be put into action, who constantly make mistakes, succumb to the provocations of a criminal, get on the wrong track and suspect the innocent. The opposition “a lone hero against a bureaucratic organization and its officials” is used, in which the sympathies of the author and the reader are on the side of the hero.
  • An amateur detective is the same as a private detective, with the only difference that investigating crimes for him is not a profession, but a hobby that he turns to only from time to time. A separate subspecies of an amateur detective is a random person who has never engaged in such activities, but is forced to conduct an investigation due to urgent need, for example, to save an unjustly accused loved one or to avert suspicion from himself (these are the main characters of all Dick Francis novels). The amateur sleuth brings the investigation closer to the reader, allows him to give him the impression that "I could figure it out too." One of the conventions of a series of detectives with amateur detectives (like Miss Marple) is that in real life a person, if he does not professionally investigate crimes, is unlikely to encounter such a number of crimes and mysterious incidents.
• Criminal - commits a crime, covers his tracks, tries to counteract the investigation. In the classic detective story, the figure of the criminal is clearly indicated only at the end of the investigation, until this moment the criminal can be a witness, a suspect or a victim. Sometimes the actions of the criminal are described in the course of the main action, but in such a way as not to reveal his identity and not to inform the reader of information that could not be obtained during the investigation from other sources.
• The victim is the one against whom the crime is directed or the one who suffered as a result of a mysterious incident. One of the standard versions of the detective's denouement - the victim himself turns out to be a criminal.
• Witness - a person who has any information about the subject of the investigation. The perpetrator is often shown for the first time in the description of the investigation as one of the witnesses.
• A detective's companion is a person who is constantly in contact with the detective, participating in the investigation, but does not have the abilities and knowledge of the detective. He can provide technical assistance in the investigation, but his main task is to more prominently show the outstanding abilities of the detective against the background of the average level of an ordinary person. In addition, a companion is needed to ask the sleuth questions and listen to his explanations, giving the reader the opportunity to follow the sleuth's thoughts and drawing attention to certain points that the reader himself might miss. Classic examples of such companions are Dr. Watson in Conan Doyle and Arthur Hastings in Agatha Christie.
• A consultant is a person who has a pronounced ability to conduct an investigation, but is not directly involved in it himself. In detective stories, where a separate figure of a consultant stands out, she may be the main one (for example, the journalist Ksenofontov in the detective stories of Viktor Pronin), or may turn out to be just an occasional adviser (for example, the detective's teacher, whom he turns to for help).
• Assistant - does not conduct the investigation himself, but provides the detective and / or consultant with information that he obtains himself. For example, a forensic expert.
• Suspect - in the course of the investigation, there is an assumption that it was he who committed the crime. Authors deal with suspects differently, one of the frequently practiced principles is “none of those immediately suspected is a real criminal”, that is, everyone who falls under suspicion turns out to be innocent, and the real criminal is the one who was not suspected of anything. . However, not all authors follow this principle. In Agatha Christie's detective stories, for example, Miss Marple repeatedly says that "in life it is usually the one who is suspected first who is the culprit."

Detective Story

Edgar Allan Allan Poe stories written in the 1840s are usually considered the first works of the detective genre, but elements of the detective story were used by many authors earlier. For example, in the novel by William Godwin (-) "The Adventures of Caleb Williams" (), one of the central characters is an amateur detective. A great influence on the development of detective literature was also made by E. Vidocq's "Notes", published in. However, it was Edgar Poe who, according to Yeremey Parnov, created the first Great Detective - the amateur detective Dupin from the story "Murder on Morgue Street". Dupin subsequently fathered Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown (Chesterton), Lecoq (Gaboriau) and Mr Cuff (Wilkie Collins). It was Edgar Allan Poe who introduced into the plot of the detective story the idea of ​​rivalry in solving a crime between a private investigator and the official police, in which the private investigator, as a rule, takes over.

The detective genre becomes popular in England after the release of W. Collins' novels The Woman in White () and The Moonstone (). In the novels Wilder's Hand () and Checkmate () by the Irish writer C. Le Fanu, the detective story is combined with the gothic novel. The golden age of the detective in England is considered to be the 30s - 70s. 20th century. It was at this time that the classic detective novels by Agatha Christie, F. Biding and other authors were published, which influenced the development of the genre as a whole.

The founder of the French detective is E. Gaborio - the author of a series of novels about the detective Lecoq. Stevenson imitated Gaboriau in his detective stories (especially in "The Diamond of the Rajah").

Twenty rules for writing detective stories

In 1928, the English writer Willard Hattington, better known by his pseudonym Stephen Van Dyne, published his set of literary rules, calling it "20 Rules for Writing Detectives":

1. It is necessary to provide the reader with equal opportunities with the detective to unravel the mysteries, for which purpose it is necessary to clearly and accurately report all incriminating traces.

2. With regard to the reader, only such tricks and deceit are allowed that a criminal can use in relation to a detective.

3. Love is forbidden. The story should be a game of tag, not between lovers, but between a detective and a criminal.

4. Neither a detective nor any other person professionally involved in the investigation can be a criminal.

5. Logical conclusions should lead to exposure. Random or unsubstantiated confessions are not allowed.

6. A detective cannot be absent in a detective who methodically searches for incriminating evidence, as a result of which he comes to solve the riddle.

7. Mandatory crime in detective - murder.

8. In solving a given mystery, all supernatural forces and circumstances must be excluded.

9. Only one detective can act in a story - the reader cannot compete with three or four members of the relay team at once.

10. The perpetrator must be one of the more or less significant characters well known to the reader.

11. An impermissibly cheap solution in which one of the servants is the culprit.

12. Although the perpetrator may have an accomplice, the main story should be about the capture of one person.

13. Secret or criminal communities have no place in the detective.

14. The method of committing the murder and the methodology of the investigation must be reasonable and justified from a scientific point of view.

15. For a smart reader, the clue should be obvious.

16. In a detective story there is no place for literature, descriptions of painstakingly developed characters, coloring the situation by means of fiction.

17. The criminal can never be a professional villain.

19. The motive for a crime is always of a private nature, it cannot be a spy action seasoned with any international intrigues, motives of secret services.

The decade that followed the promulgation of the terms of the Van Dyne Convention finally discredited the detective story as a genre of literature. It is no coincidence that we know the detectives of previous eras well and each time we turn to their experience. But we can hardly, without getting into reference books, name the figures from the Twenty Rules clan. The modern Western detective has evolved in spite of Van Dyne, refuting point by point, overcoming the limitations that have been sucked from the finger. One paragraph (the detective must not be a criminal!), however, survived, although it was violated several times by the cinema. This is a reasonable prohibition, because it protects the very specifics of the detective, his core line ... In the modern novel, we will not see even traces of the "Rules" ...

The Ten Commandments of a detective novel by Ronald Knox

Ronald Knox, one of the founders of the Detective Club, also proposed his own rules for writing detective stories:

I. The perpetrator must be someone mentioned at the beginning of the novel, but it must not be the person whose thought the reader has been allowed to follow.

II. As a matter of course, the action of supernatural or otherworldly forces is excluded.

III. It is not allowed to use more than one secret room or secret passage.

IV. It is unacceptable to use hitherto unknown poisons, as well as devices that require a long scientific explanation at the end of the book.

V. A Chinese person must not appear in the work.

VI. A detective should never be helped by a lucky break; nor should he be guided by an unaccountable but sure intuition.

VII. The detective doesn't have to turn out to be a criminal himself.

VIII. Having come across this or that clue, the detective must immediately present it to the reader for study.

IX. The detective's foolish friend, Watson in one form or another, must not hide any of the considerations that cross his mind; in terms of his mental abilities, he should be slightly inferior - but only very slightly - to the average reader.

X. Indistinguishable twin brothers and doubles in general cannot appear in a novel unless the reader is properly prepared for it.

Some types of detectives

Closed Detective

A subgenre usually most closely aligned with the canons of the classic detective story. The plot is based on the investigation of a crime committed in a secluded place, where there is a strictly limited set of characters. There can be no stranger in this place, so the crime could only be committed by one of those present. The investigation is conducted by one of those at the scene of the crime with the help of other heroes.

This type of detective is different in that the plot basically eliminates the need to search for an unknown criminal. There are suspects, and the detective's job is to get as much information as possible about the participants in the events, on the basis of which it will be possible to identify the criminal. Additional psychological stress is created by the fact that the perpetrator must be one of the well-known, nearby people, none of whom, usually, looks like a criminal. Sometimes in a closed detective there is a whole series of crimes (usually murders), as a result of which the number of suspects is constantly decreasing. Examples of closed type detectives:

• Cyril Hare, "Purely English Murder".
• Agatha Christie, Ten Little Indians, Murder on the Orient Express.
• Boris Akunin, "Leviathan" (signed by the author as "sealed detective").
• Leonid Slovin, "The Extra Arrives on the Second Track".

Psychological detective

This type of detective story may somewhat deviate from the classical canons in terms of the requirement of stereotypical behavior and the typical psychology of heroes. Usually, a crime committed for personal reasons (envy, revenge) is investigated, and the main element of the investigation is the study of the personality characteristics of the suspects, their attachments, pain points, beliefs, prejudices, clarifying the past. There is a school of French psychological detective.

• Dostoevsky, Fyodor, Crime and Punishment.
• Boileau - Narsezhak, "She-wolves", "The one that was gone", "Sea Gate", "Outlining the Heart".
• Japrisot, Sebastien, "Lady with glasses and a gun in a car".
• Calef, Noel, "Elevator to the scaffold".
• Ball, John, "A Stuffy Night in the Carolinas".

historical detective

Main article: historical detective

Historical work with detective intrigue. The action takes place in the past, or an ancient crime is being investigated in the present.

• Boileau-Narcejac "In the Enchanted Forest"
• Quinn, Ellery "The Unknown Manuscript of Dr. Watson"
• Boris Akunin, Literary project "The Adventures of Erast Fandorin"
• Leonid Yuzefovich, Literary project about detective Putilin
• Alexander Bushkov, The Adventures of Alexei Bestuzhev

Ironic detective

The detective investigation is described from a humorous point of view. Often, works written in this vein parody and ridicule the clichés of a detective novel.

• Varshavsky, Ilya, "The robbery will take place at midnight"
• Kaganov, Leonid, "Major Bogdamir saves money"
• Kozachinsky, Alexander, "The Green Van"
• Westlake, Donald, "The Cursed Emerald" ( hot stone), "Bank that gurgled"
• Joanna Khmelevskaya (most works)
• Daria Dontsova (all works)
• Yene Reite (all works)

fantasy detective

Works at the intersection of fantasy and detective. The action can take place in the future, an alternative present or past, as well as in a completely fictional world.

• Lem, Stanislav, "Investigation", "Inquiry"
• Russell, Eric Frank, "The Daily Job", "The Wasp"
• Holm van Zaychik, "There are no bad people" cycle
• Kir Bulychev, cycle "Intergalactic Police" ("Intergpol")
• Isaac Asimov, Lucky Starr cycles - space ranger, Detective Elijah Bailey and robot Daniel Olivo
• John Brunner, Chess City Squares The Squares of the City, ; Russian translation - )
• Brothers Strugatsky, Hotel "At the Dead Alpinist"
• Cook, Glenn, fantasy detective series about detective Garrett
• Randall Garrett, a series of fantasy detectives about the detective Lord Darcy
• Boris Akunin "Children's book"
• Kluger, Daniel, Fantasy Detective Series "Cases of Magic"
• Harry Tortledove - The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump

political detective

One of the genres quite far from the classic detective. The main intrigue is built around political events and rivalry between various political or business figures and forces. It also often happens that the protagonist himself is far from politics, however, while investigating the case, he stumbles upon an obstacle to the investigation on the part of the "powers that be" or reveals some kind of conspiracy. A distinctive feature of the political detective is (although not necessarily) the possible absence of completely positive characters, except for the main one. This genre is rarely found in its pure form, but it can be an integral part of the work.

• Levashov, Victor, "Conspiracy of Patriots"
• Adam Hall, "Berlin Memorandum" (Quiller Memorandum)
• Fletcher Niebel, "Seven Days in May"
• Nikolai Svechin, "The Hunt for the Tsar", "Demon of the Underworld"

Spy detective

Based on the narrative of the activities of intelligence officers, spies and saboteurs both in wartime and in peacetime on the "invisible front". In terms of stylistic boundaries, it is very close to political and conspiracy detectives, often combined in the same work. The main difference between a spy detective and a political one is that in a political detective the most important position is occupied by the political basis of the case under investigation and antagonistic conflicts, while in espionage the attention is focused on intelligence work (surveillance, sabotage, etc.). Conspiracy detective can be considered a variety of both espionage and political detective

• Agatha Christie, "Cat Among the Pigeons"
• John Boynton Priestley, "Mist over Gretley" (1942)
• James Grady, Six Days of the Condor
• Dmitry Medvedev, "It was near Rovno"
• Nikolai Dalekiy, "The Practice of Sergei Rubtsov"

police detective

Describes the work of a team of professionals. In works of this type, the protagonist-detective is either absent or only slightly higher in importance in comparison with the rest of the team. In terms of the reliability of the plot, it is closest to reality and, accordingly, deviates to the greatest extent from the canons of the pure detective genre (the professional routine is described in detail with details that are not directly related to the plot, there is a significant proportion of accidents and coincidences, the presence of informants in criminal and near-criminal environment, the perpetrator often remains unnamed and unknown until the very end of the investigation, and may also escape punishment due to the negligence of the investigation or lack of direct evidence).

