Overview
- Examines the vexed status of Shakespeare and the Bible in the midcentury, and the meaning of allusion to them
- Demonstrates allision as a continuous practice in detective fiction
- Reveals the complexities of detective fiction as a literary genre
Part of the book series: Crime Files (CF)
Buy print copy
Keywords
- Shakespeare
- Mystery fiction
- Golden Age detective fiction
- Dorothy L. Sayers
- Bible in literature
- Agatha Christie
About this book
This study argues that allusion is a central part of classic British detective fiction. It demonstrates the fraught status of Shakespeare and the Bible during the Golden Age of the British detective novel, and the cultural currents which novelists navigated whilst alluding to them. The first part traces the complex web of allusions to Shakespeare and the Bible which appear in the novels of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, examining the meanings these allusions produce. The second part explores the way in which Sayers’ own collection of detective novels became a canon, on which later novelists exercised those same allusive practices. It studies allusions to Sayers’ novels throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, from Gladys Mitchell and P.D. James to Reginald Hill and Sujata Massey. This study reveals allusion as a shaping force at the origin of the classic British detective novel, and a continuing element in its identity.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Jem Bloomfield is Assistant Professor of Literature at the University of Nottingham, UK. His research interests focus around detective fiction, British mid-century writing, and the reception histories of Shakespeare and the Bible. His books include Words of Power: Reading Shakespeare and the Bible (2016), Witchcraft and Paganism in Midcentury Women’s Detective Fiction (2022) and Paths in the Snow: A Literary Journey Through The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2023).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Allusion in Detective Fiction
Book Subtitle: Shakespeare, the Bible and Dorothy L. Sayers
Authors: Jem Bloomfield
Series Title: Crime Files
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-58338-4Due: 05 July 2024
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-58341-4Due: 05 July 2024
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-58339-1Due: 05 July 2024
Series ISSN: 2947-8340
Series E-ISSN: 2947-8359
Edition Number: 1