P.D.James And Her Poetically Justified Detective Fiction

Although it is the largest selling literary form in the United States and Europe, detective fiction has not been taken seriously nor has it been regarded as "literature" until two decades ago. As one of the most prominent writers of detective fiction in contemporary Britain, P. D. James and her novels often inspire debates on whether she and her novels are on this or that side of the border between the lowbrow and the highbrow literature. As a combination of genre study and case study, this thesis aims to examine to what degree James inherits the legacy of the traditional detective fiction and transcends the limitations of it and how she skillfully manipulates her narrative strategies in her works. By respectively comparing and contrasting the formulas of plot, characterization, setting and theme of the classical detective fiction with those of James, the author further analyzes James's inheritance and rejection of the English realistic tradition and the classical detective fiction formulas.The differentiations between "story" and "plot" are well illustrated in detective fiction. Its plot formula, backward construction, and its manipulation through reversal and discovery contribute effectively to the building of suspense. By her unique narrative strategies, such as reasonable representation of the crime story and punishment, a delayed intrusion of the detective, the method of recapitulation and skillful shift of point of view with a telling effect, James successfully renders the exploration of psychological truth technically possible within the plot frame of the traditional detective fiction.Part of the worth of detective fiction as a literary form resides in its adaptability as well as its capacity for elaboration. The protagonist, namely the Great Detective, in detective fiction is associated with an ideology of hero worship. Holmes embodies cultural values of his time such as the prevailing optimism about and faith in rationalism, the advance of technology, and the lifestyle of upper-middle class, while James duly updates the Great Detective into a post-industrial society and endows him with a flavor of the age. Furthermore, the elaboration of the fully rounded characters...