• Schöwall and Vale, a series of novels about members of the homicide department led by Martin Beck
• Yulian Semyonov, "Petrovka, 38", "Ogaryova, 6"
• Kivinov, Andrei Vladimirovich, "A Nightmare on Stachek Street" and subsequent works.

"Cool" detective

It is described most often by a lone detective, a man of thirty-five or forty, or a small detective agency. In works of this type, the protagonist confronts almost the whole world: organized crime, corrupt politicians, corrupt police. The main features are the maximum action of the hero, his "coolness", the vile surrounding world and the honesty of the protagonist. The best examples of the genre are psychological and contain signs of serious literature - for example, the works of Raymond Chandler.

• Dashiell Hammett, a series about the Continental Detective Agency, "Blood Harvest" - is considered the founder of the genre.
• Raymond Chandler, "Goodbye Darling", "High Window", "The Woman in the Lake".
• Ross Macdonald - many works.
• Chester Hayims, "Run, Negro, run."

Crime detective

Events are described from the point of view of the criminal, and not the people looking for him. Classic example: Jim Thompson "The Killer in Me"

• James Hadley Chase - "All the World in Your Pocket"

Movie detective

Detective focuses on the actions of a detective, private investigator, or aspiring detective who investigates the mysterious circumstances of a crime by finding clues, investigating, and skillful deductions. A successful detective film often hides the identity of the perpetrator until the end of the story, and then adds an element of surprise to the process of arresting the suspect. However, the opposite is also possible. So, the hallmark of the Colombo series was the demonstration of events from the point of view of both the detective and the criminal.

The suspense is often retained as an important part of the plot. This can be done with soundtrack, camera angles, shadow play and unexpected plot twists. Alfred Hitchcock used all these techniques, occasionally allowing the viewer to enter into a state of foreboding threat and then choosing the most opportune moment for dramatic effect.

Detective stories have proven to be a good choice for a movie script. The detective is often a strong character with strong leadership qualities, and the plot may include elements of drama, suspense, personal growth, ambiguous and unexpected character traits.

Until at least the 1980s, women in detective stories often played a dual role, having a relationship with the detective and often playing the role of "woman in danger". The women in those films are often resourceful personalities, being opinionated, determined and often duplicitous. They can serve as an element of suspense as helpless victims.

Aphorisms about the detective

• Thanks to criminals, the world culture has been enriched by the detective genre.
• If you do not know what to write, write: "A man entered with a revolver in his hand."(Raymond Chandler)
• The slower the investigator, the longer the detective story.(Victor Romanov)
• There are so many motives for crimes that the detective scratches his turnip. (

The first works of the detective genre are usually considered stories written in the 1840s, but elements of the detective story were used by many authors earlier.

For example, in the novel by William Godwin (1756 - 1836) "The Adventures of Caleb Williams" (1794), one of the central characters is an amateur detective. E. Vidocq's Notes, published in 1828, also had a great influence on the development of detective literature. However, it was Poe who created the first Great Detective - the amateur detective Dupin from the story "Murder in the Rue Morgue". Then came Sherlock Holmes (C. Doyle) and Father Brown (Chesterton), Lecoq (Gaborio) and Mr. Cuff (Wilkie Collins). It was Edgar Allan Poe who introduced into the plot of the detective story the idea of ​​rivalry in solving a crime between a private investigator and the official police, in which the private investigator, as a rule, takes over.

The detective genre becomes popular in England after the release of W. Collins' novels The Woman in White (1860) and The Moonstone (1868). In the novels "Hand of Wilder" (1869) and "Checkmate" (1871) by the Irish writer C. Le Fanu, the detective story is combined with the Gothic novel.

The founder of the French detective is E. Gaborio, the author of a series of novels about the detective Lecoq. Stevenson imitated Gaboriau in his detective stories (especially in "The Diamond of the Raja").

Usually, a crime acts as an incident in a detective story, the author describes its investigation and the identification of the perpetrators, and the conflict is built on a clash of justice with lawlessness, culminating in the victory of justice.

The main feature of the detective as a genre is the presence in the work of a certain mysterious incident, the circumstances of which are unknown and must be clarified. The most frequently described incident is a crime, although there are detective stories that investigate events that are not criminal (for example, in the Sherlock Holmes Notes, which belongs to the detective genre, there are no crimes in five stories out of eighteen).

An essential feature of the detective is that the actual circumstances of the incident are not communicated to the reader in their entirety until the investigation is completed. The reader is guided by the author through the process of investigation, getting the opportunity at each stage to build their own versions and evaluate known facts.

Detective contains three main plot-forming elements: crime, investigation and solution.

Features of the classic detective genre:

- completeness of the facts (by the time the investigation is completed, the reader should have enough information in order to independently find a solution on its basis)

- the routine of the situation (the conditions in which events take place are generally common and well known to the reader)

- stereotyped behavior of characters (actions are predictable, and if the characters have any prominent features, then those become known to the reader)

- the existence of a priori rules for constructing a plot (the narrator and the detective cannot turn out to be criminals)

A distinctive feature of the classic detective story is the moral idea, or morality, marking to varying degrees all the works of this genre. The detective ends with the punishment of the criminal and the triumph of justice.

Manipulative abilities mass culture, her ability to influence the tastes and moods of a huge audience largely depends on her use of popular genres. It is this circumstance that makes it necessary to study popular genres, their structure, evolution, boundaries and possibilities.

It should be noted that there is no bad and good genres, as some authors believe. One cannot, for example, agree with those who believe that such a genre as, for example, a western or a gangster film, is inherently bad and only the extraordinary talent of some individual artists allows it to become a significant work of art. In our opinion, popular genres are neutral in their ideological and artistic meaning. They can have different meanings depending on the content that is embedded in them. It would be wrong, for example, to consider that the detective story is a deliberately bourgeois genre. This point of view is reminiscent of the vulgar sociology of the 1920s, which declared not only the classics, but also many genres of art, to be purely bourgeois. It is known that a detective, for example, can have a realistic and critical sound, and it would be wrong to consider it exclusively a genre. mass culture.

It should be noted that today in the West, popular genres have become the subject of close study, and not only by theorists. mass culture, but also from the side of academic science, which abandoned the traditional nihilistic attitude towards popular genres and began to closely examine their history, structure and impact on public tastes.

The result of these studies was a series of academic publications conducted in the United States under the auspices of Popular Culture Associations. One such publication is John Covelty's book Adventure, Mystery, Romance, which analyzes such genres as detective, western, melodrama. The author proceeds from the fact that these genres are based on a certain, fairly well-established scheme or formula, which constantly varies in individual details and particulars. This richness of variants with a single genre stereotype explains, according to Covelty, the enormous popularity and wide prevalence of these genres.

Evidence of the growing interest in popular genres is the emergence of a large educational and methodological literature devoted to these problems. In this context, the book by B. Rosenberg is of interest. genre flexibility. Reader's Guide to Science Fiction. This book is a bibliographic guide to melodrama, western, science fiction, detective, thriller. The author seeks to prove that all these genres are escapist in nature and have nothing to do with the knowledge of reality.

It seems to us that an attempt to present popular genres, such as detective, western, musical, as the exclusive property of the bourgeois mass culture is illegal. It is known that realistic and democratic traditions existed in these genres that have nothing to do with trivial aesthetics. mass culture. That is why it is necessary to study the structure and artistic content of popular genres in order to reveal their dual nature, the ability to express different, sometimes directly opposite, aesthetic and ideological content. To do this, we will try to show not only how Mass culture exploits popular genres, but also that they can have both democratic and realistic content.

Detective novel

It is widely known that the detective novel is one of the most popular literary genres. It is no coincidence that he attracted the attention of many talented writers such as Somerset Maugham, Graham Greene or Friedrich Dürrenmatt.

On the other hand, the detective willingly uses Mass culture, seeking to turn this genre into propaganda of the norms and values ​​of the bourgeois consciousness. In this regard, the question arises: are there criteria by which one can distinguish a truly realistic detective novel from a standard production? mass culture? We believe that such criteria exist.

Detective novel turns into a work mass culture, when it acquires escapist functions, it preaches the idea of ​​escaping from reality, distraction from the real problems of social life. In addition, a realistic detective story, no matter how cruel it may be, is always associated with catharsis, purification. Here, as in classical drama, the reader's effects are cleansed with the help of compassion and fear. When there is no such purification, the detective turns into savoring acts of violence, promoting cruelty and the cult of power. And then the detective really becomes a work of art. mass culture.

To understand the laws of operation mass culture, the ways of its impact on the mass consciousness, it is necessary to investigate the structure of the detective novel, its characteristic features, the reasons for its popularity.

The emergence of the detective novel dates back to the middle of the last century.

True, some researchers believe that the detective originated in ancient times, almost from Homer. The French author Raymond Durna believes that the first detective story it could be considered Oedipus Rex where the role of killer, victim and judge is played by the same person. Crime is a popular theme in many classic works of the 18th and 19th centuries, in which the moral and psychological aspects of crime were revealed. In this regard, we should recall Julien Sorel in Stendhal or Raskolnikov in Dostoevsky. But neither Stendhal nor Dostoevsky, of course, have anything to do with the emergence of the detective. The meaning of a detective novel is largely to solve the mystery of the crime. But does it make sense Crimes and punishments is the investigation of Raskolnikov's crime by investigator Porfiry Petrovich?

The main thing in a detective novel is to uncover the intricacies associated with the crime, the logic of this disclosure. As a rule, a detective novel contains two plans, two storylines. Firstly, a real, real crime and, secondly, a reconstructed version of the crime, recreated by the detective's intuition and experience. Initially, these lines not only do not coincide, but, as a rule, diverge in different directions. The whole logic of a detective novel lies in the possible convergence of the two initially divergent storylines, their intersection, and in the finale - in complete merging.

What is the popularity of the detective novel? What features make the detective story such an attractive genre that satisfies the interests and tastes of the broad masses of readers?

The necessary elements of a detective story are a mystery associated with a crime and its investigation. A mystery, a mysterious situation causes increased attention, tension, its disclosure brings relief, satisfaction from the fact that a difficult situation is resolved in a positive way. If it does not exist, if the perpetrator is obvious in advance, and the motives and nature of the crime are known, then there is no psychological basis for a detective story. As John Covelty notes in his study of the detective novel, the transformation of crime into a puzzle, into a game, makes a serious moral and social problem an object of entertainment: Something potentially dangerous turns into something under control .

To the detective, more than to any other popular genre, the Aristotelian theory of tragic catharsis, purification through fear and compassion, is applicable. Getting acquainted with a mysterious crime, we experience a feeling of fear, but the investigation that the detective conducts brings us purification, catharsis. The detective function is basically a cathartic function. Obviously, this is the reason for the special popularity of the detective, his ability to attract the attention of a huge audience.

The laws of the detective require a certain balance between the mystery associated with a crime and its investigation. Only the observance of this balance allows the author to keep the reader's interest in suspense. The traditional question that worries the reader of a detective story is who and when. The reader must decide for himself who the criminal is, what are the motives for his actions, what are the methods and means of the crime, at what time it happened, and whether there was a crime at all or not. Thus, in a detective novel, there are at least four elements on which the plot is built (who, when, how and why). Skillfully varying them, you can create a tense action, in which there will be a moment of play, alternation of a riddle and its solution, secrets and its disclosure. This explains the great expressive possibilities of the genre, its flexibility, the ability to satisfy the most diverse artistic tastes and interests. As we have already said, the detective novel deals with the fact of a crime and its disclosure. This is what allows us to show the hero and other characters at a turning point, in a dramatic, tense situation that reveals their character. In this, the detective is akin to a drama, which also often turned to the phenomenon of crime and the psychology of the criminal.

What, then, is the difference between a detective novel and a dramatic work?

This difference lies in the fact that the dramatic work focuses the reader's attention on the criminal himself, turning him into the protagonist of the action. In a detective story, on the other hand, the criminal is rarely the hero, most often the one who pursues the criminal. Further, in the drama, the crime occurs, as a rule, at the very end as a logical result of the development of characters and circumstances. In the detective story, the crime is the initial moment of the action, everything else is a reconstruction of the events preceding this moment. And most importantly, in the drama, the crime is rather an occasion for social or psychological reflection, while for the detective, the crime and its disclosure are an end in itself. In other words, the drama is much broader in content than the detective novel.

These are the differences between detective and dramatic genres. Of course, unlike the drama, the detective acts primarily as an entertainment genre. In this sense, it is closer to the adventure genre than to the dramatic one.

In the detective story, the entertainment side is of great importance, associated with the disclosure of a complex, mysterious mystery of the crime. But the function of the detective, of course, is not limited to entertainment. What is the function of a detective?- asks V. Skorodenko. - Think triple. First of all, moral, even frankly didactic. To be honest, any of the most unpretentious propaganda of moral standards is still preferable to their oblivion. Then - cognitive. Forcing the reader to take a closer look at fictional types, of necessity somewhat simplified psychologically, the author shows people, their relationships and environment from different points of view ... Finally, the third important function of the detective is entertaining. Or rather, entertaining. From the point of view of intrigue in a detective story, two types of narration can be distinguished: exciting with intense action and captivating with the intensity of intellectual search. .

In the first detective novels, the intellectual principle dominated, they were, most likely, logical riddles, a game of thought. As you know, the story of the famous American writer Edgar Allan Poe is considered the first detective story. Murders on the Rue Morgue(1841). If Poe was the founder of the detective novel, then another writer brought him wide popularity, namely Conan Doyle, who created the popular image of a private detective.

The hero of Conan Doyle was emphatically intellectual. This was necessary, obviously, in order to note the originality of the detective-detective, to oppose him to bourgeois and petty-bourgeois mediocrity. This is precisely what the well-known eccentricity of Sherlock Holmes serves; he is a lonely bachelor, plays the violin, does not part with his pipe. Although he is absolutely cold-blooded, high romanticism and poetry are hidden behind external sobriety.

