Columbo : a rhetoric of inquiry with resistant responders / Christyne Berzsenyi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Berzsenyi, Christyne, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Detective and mystery television programs--History and criticism.

Detective and mystery television programs.

Columbo (Television program).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (234 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bristol, Engalnd : Intellect, [2021]

Summary:

An analysis of the hit television series Columbo specifically looking at the famous detective's investigative method of rhetorical enquiry. Through a barrage of questions about tiny details and by feigning ignorance, Columbo employs Socratic method of questioning based on temperance and restraint to discover truths from guest star murderers.

Contents:

Front Cover

Half Title

Frontispiece

Columbo: A Rhetoric of Inquiry with Resistant Responders

Copyright Page

Dedication

Table of contents

Figures

Preface

Acknowledgments and Gratitude

Part 1 Understanding the Lieutenant and His Villains

1 Introduction to Columbo and Columbo

A Snapshot of Television and Film History: Pre-Columbo

The Underestimated Detective (1910)

Scholarship and the Lieutenant

What Is to Come

2 Columbo and the Lieutenant: Literary Influences

The Firsts in Short and Long Detective Fiction in English (1841-62)

Fyodor Dostoevsky's Lieutenant Porfiry Petrovitch: Pretenses (1886)

Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes: Genius Detective (1887)

British Golden Age, Drawing Room Mysteries, the Cozy (1920-40)

3 Characterology and Character-Based Detective TV Shows

The Lieutenant with His Sergeants

Columbo: A Blend of Genres, Influences, and Deviations

4 Columbo, the Suspect Charmer

Suspects as Resistant Responders

Charming the Stinging Villains

Glamour in Columbo

Two Sides of Columbo Presented on a Case-by-Case Basis

Columbo Talks to "Dog," "Étude in Black" (1972)

Columbo and a Resistant Responder, "Double Shock" (1973)

Dual Personae, "An Exercise in Fatality" (1974)

Columbo and the Ancient Greek Virtue of Sophrosyne

Sophrosyne in "Prescription Murder" (1968)

Sophrosyne in "Ransom for a Dead Man" (1971)

Sophrosyne in "Fade In to Murder" (1976)

Looking for the Right Word: Antipotency

The Underestimated Detective with the Intelligent Villains: Socrates and Columbo

Antipotency with Dick Van Dyke's Villain in "Negative Reaction" (1974)

5 The Columbo Killer

Classical Greek and Christian Villainy in Columbo

Rhetoric and Villainy

Villainy Embodied, Villainy Experienced

Demographics of Columbo's Villains.

Audience-Villain Relationships: Antipathy, Ambipathy, and Sympathy

Villain Types and Audience-Villain Relationships Examined

Antipathy for the Villain

Ambipathy to Antipathy for the Villain

Sympathy to Antipathy for the Villain

Ambipathy for the Villain

Sympathy for the Villain

6 Columbo, Women of His Investigations, and the Equal Rights Movement

Columbo's Female Villains: Ladylike but Lethal

Columbo-Femme Fatale

"Doting Devotee"

"Treats 'em Like a Lady"

"Clueless Comforter"

"Stupefied by the Competent Woman Executive"

Female Accomplices

"Prescription Murder" (1968): Joan Hudson

"Suitable for Framing" (1971): Tracy O'Connor

"Dagger of the Mind" (1972): Lilian Stanhope

"A Deadly State of Mind" (1975): Nadia Donner

"A Trace of Murder" (1997): Cathleen Calvert

"Columbo Cries Wolf" (1990): Tina, Chateau Model/Nymph

"Death Hits the Jackpot" (1991): Nancy Brower

"Columbo Likes the Nightlife" (2003): Vanessa Farrow

"All in the Game" (1993): Lisa Martin

Columbo Plays the Underestimating, Traditional Male Chauvinist

Part 2 Columbo's Method of Investigation

7 Crime Scene Investigation and Ratiocination

8 The Working Cop's Habit of Asking Questions: A Rhetoric of Inquiry

Columbo's Leading and Misleading Questions in Rhetorical Inquiry

Elenchus and Aporia are Translations from the Greek

Fake Questions: Ask but Don't Tell

Fake Questions: Tag Questions

Probing Questions to Elicit Information

Probing Questions to Incite Hypothetical Reflection

Probing Questions to Effect Critical Analysis of Situations

Deflective Questions

9 Killing Them Softly: Irritating the Suspects in Seven Modes

Obligating the Suspect with Appeasement Pressure and the Extrication of Any Threat

Irritating the Villains: Use of Excessive Flattery and False Modesty.

Irritating the Villains: Repeated, Disingenuous Apologies

Irritating the Villains: Wasting the Suspect's Time

Irritating the Villains: Circumstantial Speech and Storytelling

Irritating the Villains: Doggedly Hounding Them for a Melt Down

Irritating the Villains: False Exits: "Oh, and One More Thing"

When Villains Realize that the Lieutenant is onto Them

10 Columbo Closes the Case: Capture and Consequences

Columbo: Virtuous or Villainous?

Columbo: The Denouement

Part 3 Columbo's Legacy in Popular Culture and Academia

11 Television Detectives Influenced by Lieutenant Columbo

Law and Order: Criminal Intent: Detective Robert Goren

Lieutenant Columbo's Possible Future

Spoofing the Lieutenant

12 Using Columbo's Method in Our Everyday Lives

13 "Just One More Thing": Columbo and Spectatorship

Works Cited

About the Author

Index

Back Cover.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781789383195

1789383196

9781789383201

178938320X

OCLC:

1245669479