Research Catalog
We must have certainty : four essays on the detective story
- Title
- We must have certainty : four essays on the detective story / J.K. Van Dover.
- Author
- Van Dover, J. Kenneth.
- Publication
- Selinsgrove, Pa. : Susquehanna University Press, [2005], ©2005.
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Request in advance | PR830.D4 V36 2005 | Off-site |
Details
- Description
- 220 pages; 25 cm
- Summary
- "We Must Have Certainty surveys 160 years of the development of the genre (1841-2001) and then suggests some ways in which the genre and its development reflect some of the issues that have concerned writers and readers in America and Europe during that period. In particular, it examines the special nature of the world in which the fictional detective operates: a world constructed always to yield certain truth to the person who can read its signs correctly. The nature of these signs evolves with the genre, but while the surfaces of the world may change (from, for example, the Arcadian rhythms of a country house to the cacophony of the mean streets), what really happens in the world is always detectable."--BOOK JACKET.
- Subjects
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 205-213) and index.
- Contents
- 1. The development of the detective story, 1841-2004 -- 2. The world of the detective story -- 3. Classic mystery -- 4. "All men by nature desire to know" : the metaphysics of the detective story.
- ISBN
- 1575910918 (alk. paper)
- LCCN
- 2004028954
- OCLC
- ocm57211135
- SCSB-5202052
- Owning Institutions
- Columbia University Libraries