Sherlock Holmes refers to the investigation of the crime as a logical riddle, as a chess game. The social and moral aspects of crime were of little interest to him. However, moral issues soon begin to prevail in the detective story. Yes, already Gilbert Keith Chesterton creates a popular type of detective - the priest Brown, who seeks to re-educate the criminal. The image of Commissioner Maigret in the French writer Georges Simenon has the same highly moral meaning.

The classic detective creates a fairly standard stereotype of a private detective, his way of life, actions, attitudes towards others. Standard and the attitude of the detective to the police. With a few exceptions, it is negative. As a rule, the police are not able to solve the crime and their actions only interfere with the private detective. Although the hero helps the police, he alone is able to investigate the crime. Only he is the only guarantee that society will be protected from the sinister activities of a criminal who seeks to escape from justice under various mysterious masks.

The nature of the place within which the action of the detective takes place is also stereotypical. As a rule, it requires a closed space.

In one of the earliest detective stories - Murders on the Rue Morgue Edgar Poe describes a brutal murder committed in a locked room. How could the killer get into it?

In Agatha Christie's novel Ten blacks The action takes place on a desert island. An unknown person invites ten people here, including a judge, a doctor, a general, a racing driver, an old maid, and servants. The storm cuts off the island from the mainland, no outsider can get on it. And in the course of one night, one after another, murders occur. Everyone dies, and the murders are committed in different ways, in accordance with the children's rhyme Ten blacks. The reader is invited to solve the problem himself, who is the killer. It turns out to be Judge Redgrave, who administers justice by punishing all those invited to the island for crimes committed in the past.

In Swedish detective locked room M. Cheval and P. Vale discover the corpse of an old man. The doors and windows of the room are tightly closed. The police did not find any weapons in the room. The question arises: who killed and how?

Thus, all three works are built according to the same plot scheme. Moreover, there is no borrowing or imitation between them. Obviously, this is the logic of a detective novel in which the motive locked room constitutes a riddle, a mystery, a rebus that must be solved. It should be noted that the detective story, its psychological and moral atmosphere are associated with urbanism. The detective novel is a product of the city. Sherlock Holmes could not have been a country dweller, without his comfortable apartment at 221B Baker Street in London, Conan Doyle's novels would have lost much of their urban poetry. The connection of the detective with the psychology of urbanism, with attempts to discover an entertaining, poetic or fabulous element in urban life, was also noted by Gilbert Keith Chesterton. In the article In defense of the detective novel (1901) he wrote: The first essential value of the detective lies in the fact that it is early and popular literature in which the poetic feeling of modern life is expressed. People lived for centuries among majestic mountains and eternal forests before they realized that they were full of poetry. Why don't we look at chimneys like mountaintops and consider our lampposts as ancient and natural as ancient trees? For this view of life, where the big city is the scene of action, the detective novel seems to be a kind of Iliad. In these novels, the hero and the detective cross London with such a sense of freedom and proud loneliness, like the prince in the old fairy tale about the land of the elves. The lights of the city begin to be perceived as countless eyes of elves, guarding someone's innermost secret, which the writer knows, but the reader does not. Each turn of the road is like touching this mystery with your fingers, each fantastic sky of chimneys looks like a sign of some kind of riddle. .

Classic Detective: Agatha Christie and Georges Simenon

golden age The detective story was in the 1920s, when the traditions of the classic detective story were most fully developed, represented by the names of Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Georges Simenon, Michael Innes, John Carr and others. Agatha Christie, perhaps the most productive detective author, wrote her first novel in 1920, it was called Murder Mystery at Stiles . Here, obviously, by analogy with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, she brought out her hero - the detective Hercule Poirot and his friend Captain Hastings. But, unlike Conan Doyle, the emphasis in Christie's novels was not on the deductive way of thinking and analytical logic, with the help of which events are recreated, but on surprises, false versions, spectacular denouement.

For 60 years of her creative activity, Agatha Christie wrote a huge number of detective works (67 novels and 117 short stories), becoming a classic of this genre, detective queen. Her novels are always entertaining. The peculiarity of Agatha Christie's talent lies in the ability to keep the reader's attention in suspense throughout the story, and then amaze with an unexpected denouement. And yet there is something contrived, artificial in her novels. For her, a detective story is always the solution to a charade, a rebus, and the characters, like figures in a puppet show, move, driven by the intention and desire of the author. And although Christie is a good writer of everyday life, her works rather move us away from reality than bring us closer to it. J. Markulan writes about this in his book about film detective: From the works of this type, social and political motives are carefully etched out, the action is abstracted, the killer, the investigator, the suspects are considered as signs, necessary elements of the proposed game. The rebus-charade-chess-playing beginning determines the inviolability of the rules, canons, techniques, nomenclature of characters. The more skillfully this game is played, the more cunning the investigative puzzle and the more exotic the decorum in which it is played, the higher the merits of the thing, its “purity” are valued. Intense action, an entertaining plot - the most important thing here, connections with life are weakened, reduced to a minimum. But don't be deceived by this seemingly anti-social detective game. In essence, this is an absolutely bourgeois conformist trend. .

Agatha Christie- not the only writer in the detective genre. Along with her, a whole galaxy of female authors wrote detective novels: Dorothy Sayers, Ngayo Marsh, Amanda Cross, Josephine Tey, Margaret Millar, Anna Green and others.

The realistic and critical tendencies of the classic detective novel were developed by the French writer Georges Simenon, who created the image of Commissioner Maigret. Megre's image symbolized well-established, traditional values: he is dressed in an old-fashioned coat with a velvet collar, does not part with his bowler hat and pipe. Maigret is a humanist by nature. He sympathizes with the poor and disadvantaged, seeks to help them. Unlike Sherlock Holmes, he does not have the gift of deduction. His method of investigation is simple but effective: he tries to get used to life's circumstances, to take the place of a criminal, to understand and feel the driving motives of people's behavior. Understand ma'am he says, until it becomes clear to me what his lifestyle has been like in recent years, I will not be able to find the killer. Maigret is not a detective with a magnifying glass in his hand. He is simply a connoisseur of life, the embodiment of common sense, which helps him understand the irrational world of crime. This explains the popularity of Maigret's image, his long life in literature, and then in cinema. After all, it symbolizes the world of sustainable values ​​in an era when all values ​​are unstable and transient. As L. Zonina writes, Maigret is the myth of patriarchal justice, its embodiment. Patriarchal in every sense of the word. Fatherly. Patronizing the weak. Rooted in the distant past. Based not on modern legislation, but on ideas about good and evil, absorbed with mother's milk .

Hard Detective: Hammett and Chandler

During its existence, the detective novel has undergone a significant evolution. In this evolution, two main lines of development can be distinguished. One was connected with the protection of bourgeois society and the whole complex of institutions associated with it. The other served to expose and mercilessly criticize capitalism. Therefore, along with detectives made according to templates mass culture, there are also revealing works associated with the traditions of critical realism.

This revealing tendency was most fully represented in a new type of detective novel called hard (hard-boiled) detective.

Along with the classic detective story, in the late 20s and early 30s, a hard detective novel, in many of its features sharply different from the classic detective story. It was created in the USA in a circle of writers who united around the magazine Black mesk. Among them was such a serious and talented writer as Deshiel Hammett. Many other popular writers are beginning to write in this genre: Earl Gardner, Carter Brown, Ross MacDonald, Raymond Chandler.

growing popularity hard The detective was greatly facilitated by the media, especially radio, television and cinema. Dashiell Hammett's novels were filmed in the 1940s maltese falcon, Raymond Chandler long goodbye, which are still classics of detective cinema. The heroes of detective stories - Sam Spade, Nick Charles and Philip Marlowe - have become popular heroes of radio broadcasts and television series.

What new features appear in tough detective? First of all, it shifts the emphasis from intellectual search to the sphere of intense action. In addition, the type of hero itself, the traditional image of a detective-detective, is also changing. Unlike the hero of the classic detective, the hero hard a detective is no longer just an intellectual, a dandy investigating a crime for the love of art. Now this is a specialist licensed for private investigation. His professional functions are also expanding along with the responsibility that he takes on. Quite often, he is not only a detective, but also a judge, prosecutor, and executor of the sentence. The sphere of his activity includes not only the solution of the crime, he himself has to deal with both the prosecution and punishment of the criminal. If the hero of the classic detective, for all his strangeness and eccentricity, was an ideal character, then the hero hard The detective is most often rude and cruel. He often resorts to force - a punch or a gun. He combines opposite features: cynicism and nobility, cruelty and sentimentality. A man with a strong character, he professes his own moral code, he has his own attitude towards society, towards morality. He believes that the society in which he lives is corrupt, in the course of his investigation, he discovers secret threads that tightly connect those in power with the underworld. He is most often cynical, but behind the facade of rudeness and cynicism sometimes lies a certain moral goal - to save society from crime and deceit, although he believes that evil is inevitable and his power is absolute.

Hero hard The detective is usually alone. He has no friends, except for a beautiful secretary or an old journalist who has retired. Therefore, he relies only on his own strength. He knows his social status. When he has the opportunity to get rich and climb a new rung in the social ladder, he refuses this opportunity without regret. However, the hero does not reject the idea of ​​success. He likes fame, popularity, success with women, but in the end, after another investigation, after another victory, he again returns to his dirty office, remaining true to his profession as a private detective. AT tough detective changes and the type of offender. In the classic detective story, this is usually a dark, rude person, a representative of the lower strata of society, in tough In the detective story, the criminal quite often turns out to be a representative of high society, he can even be outwardly attractive and charming. The classic stereotype of the criminal here changes and becomes more complicated. The social environment in which the detective operates also changes. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson live in a charming bachelor's apartment, not without elements of luxury. Hero hard The detective lives in a dingy, dilapidated office of a private detective, located in the most abandoned part of the business districts of the city, next to the office of a failed dentist or a bankrupt lawyer. And this expresses not so much the plight of his position as the rejection of the traditional concept of success. Already by the conditions of his life, by his environment, affections and habits, he is opposed to a society of wealth, corruption or prosperity. The social context contained in the detective novel is also strengthened. Many novels of this genre tell how a private detective, investigating a case entrusted to him, suddenly discovers the connection between the underworld and the world of the rich and powerful. Therefore, some of tough detective stories (like Dashiell Hammett's novels, for example) are revealing.

Founder of the realistic tradition in tough detective was Dashiell Hammett. At one time he worked as a private detective in San Francisco and, from his own experience, had the opportunity to get acquainted with the profession of a detective, as he told in Memoirs of a private detective .

Hammett's first novel was a detective bloody harvest (1929). It operates an anonymous private investigator, who has the nickname Continental Op. In the city of Personville, he encounters a world of violence and corruption led by mine owner Elih Wilson. He runs the town, relying on gangsters and scabs, whom he hires to disrupt the miners' strike. But when his son, a newspaper publisher, is killed, he turns to detective Op for help, who must clear the town of criminals. The main conflict of the novel is connected with the dilemma that the hero faces: in order to end crime, he must resort to violence, but he understands that violence cannot give rise to order, that it can give rise to new violence. In contrast to the bloodthirsty and murderous heroes of detective novels, tailored to the standards mass culture, Hammett's hero thinks before embarking on the mission entrusted to him.

This damn town has finished me off. If I don't leave it soon, I'll turn into a bloodthirsty savage. There have been about twenty murders since I've been here. I had to kill several times, but only out of necessity. When you play with murder, there are two paths in front of you: either you will be sick of all this, or you will start to like it. .

In detective novels, Hammett is captivated by the courageous stoicism with which the hero relates to life. On the one hand, he sees that the world in which he lives is basically corrupt and criminal. To destroy crime means to destroy this world. But with all this, the hero stubbornly fights evil, although he understands that it cannot be eliminated.

Hammett's second novel - Curse of the Danes - describes the investigation of crimes committed by fanatical fanatics, confessors of underground mystical cults in San Francisco.

The real literary glory of Hammett was brought by his third novel - maltese falcon (1930). This novel is widely known and therefore it is necessary to dwell on its content in more detail.

The action of the novel is based on the intersection of many storylines. At the beginning of the novel, a charming woman Brigid O'Shaughnessy appears in the office of private detective Sam Spade, who asks for help in finding her missing sister, allegedly kidnapped by gangsters. Spade entrusts this case to his assistant Miles, but at the very beginning of the investigation, an unknown criminal kills him. The police suspect that Miles was killed by Spade himself, who was in an intimate relationship with his wife. The situation is changing radically. Spade goes from pursuer to pursued. He needs to find the killer, otherwise he himself faces a prison. Therefore, instead of the missing woman, Spade has to search for the one who killed his partner. The investigation leads Spade to discover a whole chain of events connected with the theft in the East of a precious falcon figurine made by the Knights of Malta as a gift to the Spanish king, to a clash with various groups of gangsters who are fighting for possession of this figurine.

Spade operates on the principle Divide and rule. He offers a bird in exchange for a killer, and the head of the gang, Gutman, gives him Wilmar Cook, who has committed several murders. But who killed Miles? It turns out that his killer is Brigid O'Shaughnessy, who herself wants to get the figurine of the precious bird. She is sure that Spade will not betray her, because an affair arises between them, but Spade, sacrificing personal feelings, betrays the killer to the police. He does this for two reasons.

Firstly, for reasons of professional ethics, because his colleague, his partner, was killed. And second, he doesn't trust O'Shaughnessy. Her feeling, like the figurine, turns out to be false.

