The Edwardian Detective, 1901-1915
Description:... The Edwardian Detective examines the range of detective literature produced between 1901 and 1915 in Britain, during the reign of Edward VII and the early reign of George V. It assesses Edwardian detective literature as cultural history, with a focus on such issues as legal reform, marital reform, surveillance, international diplomacy, the arms race, Germanophobia, masculinity/femininity, the 'best-seller', and the concept of 'popular' literature.Kestner also addresses specific issues related to the relationship of law to literature, such as: the law in literature; the law as literature; the role of literature in surveillance and policing; the interpretation of legal issues by literature; the degree to which literature describes and interprets law; the description of legal processes in detective literature; and the connections between detective literature and cultural practices and transitions.This book is the first major study to investigate many of the 'canonical' and less-canonical writers of detective literature, focusing on such major figures as Conan Doyle, Chesterton, Bennett, Conrad, and Buchan, but also re-investigating writers such as Bramah, Mason, Barr, Bentley, Prichard, and Childers. Important women writers of the genre are also discussed, including Lowndes, Orczy, and Meade.
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