Research Catalog

Title

• Murder in plain English : from manifestos to memes : looking at murder through the words of killers / Michael Arntfield and Marcel Danesi.

Author

Arntfield, Michael

Publication

• Amherst, New York : Prometheus Books, 2017.
• ©2017

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Danesi, Marcel, 1946-

Description

335 pages : illustrations, maps; 24 cm

Summary

• "The first book to examine murder through written words. A criminologist and an anthropologist explore the motives for murder by analyzing the writings of convicted killers as well as depictions of murder in literature and the media"--
• "This is the first book to examine murder through the written word--not only the writings of the killers themselves, but also the story of murder as told in literary fiction and the crime dramas that are now a staple of film and television. The authors--a criminologist specializing in cold cases, written evidence, and forensic science, and an anthropologist who has dealt with the signs and ciphers of organized crime and street gangs in his previous work--are widely recognized experts in this emerging specialty field. Based on extensive research and interviews with convicted murderers, the book emphasizes the often-overlooked narrative impulse that drives killers, with the authors explaining how both mass and serial murderers perceive their crimes as stories and why a select few are compelled to commit these stories to writing whether before, during, or after their horrific acts. The book also analyzes the written work of killers, using a combination of machine-based linguistic patterning, predictive modeling, and symbolic interpretation, to make sense of the screeds of everyone from the Son of Sam and the Zodiac Killer to the Columbine attackers, the Unabomber, and the recent spate of mass shooters using social media as their preferred narrative platform. They present a theoretical perspective of murder that is based on both the criminological evidence and written works. In addition, the authors examine famous literature that has dealt ingeniously with murder and its relationship with real crime, from the Greek tragedians to Truman Capote to modern-day productions such as Making a Murderer. This unique approach offers a new means to penetrate the minds of murderers, revealing their motives as well as the wider social meanings of this age-old crime and our continuing fascination with it"--

Subject

• LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / General
• Murder
• TRUE CRIME / Murder / General
• TRUE CRIME / Murder / Serial Killers

Genre/Form

• Récits criminels.
• True crime stories

Note

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 299-324) and index.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Prologue : pen names and criminal minds -- 1. The tale of murder. What is murder? -- Motives for murder -- Murder as tragedy -- Murder and free will -- Murder as means -- Gothic tales of murder -- Narrative perspectives of murder -- Metaphors -- Murder in the name of honor -- Murder on social media -- Is there truly a tale of murder? -- 2. This is the Zodiac speaking. Some statistics -- Who are serial killers? -- The Zodiac : senior and junior -- Self-importance -- Monsters -- Vampires -- Predators -- The Oedipus complex -- Back to the top -- 3. Dark odysseys. Mass murder -- Malignant narcissism -- The schizoid killer -- School shooters -- Team killers, sole authors -- One-way trips -- 4. Hypertext #homicide. Cyber screeds -- Psychopathy -- Lonely hearts -- Online allurements -- Generation meme -- Anti-social media -- 5. So, why murder? A murder instinct? -- Culture, evolution, and murder -- Back to Freud -- Literary criminology -- SCAN of murder -- Thou shalt not kill.

ISBN

• 9781633882539
• 1633882535
• 9781633882546 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

^^2016038667

OCLC

952153957

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library