The final dialogue between Spade and O'Shaughnessy goes like this: Oh dear. Sooner or later I will return to you. From the very beginning, when I saw you, I felt...

Spade said softly: Of course, my angel. If you're lucky, in twenty years you'll be out of San Quentin and back to me." She withdrew her cheek, threw her head back and looked at him in bewilderment. But he continued insinuatingly, "I hope they don't hang you by that pretty neck." And he gently touched her throat with his hand .

Thus, in Hammett's novel, everything loses its original meaning, turns out to be its own opposite: the task entrusted to the detective turns out to be completely different, he himself becomes the persecuted from the pursuer, the alleged victim - the murderer. Hammett's novels are notable for their expressive literary style. Hammett is known as a master of precise and apt descriptions, concise, extremely tough dialogue. He is stingy with metaphors, hyperbole, descriptions of personal, subjective experiences. Hammett combines this laconicism, realism of detail with a pessimistic philosophy, with a sadly ironic view of the world.

However, this pessimism is balanced in the detective novel with optimism, with the trust that the reader has in the very image of the detective as a defender of social justice and a fighter against evil. Indeed, according to the law of the genre, the perpetrator of the crime must be discovered and punished.

In 1941, eleven years after the novel's release, director John Huston filmed it, and the film became a classic of the cinematic detective story. Significant actors such as Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor played in the film, adding to the realistic sound of the novel. The film convincingly shows the atmosphere of lies and deceit, into which, like in a swampy quagmire, the heroes plunge, living in an atmosphere of unbridled thirst for enrichment and profit. As J. Markulan writes, the maximum approximation to the reality of life made this film in many ways different from serial detective production ... Thus, the breath of great literature and genuine art broke into the old, most stable, traditional and classically entertaining genre. The detective joined the social problems of life, he became an element of democratic American culture.

Another representative of the realistic tradition in tough detective along with Hammett is Raymond Chandler. He was well aware of Hammett's services to the detective and his dependence on him. In his article The simple art of killing Chandler wrote: The realist author writes in his novels about a world in which murderers and gangsters rule the nation and cities; in which hotels, luxury houses and restaurants are owned by people who got their money through dishonest, dark ways... where a person cannot walk down a dark street without fear. Law and order are things that we talk a lot about, but which are not so easy to enter into our everyday life. You can be a witness to a terrible crime, but you prefer to keep quiet about it, because there are people with long knives who can both bribe the police and make your tongue shorter. This is not a very comfortable world, but we live in it. Smart, talented writers can bring a lot to the light of day and create vivid models of what surrounds us. It is not at all funny when a person is killed, but sometimes they kill him ridiculously for nothing, the price of his life is worthless, and therefore the price of what we call civilization is worthless .

These words have a program content for Chandler himself, who in his novels tried to create a realistic image of a detective-inspector, who discovers not only the presence of crime in modern life, but also its connection with those in power.

Among Chandler's novels, such as long goodbye, high window, Deep sleep, Woman in the lake, stands out Goodbye my love. It tells a mysterious story that is being investigated by Detective Philip Marlowe.

At the beginning of the novel Philip Marlow runs into the giant Mose Malloy, a former bank robber who, after serving seven years, is released from prison and is looking for his former girlfriend, singer Velma Valento. The giant has tremendous strength and is unable to control himself. While committing a ridiculous murder, Mose disappears.

At the same time, the detective is approached by Lindsay Marriott to be his bodyguard when he ransoms the stolen necklace. They go out of town, but there someone stuns Marlow, and Marriot is killed. Marlow later learns that the necklace belongs to the wife of a millionaire, a certain Miss Helen Grey. He meets with her and begins to suspect that she is the former singer Velma, who hides her past. Marriot, who knows her story, was engaged in blackmail, and then she, staging the theft of the necklace, organized the murder of Marriot. Marlow informs Mose of Velma's whereabouts, but upon meeting Velma kills her former lover and disappears. Three months later, Marlow meets her at a nightclub in Baltimore. She shoots the detective and then kills herself.

This is the plot of the novel in a nutshell. It is built on the collision of two contrasting themes: the blind desire for wealth and the naive craving for dreams, these two sides of the American consciousness, as Chandler understands them. The last, romantic theme is embodied by Mose Malloy, reminiscent of the image of Lenny from Steinbeck's story. people and mice. Mose is ready to do anything to find his former love, but the woman of his dreams turns out to be a traitor and a murderer. Thus, this Chandler novel depicts the conflict between the romantic illusion and the sober reality that kills the dream. Many of his works are based on this.

The film adaptation of Chandler's novel contributed to its popularity. Film released in 1944 Goodbye my love , directed by Edward Dmytryk. A later film adaptation dates back to 1975 (directed by Dick Richards, with the participation of actors Robert Mitchum and Charlotte Rampling). As noted by R. Board and E. Shometon in a book dedicated to the American detective, in a film shot by Dmitrik, all the known components of the stuffy jungle of Chandler's world are present - a fake psychoanalyst-blackmailer, the young wife of an old man - a nymphomaniac, a woman, vicious at its core and also a three-time murderer. There's also the Los Angeles crime underworld, business haunts, suspicious bars, noisy late-night restaurants where anything can happen. Of course, this is a great merit of the director. Chandler's perfect style, quickness of observation of details and environments were accurately translated into the language of cinema, where a fifteen-second scene replaces a whole page of descriptions, and one detail is enough to characterize a situation or image ....

Unlike Hammett's novels, Chandler's style is more subjective and emotional. Chandler's hero Philip Marlowe is prone to self-reflection, he is ironic, the smile does not leave his face even in the most dramatic moments. Here is one of Chandler's characteristic descriptions of Marlowe's encounter with neurotic killer Carmen Sturwood: She pointed the gun at my chest. The whistling sound grew louder, her face began to resemble a naked skull. She turned into an animal, a very unpleasant animal. I laughed and moved towards her. I noticed that her little finger on the trigger was white with exertion. I was three meters away from her when she started shooting. The sound of the shot was like a sharp slap, a slight click that disappeared into the sunlight. I didn't even see the smoke. I stopped again and looked, smiling, at her. She hastily fired twice more. I didn't expect the gun to misfire. There were five rounds in that little pistol, and she had fired four already. I moved towards her again. I didn't want to get shot in the face at all, so I dodged sharply. She shot me again without any apparent haste. This time I felt the hot breath of a powder flash. I approached her. God, you're a fool, I said. Her hands, holding the unloaded pistol, began to shake violently, and the pistol fell out of them. Her face seemed to fall apart. Then her head twitched towards her left ear and foam came out of her mouth. Her breath became hoarse, she staggered. This description is a series of metaphors, as if strung on top of each other. First, the woman turns into a snake ( whistling sound), then into an animal, and finally into a disintegrating figure in the style of a cubist painting.

Chandler's works were highly appreciated by realist writers, in particular S. Maugham, W. Faulkner. The latter wrote the screenplay based on Chandler's novel Deep sleep .

Detective in the system of "mass culture": the cult of cruelty and strength

Hammett and Chandler - hopscotch hard detective. For all their entertainment, their works contained important social motives and can be classified as the most serious critical literature. But at the same time, the genre of the detective story was also widely used by mass literature, prone to simple entertainment, to the simplification and trivialization of the genre.

Carter Brown writes his detective novels in this style. Two heroes act in them: private detective Dennis Boyd and Lieutenant Wheeler. Boyd is the owner of a private detective bureau in New York, has an irresistible profile, which he widely uses, rudeness, ingenuity, enterprise, and therefore he always succeeds even in the most difficult and hopeless situations. Unlike Hammett's heroes, he has no specific moral code. For him, the main thing is money, for the sake of them he is ready to do anything, use all means, hoping that luck and an irresistible profile will help him achieve his goal.

Another character of Carter Brown is a police lieutenant Wheeler, a kind of alter ego Boyd. He is also rude, lucky, and willing to do anything for money. But he is in the public service, and he has many enemies, including his boss, a stupid bureaucrat, a miserable Dr. Morphy, numerous competitors from the criminal brigade.

Brown novels - Blonde, The Lost Nymph, Mysterious vision, unorthodox corpse- entirely designed for entertainment. The theme of his novels is secret crimes committed in high society or in noble society. In the novel unorthodox corpse the action takes place in a boarding school for girls from noble families. Once during a demonstration of tricks, a murder occurs, followed by another. In the end, it turns out that the magician and his companion are actually swindlers, that the noble girls are far from noble, and the killer is the director of the boarding house, a former criminal.

From the point of view of genre structure, Brown's novel is of interest. Out of the goodness of my heart. Here, a woman, co-owner of the detective bureau Mavis Seidlitz, acts as a hero-detective. She is stupid, amorous, constantly gets into a mess, although she knows karate and knows how to defend herself. One day, she discovers a corpse in the trunk of her car. Deciding to investigate this case herself, Mavis is completely entangled in the networks of ridiculous and incomprehensible events for herself. At first, she tries unsuccessfully to plant the corpse on someone else, and then discovers a second corpse in her bathroom. She is pursued by the mafia, and only the intervention of her partner in the case, Jimmy Rio, saves her from complete defeat. This novel is an interesting example of an anti-detective, where all the usual stereotypes of the detective genre are turned inside out. As a result, the genre falls apart, the very logic of the investigation is lost.

The detective genre requires the perfect hero. Despite all his shortcomings, disorder, rudeness, cynicism, the modest owner of a private detective bureau is always perceived according to the laws of the genre as a courageous hero, the only force against moral and social evil. Characteristically, when these heroic qualities are lost, the detective novel turns into self-parody.

Explicit devaluation hard detective story also occurs in the novels of Earl Gardner, who created the image of detective Perry Mason. The image of this detective has a different social connotation than the heroes of Hammett and Chandler. He is no longer just a private detective vegetating in his office, but a successful lawyer, a rich man, a handsome man, an object of desire and admiration for his secretary Della Street. Elements of criticism and exposé almost completely disappear from Gardner's novels.

Something similar happens with Rex Stout novels that feature a detective. Nero Wolf. He is not interested in the dirty underside of life. Snob and esthete, he is busy growing orchids and, without leaving his chair, for the love of art, is engaged in solving mysterious crimes.

The novels of John MacDonald also have an entertaining character. Among the sixty novels he wrote, there is a series describing the adventures of detective Travis McGee: Nightmare in pink, purple place to die, fast red fox, Dead shadow of gold, Darker than amber, Terrible lemon sky. McGee is always able to unravel the crime and save the innocent from the tenacious clutches of intruders. MacDonald is a recognized master of the detective genre, but his novels still do not go beyond entertaining reading.

Sometimes it is very difficult to find a dividing line between popular culture and serious works of art. Sometimes Mass culture, like rust, corrodes the solid frame of the detective genre. A typical example of this is the film by Roman Polanski Chinatown(1975). In this film, a talented actor Jack Nicholson plays a private detective. There are also social motives in the plot of the picture: the all-powerful landowner Ross buys land from the poor, uses them to grow orange plantations, stealing water from a public reservoir under construction. But behind all this, the motifs of incest, sadism and violence come to the fore in the film. And this vice is not able to compensate for the performance of even such excellent actors as Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. Movie Chinatown was awarded Oscar, but, in our opinion, it is based on ideas that do not go very far from aesthetics mass culture.

Mass culture widely exploits the detective novel, trying to turn it into a primitive, designed for low instincts reading.

An example of this kind of production is the work of Mickey Spillane. The hero of Spillane's detective novels is Mike Hammer, a cynical, narcissistic, rude detective, devoid of intelligence and relying only on his own strength. This is the real cousin of James Bond.

Among the most popular thirty US bestsellers of the last century, seven are by Spillane. Each of them has sold over four million copies. Dr. Spock books only, novel gone With the Wind Mitchell compete in their circulation with Spillane's novels such as Me, jury or Big Kill.

In the novels of Spillane, there is a whole range of values ​​characteristic of mass culture. They glorify murder and violence, they are full of pornographic scenes, and sex is closely associated with violence and cruelty. The protagonist of the novel Me, jury (1946) - A rough man who resorts to violence and even murder without hesitation. At the end of the novel, he catches up with the blonde, whom he considers guilty of the murder. He kisses her and at the same time cold-bloodedly puts bullets into her beautiful body.

When I heard the sound of a falling body, I turned around. Her eyes were full of suffering, the horror of death, pain and bewilderment.

- How could you? she whispered.

I had only one moment to not talk to the corpse.

But I did.

"It's so easy," I said..

The works of Spillane contain a lot of cynicism, frankly misanthropic notes. Yes, in the novel Creature describes the story of Professor York, who brings up his son with the latest methods, with the help of the latest electronic technology, hoping to create a new person. But the result is not a perfect man, but a terrible moral monster, a real monster who kills his father and fakes his own kidnapping. He misleads everyone except Detective Mike Hammer, who, while unraveling a complex web of criminal events, discovers that the real killer is the intended victim, the professor's son.

At the end of the novel, Hammer expresses his simple moral creed: The newspapers scold me, but criminals are scared to death. When I kill, I kill by the rules. The judges say I'm in too much of a hurry to pull the trigger, but they can't take away my detective license because I'm playing by the rules. I think fast, I shoot fast, and I get shot a lot. But I'm still alive.

Characteristically, Spillane's novels quite often contain openly anti-Soviet content, intolerance towards racial minorities. The American researcher D. Covelty successfully noticed the presence of elements of religious fanaticism in Spillane's novels. Spillane he writes, brought to the detective moods associated with the popular evangelical traditions of the middle classes in America. And it is no coincidence that these traditions dominate many of Spillane's social ideas: rural curiosity for the complexities of urban life, hatred of racial and ethnic minorities, an ambitious attitude towards women. And above all, he has a feeling that arose from an ardent hatred of the world as sinful and corrupt, which unites Spillane with the evangelical tradition. .

