Masters of the 'Humdrum' Mystery : Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, Alfred Walter Stewart and the British Detective Novel, 1920-1961

Evans, Curtis

McFarland & Co Inc（2012/06発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版／ページ数 309 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9780786470242
• DDC分類 823.087209091

Full Description

In 1972, in an attempt to elevate the stature of the "crime novel," influential crime writer and critic Julian Symons cast numerous Golden Age detective fiction writers into literary perdition as "Humdrums," condemning their focus on puzzle plots over stylish writing and explorations of character, setting and theme. This volume explores the works of three prominent British "Humdrums"--Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, and Alfred Walter Stewart--revealing their work to be more complex, as puzzles and as social documents, than Symons allowed. By championing the intrinsic merit of these mystery writers, the study demonstrates that reintegrating the "Humdrums" into mystery genre studies provides a fuller understanding of the Golden Age of detective fiction and its aftermath.

Contents

Table of Contents

Preface     

Introduction: Mere Puzzles?     

Chapter

"The Masters": Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, and Alfred Walter Stewart     

Chapter

Cecil John Charles Street ( John Rhode/Miles Burton) (1884-1964): Public Brain Tester No. 1     

Chapter

Freeman Wills Crofts (1879-1957): The Greatest Puritan of Them All     

Chapter

Alfred Walter Stewart ( J.J. Connington) (1880-1947): Survival of the Fittest     

Appendix I: Notable Criminous Works by Cecil John Charles Street     

Appendix II: Notable Criminous Works by Freeman Wills Crofts     

Appendix III: Round Robin Writer: Freeman Wills Crofts' Contributions to The Floating Admiral (1931) and Double Death (1939)     

Appendix IV: Notable Genre Works by Alfred Walter Stewart     

Chapter Notes     

Bibliography     

Index