Contemporary women's detective fiction: feminizing the genre

Abstract

In my thesis, I will focus on contemporary women writers who are working within the genre of detective or crime fiction. Through examining the genre as a formulaic construction, a formula, I will initially unpack the elements and conventions that constitute it. My purpose in breaking down the cultural elements that make up the detective novel, is to show how these are reflective of a culture that is sexist, heteronormative, class-divided and racist. As detective fiction first emerged in the English-speaking world during the Victorian era and flourished in-between the two world wars, I will try to throw into relief the dominant perceptions of women, and subsequently women’s position in society during this extended period. Once I have unpacked the contexts and conventions of classical detective fiction, mainly through the analysis of the traditional detective figure, I will proceed by shifting my focus on the rewriting of the traditional generic formula by contemporary women authors. By the late 1970s – early 1980s women authors of crime fiction started introducing new elements and new types of characters in their crime novels, quite efficiently contributing to what came to be recognized as the feminization of the genre. With the aim of examining the techniques that contemporary women authors have employed so as to challenge the initial conventions of the genre, I have divided my thesis into four chapters, namely Hard-boiled Women’s Detective Fiction, Culinary Mysteries, African American Women’s Detective Fiction, and Lesbian Detective Fiction, in each of which I will be examining the main characteristics and significance of each subgenre. Therefore, through my thesis I wish to navigate through several contemporary women’s detective novels, so as to trace the diverse techniques that contemporary women writers employ in order to challenge the formulaic assumptions of the classical detective novel in a way that transforms this traditional male-dominated genre into a textual space where key feminist issues are addressed and debated.