In their novels Mickey Spillane- ardent defender of Americanism. If Chandler saw the origins of evil in the traditional American greed, then for Spillane, all evil lies in the global communist conspiracy against America. Connected with this is the anti-Sovietism that is contained in many of his novels, the vicious suspicion with which he treats everything foreign. Yes, in the novel body lovers sadistic diplomats from the UN are depicted enjoying the sight of naked girls caged with poisonous snakes. In another novel Girl hunters (1962) - Hammer hunts for red spies who killed Senator Leo Nappa, who was new McCarthy. He discovers a whole spy network, and one of red agents turns out to be the Senator's widow, Laura Knapp. Hammer, with his characteristic ruthlessness, cracks down on the traitor: he closes up the muzzle of her gun with clay, and when she shoots, she herself dies in front of a laughing detective.

In the novel Revolver Day(1965) Spillane parted ways with his fascist hero, but anti-communism is still his favorite strong point. His new hero Tiger Man believes that all the evil in the country comes from communists and liberals. He calls to replace diplomacy with bullets and, in order not to remain unfounded, he kills three diplomats one by one.

Spillane's novels are the most striking example of the worst sides of the bourgeois mass culture- sadism, pornography, reactionary political philosophy. He has one reaction to the communists: - Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill! This is nothing but ordinary American fascism.

Explaining the nature of the popularity of Spillane's novels, Charles Rolo writes: Over the past two decades, evil (total war, political persecution, sadism, the Gestapo) has become part of our everyday consciousness. And recently, Americans have become convinced that it is in the United States that organized crime flourishes as a kind of big business, and corrupt politicking, corruption, which allows criminals to hide not only from justice, but also from taxes. More and more people are indignant about this and at the same time see the futility of the attempts of individuals to fight these phenomena. And it is possible that the feeling of powerlessness of the individual in a world where the principles of "big organization" have invaded so deeply into human life, is the strongest, most acute form of frustration of modern man. .

Genre Devaluation: Police and Spy Novel

The modern detective story is rapidly evolving, branching off from itself new genres and subgenres. After the Second World War, crime, police and spy novels stand out from the detective novel. These genres are quite far away from the usual detective stereotypes. In the crime novel, the focus shifts from solving the crime to the psychology of the criminal and to the detailed description of crimes and bloody murders.

In a police novel, the hero is not a private detective, but an ordinary policeman who, at his own peril and risk, fights against the mafia or gangsterism. A typical example of this kind of novel is French connection Robin Moore, which became widely known thanks to its brilliant film adaptation by American director William Friedkin (1971). The novel describes the struggle of the New York police with drugs supplied to the United States from France. The heroes of the novel are police detective Edward Egan, nicknamed Popeye (after the hero of the famous animated series) and his colleague Salvator Gross. This novel is not of great interest from an artistic point of view, but thanks to the expressive, realistic direction of W. Friedkin, the good acting of Gene Hackman French connection turned into one of the best films in the genre of police detective. Spectator interest is supported in this film by brilliantly filmed chase scenes, shootouts with members of the underground mafia, and the image of the everyday life of the police service.

Seeking to exploit the film's success French connection, Hollywood made a continuation of this picture - The French Connection Part II, which depicted Popeye's activities in France, where he comes to help his French colleagues. Here, an American policeman falls into the hands of gangsters who forcibly inject him with drugs, trying to destroy his memory, will, and personality. Naturally, Popeye overcomes all difficulties and finally kills the dodgy head of the French drug-dealing mafia. True, it should be noted that the second part of the film turned out to be much weaker than the first because of the standard melodramatic devices and cheap effects.

An unconventional police film turned out to be Bullitt(1968) directed by Peter Yates. Detective Bullitt (Steve McQueen) is a member of the San Francisco Police Department. This is a modest, small employee, content with the modest joys of life. Big political boss Chalmers entrusts him with the protection of the gangster Ross, who comes to the trial to testify about his former colleagues from the Chicago gang. However, the witness is brutally murdered, and Chalmers demands that Bullitt be removed from the case. But Bullitt is investigating on his own and discovers that a figurehead has been killed, and the real Ross is connected to the political establishment. This is one of the few police films that has a realistic and critical sound. Its dignity is largely due to the transformation of the genre: here the policeman turns into a detective.

However, the bulk of police films are the works of television series such as Kojak, depicting the adventures of a police superhero, or policewoman, which glorify the image of a policeman, are trying to correct the image of the American police, corroded by corruption.

Along with the police novel, the arsenal mass culture replenishes the spy novel, which, although it spun off from the detective, but at the same time opposes it in its artistic and ideological function. Unlike the detective story, which is always a logical riddle in one form or another and appeals to the reader's intellect, spy and crime novels are deliberately anti-intellectual. They appeal not to the intellect, but to the basest instincts. In her article on James Bond, the Soviet critic M. Turovskaya notes: The more bourgeois society depersonalizes the personality, the more the rebus detective genre - entertainment for the mind - becomes a drug for the senses; all the more so from the intellectual genre of investigation it is moving towards the gabler, shaker, thriller, - a novel, so to speak, shivering, beating on the nerves; especially from a mystery novel it turns into a trauma novel .

In the spy novel, the relationship between the police and the private detective changes dramatically. Characteristic of the detective novel is the contrasting of the detective's intelligence and ingenuity with the stupidity and complacency of the state police. Already Sherlock Holmes repeatedly shamed the stupid agents of Scotland Yard, demonstrating his undoubted intellectual superiority. Exactly the same attitude towards the police and in the novels of Agatha Christie. The hero of her novels Hercule Poirot, like Sherlock Holmes, also turns out to be more capable and more successful than all the agents of Scotland Yard and the Intelligence Service. True, things are somewhat different with Simenon, because his inspector Maigret is in the public service, works in the police. But the conflict traditional for a detective novel between an inventive detective and a swaggering, short-sighted and slow-moving police remains in Simenon. Maigret is constantly in conflict with his superiors, who either rush him or make him go on the wrong track and interfere with his investigation.

In the spy novel, this conflict disappears. His hero loses his intellectual freedom, but instead becomes a state agent, a representative of a powerful intelligence police service. This, for example, is the popular hero of the novels of the English writer Ian Fleming, James Bond, this super-spy, agent 007, an agent with the right to kill, a devoted servant of the British Empire. It is paradoxical that, having lost the best features of the classic detective story, the spy novel nevertheless retains immense popularity, and not only among the general reader, but also among the high-minded reader. It is known that the James Bond novels, and to an even greater extent their adaptations, such as Dr. No, From Russia with love, goldfinger, You only live twice, are champions of the literary and cinematic markets.

What is the popularity of these works?

Obviously, this is not just about the romantic appeal of the adventure genre with its chases, fights, and so on. All this is present in the works of other genres. And the point here is not only in the luxurious surroundings, against which the action takes place: fashionable hotels, beaches, yachts, limousines, casinos - all these symbols of the smug and well-fed aesthetics of bourgeois comfort. Although all these accessories are important, they can be found in works of any other genre. mass culture.

Obviously, the secret of the popularity of the spy novel and the film lies in the character of the hero himself, in the fact that he meets the needs of a fairly wide segment of the public. As T. I. Bachelis writes in the article Lucky Bond, the first and main link that must be closely examined in order to understand what is at stake here is the figure of the hero himself. For James Bond is indeed something of a novelty. Apparently, dreams, hopes, unconscious impulses of the masses of people are concentrated and found in it. Otherwise, such a success would not be conceivable. .

What does it represent James Bond? Let's listen to what his verbal portrait looks like in the description of Fleming himself: Name - James, height - 183 centimeters, weight - 76 kilograms, narrow build, scar on the right cheek and left shoulder, traces of plastic surgery on the back of the right hand; a comprehensively developed athlete, a master in pistol shooting, a boxer, can throw a dagger. Knows German and French. He smokes a lot (special cigarettes with three gold stripes). Weaknesses: fond of women; drinks, but not excessively. Doesn't take a bribe. He is armed with a Beretta-25 automatic pistol, which he carries in a holster under his left arm. He has a dagger attached to his left forearm and wears boots with steel edging. Knows the techniques of judo. Experienced in fights, extremely pain tolerant .

This is what a portrait of James Bond looks like. There are several realistic details in this description (notably the fondness for cigarettes with three gold stripes). But in general, this portrait is mythological, it embodies what a person forced to lead a gray and everyday life can dream and fantasize about: success with women, extraordinary strength and resourcefulness, the ability to get out of any impasse and, most importantly, incredible luck.

James Bond does not lag behind technological progress, it is always armed with all sorts of technical innovations. In his hands, any everyday thing - a fountain pen, a lighter - turns out to be a deadly weapon. He skillfully uses any technical means - parachutes, helicopters, scuba gear, hang gliders.

But with all this, James Bond, however, like any myth, is depersonalized, he is devoid of personality, individuality. He has no personal attachments, inclinations, humor is alien to him, friendships are unnatural, and he shows interest in women either to prove his male superiority, or on duty. In other words, James Bond is not a person. Most likely, he is a symbol of what is associated with strength, success and permissiveness. He is not a hero, but an image. But this does not diminish his popularity. Under conditions of the total disappearance of heroism, the need for it does not disappear, but, on the contrary, grows. It is precisely this need that the spy novel exploits by creating, instead of a living personality, its skillfully crafted fake.

Spy novel is a popular genre mass culture, which most adequately expresses its trivial aesthetics. It is a convenient form of propaganda for bourgeois politics, including such a characteristic feature of it as anti-Sovietism. From all Bonds anti-Sovietism is most openly declared in the novel From Russia with love. In it, as well as in the film of the same name, it tells about the insidious plans of the Russians, who planned to destroy James Bond himself. For this, all means are used: the tricks of seductive women, insidious technical traps. In the finale, the main enemy - the fearsome Rosa Klebb - attacks Bond, using a deadly weapon - a poisoned blade hidden in her shoe. But Bond, of course, skillfully dodges and eventually wins.

This primitive plot is designed for primitive consciousness, but it is banalization that is an unshakable law mass culture, After the death of Ian Fleming, James Bond did not disappear from the pages of mass publications and cinema screens at all. In England, the description of his adventurous exploits was continued by Kingsley Amis, who once belonged to angry writers, and now a writer of spy novels. Now he writes Dossier D.B., which analyzes the features of the character of James Bond, and describes his new adventures. Films with the participation of James Bond also do not leave the movie screens. It seems that James Bond is an immortal figure mass culture, he will live as long as he will exist and prosper Mass culture.

True, along with the desire to continue indefinitely bondian, varying only the place of action and the environment of Bond, there are also trends that testify to the crisis of the genre. It is no coincidence that at the end of the 70s a number of films appeared on the screens, which, in fact, parody bondian. So, director Lewis Gilbert is directing a film based on the script by Christopher Wood. The Spy Who Loves Me (1977). It would seem that all the traditional themes are present here: Bond's extraordinary resourcefulness, his sexual irresistibility, and finally, luck. But all this is shown somehow not seriously, with a certain amount of irony. The plot of the film is Bond's struggle with a certain maniac who delays all nuclear submarines and plans to destroy the whole world. But Bond, along with the beauty Barbara Bach, in his comfortable car, which turns into a submarine, sinks to the bottom of the ocean and destroys all the insidious plans of the maniac. The film contains themes traditional for a spy film: chases, fights, all kinds of technical inventions (a transmitter built into a wristwatch, and even a flying tray with which you can chop off your opponent's head). All this happened dozens of times in various spy films, but here it is shown as a completely random and illogical series of events.

In the next film Racing to the Moon, - staged by L. Gilbert according to the script of the same Christopher Wood, James Bond finds himself in space. He again fights with an insidious and cunning enemy who wants to destroy the entire Earth and destroy humanity. Bond shows miracles of resourcefulness. Already at the very beginning of the film, he is thrown out of the plane, but, while planning, he overtakes the parachutist and takes away his parachute. In Venice, where Bond arrives, he is assassinated endlessly. Among his opponents is a huge fellow, with sharp iron teeth, nicknamed Jaw. Despite all the obstacles, Bond destroys the instruments of destruction prepared on the Moon and returns to Earth with a victory with another beauty, whose love he wins even in weightlessness.

Both of these films certainly parody the plots of previous James Bond films. Agent 007 himself remains a superhero, but the whole environment in which he acts turns out to be fake, deliberately fictional, artificial. And although criticism in these films does not go beyond light joking, careful parody, nevertheless, all this testifies to the obvious decay of the genre, its aesthetic and ideological triviality. Today, a spy novel that promotes sex, violence, anti-communism has been put on the conveyor belt of the bourgeois mass culture. Special magazines, publishing houses, national and transnational press agencies are working on its production and replication. Detective and spy novels are littered with the shelves of many stores, magazine stalls and even grocery stores. Approximately 250 new spy and police novel titles appear every month in the US. Book ads touting bestsellers advise the reader not to miss another spy thriller.

Among the muddy stream of this literature are the spy sagas of John Le Carré, Len Deighton, Martin Cruz, Smith, Irving Wallace. As a rule, these works do not differ in artistic merit, they are designed for undemanding, primitive perception. Such, for example, are the novels of Le Carré - Small town in Germany, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy. Almost all of them educate the reader in an anti-Soviet and anti-communist spirit, glorify knights from the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies.

