Clues from the Couch : Psychology in Detective Fiction from Wilkie Collins to Winspear and Penny.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Blackwell, Laird R.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939.

Freud, Sigmund.

Detective and mystery stories, English--History and criticism.

Detective and mystery stories, English.

Detective and mystery stories, American--History and criticism.

Detective and mystery stories, American.

Detectives in literature.

Crime in literature.

Psychology in literature.

Psychoanalysis in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (249 pages)

Place of Publication:

Jefferson : McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers, 2022.

Summary:

"The detective story-the classic whodunit with its time-displacement structure of crime-according to most literary historians, is of relatively recent origin. Early in its development, the whodunit was harshly criticized for its tightly formula-bound structure. Many critics prematurely proclaimed "the death of the whodunit" and even of detective fiction altogether. Yet today, the whodunit is alive as contemporary authors have brought it into modern times through a significant integration of elaborate character development and psychology. With the modern psychological detective story emerging from the historical cauldron of detective fiction and early psychology, the genre continues to develop a complexity that reflects, illustrates and guides the literary sophistication needed in today's world. This book, the first of its kind, analyzes over 150 whodunit novels and short stories across the decades, from The Moonstone to the contemporary novels that saved the whodunit from an ignominious death"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: The detective story in transition

Psychology : a brief look at some psychological concepts applied to the classic whodunit

An illustrative case : the transition from the "straight" whodunit to the psychological whodunit

from Ellery Queen I to Ellery Queen II

Key authors and featured works with an infusion of psychology

1868-1909: Undercurrents of the unconscious before Freud and during his early work

1910-1919: Freudian psychology and the first psychological detectives

1920-1929: Psychological detectives, professional and amateur

1930-1939: Psychology as genuine player and as red herring

1940-1949: The post-Golden Age and the eruption of the unconscious

1950-1959: Psychiatrists, defense mechanisms, and the invisible witness

1960-1969: P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, and the psychological exploration of character

1970-1979 The passing of Hercule Poirot and a legacy of generativity

1980-1989: Surface appearance and psychological reality

1990-1999: The whodunit as the sauce for psychology's entrée

2000-2009: Back to Vienna

2010-2019: Two strands : Freud and feelings

Conclusion: Formula and psychology in the classic whodunit.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Blackwell, Laird R. Clues from the Couch

ISBN:

9781476646701