Tzvetan Todorov Tzvetan Todorov discusses genre and then uses his discussion of genre to discuss literature and how genre creates literature CLASSICAL PERIOD PAST NO GENRES NO VALUE IF SO WITH ONLY A PENALISING TENDENCY ID: 672466
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Slide1
The typology of detective fiction,”
Tzvetan Todorov Slide2
Tzvetan Todorov discusses genre and then uses his discussion of genre to discuss literature and how genre creates literatureSlide3
CLASSICAL PERIOD
PAST- NO GENRES ; NO VALUE
IF SO WITH ONLY A PENALISING TENDENCY
HAD SET CODES
AUTHORS/WOA
METER/THEME
RHYTHM/PLOT
MORAL/CHARACTER
A
NIL
PARTIAL
NIL
B
X
--
X
C
---
X
XSlide4
ROMANTIC PERIOD
ROMANTICIST-
refused totally to accept any genre-
so genre was not developed
LATER
a Tendency to review using genre
typology meant description of
WOA(Work of art)
not satisfactorySlide5
Difficulties
Genre referred
to analysis of structure of WOA
First
to
explore measurable elements
Second
describes
structure
[
classical period did not have measurable elements solid but had only abstract logics]Slide6
Attributing specific character to any aesthetic norm
Every WOA creates two genres
One it transgresses
One it creates
Eg. ‘The
charter
house’-
transgresses French novel norms
Bears similarity to
Stendhalian novel Slide7
“
Stendhal
consistently links various colours to specific themes, attitudes, or moods. Red, associated with passion and revolutionary impulses, and black, suggesting despair and death, are the most important in his rich palette of colours. Green, a kind of lesser black, may signal agitation or disorder
.” Slide8
There is one type of WOA belonging to own genre
That is
a detective
novel
Has its own norms
To develop norms is to distract
it
In
other
words,
development is writing literature Slide9
Whodunit
–detective
novel (
who done it
)
Conforms rigidly to genre
Eg. No orchids for Miss Blandish
Incarnation of genre and not a transcendence[ perfection/superior
[ earlier no genres to describe popular literature- if there had been there would not have been any popular literature-all one and the same]Slide10
Aesthetic aspects of literature
Now two types
High art & popular art
Elements of measurement are differentSlide11
Todorov presents three kinds of detective fiction: whodunit, thriller, and suspense.
Todorov
says “that between two such different forms there has developed a third, which combines their properties” referring to the
whodunit
and the
thrille
r creating to make the
suspenseSlide12
Classic detective
fiction-Whodunit novel
Whodunit novel
Originated and attained its peak during world wars
“contains not one but two stories: the story of the crime and the story of the investigation
Two Murders
First murder
Second murder
(Criminal) Crime (Detective) investigation
First story ----leading to -------------------------------------second story
‘what really happened how the reader comes to know
Part
I
Part IISlide13
A small green index-card on which is typed:
Odel, Margaret
184. W. Seventy First Street.
Murder: Strangled about
11 p.m. Apartment robbed. Jewels stolen. Body found by
Amy Gibson, maid.
[S.S.Van Dine, The ‘Canary’ Murder]Slide14
Part –II-Second
story
Has a special status in Whodunit
Has a geometric
structure
Characters do not act; they learn
Nothing happens to them
As a rule of the genre, detectives are immune to any danger
Readers learn- a slow apprenticeship -Clue after clue; lead after lead Slide15
Detective writes his experiences as a book-
His friend informs to others
Detectives states how this book has been written –bears literary nature while the first story bears nothing- just a statement of murder or robbery
author does not disclose the murderer/not even imagines a character[c devoid of literary nature]
In 2
nd
part the real story of the book liesSlide16
Examples
Agatha Christie’ Murder on the Orient Express
Twelve suspects
Twelve chapters
Twelve interrogations
A prologue [discovery of crime
An epilogue [discovery of killer]
Slide17Slide18
The two definitions define two aspects also
Russian Formalists isolated into fable (story) and
subject (plot) [ not satisfying story]
‘Story’ is what has happened in ones life
‘Plot’ is what the author presents the story to us.
No two notions but two aspects of one story
A murdered B-story
How it is narrated? What are literary devices used?Slide19
Possibility of paradox
First part- story of an absence
Narrator can not transmit the conversations nor describe the actions of between characters implicitly
Second part
Words are heard
actions observed
Status is just an excessive one having no importance in itself
A mediator between reader and the first story of crimeSlide20
First story in absence is significant and real second story much present yet insignificant and unreal
Some publishers suppress details and let the secret in the last page as letter/envelop e.g.. Judge’s verdict
Literary devices employed in first story -that the Author cannot explain
Two types
Temporal inversions (sequential )
Individual points of view
The tenor/sense of it is determined by the person who transmits it
No observation exists with out an observer
Author cannot be an omniscient [present every where]Slide21
Second story
All the devices are justified here
Care to be taken 2
nd
story not be opaque
Not casting useless shadow on the first
Style must be neutral and plain and also imperceptible[ not detectable]Slide22
The Thriller
Fuses both the 1
st
and 2
nd
stories
Suppresses the 1
st
Vitalizes the second
crime Anterior[first/front] is not disclosed before narrative
Narrative [2
nd
] coincides with the action
It is not presented as a memoir [account/record]
No point is reached where the narrator comprehends the past
No idea if he achieves any end
Prospection takes the place of retrospection [
No imagination ; no mystery; no suspenseSlide23
Yet readers are interested in two forms of it
Curiosity- proceeds from effect [corpse and clues]to cause [culprit and his motive]
Suspense- cause [donnes/ gangsters preparing heist] to effect [corpse and clues]
Interest is sustained to what would happen to detective- he may be hurt or killed- detective takes risks
One story with two stories blended
The thriller need not perform specific transformation in order to appear on the scene
It did not follow any structure –Slide24
THRILLER
CURIOSITY SUSPENSE
proceeds
from
Effect
to Cause
Cause
to Effect
CAUSE- Corpse and Clue
EFFECT- Culprit and his motive Slide25
No method of presentation for
thriller of later years
Focused on
milieu
it represented;
specific characters
with
special behaviour
and in its theme
Milieu is violent- violence/immortality is as much as noble feelings[beatings, killings etc.
No mystery even if it did not hold central function unlike whodunit[mystery was the centre in
whodeunit
]
Earlier thrillers included the element of mystery
Eg.
Dashiel
Hammet
& Raymond chandlerSlide26
Gradually thriller turned to be a genre
encapsulating
Danger
Pursuit
Combat
bearing a tendency towards
Marvelous
Exotic
Resembling
Travel narrative
Science fiction
Thriller is different from adventurous story
Different from even detective novel
The difference in the milieu and behaviour are the cause to make thriller a genre
Slide27
Thriller as a genre according to Van Dine
One detective; one criminal; one victim [corpse]
Culprit must not be professional criminal; must not be detective; must kill for personal reasons
No love
Culprit must have certain importance in life
; (no
chamber maid or a butler]
Everything must be rational- no
fantasy
No description
No psychological analysis
Homology of story
‘author: reader= criminal: detective.’
Banal (trivial , common place) situations must be avoidedSlide28
suspence
Combination of
whodunit
& thriller
Originated along with thriller
describes the milieu like thriller
Composition is like that of whodunit
Has two sub types Slide29
SuspenceSlide30
Evolution of these forms are in stages
All three forms exist now unlike other genres
Detective novel tried to disenthrall from old convictions /genre to establish new code
If we trace peculiar detective novel it need not efface the existing one; instead can create new one bearing no semblance to any of the existing form.
It is constituted of complex properties logically not similar to earlier forms