Subgenres of crime fiction (1 Viewer)

[lilyflower16]

Hi,

Currently looking at subgenres of crime fiction.

So far I have:
Hard boiled
Cosy/traditional
Film noir
Contemporary

What are some other subgenres? And has anyone come across any information/sites that explains each of them well?

 

[Porcia]

neonoir c.f. rodriguez
antidetective novel - c.f. eco
historic
police procedural etc
but do realise relatively modern crime fiction do diverge in many ways so you're better off talking about the older ones as the people who put the standard there and talk about how contemporary ones re-evaluate the notion of the old crime fictions to re-represent using cultural and societal repropriation in symbols

 

[luscious-llama]

There are so, so many. I suppose realist (i.e. scientific, procedural, CSI-type stuff) would fit into contemporary, though. Feminist is another one.

Newgate novel
Sensationalism
Homosexual...
Forensic

There are heaaaaaaps

 

[kami]

An important point to note, and I don't know whether your teacher has covered this or not, but genres and time periods are not the same thing. While there are a number of trends and subgenres that have developed in this contemporary period, there isn't exactly a contemporary sub-genre. It is much like saying there is a 1900s subgenre when in matter of fact it is simply a time that produced a range of trends and sub-genres.

This extends to film noir to a limited extent as well, for it is a style and a technique of portraying a narrative on film. Which means it is not a genre in the exact way the others are, however this is one of the more arguable points of contention and something you should be thinking about as to whether noir is a true subgenre or not (there are def. arguments for both sides).

As per the original topic though, the Great Detective is a very important sub-genre (Poe, Doyle etc. NOT Christie though) from the late 1800s and very early 1900s. It can quite easily be thought of as the foundation of all later crime fiction.

 

[Porcia]

if you are going to resort to technicalities then im sure that the person who wrote 'contemporary' meant contemporary subgenres under which banner post-feminist etc crime fiction thrives.

my personal opinion on noir - for your pleasure or not - is that it is as much a filmic genre as a style. if some general consensus has it that it can be reckoned as a genre - then these are grounds valid enough for its status as a genre as the thinking of genre reflect dominant aesthetic discourse i.e. general consensus.

 

[kami]

my personal opinion on noir - for your pleasure or not - is that it is as much a filmic genre as a style. if some general consensus has it that it can be reckoned as a genre - then these are grounds valid enough for its status as a genre as the thinking of genre reflect dominant aesthetic discourse i.e. general consensus.

It is always a pleasure when someone attempts to engage with their material Porcia. While I'm posting I'd also like to apologise for not getting back to you about your Extension 2 piece again, I do hope it goes well for you though.

I would note that as a critical thinker it is hoped you would be able to process and evaluate the arguments that created this consensus rather than simply accept the consensus (remember that this is Extension not Advanced), which is part of why I raised the question.

 

[nwatts]

if you are going to resort to technicalities then im sure that the person who wrote 'contemporary' meant contemporary subgenres under which banner post-feminist etc crime fiction thrives.

my personal opinion on noir - for your pleasure or not - is that it is as much a filmic genre as a style. if some general consensus has it that it can be reckoned as a genre - then these are grounds valid enough for its status as a genre as the thinking of genre reflect dominant aesthetic discourse i.e. general consensus.

that was the biggest load of wank i've read since i went over some of the shit i wrote during the hsc.

your personal opinion on french black people? fkn racist.

 

[Porcia]

hahahaha! thats fair enough each to his own

 

[ellejay145]

I think everyone needs to calm down and learn to respect other peoples points of view and ideas.
After saying that, i am going to give you all my point of view. I think the only real subgenres that are relevant to this course, are Cosy School and Hard Boiled. Otherwise, don't you think the prescribed texts would include "modern subgenres"? But they don't (Well at least not our prescribed ones; The Big Sleep, The Skull Beneath The Skin and The Real Inspector Hound)
The reason i believe these two are the most important is because they emerged at the start of the genre, with the so called pioneers of detective fiction such as Poe writing under them. Also, again this is only my opinion, but i believe many modern texts are stretching the idea of genre so far (because the subvert the general conventions to an absurd extent) that it would not be valid to concentrate too much on such "modern subgenres" but rather you should spend you time letting the markers know just how much you have learnt about genre studies, and do this through detailing how certain texts subvert/conform to the general crime conventions and also the cosy school and hard boiled conventions, which will enable you to come to a conclusion about Genres as a whole.
Well i hope that made sense, please do not attack me.:wave:

 

[ellejay145]

oh yes and one more thing; film noir is a style associated with the way in which films are produced with alot of shadows and darkness etc - it is like saying that using alot of Low Camera angles in a number of movies is a subgenre .. it doesnt work

 

[aMJp]

the prescribed text "Anil's Ghost" is contemporary, so it would probably be worth knowing about that particular genre if you're studying it.
Also i agree that film noir isn't a genre... it's really not! It's a stylistic device used in texts, not a genre in itself.

 

[aMJp]

Another sub-genre: postmodern?

 

[ellejay145]

There we go - we have solved the problem! The most important subgenres that you should know are what you have studied in class and the subgenres of the specific Prescribed Texts you have studied. For myself, i would only need to know cosyschool and hard boiled, as those are my PT subgenres.
I think that postmodern would be an applicable subgenre, as we see, through composers trying to adapt to changing contexts and such, a move away from "complying" with general conventions, to a more acceptable subverting of genres (as postmodern genre is one which does not want to be "labelled" or classified, it would thus apply)

 

[kami]

Don't worry ellejay, I'm sure that no one is hostile here - it is just a healthy discussion (and its about time there was one of those in this forum!) with differing points of view, which I think is the best kind there is.

I do have some points to raise in response to your post though:

Golden Age/Cosy/Manor House and Hardboiled are very significant sub-genres and they are also rather 'pushed' by the course, however I believe it would be somewhat risky to attempt to analyse the crime fiction genre if you only consider these two aspects in isolation and nothing else. It is essentially the reason we are meant to undergo an intense amount of wider (as in diverse) reading of crime fiction throughout the year - so that we understand the intricate ways that the genre has shifted throughout times, locations and cultures.

Also regarding your point on modern texts having stretched the limits too far, that is an excellent one, however I would put forward the idea that no text acts in isolation so that even if you do not consider them crime fiction anymore then they still reflect on what the literary world thinks as crime fiction. Which can be useful.

I'd also further note that the Hardboiled and Cosy sub-genres were not 'the first' and nor did Poe write under them, indeed neither did Doyle. Those both come from a time earlier than Christie and wrote (along with several lesser known authors) in the Great Detective/Victorian sub-genre of crime fiction.

 

[nwatts]

you guys are idiots in naming "postmodern" and "contemporary" as subgenres of crime fiction. do you even think about what you're saying before writing it down?

 

[Porcia]

kami raised one very very very good point u all should take heed of:

even if you do not consider them crime fiction anymore then they still reflect on what the literary world thinks as crime fiction. Which can be useful.

also nwatts does have a point... do we all really know what is 'postmodern' as a subset of the crime fiction genre? i think postmodern is more of a movement in literature/arts etc which inspired the ways contemporary crime fiction have been conceptualised especially when it concerns texts like Anils Ghost which destablizes the idea of a fixed "center"

 

[luscious-llama]

kami raised one very very very good point u all should take heed of:



also nwatts does have a point... do we all really know what is 'postmodern' as a subset of the crime fiction genre? i think postmodern is more of a movement in literature/arts etc which inspired the ways contemporary crime fiction have been conceptualised especially when it concerns texts like Anils Ghost which destablizes the idea of a fixed "center"

Isn't that why there's a whole "Postmodern" section of Ext 1?
I never really did anything about Pomo in CF.... more just Hardboiled, Cosy School, Golden age, Classical, etc...
What was Anil's Ghost like? We did the other set texts instead...

 

[nwatts]

it was the best one

watching how postmodernism changed crime fiction was pretty much the only interesting part of the course

 

[Porcia]

i concur...the absolute best and most enjoyable too

 

[kami]

I disagree with you all - Real Inspector Hound pwned Anil's Ghost in every way.

'But I love...Albert!'

Isn't that why there's a whole "Postmodern" section of Ext 1?

Yes it is, however postmodernism is a rather important ideology that influenced genre theory so its important you be aware of the changes new ways of thinking change the genre (which is essentially culture --> values --> text etc. type stuff). The postmodernism elective leans more to discussing the theories and discourses of postmodernism itself and how they are constructed and applied.