Robert Ladlum's detective novels are notorious. A failed actor, he found himself in the creation of shoddy handicrafts, where violence and bloody scenes are abundantly flavored with anti-Sovietism. Such, for example, is his detective novel Osterman holidays(1972). The hero, Jack Tanner, director of a television network in New Jersey, expects his old friends the Ostermans, the Cartons, and the Trimines to visit him later in the week. Shortly before this, he receives a call from the CIA, and a certain Lawrence Facett reports that some of his friends are Soviet agents. It turns out that all of America is entangled in a network of Soviet intelligence, which seeks to discredit leading American industrialists and businessmen and thus cause disorganization, an economic and political crisis in the country. This insidious plan is carried out by one of Tanner's friends, whom he must help identify. Tanner agrees to this proposal, and since that time horror, suspicion and violence have settled in his country house. In the end it turns out that the Soviet agent is none other than Facett himself. But the steadfastness and faith of the Americans save them from the intrigues of the insidious Russians.

Ladlam's novel is designed to evoke fear in the American layman, distrust and hostility towards other countries and nationalities. In the wake of anti-Sovietism, a detective novel also became a bestseller. Gorky Park, which Hollywood immediately accepted for film adaptation, and other crafts mass culture which are calculated on the base instincts of the bourgeois reader, awaken their fears, distrust of other nations. Industry mass culture skillfully weaves politics into the age-old human interest in uncovering mysterious mysteries, knowledge of the terrible and mysterious. In 1984, the best-selling spy novel was Irving Wallace's Second Lady, which tells how Soviet intelligence, during the stay of the American president in Moscow, replaces his wife in order to find out all his secrets and mysteries. This substitution succeeds, but the president ends up with two absolutely similar first ladies, and when one of them is removed, it is not known which of them remains.

Spy mania is widely promoted not only in literature, but also in cinema. Here the spy film constantly merges with the most outspoken anti-Sovietism. In this spirit, in 1974, producer D. Zanuck and director R. Miller made a film Girl from Petrovka based on the novel by former American correspondent in Moscow George Feifer. The film, built on a melodramatic love story between a Soviet girl and a foreign correspondent, slandered Soviet society and distorted the life of Soviet people. The film directed by Blake Edwards is also saturated with anti-Sovietism. tamarind seed with the participation of the famous actor Omar Sharif. It is built on the traditional dramatic conflict between duty and love. Lieutenant colonel of the KGB, while abroad, falls in love with an attractive girl, secretary of the British Embassy, ​​betrays his homeland, deserts and runs towards happiness, pursued by sinister agents of the Soviet intelligence. The purpose of this film is to oppose spiritless world Soviet society warmed by love the world of capitalism - was not crowned with success. The film turned out to be a mediocre handicraft.

In an effort to intimidate red danger, and at the same time, films are based on the desire to tarnish the image of Soviet Chekists Betrayal(directed by Peter Collison, 1976) and Russian roulette(directed by Lou Lombarde, 1975).

In film Phone(1978), directed by Don Siegel, tells how 54 Soviet agents are sent to the United States, where they disguise themselves as ordinary American inhabitants. But they must start a military terror from the moment they are given a password (a line from Robert Frost's poetry) by telephone, which makes them act under the influence of hypnosis. At the very last moment, the action stops and disaster is averted.

During the period of propaganda by the US ruling circles of the idea of ​​​​military superiority and the policy of militarization, the military detective becomes especially popular. American film released in 1980 Firefox. It depicts how pilot Grant (played by Clint Eastwood) steals a model military aircraft in the USSR. In film night hawks(1980) popular American actor Stallone plays a detective who pursues a communist agent named Wulfgras, a terrorist with a degree from Moscow University of Peoples' Friendship. In 1983, another picture in the series was released. Bonds - Octopussy. This film shows a meeting of the military council in the Kremlin, at which the young general Orlov insists on the immediate capture of Europe. Other members of the council object to him, and then, in an effort to unleash a war, he sends an atomic bomb to the FRG with a circus. But, of course, Bond (played by the same Sean Connery), with the help of a girl nicknamed Octopussy, exposes Orlov and prevents the atomic apocalypse. All these films are frankly designed to arouse fear of the USSR, warm up the atmosphere of military hysteria and justify the need for a military confrontation with the countries of socialism.

The frank tendentiousness of these films and the complete absence of any merit caused almost unanimous negative reviews, even from critics far from sympathetic to the Soviet Union. The Soviet spy in these films can be easily swapped with a CIA agent or the Intelligence Service, and the plot will move with the same degree. credibility. Countries change, scenery changes, actors change, but none of these films even attempts to develop the characters of the characters or reveal their beliefs. They are pawns on a chessboard that move according to the laws of a poorly understood adventure genre.

Designed for a clearly undemanding consumer, they did not even arouse sympathy from him. Massive failure and distribution in third-rate cinemas - such is the fate of these film fakes. They are made by order of those who still insist on moving along the knurled rails. cold war to a nuclear holocaust.

Thus, getting acquainted with the evolution of the detective novel, we are forced to recognize the well-known devaluation of this genre in Western literature, its absorption popular culture. It is to be hoped that the realistic traditions of this genre are alive in Western art. But its current state is an undeniable reduction associated with the dominance of purely commercial and entertainment products. Nowadays, a serious and artistically significant detective story is an island in a vast sea of ​​second-rate works of standard industry. mass culture.

Shestakov V.P.

From the book Mythology of the 20th century: Criticism of the theory and practice of the bourgeois mass culture

Zhirkova M.A.

Detective: the history of the emergence and development of the genre

Tutorial

Introduction

Formulation of the problem. The peculiarity of the detective genre

Questions and tasks

Literature

Chapter I

The birth of the detective genre in the United States

1.1 Edgar Allan Poe

1.2. Development of the detective in the second half of the 19th century, the female face of the American detective: Ann Katherine Green, Carolyn Wells, Mary Roberts Rinehart

1.3. Release of mass detective publications

Questions and tasks

Literature

The emergence and development of the English detective story

2.1. Prerequisites for the emergence of the English detective

2.2. Charles Dickens

2.3. Wilkie Collins

2.4. English detective in the second half of the 19th century: Ellen Wood, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Mary Elizabeth Breddon

2.5. Robert Louis Stevenson

2.6. Arthur Conan Doyle

2.7. Gilbert Keith Chesterton

2.8. Edgar Wallace

Questions and tasks

Literature

The emergence and development of the French detective

3.1. Prerequisites for the emergence of the French detective

3.2. Emil Gaborio

3.3. Gaston Leroux

3.4. Maurice Leblanc

Questions and tasks

Literature

Chapter II. The development of the detective genre in the twentieth century

Development of the American detective

1.1. 1920-30s 20th century: Stephen Van Dyne, Earl Derr Biggers, Black Mask magazine

1.2. Cool detective in the works of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and other American writers

1.3. Genre forensic detective: Erle Stanley Gardner

1.4. Classic detective in the works of Rex Stout, Ellery Queen, John Dixon Carr

1.5. 1950s Police Detective Ed McBain

1.6. 1990s John Grisham Legal Detective

Questions and tasks

Literature

Development of the English detective

2.1. The crisis of the genre at the turn of 1920-30. The work of Anthony Berkeley

2.2. Classic Detective by Dorothy Sayers, Nyo Marsh

2.3. The work of Agatha Christie

2.4. The development of the "tough detective" in the work of Peter Cheney and James Hadley Chase

2.5. A spy novel by Graham Greene, Ian Fleming and John Le Carré

2.6. Hard Detectives and Action Movies by Alistair MacLean and Frederick Forsyth

2.7. "Sports" detective Dick Francis

Development of the French detective

3.1. A series of novels by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allen about Fantômas

3.2. Socio-psychological detective in the work of Georges Simenon

3.3. Traditions of the American "hard" detective and "black romance" in the work of Leo Male

3.4. The new structure of the novel and suspience in detective work

Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac

3.5. Antidetectives by Sebastian Japriso

3.6. Humorous Detectives by Frederic Dar

3.7. "Black romance", noir, polar and neopolar: some terminology

Questions and tasks

Literature

Questions for offset

Bibliography

Internet resources

Dictionary

Application

S. Van Dyne. Twenty rules for writing detective novels

R. Knox. The ten commandments of a detective novel

R. Chandler. Random Notes on a Detective Novel

Synchronistic table

INTRODUCTION

I always read and read detective stories: on vacation, just in my free time during the working period, escaping from stress during a heavy workload. At some point, there was a desire to systematize what was read, so a special course for students on the history of the development of the detective appeared, the result of which was student theses and term papers on the detective genre in Russian literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as in children's literature based on Soviet classics and works of recent years. Work with students and the preparation of term papers and theses largely determined the content of the proposed manual.

The course material covers primarily detective works of foreign countries: the USA, England, France, where this genre originated and began to develop especially actively, the following will be devoted to the history of Russian, Soviet and modern detective in Russia. The presentation is subject to the chronological principle: from its inception to the end of the 20th century, while conventionally literature is divided into two periods: from the end of the 19th century to the first decades of the 20th century and from the 20-30s to the end of the 20th century. With great caution I approach the latest works written in the detective genre, I'm afraid of disappointment, so let's dwell on this period.

The textbook does not claim to cover all the material, for this there are various encyclopedic and reference publications. Target– trace the history of the emergence and development of the detective genre, identifying the main directions of its development in different countries.

Course objectives:

– definition of the genre canon of the detective story and its varieties,

– study of the history of the detective genre,

– consideration of the main stages of development and formation of the detective genre in individual countries,

Detective works are usually attributed to fiction, mass literature, which is often equated with low-grade. Entertaining reading, a fascinating plot - what constitutes the main advantage of a detective, is also often assessed as a disadvantage in contrast to serious, "real" literature. At the same time, it is forgotten that even serious writers paid tribute to the detective and did not consider writing it an easy task (C. Dickens, W. Faulkner, I Shaw, etc.). Despite this point of view, a different view of the detective has long been established. Among the diverse detective literature, a classic layer stands out; there is a high level of detective works, not only classical, but also modern, deserving philological attention. This is confirmed by numerous literary works devoted to various aspects of the detective genre; emergence of dissertations.

Unfortunately, the time frame of the special course is limited, which makes it difficult to study the development of a foreign detective story in other countries, a foreign detective story at the present stage, so this material is offered for self-development as one of the options for credit work.

After each section, there is a list of references that served as the source of the material. Each topic also ends with questions and assignments for practical exercises, which can develop into reports and reports in practical classes, as well as, possibly, into student term papers and theses.

Proposed Dictionary contains a definition of the terms and concepts that were encountered in the preparation of the manual. Many genre designations have a wide scope of use; in this case, correlation with detective literature is important. Some terms are very close and intersect in their meaning, it is important for us to indicate the small difference that exists between them. It must be borne in mind that the works of art themselves are not always limited to one definition; several genre varieties can be distinguished within one text. The formation of the definition is also significantly influenced by the national characteristics of the development of the detective.

AT application a synchronistic table is presented, which contains various information that is directly or indirectly related to the detective story, which will allow you to see the overall picture of the history of the development of the detective genre, as well as its development in a particular country.

FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM.

CHAPTER I

Edgar Allan Poe

Thanks to "logical stories" or ratiocinations, by definition of the Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849) , the exact birth date of the detective genre is known - this is a publication in April 1841 short stories "Murder in the Rue Morgue" . E. Poe's short stories are closely connected with romantic aesthetics; of great importance in them are the category of "terrible", "terrible", the combination of "mysterious" and intellectual analysis, "unusual" and clear logic. A small volume becomes a structure-forming element, and a criminal investigation becomes the subject of a fictional narrative. E. Poe's "logical stories" are characterized by analyticity and rationalism, the presence of a lengthy description and reasoning; the thoroughness of the developed system of details, the impression of the reliability of fiction, naturalism and plausibility. There is an assertion of a rigid structure of detective stories:

1) information about the crime,

2) a description of unsuccessful attempts to find the police,

3) appeal to the detective hero for help,

4) unexpected revelation of a secret,

5) clarification of the main character's train of thought.

The first appearance of the classic pair of protagonists: a personality of amazing analytical abilities, an intellectual, erudite, prone to observation and analysis, and an ordinary person, a very sincere, naive storyteller, chronicler, communicative assistant function. The exclusivity and eccentricity of an amateur detective (a penchant for solitude, a closed life, night time, closed curtains, green glasses), Auguste Dupin, for whom solving the mystery of a crime is an exciting mind game. The value of human intelligence. The focus of E. Poe's short stories is not so much on the investigation of the crime as on the person who solves it. The writer reveals to the reader all the information about the crime, giving the reader the opportunity to unravel it.

The weakening of the external plot, which is compensated by intense internal action, the work of thought. The emphasis in the writer's stories is on the process unraveling mystery of the crime, and not on the very solution and motives of the crime. In E. Poe's short stories, an artistic study of the activity of the intellect takes place. Yu.V. Kovalev notes: “Edgar Allan Poe does not just talk about the intellectual activity of the hero, but shows it in detail and in detail, revealing the process of thinking, its principles and logic. It is here that the main action of rationalizations, their deep dynamics, is concentrated. Speaking about the pathos of Poe's detective stories, it should be recognized that he is not only in revealing the secret. The brilliant solution of the riddle demonstrates the beauty and vast possibilities of the mind triumphing over the anarchic world of the “inexplicable”. Poe's detective stories are a hymn to the intellect." Induction + deduction + intuition are the main components of the success of the hero E. Poe.

In the stories of E. Poe, the chronotope of a detective novel is built: a rectilinear movement of time with an excursion into the past. The writer is the first to present the development of a closed space in the detective genre - the “locked from the inside of the room” model in the story "Murder in the Rue Morgue"(1841) . The real story of American Mary Cecily Rogers and the story "The Secret of Marie Roger"(1842) . The illusion of documentary, the introduction of newspaper articles, the disclosure of a crime through their analysis, the predominance of analysis over action, eventfulness to the detriment of the integrity and entertaining plot.

