Sex work and crime fiction margins of desire Kirin Wachter-Grene

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wachter-Grene, Kirin, author.

Series:

Cambridge elements. Elements in crime narratives

Cambridge elements. Elements in crime narratives 2755-1873

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Detective and mystery stories.

Prostitutes in literature.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2026

Summary:

"This Element argues that the sex worker character in crime narratives, often dismissed as a flat stereotype or mere plot device, actively performs crucial narratological labor that shapes the novel's realism and challenges conventional understandings of character, agency, and social reproduction. By applying Alex Woloch's theory of character-space and drawing on contemporary Black feminist scholarship that privileges power, pleasure, and desire, this study reveals how sex worker characters, through their evolving representation from marginal figures to central agents, resist narrative containment and illuminate broader socio-cultural tensions surrounding gender, class, and authority within the genre"-- Cambridge Core

Contents:

Margins of desire : Sex work and the space of the novel

Knowledge, power, secrets

Affect and anxiety

Sex sleuths : Rewriting the terms of justice

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references

Online resource; title from PDF title page (Cambridge Core, viewed June 8, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version Wachter-Grene, Kirin Sex work and crime fiction

ISBN:

9781009516839

1009516833

OCLC:

1591026673

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license