秘密研究所

10 Factoids on American Crime Fiction

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Posted on January 4, 2018

Alice Jackson

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Staying inside for the coldest January in years offers time to read, and for fans of crime fiction, Dr. Chris Raczkowski, associate professor of English at the 秘密研究所, delivers with his latest book.

He shares the country鈥檚 long and varied interest for the crime fiction genre in 鈥淎 History of American Crime Fiction.鈥�

Raczkowski edited the book, published by Cambridge University Press, which also includes a chapter written by colleague Dr. Ellen Harrington, associate professor of English and coordinator of the department鈥檚 graduate program.

To entertain, challenge and delight table mates, Raczkowski shared some of the following tidbits from the book:

Ten Things You Didn鈥檛 Know About American Crime Fiction

1. The first 鈥渂ook鈥� published in Boston was an execution sermon preached by Increase Mather, 鈥淭he Wicked Man鈥檚 Portion鈥� (1675). The gallows sermons and 鈥渄ying speeches鈥� popular in colonial America were intended to scare New Englanders into reforming their criminal behavior.
2. One probable reason why the first detective in American literature was a Frenchman living in Paris (Poe鈥檚 C. Auguste Dupin) is that there were no official detective police in the United States at the time.
3. The first detective novel published by any American writer, 鈥淭he Dead Letter鈥� (1867), was written by a woman, Metta Fuller Victor.
4. Louisa May Alcott, best known for 鈥淟ittle Women,鈥� wrote detective stories under the pseudonym A.M. Barnard.
5. Novels featuring women detectives were very popular during the 19th century.
6. Mark Twain鈥檚 novel 鈥淧udd鈥檔head Wilson鈥� (1894) is a satirical reworking of the detective genre.
7. Under Herbert Hoover, the FBI assembled investigative files on many writers of crime fiction as well as crime fiction criticism, including Gertrude Stein, William Faulkner, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Walter Benjamin, Bertolt Brecht and W.H. Auden.
8. Dashiell Hammett, author of classic hardboiled novels such as 鈥淭he Maltese Falcon鈥� (1929) and 鈥淭he Thin Man鈥� (1934), spent time working as a Pinkerton detective.
9. Crime fiction has persistently led all other varieties of adult fiction in sales since the early 20th century.
10. 鈥淧eak TV,鈥� or what critics and scholars refer to as the contemporary golden age of television -- and seen as surpassing film as a dominant American art form --uses crime fiction as a central topic (think 鈥淭he Sopranos,鈥� 鈥淭he Wire,鈥� 鈥淭he Shield,鈥� 鈥淏reaking Bad,鈥� 鈥� Justified,鈥� 鈥淭rue Detective,鈥� 鈥淏etter Call Saul鈥� and 鈥淔argo鈥�).

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Raczkowski joined the USA faculty in 2006. His work on American literature and culture has appeared in numerous academic journals and anthologies. He is currently at work on a manuscript on modernism and crime titled, sensibly enough, 鈥淐riminal Modernism.鈥� He earned his Ph.D. in literature at Indiana University and a bachelor of arts from Middlebury College.

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