"The Stolen Letter" (1844), according to A. Adamov, can be considered as a psychological study on the topic of cunning and wisdom, we have an example of amazing observation, logical analysis and subtle knowledge of human characters and passions.

We meet a new structure in the story "Thou art the man who did this" (1844) . The narrator acts as a detective, an ironic style of narration.

Logic stories also include "Golden Bug"(1843) - about secret writing and treasure hunting with the main character William Legrand. In the center of the story is also the work of the intellect, the disclosure of the process of thinking.

In addition, self-accusation novels are sometimes referred to as detective stories: “The Black Cat”, “The Demon of Contradiction”, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Barrel of Amontillado”, in which there is a crime as such, there may be police officers, but the investigation itself is absent. The focus is on the criminal himself, and the retribution for the crime occurs in a fatal or mystical way.

Since 1945, one of the most prestigious detective genre awards has been presented Edgar Allan Poe Award.

Charles Dickens

The plot basis of many works Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870) becomes a mystery. The detective mystery lies at the heart of the writer's social novels.

In the novel "Barnaby Rudge"(1841) there was a murder of the owner of the estate, another corpse was found in the pond, in the clothes of the manager, and the gardener disappears from the estate, on whom the suspicion of a double murder falls. But the main theme of the novel is historical events, the detective story is woven into the historical theme. In his review of Dickens' novel, Edgar Allan Poe analyzes the detective line and notes the obviousness of the mystery (the writer guessed who the real killer was already in chapter 5 of 82) and predicts the ending of the novel even before its publication.

Novel "The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit"(1844) focuses on family relationships and the pursuit of a rich inheritance. The mystery of the murder is solved by the private detective Nadzhet. He was not drawn very respectfully: the process of tracking down the criminal is interesting and important for him, and not the restoration of justice and the punishment of the criminal.

In the novel "Cold House"(1853) Inspector Bucket appears, modeled on the London Police Inspector Charles Frederick Field, whom the writer portrays with great respect, in contrast to the detective Nadzhet. This is a socio-psychological novel containing a satire on English justice.

Dickens provides support to the Crime Department of the London Police. He publishes a number of articles and stories about the work of the London police and with detective elements ("Three stories about detectives", "At work with Inspector Field", "Downstream", "A pair of gloves", "Detective police"). He also goes along with the police to London dens, extracting literary material for himself.

Story "Caught in the act"(1859) based on the real-life criminal case of the poisoner Thomas Griffiths Wainwright, whom Dickens visited in Newgate Prison. Detective elements are present in Our Mutual Friend (1865).

unfinished romance "The Mystery of Edwin Drood"(1870) , gave rise to new mysteries: “a very curious and new idea that will not be easy to unravel ... rich, but difficult to implement” (C. Dickens).

The main characters of the novel: Mr. John Jasper and his nephew Edwin Drood, there is an outward love and care of the uncle towards his nephew, but hatred for him as a rival in love. Edwin Drood and Rosebud, between whom there is friendly affection. Rosebud is disgusted and horrified by John Jasper. Calm, restrained Elena Landles is opposed by her quick-tempered, but noble brother Nevil. The absolute kindness of Mr Crisparkle. John Jasper's all-consuming passion for Rose Button may serve as a motive for the murder. There are many details that hint at the killer and the method of murder, but do not give answers about the method and the hero of his exposure.

The focus of the novel on the mystery of human characters (E. Genieva). The duality of human nature: the bright, musically gifted, artistic nature of Jasper and the passionate, dark, opium-doped, pathological side of his personality.

Unsolved mysteries: 1) the fate of Edwin Drood: was he killed, if so, by whom and how, and where is his body hidden? If not, where is he, what's wrong with him, and will he appear in the novel? 2) Who is Mr. Datchery, the stranger who appeared after the disappearance of Edwin Drood? 3) Who is the old woman smoking opium and why is she following Mr. Jasper?

"The most misleading of all the books Dickens wrote", questions and version of George Carming Walters. Various versions of the novel's ending have been repeatedly put forward. The illustrations on the cover of the first edition by Ch.O. help solve the mystery. Collins.

In 1914, the trial of Jasper took place with the participation of B. Shaw, G. Chesterton. As a result, the accused John Jasper was found guilty of manslaughter.

Wilkie Collins

William Wilkie Collins (1824 - 1889) was educated at the oldest law firm in London, Lincoln Inn; The profession of a lawyer gave a lot of material for creativity. Writes detective stories and novels. The story "The Terrible Bed" (1852) first appeared as a police officer, while "The Stolen Letter" (1854) can be seen as the first English detective story; The Diary of Anne Rodway (1856) features the first female detective in English literature, a milliner investigating the death of her friend and bringing the killer to justice. The Bitten Biter (1858) can be seen as the first humorous detective story. Detective elements are present in other works of the writer.

In 1851, an acquaintance with Ch. Dickens took place, which grew into many years of friendship and creative cooperation. Joint work of writers: "An idle journey of two lazy apprentices", 1857; "Doctor Dulcamara, Member of Parliament", 185; "No Exit", 1867, etc. W. Collins collaborates with the magazine "All the Year Round", published by Dickens.

In the 1860s, the writer turns to the novel form: "the novel of secrets" "The Woman in White"(1860) and detective novel "Moon rock"(1866) . In the first, there is no detective hero, the secret and crimes of Sir Percival Glyde are revealed by the artist Hartright. One commits terrible crimes in the name of wealth, the other leads a noble struggle in the name of love and justice.

The plot of the novel "The Woman in White" the writer found in the “Reference book of famous trials” (1808) from the French legal practice of M. Mezhan, which, in particular, told about the unfortunate Marquis de Duho, who in 1787 was put in a lunatic asylum by her brother under an assumed name in order to seize her fortune. Although the Marquise managed to escape, she never succeeded in regaining her legal rights, since she was officially considered dead. The lawsuit lasted for several years, the Marquise died without waiting for a decision on her issue.

For the second famous novel, the writer drew the plot from D. King's The True History of Precious Stones. The very history of the Moonstone, its abduction from a Buddhist temple, its appearance in England, the Hindu priests spying on it - all this creates a special atmosphere of mystery and exoticism. In the novel, the Scotland Yard detective Mr. Cuff appears, but the secret of the stolen moonstone and he fails to immediately reveal. At the same time, Kuff is very smart, observant, he combines scientific methods with psychological ones.

Collins came up with this time such a "move" that could not be guessed at all, because not only was it not amenable to any logical or psychological analysis, but in principle, it was theoretically impossible to assume anything like that. The novel "Moonstone" is rich in psychological characteristics of the characters. The writer uses the reception of a story from different characters, which allows you to look at the events from the inside, to reveal the characters of the characters. This technique allows you to give the story an additional mystery, since neither of the narrators knows what he knows and then tells the other. And this other sometimes unexpectedly refutes, it would seem, quite convincing considerations of the previous narrator, or suddenly starts an argument with him, or even simply ridicules him (A. Adamov).

In the novel Moonstone, Collins also draws on the real case of the 16-year-old girl Constance Kent, which was widely reported in the newspapers in 1861. She was arrested in 1860 on charges of murdering her little brother on the basis of the testimony of Inspector Whicher of the London Detective Department . The inspector noticed that the home linen record included a women's nightgown, which could not be found, apparently because it had blood stains on it, and it was destroyed. Such circumstantial evidence was not enough evidence for the prosecution, while Sergeant Whicher was condemned by everyone. Only a few years later, in 1865, the girl herself confessed to her spiritual father that she had committed the murder in order to take revenge on her parents.

The originality and novelty of the novel "Moonstone" consisted in the fact that the detective mystery became the main content of the novel, in fact, before us first English detective novel. In his works, the writer adheres to the belief that readers must be treated “honestly” and consistently provides all the evidence and clues to unraveling the mystery. The work of W. Collins as a whole is characterized by drama and life material, and in his novels there was a shift in emphasis: from the question “who killed?” to "why?"

2.4. English detective in the second half of the 19th century:

Robert Louis Stevenson

Detective elements are present in adventurous and adventure cycles Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894)"Suicide Club" and "Diamond Raja" included in the book "New Thousand and One Nights"(1878) . They present a parody of adventurous and sensational literature, written on modern material. The main character is the mysterious Prince Florizel, the ruler of Bohemia. The author's irony is noticeable in the style of the narration.

Adventure novel "Treasure Island"(1882) brought the writer worldwide fame. It is known that the beginning of work on the novel is associated with the creation of a map of the island and the reading of the chapters just written in the circle of relatives and friends. In the first magazine publication, the novel appeared with the authorship of Captain George Norton. In a separate edition in 1883, the novel was published under the real name of the writer. The confidential story of the protagonist Jim Hawkins creates the illusion of authenticity, a vivid picture of events, the impression of accuracy and psychological authenticity of what is happening. An ambiguous hero is represented in the novel by John Silver, he is cruel, cunning, but also smart, cunning, able to inspire pity and respect.

After reading the French translation of the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment" in 1885. Stevenson writes a story "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"(1886) about a split personality by a chemical drug, as a result of which the good-natured doctor Henry Jekyll becomes a criminal, a brutal killer, causing disgust and disgust Edward Hyde. Mr. Hyde is pure evil, isolated from the human personality through chemistry, but gradually taking over the soul and body of Dr. Jekyll. Free choice turned out to be unmanageable. In the story there is a combination of fantasy, mysticism, detective and psychologism.

Reflection of the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky can also be seen in the story Markhain (1885). In 1889 R.L. Stevenson has completed The Possessor of Ballantrae, which re-examines the boundaries of good and evil.

Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930) – doctor of medicine, traveler, politician, publicist, sportsman, spiritualist and writer of historical, detective and fantasy works.

AT 1887 the story comes out "A study in Scarlet" in which Sherlock Holmes first appears. It will be released as a separate edition in 1888 with drawings by Arthur Conan Doyle's father, Charles Doyle. The writer admitted that he was fascinated by the work of Edgar Allan Poe and Emile Gaboriau. Thus appeared the first detective work in his literary experiments.

The story, written in 1886, could not be attached for a long time. Finally, the publishers agree, but set a number of conditions: the story will be released no earlier than next year, the fee for it will be 25 pounds, and the author will transfer all rights to the work to the publisher. It is worth paying attention to the fact that in 1892, when the publishers asked for the continuation of the stories about Sherlock Holmes, Doyle, hoping that they would leave him alone, declared the amount of 1000 pounds, to which he immediately received consent, and in 1903 the American publishers offered a writer to be paid $5,000 per story if he figures out how to resurrect his character.

Usually the doctor, professor at the University of Edinburgh, Joseph Bell (1837-1911) is considered as a prototype of Sherlock Holmes. It is from the observation, analysis and conclusions of the professor that the deductive method of Sherlock Holmes follows. As a university student, Doyle was surprised and admired by the professor's ability to determine the occupation or past of the patient by appearance, even outwardly the writer makes his hero look like Bell: just as tall, thin, dark-haired, with an aquiline nose, gray penetrating eyes. Although Bell himself said that the real prototype of Holmes is Arthur Conan Doyle himself. The writer called Major Alfred Wood, who was Conan Doyle's secretary for about 40 years, the prototype of Dr. Watson.

In the detective work of the writer, a classic pair of heroes is formed: the eccentric Sherlock Holmes and the mundane Dr. Watson. The image of Sherlock Holmes combines the features of a noble knight and egocentrism, genius and romanticism, accurate knowledge and love for music; analytical talent, the power of human thought, aimed at combating evil, protecting a person from violence, which the police are powerless to prevent. Holmes keeps up with his times; when investigating crimes, he widely uses the achievements of science (for example, chemistry), skillfully makes up (camben, sailor, beggar, old man) and uses the deductive method to reconstruct the picture of the crime. Holmes solves crimes not only for the sake of justice, but also for the sake of curiosity, interest in new complex cases, otherwise he yearns, suffers from inaction and boredom.

His faithful assistant and chronicler, Dr. Watson, may be endowed with excessive emotionality in contrast to the impassive and restrained Holmes, but he also possesses cordial good nature, delicacy and sincere devotion to his friend. He is very personable and likable.

Doyle's works are characterized by the repetition of the plot scheme: an energetic and intriguing beginning of the story that can immediately captivate the reader; the appearance of a visitor with his request or secret; investigations, which are often carried out in parallel with the police; the enigmatic behavior of Holmes and the bewilderment of Watson; possible danger to which the investigator is exposed; revealing and explaining all the mysteries at the end of the story. And the lack of descriptions, secondary details, focus on the main storyline creates a concise, businesslike and tense style of narration.

The writer maintains accuracy in details, creating the image of old England at the end of the 19th century on the pages of his works. Chesterton notes that Kona Doyle surrounded his hero with the poetic atmosphere of London.

in the story "The Last Case of Holmes" in 1893 K. Doyle “kills” Sherlock Holmes in order to take a break from his hero, who overshadowed the writer himself and interferes with work on serious literature: historical and social novels (for example, The White Squad, 1891; Rodney Stone, 1896, etc.) , which the writer considers as his main literary work. But the death of a literary hero aroused indignation among readers; the Strand magazine, where K. Doyle's stories were published, lost 20,000 subscribers; and the editorial office itself is inundated with letters from angry subscribers.

In 1900, the writer went to the Anglo-Boer War as a surgeon in a field hospital, and the book The Great Boer War (1900) became a kind of result. In 1902, Conan Doyle was awarded a knighthood for services to his homeland in the Boer War.

