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Wednesday, 24 January 2001 |
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NEW BOOK QUESTIONS LITERARY NEGLECT OF FAMOUS WOMEN CRIME WRITERS
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A new publication ‘From Agatha Christie to
Ruth Rendell – British Women Writers in Detective and Crime Fiction’,
is the first book of its kind to challenge the literary neglect of six
famous British women crime writers, and to seriously consider their hugely
popular and influential works.
Written and researched by academic Susan Rowland, Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Greenwich, the book includes interviews with two crime writing legends, PD James and Ruth Rendell, and gives an insight into what characterises their works. In her book, Susan asks: "Should legendary crime writers such as Agatha Christie and Ruth Rendell be treated as literary artists? What is it that has captivated readers for so many years? And why are their famous works sometimes dismissed as dated, gendered, conservative and of the golden age of ‘English Country Houses’?" Susan has spent 18 months exploring, researching and unravelling more than 42 key novels of Agatha Christie, Ruth Rendell, PD James, Dorothy L Sayers, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh. Her book introduces these authors in context of their lives, and includes critical debates on gender, social attitudes, colonialism, psychoanalysis, and feminism. During a conversation with the now Baroness Rendell of Baberg, the writer felt strongly that her work should be treated as distinct in its own right, and not merged with that of other crime writers. She said that crime fiction is assumed to take a conservative stance, restoring the status quo of an imperfect society. In contrast, PD James was far happier than Rendell to associate her detective writing with the ‘golden age’. Susan says: "I find it astonishing that these women writers are often misrepresented or pigeon-holed by the media as dated, gendered or conservative. The enormous popularity of these six writers has perhaps contributed to their critical neglect by a snobbish literary establishment. My book demonstrates their artistic and literary achievements as well as showing the contributions they have made to the genre." "All six writers maintain their reputations because their novels are not only widely read, they are treasured and repeatedly re-read. The pleasure of these novels does not just rely upon the final pinpointing of ‘who dunnit?’, but upon their stories of social and self discovery. It is, therefore, the literary qualities of these crime fictions, which sustain their popular and cultural significance. The refusal to treat these authors as artists is all the more glaring an omission." Susan has been invited to address a variety of literary societies and debating groups, including the Conference of the Association for the Research into Popular Fictions, and the Margery Allingham and Dorothy L Sayers literary societies. Published by Palgrave ‘From Agatha Christie to Ruth Rendell – British Women Writers in Detective and Crime Fiction’ can be used by English degree students and the general reader. ENDS |
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