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A review by hammo
The Secrets of Great Mystery and Suspense Fiction by David Schmid
4.0
I really enjoyed the first quarter. The rest of it dragged on quite a lot.
After introducing the genre, several threads are pursued. An interesting one is how the relationship between the protagonists of M&SF (mystery and suspense fiction) and official law enforcement have evolved over time. Poe's OG detective Dupin was positively antagonistic to the French police (during the 1840's police were a new institution and so were often distrusted), Holmes was accommodating but condescending to Scotland Yard, to hard-boiled private eye Sam Spade the police are something like a flawed institution which it is necessary to get along with, and in police procedurals law enforcement officers themselves becomes the protagonists.
A thread which was pursued most thoroughly was how MS&F novels have been used to empower minorities. There are lectures are on "African American Mysteries", "Native American Mysteries", "Female Centred Mystery and Suspense" (also "The Lady Detective"), "Gay and Lesbian Mystery and Suspense" , and "Latino Detectives at the Border". Although this is interesting, it ended up being pretty repetitive.
I would've liked to have learned more about real life crime, law-enforcement, and detection, and how the history of these areas is reflected in the genre. The fact that this was only ever covered tangentially seems like an oversight to me. I also would've liked an analysis of how changing attitudes to science and rationality have been reflected in the genre (Holmes & Dupin embody full enlightenment optimism about rationality triumphing over the world, in the war era people's faith in rationality as a power for good was shaken and about the same time the hard-boiled detective emerged [coincidence?], and more recent police procedurals are again very rationalism-positive, although there is more of an emphasis on teams of people with high-tech equipment rather than armchair geniuses). This type of thing was hinted at, but never directly addressed in the lecture series.
My "to-read" list has expanded ~10% as a result of listening to this series.
After introducing the genre, several threads are pursued. An interesting one is how the relationship between the protagonists of M&SF (mystery and suspense fiction) and official law enforcement have evolved over time. Poe's OG detective Dupin was positively antagonistic to the French police (during the 1840's police were a new institution and so were often distrusted), Holmes was accommodating but condescending to Scotland Yard, to hard-boiled private eye Sam Spade the police are something like a flawed institution which it is necessary to get along with, and in police procedurals law enforcement officers themselves becomes the protagonists.
A thread which was pursued most thoroughly was how MS&F novels have been used to empower minorities. There are lectures are on "African American Mysteries", "Native American Mysteries", "Female Centred Mystery and Suspense" (also "The Lady Detective"), "Gay and Lesbian Mystery and Suspense" , and "Latino Detectives at the Border". Although this is interesting, it ended up being pretty repetitive.
I would've liked to have learned more about real life crime, law-enforcement, and detection, and how the history of these areas is reflected in the genre. The fact that this was only ever covered tangentially seems like an oversight to me. I also would've liked an analysis of how changing attitudes to science and rationality have been reflected in the genre (Holmes & Dupin embody full enlightenment optimism about rationality triumphing over the world, in the war era people's faith in rationality as a power for good was shaken and about the same time the hard-boiled detective emerged [coincidence?], and more recent police procedurals are again very rationalism-positive, although there is more of an emphasis on teams of people with high-tech equipment rather than armchair geniuses). This type of thing was hinted at, but never directly addressed in the lecture series.
My "to-read" list has expanded ~10% as a result of listening to this series.