The return of Sherlock Holmes took place in the novel "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1901) . The idea arose from a story told by journalist Fletcher Robins, with whom Doyle was staying in Devonshire. The writer heard a legend about the cruel, unbridled and jealous Sir Richard Cabbell, who killed his wife, but also died from a dog that rushed at him, protecting his mistress. "Resurrection" is presented in the story "Empty house" (1903) ; included in the compilation "The Return of Sherlock Holmes"(1905) .

Conan Doyle participated in criminal trials more than once, thanks to his efforts innocently convicted were acquitted. For example: George Edalji case , who is accused of cruel murders of domestic animals and sentenced to 7 years of hard labor in 1903. In 1906 he was released without justification; then he writes to Conan Doyle, asking for help. In 1907, D. Edalji was acquitted. The Oscar Slater case , accused of murder in 1908 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Conan Doyle joined the cause in 1912, but it was not until 1927 that Oscar Slater was acquitted.

A. Conan Doyle also owns fantastic works about Professor Challenger: The Lost World (1912), The Poisoned Belt (1913) and later The Maracot Abyss (1929), which, unlike historical novels, were successful. But readers expected detective stories from the writer.

In a detective novel "Valley of Fear"(1915) elements of the American detective story can be noted: the image of organized crime led by Professor Moriarty. The last collection of short stories "The Sherlock Holmes Archive" went out in 1927

Interestingly, the methods of Sherlock Holmes in the study of the crime scene were reflected in the first textbook on criminalistics by G. Gross, A Guide for Forensic Investigators (1893).

Other writers joined in writing stories about Sherlock Holmes, giving rise to a whole series of books, for example: Adrian Conan Doyle, John Dixon Carr « The Unknown Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" or "The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes"; Ellery Queen "Study in cruel colors" or "Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper", etc.

Arthur Conan Doyle also owns a book of memoirs: Memoirs and Adventures (1924).

In 1990, the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London (221-b Baker Street) was opened with an accurate reproduction of the interior based on the works of A. Conan Doyle. The beginning of the museum was an exhibition in 1954; and in 1999, a monument to Sherlock Holmes was erected near the museum.

In 2002, Conan Doyle's literary hero Sherlock Holmes was admitted to the British Royal Society of Chemistry.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Genre originality of novels Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 - 1936) associated with the parable and preaching character, theology and psychology. Yu.M. Lotman called Chesterton's detective stories scientific and psychological studies in art form. Chesterton's goal was not only to describe an entertaining story and conduct a fascinating investigation, but lay in a much deeper philosophical and moral background, reflected primarily in the instructions of his protagonist, Father Brown (L. Romanchuk).

A. Adamov: “Chesterton's detective genre suddenly and at the same time quite naturally expanded its boundaries, showed the most valuable ability to absorb deep philosophical and moral views and truths, to make the works of this genre by no means only fascinating or even instructive, but ideological, force to solve the problems of being and faith, human essence and destiny, that is, to stand on a par with the “genuine”, “high” literature of the century within the framework of the bourgeois, Catholic worldview and worldview in which Chesterton himself remained.

The religiosity of the writer played a significant role in the life and work of the writer. In 1904, he met the Catholic priest John O'Connor, who made a strong impression with the depth of his knowledge of human nature and whom the writer makes the prototype of his main character in detective stories, Father Brown. The priest became a friend and confessor of the writer. In 1922, Chesterton converted from the Anglican faith to Catholicism. After Chesterton's death, D. O'Connor wrote a book about him: Father Brown on Chesterton (1937).

Storybook "Club of amazing crafts"(1905) can be regarded as a test of the pen, a kind of parody of the detective genre. Amateur detective Rupert Grant sees signs of a crime everywhere, and his older brother, retired judge Basil Grant, in each case solves, if not a crime, then one or another mystery.

One of the most unusual amateur detectives is Father Brown, endowed with the ability to "notice everything strange." He appears in the first collection "Father Brown's Ignorance"(1911) . Characteristic features of the protagonist: humility, innocence, comicality, clumsiness, absurdity and outward mediocrity. This is an inconspicuous village priest, who at first causes a dismissive grin, no one expects strength of mind, subtle observations from such, turns out to be a sensitive and insightful psychologist, who is characterized by attentiveness and respect for a person. It is no coincidence that the very titles of the collections of short stories sound ironic: Father Brown's Ignorance (1911), Father Brown's Wisdom (1914), Father Brown's Distrust (1926), Father Brown's Mystery (1927), Father Brown's Shame (or "The scandalous incident with Father Brown") (1935). Ironic overtones are characteristic of many of Chesterton's stories in general.

An uneasy relationship connects Father Brown and Flambeau. The image of Flambeau is given as the image of a romantic hero, this is both a genius for theft and a great artist.

Father Brown's method consists in a psychological approach to solving crimes and understanding the essence of a person. Interest in the criminal, attention to the inner world, secret and obvious motives of actions, to human psychology, the ability to look at the world through his eyes. The main thing for Father Brown is to save the soul of the criminal. The goal of Father Brown is not so much to punish the criminal as to establish the truth, to save the innocent suspect from punishment, to re-educate the guilty (I. Kashkin). Therefore, Chesterton has the opportunity to create a detective without a criminal, since repentance and correction are possible. For example, the story of Flambeau.

The basis of Father Brown's actions is the Christian motive of salvation, so his investigation process is very peculiar. Father Brown uses non-standard methods of solving crimes, he often turns to intuition, reveals logical inconsistencies in the character's reasoning, betraying his true face.

Other cycles of the writer, for example: a cycle of stories about Horne Fisher: "The Man Who Knew Too Much"(1922) , where the main character reveals political and near-political intrigues, relying on a good awareness of the life of the highest circles of society. We are talking about the crime of the entire state system.

In the storybook "The Poet and the Fools"(1929) The crimes are solved by the artist and poet Gabriel Gale. Here, the crimes are psychiatric, and Gale uses his ability to see the world through the eyes of a madman as a method.

Close to the detective are two more collections of Chesterton's short stories: Hunting Tales (1925) and Five Righteous Criminals (1930).

Collection "Mr. Pond's Paradoxes" published after Chesterton's death. The protagonist of the stories is a high-ranking official who solves crimes using the logic of a paradox, and his companions: the diplomat Sir Hubert Wotton and Captain Gehegen,

In 1928, Gilbert Chesterton became the first chairman of the Detective Writers' Club in London.

Chesterton also owns a number of articles on the detective genre,

Introduction. 3

1.1 Detective as a literary genre. five

1.2 Stylistic devices in the English detective novel. 10

Chapter II 20

1.1 Stylistic analysis of the detective novel Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens. twenty

Conclusion. 37

Bibliography. 39

Introduction

Today, detective literature is one of the most popular genres of mass literature in the system. This is due to the advertising of detective works in the media and the creation of various films, television series and graphic novels based on them. In addition, the popularity of detective literature lies in the fact that throughout its existence it absorbed the most painful, acute and hidden from the eyes of society problems. Mysteries, secrets, unusual and mysterious situations attract the reader, contribute to increased attention, cause tension. Also, the popularity of detective works is associated with the cathartic function of the detective: with emotional experience, fear and purification, which brings the investigation of a mystery by a detective.

The relevance of this course work is associated with the growing popularity of detective literature in English-speaking countries over the past 10 years. During this period, more than 5,000 detective stories were included in the Best Detective category.

The subject of the research is the detective novel Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens.

The subject is a stylistic device used in Robin Stevens' Murder Most Unladylike detective novel.

The purpose of this course work is to identify and analyze stylistic devices on the example of Robin Stevens' detective novel "Murder Most Unladylike".

Objectives of the course work:

1. Analyze the source text;

2. Reveal stylistic devices;

3. Give an analysis of the identified stylistic devices.

To solve the tasks in the course work, the following research methods were used:

1. Stylistic analysis of the translation;

2. Theoretical analysis of scientific sources on the research problem.

The methodological basis of the research in the course work was the works of V.A. Kukharenko "Workshop on the style of the English language", Galperina I.R. "Stylistics of the English language", Arnold I.V. "The style of modern English".

The theoretical significance lies in the definition and analysis of the stylistic devices of detective works on the example of the detective novel Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens.

Chapter I

Detective as a literary genre

Detective (eng. detective, from lat. detego - I reveal) - a literary work or film, which is based on the investigation of a complicated crime, more often a murder.

Detective fiction is a type of literature that includes works of fiction whose plot is dedicated to solving a mysterious crime, usually with the help of logical analysis of facts.

Detective (lat. detectio - disclosure) is a work of art, the plot of which is based on the conflict between good and evil, realized in the disclosure of a crime.

There are a large number of interpretations of the detective as a genre, but the following stable genre indicators of the detective can be distinguished from dictionary entries: the disclosure of a mysterious crime, the use of logical analysis of facts, the clash between justice and lawlessness, the victory of justice.

The main thing in a detective story is a logical structure leading to a single and correct conclusion. Thanks to this, the reader can feel like a participant in the investigation process.

Edgar Allan Poe, an American writer, poet, literary critic and editor, is considered the father of detective fiction. In his novels, he created the type of the Great Detective, the technique of deductive crime solving, many plot moves, such as false keys, the mystery of the locked room. But the detective as a popular literary form did not immediately begin to assert itself. Literary critics believe that the spread of the detective is associated with acute social problems in society and the weakening of the religious principle. The reader began to show particular interest in detective literature in the 1840s, when a large number of regular police forces and various detective offices began to appear, which did not always solve the tasks assigned to them safely, while in the detective story good always triumphs over evil, justice - iniquity.

An important role in the further development of the detective as a literary genre was played by the English writer Arthur Conan Doyle, who created the popular image of the private detective Sherlock Holmes. Today, this image is one of the most popular and recognizable around the world. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote that two storylines must be present in a detective story: about the victim and the criminal and about the criminal and the detective. These storylines can intersect, deliberately confuse the author, but certainly lead to a denouement, where the author must give answers to all questions. A. Conan Doyle also believed that the criminal should in no case look like a hero.

The English thinker, writer and journalist Gilbert Keith Chesterton became the first theorist of the detective story as a special genre. In his article “In Defense of Detective Literature,” he emphasized that the detective story is a completely finished literary genre.

After the First World War, the detective literature changed markedly. The plot became more complex, there were unforeseen turns of intrigue and denouement.

There are two plot types of detective literature: intellectual, where the main interest is focused on the very process of investigation, and adventure, where the plot is built on forcing new dramatic episodes, often new crimes.

The detective is characterized by the following features:

1) High degree of standardization;

2) Entertainment function;

3) Availability of content;

4) Fascination and entertainment.

The universal formula of the detective as a work of art is based on these features. The formula includes stereotypical images of characters, a general plot scheme, traditional ways of describing people and objects. All works of popular literature are based on such formulas, since they allow the most complete realization of the genre. In each specific detective work of a specific author, the detective formula acquires its own unique content.

At the heart of any detective work, there are three main stages: a mystery, the course of the investigation and exposure, which corresponds to the plot, culmination and denouement. In shift detectives, this sequence can be broken.

A detective-shifter is a detective work where the plot, climax and denouement go in reverse order.

The purpose of any detective work is to solve a riddle, solve a crime. Solving a crime is a mandatory and unified outcome of any detective story.

According to the Hungarian literary critic Tibor Köszthely, there is the following classification of detective stories:

1) Detective-mystery and task (works by Arthur Conan Doyle),

2) Historical detective (works by John Dickson Carr),

3) Social detective (works by Dorothy Lee Sayers),

4) Realistic detective story (works by Erle Stanley Gardner),

5) Naturalistic detective (works by Dashiell Hammett).

Also distinguished are such detectives as a political detective, a fantastic detective, a gothic detective, a picaresque detective, a spy detective.

In the period from 1918 to 1939, detective literature was enriched with new and colorful images of detectives. The authors of works with such characters include Agatha Christie, Freeman Croftsis, Anthony Quinn, Margery Allingham and others. But whatever the detective and its author, the main character should always be a person with such common features as: erudition, an unsurpassed mind, developed intuition, determination, eccentricity, a peculiar sense of humor.

The American school of "hard-boiled fiction" dealt a big blow to the image of an amateur detective familiar to readers. The new detectives remained honest, but became cruel and unscrupulous in their means. Most often, an aggressive person acted as a detective, able to navigate well in any particular situation and adapt to certain events. Anyone could turn out to be a criminal, even the main character's best friend, as, for example, in Dashiell Hamett's detective novel The Glass Key. The detective becomes pragmatic. To search for truth, not analytical abilities are used, but cunning, resourcefulness. The authors of the "cool school" tried to get away from the old scheme of the guilty caught - punished. They believed that the main character does not have to be positive, the style of narration should preferably be gloomy, and the denouement should be pessimistic.

But eccentric detectives have not disappeared. In the works of George Chesbrough, the main character is the dwarf Monroe, a colorful character, a professor of criminology, a karateka and a circus performer.

In the second half of the 1900s, a significant innovation of the genre was the appearance of female detectives. They, like men, have a license to detect and do just as well with dangerous and complicated cases. Examples of such heroines are Sharon McCone from the detective novels of Marcia Muller and Kinsey Milhoun from the works of Sue Grafton.

The main characters of modern detective stories are different from those of two centuries ago. Today's hero can be both a psychic detective and a blind detective, a detective-prince, he can also be a victim at the same time. The search for truth can only be carried out with the help of some kind of personal-moral revolution. Such a hero may not shine with intelligence or strength. This is due to the fact that in detective literature there are no established canons and the literary type of the detective as such. For example, Lawrence Sanders and Harry Kemelman in their work went beyond the formal framework of the detective.

Thus, a detective story is a work of art, which is based on the unraveling of secrets and crimes through a logical analysis of facts and the struggle between good and evil, justice and lawlessness.