Down These Mean Streets: Textuality & the Search for Meaning in Crime Fiction

At the basis of all crime fiction seems to be a fundamental preoccupation with the pursuit of knowledge and truth, and consequently, a premise that these may be acquired through a process of systematic analysis. Closely tied in to this search for meaning is the genre's interest in textuality, encompassing related issues such as the reading process and the nature of language. This dissertation examines how interpretive frameworks are formed, employed and developed through various sub-genres in crime fiction, and the ways in which the theme of textuality functions as an important channel through which epistemological issues and debates are played out within the genre, with specific focus on three key junctures in the history of crime fiction: firstly, its formative stage in nineteenth-century sensation narratives, followed by the classic detective story which provided crime writing with a distinct narrative form, and concluding with an analysis of contemporary crime fiction.

Author dc:creator

• HO SU-LIN, ANDREA

• textuality meaning crime fiction