Detective is a genre of literature that can hardly be called old: it originated in Great Britain at the end of the nineteenth century. In world literature at that time, realism was in trend, which was reflected in the first detective stories. Realistic stories understandable to everyone helped detectives gain untold popularity among the masses. This popularity has declined somewhat these days, at least in literature. The modern reader has become more fastidious due to the literary and informational diversity and a change in thinking. Therefore, the detective genre also underwent changes. Its plot became more complicated and unexpected. In this article, I will talk about how it all began, what form the detective took today, and give insights into writing detective stories.
How It All Started
From time immemorial, investigating crimes and searching for the perpetrators have been part of the life of people since there have always been thieves and fraudsters. The skills of those who could not only point out the culprit but solve the crime by proving the guilt were always admired. After all, well-developed analytical thinking and observation are inherent in few. It is not surprising that the battle between good and evil has always manifested in many works of art and literature.
Stories written by Edgar Allan Poe in the 1840s are usually considered the first pieces of the detective genre, but elements of the detective story have been used before. Eugène-François Vidocq and his memoirs published in 1828 had a great influence on the development of detective literature. This man lived a very extraordinary life, having managed to live through it all first as a criminal and then became a famous criminologist, who later inspired many famous writers. However, it was Edgar Poe who managed to gain a foothold in history as the creator of the first detective stories about the lone detective Dupin, who, unlike the police, finds answers to all questions and makes justice win.
Shortly after that, Charles Dickens, who was already interested in investigations, decided to write his own story about Inspector Bucket (Bleak House). No wonder England is considered the birthplace of the genre. Indeed, in 1887, the detective novel A Study in Scarlet, written by Arthur Conan Doyle, was released here, which presented to the general public the image of Sherlock Holmes, the greatest detective in world literature. After this, some writing rules gradually began to appear in the detective story, which has remained to this day.
Distinctive Features of Writing Detectives
When writing a detective story, a writer should be guided by several principles related to characters and plot. So, according to the rules, in a detective story, there is a plot tie, familiarization with the heroes, a climax, and a denouement. The heroes of the story usually are ordinary people with whom mysterious events happen. Events often develop in an old mansion, a remote village, or just in an ordinary city.
Descriptions of places and characters can create tension with their oppressive atmosphere using epithets and metaphors. By the way, any objects found in the story are not accidental and should have a logical application in the plot.
According to the canons, the plot should begin with the commission of a crime, for which a professional detective takes on and begins to look for the evidence necessary to solve the case. That is, the story must contain a detective, a villain, a victim, and several suspects; other minor characters are possible. Also, the story assumes the presence of two conflicts – between the victim and the perpetrator and between the perpetrator and the detective. Of course, these lines can intersect, confuse the reader, and explain everything incomprehensible and mysterious in the denouement of the story. The main storyline can be diluted with comic situations, mysticism, or love stories. So, the reader gradually becomes more and more immersed in the plot and begins to build their own theories about who is guilty of the murder. But if the story is well written, they are unlikely to unravel the mystery without reading to the last pages of the book.
In the modern world, the detective genre continues to exist and is very popular on cinema screens. Today, there are a lot of films and series with detective storylines, such as “The Girl on the Train,” “Gone Girl,” “Sharp Objects,” “Trance,” “The Life of David Gale,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “Murder on the Orient Express” and this list can be continued. Today, in the plot of detective stories, one can often find mysticism, psychological and social themes, and the geography of authors has long gone beyond the borders of Britain alone – now detective stories of writers from Scandinavia and Japan, among others, are very popular. Therefore, we can say that the concept of detective, although it has undergone some changes and has certainly expanded, continues to be popular due to its ability to keep people in suspense until the end of the book or film, and I want to hope that it will last a long time and keep us entertained.
